Toronto Blue Jays 

Roy Halladay – Halladay was good, not great last season recording a 3.71 ERA.  Intriguing as you could argue he’s hitting the peak age for a pitcher this season when he turns 31.  He pitches much more to contact than he did a few years ago.  This isn’t a bad thing when he potentially features the best infield defense in the majors behind him, while his pitch counts allow him to work deeper into games.  In fact, he fanned 6.9 batters per inning in his monster 2003 campaign, while that number dropped to 5.55 per nine in 2007.  In addition, Halladay talked about finding his cutter last season, which he says was lost from 2005 and 2006, and the early stages of ’07.  After the All-Star break ‘Doc’ pitched to a 3.02 ERA.  If he can stay healthy, this season could be his bet yet, which could mean the Cy Young Award.   

AJ Burnett – If he could just stay healthy…  Of course, that’s the catch; the masses know he simply can’t stay healthy.  Well, he’s 31-years-old and he’s made over 30 starts in a big league season once.  Last year it was a shoulder strain that landed him on the disabled list as he fought decreased velocity.  Other than his health, Burnett owns some of the nastiest stuff around.  He’s more of a groundball hurler that doesn’t allow home runs and that’s if the batter gets good wood on the ball.  If, and that’s a big if, both Halladay and Burnett make over 65 combined starts they’ll challenge the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to the very end.  These two are that good.   

Dustin McGowan – McGowan’s no slouch himself, after a breakout campaign last year.  I’d been waiting for McGowan to breakout, and actually rode him a lot in 2007 at the betting windows.  McGowan’s always featured the stuff, but fought his control and himself on the mound.  He changed up his delivery last year, which helped tremendously. His confidence continued to grow before he wore down to close the season, while he had a string of 12 starts with an overall 2.72 ERA.  I’d love to garner value as I did with this 25-year-old last season, and he’s an excellent third starter.   

Shaun Marcum – Marcum was another sneaky good young pitcher for the Jay’s last year.  His record and ERA did show that fact at 12-6 with a 4.13 ERA.  He tired down the stretch after showing a 3.31 ERA on August 15.  He deals an 88-91 MPH sinking fastball, great change-up and slider.  This spring he’s especially working hard on his sinker to help offset his struggles with the left-handed bat.  Last year ‘hook’ bats recorded a .820 OPS against him, while right-handed bats just a .676 number.  If he can adjust and cut down on his home runs allowed, Marcum could take another step forward in 2008.   

Jesse Litsch – Litsch is a borderline big league starter who gets by more on guts and guile than pure stuff.  The 23-year-old entered last season never pitching above AA-baseball.  You could certainly classify his 3.81 ERA in 111 innings for the Jays a surprise, especially considering just 50 punch-outs.  He does have four pitches with an 88-91 MPH fastball, slider, curve and change.  He was fortunate and still should be fortunate to have a top-notch defense behind him.  Again, his upside is limited, but he gets groundballs and pitches with excellent command, which is enough to be the Jays fifth starter.  Always solid from a betting perspective is a hurler who won’t beat himself.