So far in the second half of the season, the Blue Jays have Lenny Dykstra Jersey gotten adequate starting pitching, averaging just short of six innings per game, with a 3.52 ERA. For a team with the best offense in baseball, averaging 5.28 runs per game this year, that should be enough to start the kind of hot streak that points the way to the playoffs.Torontos offense has been a bit laggard since the All-Star break, averaging only 4.67 runs per game, but the Blue Jays still have outscored their opponents by a 42-29 margin. The result? A 5-4 record and two games lost to the Yankees in the standings.TRADE RUMORS: | | Trailing by 6.5 games in the American League East, and eight in the lo s column, the Blue Jays have only a slim chance of catching New York Baseball Prospectus puts it at 14.3 percent so the wild card, where Toronto trails by three games and has a 28 percent chance, appears the best path to making the playoffs for the first time since 1993.Most likely, its just another season where the Blue Jays are neither good enough to make the playoffs nor bad enough to make an obvious call to blow up the organization. In the 21 seasons since their last playoff appearance, the Blue Jays have had one 90-lo s season and one season in which they finished single-digit games out of first place. The other 19 have been non-descript also-ran affairs, with even the last-place team of 2013, a 74-88 outfit, having had an 11-game Drew Hutchison Jersey winning streak in June to get over .500 and briefly look like contenders.This years Blue Jays also had an 11-game winning streak, outside of which they have gone 39-50. Thats easy math from their 50-50 record, which is as much the Blue Jays Way as the teams street addre s in Toronto.In the last 10 seasons, the Blue Jays have been within one game of .500 through 100 games 8 times. They are currently 50-50 ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) Will anything really change if Toronto adds a pitcher at the trade deadline? Maybe the better question is if the Blue Jays are actually capable of adding a pitcher. Each time a trade is made, or a rumor comes around, the Toronto angle is not whether the Blue Jays have a new ace, but how far away it was from being reality.blue jays were disappointed not to get kazmir. small consolation prize: Jim Bunning Jersey they dont have to face him this aft now. Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) The Jays were never truly in the mix for Cueto because of the steep asking price. Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) , though, not inclined to move a starter; would need huge return. made big push for Carrasco. Didnt get done. Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) MORE: All it takes is one succe sful transaction to end that narrative, but this futility on the pitching market has been a theme for Toronto for more than a year now. Its the primary reason the Blue Jays did not Tim McCarver Jersey make the playoffs last year, and at this point, its worth wondering if adding one starting pitcher would even be enough, as an overtaxed bullpen is starting to show its wear with a 1-5, 3.59 line this month that includes a season-low strikeout rate of 8.3 per nine innings and a season-high .716 OPS allowed.Its not a problem that is going away, either, because even though Marcus Stroman will be back from his torn ACL next year, R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle are not getting any younger. For all the problems that the Blue Jays have had in recruiting starters to come north of the border, its exactly why they should be in big on Cole Hamels with Nick Williams Jersey the years remaining on his contract, the Blue Jays would be able to bank on having the left-hander as their ace (Hamels has the Blue Jays on his no-trade list, but such an obstacle can be overcome if the Toronto is serious about landing him). For a team that has sought that last piece of the puzzle for so long, that would be worth the price.
