Jays Manager Cito Gaston was quoted as saying that Romero has "pitched himself on the team." After a strong spring start in which Romero limited the Astros to two runs over seven solid innings of work, Romero appears to have leap frogged both Canadian right-hander Scott Richmond, and lefty Brad Mills on the Jays depth chart to open the season.
About a week or so ago, it was learned that Brett Cecil would be returned to minor league camp to prepare for the start of his third pro season, and that Matt Clement, this years annual reclamation project, wouldn't be ready to pitch at the Major League level to open the season. That left Romero, Mills and Richmond battling for the final two spots behind Doc, Listch and Purcey in the Jays rotation. Gaston has been raving about Mills all spring long. "This kid has got some talent, and he seems to be able to handle the ups and downs and the pressure."
With recent news that injured starter Dustin McGowan may not pitch at all in '09 after a setback in his rehab, perhaps the Jays are more inclined to overlook Richmond, the 29 year old rookie and "ace" of Team Canada's staff at the World Baseball Classic, in favour of exposing their top young pitchers to every day life in the big leagues.
If Marcum and McGowan could make complete combacks to be healthy and ready to go for the '09 season, the Jays could potentially be loaded with pitching options, and may actually be best off dealing from a position of strength. The question is, of all these arms, which are the best and who do the Jays foresee sliding in behind Halladay, Marcum and McGowan in 2010. Litsch appears to be a lock as long as he doesn't take any steps back in '09. That leaves David Purcey, Romero, Cecil, Mills, and LHP prospect Marc Rzepczynski to battle for the fifth spot in what could be a filthy Jays rotation.
Don't forget the Jays posted the best staff ERA in baseball in 2008, so 2009 may not be quite the down year people were expecting.
As for Romero, hopefully he will make the best of this opportunity and run away from the critics who pretty much wrote him off as a first round bust. In my own article on January 31st, regarding Baseball America's list of Top 10 Jays prospects, I wrote that Romero "got a bit of a gift even being named to this list. (He can thank his outstanding collegiate career and his #6 overall pick in the 2005 draft... Troy Tulowitzki would have been nice huh?)" Romero was the first pitcher taken off the board in what was a stocked first round in 2005. Sandwiched between Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki, critics of J.P. Ricciardi the last few years had a tough time living with the knowledge that Tulo could have filled the Jays revolving door at SS, but instead were stuck with Romero.
For the sake of J.P.'s job, I hope Romero proves all the haters wrong. After all, he was billed with similar hype to current Rays phenom David Price. OK, that may be a bit of a stretch, but I've been proved wrong thus far.
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