Bye Bye Dustin

Around these parts, there was some internal hope that the Toronto Blue Jays would find a way to bring back free agent reliever Dustin McGowan. Unfortunately, it appears the book has closed on that hope with news that McGowan appears to be close to signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 32-year-old McGowan has spent his entire career in a Blue Jays uniform before the team declined their option for the 2015 season. The right-hander is coming off of a career-high 53 appearances, including 8 starts, but put together a lackluster 4.16 ERA and 5.02 FIP while watching his strike-outs fall by nearly 3 per nine innings pitched (6.7 in 2014).

Needless to say, Dustin McGowan isn’t likely to slide into the closer role in Los Angeles, even if only for one month, and he certainly isn’t going to make the Dodgers forget about Kenley Jansen for that month (44 saves, 2.76 ERA, 1.61 FIP, 13.9 K/9 last season). However, McGowan did pitch much better when he shifted back to the bullpen last season, posting a 3.35 ERA and watching his strike-outs climb from a pedestrian 5.8 K/9 as a starter to 7.5 as a reliever. Additionally, McGowan held hitters to a mediocre .205/.276/.321 slash-line during high-leverage situations in 2014.

I’m hoping there will be more people upset to see McGee out of the blue and white of Toronto.

-Ace