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Not even a month into the 162 game Major League Baseball season and things are already getting desperate for the playoff projected Toronto Blue Jays.
With the Jays top two pitchers on the disabled list (DL) and a league-worst offense, fans are getting dangerously close to hitting the proverbial panic button.
Canada's only MLB team is off to a dismal 2-10 start and while there is plenty of time to turn things around, the Blue Jays brutal start to the season is the least of their worries.
MLB Power Rankings: Blue Jays plummet as April slide rolls on https://t.co/hMI3z27Hu6 pic.twitter.com/x9yqyTLOQh
— theScore MLB (@theScoreMLB) April 17, 2017
Last year's Silver Slugger winner, an award that goes to the league's best offensive player at each position, was Jay's third baseman Josh Donaldson. At this point, Donaldson will be hard pressed to accomplish this feat again. The team's biggest offensive threat has spent the majority of the season's first twelve games sidelined with a calf injury.
Donaldson's calf injury is especially noticeable for a team that currently sits at or near the bottom of the entire league in every offensive category.
The Jay's real strength last year was their excellent starting pitching rotation. But so far, the rotation has been unable to steal a game for the dive bombing Jays and it's likely only going to get worst before it gets better.
Potential Cy-Young candidate Aaron Sanchez is now officially on the 10-day DL with a blister on his throwing hand and last year's 20 game winner J.A. Happ left last night's game with soreness in his throwing elbow, which for a pitcher is bad, bad, news.
Admittedly, the major league season is a marathon with 162 games, so truthfully the first two weeks of the season don't mean much. What is a major cause for concern is the injuries to star players, especially the team's best pitchers.
There may still be time to save the season, but it will mean one or two players will have to step up in the "unsung hero" category and fill a major role for the Jays.
Option number two is to start the rebuild now. But after two playoff seasons that took the team to the brink of the World Series, a rebuild will be a tough sell to a fan base that was thinking playoffs once again.
For now, the fingers of Blue Jays are collectively resting directly above the panic button.
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