Your Future Rotation: Part Eight

If there's anything that helps fuel the sense of bleak desperation leading into 2009, it's the fact that the Jays have signed Mike Maroth to a minor league contract. Unlike Matt Clement, who was a very effective starter prior to his injuries and has the potential, however slight, to rebound to middle of the rotation effectiveness, Maroth doesn't even come close. The Josh Towers of the Detroit Tigers, Maroth's career has been littered with control issues and a tendency to give opposing teams runs better than the ropa vieja stand outside of Dunedin Stadium.

Maroth brings a career ERA of 5.05 and WHIP of 1.46 to the Jays. To continue the Josh Towers comparison, that's about ten points higher in both areas than Towers career numbers, which does not inspire a great deal of confidence about his abilities. Prior to his injuries in 2006, Maroth did eat a lot of innings, which is likely the motivation behind this signing, to provide some AAA depth and maybe give some of the real prospects like Mills, Cecil and Romero someone who can provide some experience about what it's like to get shelled in the majors.

Maroth brings four pitches to the mound; a four seam fastball that hovers in the high 80s, a cutter, a curveball and a decent changeup that he uses for an out pitch. Maroth is successful when he works the edges of the plater, but as a result, his walk rate is higher than you want from a control pitcher, and he is very susceptible to the home run. When he can get ahead in the count early, his changeup and cutter can be tough on right handed batters. But he's got a tendency to hang pitches later in the count, especially when behind, which is why he's been so feasted on by AL batters.

Obviously Maroth is not meant to be anything other than insurance in case of a total implosion, so the Jays are forced to use top pitching prospects to plug the gaps. There's an outside chance that if Maroth can imitate Parrish's 2008 in the minors that he might see some spot starts during the season. While he's not good, he does have some experience with the league's lineups, and taking all that into account, might get a handful of starts to see if a possible strong AAA season translates into anything more. Most likely Maroth will show the same shitacular stuff in the minors, and end up getting cut by the end of the season.

There is one bright spot to this signing; Maroth's wife is seriously hot. Word to the wise, Mike. Update your badly out of date website with a pay section for private webcam parties for the missus, since I doubt that minor league paycheck is going to last very long.