Towers drops to oh-and-7

The Jays have to make a decision on Josh Towers, and it appears manager John Gibbons has just about had enough, surprising Towers by taking him out for a reliever in the fourth inning last night. He had another one of those starts, and it led to another loss -- and though this one was better, relatively speaking, than his earlier outings, he's 0-7 on the season and the Jays' record without him is 17-8.

JEFF ROBERTSON/AP

All too familiar: Josh Towers lit up again.

Worse, though, is the sense of impending doom his mere presence brings to the mound. This from Bluebird Banter, sitting in the stands:

In the fourth inning, after surrendering a solo home run to Bobby Crosby, Towers walked Jay Payton on five pitches before Adam Melhuse hit his first home run of the season off him to make the score 3-0. By that point, the crowd's reaction towards Towers bordered on verbally abusive. Everyone (and really, it very well could have been everyone) booed him incessantly throughout the night. Commentary in the form of "You suck, Towers!" was the most prevalent and least blasphemous cry of derision that was spewed in his direction.

As Rich Griffin notes this morning, Towers' next start is in Tampa Bay on Sunday. Griffin thinks Towers should be allowed to make that start, and at least there he won't get the razzing and the banners that have become the norm in Toronto. I'm not so sure it's going to make any difference, Towers' bad-inning pattern pretty pronounced at this point. Oh, that 0-7 start? It equals Dave Lemanczyk's dubious club record to start a season. One more, and Towers has that one all to himself.

In a post last week, Banter's Mark W. posted the worst starts for Blue Jays starting pitchers, using David Pinto's day-by-day database. I've updated the data here:

Worst Blue Jays starts, season opening to May 9 inclusive
(minimum 10 innings pitched; *-starter/reliever)

Key, 1986..................0-3, 13.05 (finished 14-11, 3.57)
Halladay, 2000............2-4, 11.53 (4-7, 10.64)
Morris, 1993...............1-4, 11.06 (7-12, 6.19)
Towers, 2006............0-7, 10.09
Lilly, 2005..................1-3, 9.35 (10-11, 5.56)
Guzman, 1995.............0-0, 9.00 (4-14, 6.32)
*Eyre, 2002...............1-3, 8.80 (2-4, 4.46)
Huffman, 1979............2-3, 7.99 (6-18, 5.77)
Prokopec, 2002...........1-4, 7.90 (2-9, 6.78)
Guzman, 1998.............1-4, 7.85 (10-16, 4.35)
Lemanczyk, 1978.........0-6, 7.84 (4-14, 6.26)
Gott, 1983..................0-3, 7.76 (9-14, 4.74)

Comments

[Chris Rivers]

I've never understood the idea of booing a player like Towers incessently. It's not as if he's out there throwing BP fastballs because he wants to. He's not arrogant, not making excuses and still trotting out gamely ever time he's called on - as he should. Effectively, Toronto's fans are giving the razz to someone who was - at numerous times - our best starter last year. When the same thing happened to Lilly early in last season, the boo-birds were just as active - and it accomplished just as little.

Yes, fans can show their displeasure at shelling out all of $20 to watch Towers give up some runs - but all that accomplishes is short-term venting and a detioration in the confidence of someone who's been nothing but a good guy for T.O.

[Peter]

Tough call for Gibbons in that situation. On the one hand, he was probably waiting for Towers to implode in the 4th or 5th and it may have been a knee-jerk reaction at that point. But what if the Jays had put up 4 runs at that point in the game? Do you think he'd get yanked if he still had the lead to work with? Who knows...
I think Gibbons made the right call by taking Towers out, but it was the shaky left-side infielding that has been present throughout the season that did us in last night, not to mention a very strong outing from Haren. If the Jays are serious about contending, they need to make some deals for another live arm in the rotation and either give John "Sir John A." McDonald some more playing time or make a deal for a dependable SS.

[jeeves]

The thing that bugs me about Towers, is they give this guy a two-year deal and can't send him down, and then he suddenly stinks. It's time like these when players should be forced to give back some money. Although I guess one could argue Ricciardi shouldn't have done the deal.... Towers has always been a guy whose lack of velocity but good control puts him on the edge -- that fine line between being a decent pitcher and being a stinker. It's not like he can rely on overpowering stuff if he gets in trouble.
But what matters now is the team, not whether he gets out of the funk. I would put him in the pen to mop up and give Downs his starts. No other pitcher can conceivably put up a 10 ERA over that many starts, so you're guaranteed to have an improvement with someone else. Once Burnett comes back, then you keep Janssen as the 5th starter, since he's got more velocity and just as much control.

[Cory]

In response to why why people boo players incessentally... I know I personally boo'd him last night, because the effort I have seen from him over the course of the season has been nothing short of pathetic. He is visibly afraid when he pitches, he does not attack the strike zone, and when he does, he throws a bp fast ball. I don't know the cause of the problem, i guess that maybe this year the games mean something, added pressure, and last year they didn't? don't know, don't care. All I know is if I pay money to go see my team play I want to see someone who goes out there with the look of determination on his face that they are going to win, not the look of fear that they are about to lose - welcome to the big leagues - start playing like it. As for Adams, I boo J.P. for actually believing this kid is our future and is deserving to be in majors. He can't hit for average or power and he has terrible range and no arm, I would much rather see John McDonald play every day then Adams, at least this way we may not have the bat but at least we have the field.

[jeeves]

Something to add to this thread: Is it possible last year's season for Towers was a fluke?
Check his numbers. If you go along the ERA column for each year, which year stands out as an aberration?? 2005. Like this year, he even had a small sample of games with Baltimore in 2002 where his ERA was near 8.00 at the major and minor league levels.
Last year he had more hits than innings pitched. Granted, his walks were low, but I wonder if the ERA was lower than it should have been given all that contact.

[cy]

"If the Jays are serious about contending, they need to make some deals for another live arm in the rotation and either give John "Sir John A." McDonald some more playing time or make a deal for a dependable SS."
In this age of specialization, I've often wondered why, when a more finesse-oriented, groundball-inducing pitcher is starting, a defensive specialist doesn't go in more often at a position like shortstop.
"The thing that bugs me about Towers, is they give this guy a two-year deal and can't send him down, and then he suddenly stinks."
Towers had a career year last year, but it wasn't as if this was an upgrade in terms of his role. It's not like he's been asked to step up, but the injury to Burnett has meant his importance has been magnified, and he's been miserable.
"I know I personally boo'd him last night, because the effort I have seen from him over the course of the season has been nothing short of pathetic."
C'mon Cory. The effort is there. It's just that, as a pitcher who never had a whole lot to begin with, he doesn't have a huge margine for error.
As for the team's defence, there's no doubt it's off from last year -- their fielding is worst in the AL so far. But strangely enough, the defence behind Towers has been better than that this year. Apart from a couple of errors in his first start back on April, the Jays have played error-free behind Towers. He's just gettin' laced.
As for your suggestion Jeeves, here's some #s:
Towers '05: 3.71 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 1.25 walks/9 innings
Towers career (pre '06): 4.49 ERA, 1.33 ERA, 1.34 walks/9 innings
Towers '06: 10.09 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, 3.56 walks/9 innings

I still say the most telling stat that says he should go to the pen and work this out is the one that says he's 0-7, and they're 17-8.

[Cory]

By effort I mean his reluctance to throw strikes. I think he no longer believes in himself and his own ability. And this is a tough sport no doubt, but you're in the big leagues and it's time to step it up and prove to you, your team and your fans that they should support you. I like how no one defends Russ Adams though, was a right on this one. Does anyone believe he has any potential, personally don't think he'll still be in the majors come '07. Tower's, sure he'll turn it around, Adam's, i think he's peaked. Hill can't bat, at least he has defence. The much hated Hinske, at least you can see he tries and will play where ever he's told.

[Jason]

Josh Towers is awful. Give him another start in Tampa Bay and if he doesn't give us 5 innings with 3 runs or less against the Devil Rays, he should be sent to Syracuse. He's eating up our bullpen too much. Bring back Marcum and put him in the pen and then put Rosario as the 5th starter, until AJ gets back.

ANother option might be David Purcey who has been pitching well in Syracuse. The Jays may not want to rush him however.

I'd like to see Aaron Hill move to SS right now. While it's highly unlikely to happen in mid-season, it might help Hill get out of this funk he's been in. He played SS in college at LSU and could feel more comfortable there. Adams is a decent player, but more suited to play Second. It also would take the pressure of him to make tougher throws with his weaker arm.

Finally, does Troy Glaus ever get a clutch hit. I know he hit that bomb against the Red Sox a few weeks ago, but he keeps striking out or popping up in key situations, like the game on Tuesday.

[Natasha]

One more game and he needs to take a trip to Syracuse or sumthin... Jays starting pitching is starting to look very suspect with Chacin going in for an MRI and our very highly touted bullpen is going to be burnt out come July at the rate we are going.

[Peter]

Glaus and Vernon Wells too, I have noticed, seem to come up empty late in the game when it mattered. So far I've seen Wells several times end rallies, plenty of them in the ninth inning, by grounding out into a routine 6-4-3.
It's tough to really come down hard on many Jays hitters as just about everyone had a big clutch hit in the first month of the season.
Shouldn't get down on Glaus, we all knew he'd strike out once or twice a game, and right now he's batting 15 points higher at .270 than he was last year, which is definitely a good sign. It seems like he's making contact late in games when it matters though, leaving those strikeouts for the most part in the early-middle innings, which will become important late in the season.

[cy]

One Josh Towers stat I forgot to post yesterday: 3.56 walks per 9 innings, up from 1.25 last year. His control, which is his calling card, is really outta whack, all the more reason for him to go off to a quiet and warm place to work things out.