[VERVE]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I'm sort of a casual Jays follower, but I was wondering why the Jays have been holding on to an oft-injured McGowen for all these years? Is it JUST his 100kmph fast ball that's got the Jays management hooked on him?

It is about the mutual admiration, loyalty and respect shared between the Jays and McGowan, the pitcher they drafted out of high school.

I remembered when he debuted for the Blue Jays in 2005, he had an impressive start. In 2006-2007, he had solid stuff (I believed 4-5 pitches) that had a lot of late movements. His fastballs average velocity was about 96 and at times hit about 99 mph. So the Jays viewed him as a pitcher that would eventually pitch alongside Halladay and Burnett and later becoming their ace. At the end of 2007, he had 12 wins.

In the middle of the 2008 season, he left the team for a shoulder surgery. He had a slow recovery and when his recovery seemed to be looking promising, he suffered another injury. He had knee surgery to follow and after a promising recovery he was set to start pitching again. Before that happened, he was injured again and had another different shoulder surgery. I remembered reading and watching his interviews and thinking how dejected he was at the time.

During each of his surgeries, McGowan worked very hard and was determined to get back to pitching again. You never read any bad press about Dustin during his injuries. There was no report about Dustin complaining about his bad fortune or that he was giving up on his career. In my mind given all his setbacks, I thought he was going to retire. Throughout his injuries and recovery period, the Jays never discounted him out but I am sure they were questioning his future to remain healthy with the team.

In 2011, Dustin came home to make his first pitch since 2008 (over 3 years). It was quite an emotional day for everyone involved and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. You could tell by the look on his face that he was grateful to the fans and Jays for being so loyal to him and he was holding back tears as he saluted the fans. The camera panned to his wife who watched him anxiously and was excited for him as he took the mound. His pitches never really lost any velocity. His fastballs were averaging 94-95 mph and topping out at 97 mph and again with a lot of late movements. He pitched 4 innings. I am sure there were many people who were quite impressed with his comeback.

I hope this year will be his year to be a regular starter. They are expecting him to hold the 5 spot in the rotation but not letting him go over 5-6 innings and perhaps fewer games. Some critics preferred he started in the bullpen as a long reliever. Fingers crossed.