After Ricky Romero‘s latest start – a 1 IP, 8 H, 7 ER implosion over the weekend – the Toronto Blue Jays have apparently decided that perhaps the best thing to do might just be to keep the lefty from going out there. Well, at least on regular rest, anyway.
Ricky Romero to pitch on nine-days rest, next start Wednesday vs Seattle. Move as a result of improved performance with extra rest
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) September 5, 2012
The move is just the latest development in an attempt to steer the Romero ship towards the right direction this year. The Blue Jays have, more or less, stayed the course through the struggles of their former ace, whose poor performance this season has probably defied even the most aggressive regression predictions. Romero has been slightly less terrible recently, putting up 3 quality starts in his last 6, and his 4.73/1.42 ERA/WHIP ratios in August are his best since the opening month of the season; that said, his 5.85 ERA is the very worst among all qualified starting pitchers in the bigs (his 1.59 WHIP is 2nd worst, just behind Ubaldo Jiminez), so any positives to be found start-to-start are under the rather large caveat that he’s had a really shitty year.
The extra rest pattern for Romero won’t be a one-time thing either, as the team will go with a 6-man rotation afterwards. As to whether improvements will come with the extra rest, that’s yet to be seen. Romero was excellent 2 starts ago against the New York Yankees on 6 days rest, so it’s possible that the 9-day breather will rejuvenate his performance next week. Then again, the time before that when had a 6 day rest against the Oakland Athletics, he turned in his most disastrous start of the season (and perhaps his career) with a 1.1 IP, 4 H, 8 ER, 6 BB day to forget.
So it’s wholly possible that Romero’s issues this year is more than just a rest issue; still, it’s not like anything else has worked so far…so, why not?
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