Bargain-Bin Blue Jays: What to Expect from Gustavo Chacin

Have you ever gone to your local movie store and checked out what's on sale?

As you stroll down the aisle you'll eventually come to the section where they've got deals like 2/$20 or 2/$35 or something like that.

When you walk out after abusing that 2/$20 deal, it's usually split like this:

One amazing, unforgettable movie (like the vastly underrated Reservoir Dogs) and one movie that you just pick up to round out the deal so you can knock that extra $2.75 off of the movie you really want (in my case this afternoon, it was Get Shorty).

This is the kind of situation the Toronto Blue Jays have to look forward to after signing Gustavo Chacin.

On the one hand, you could get the oft-overlooked 200 innings, 13-9, 3.72 ERA, 121 strikeout guy from 2005, who was the only thing holding your team together in a year that the injury bug was a bigger nemesis than the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees.

On the other hand?

You get a guy who's coming off of season-ending shoulder surgery, and who went 0-2 in a rehab assignment in Triple-A with a 7.45 ERA (eight earned runs), five strikeouts, and three walks over nine innings.

I'm hoping Get Shorty is better than that.

For Toronto this year, the only real question mark is their fifth starter (and yes, this does mean I'm comfortable with Sal Fasano as a backup catcher). As of right now, that spot is occupied by Jesse Litsch—but the kid is young, so it's best to have some backup options in case he has a rough spring.

The big question with Chacin is whether his shoulder will hold up, or whether he'll suffer a relapse like David Wells did with his elbow early in his minor-league career.

(Side Note: If you were to ask me who I'm pulling for, I would tell you that it's Chacin. Not because it'd be nice to have him come back and succeed, but because I'm worried that Jesse Litsch might go the way of Wells and Chacin, and start to suffer arm troubles.)

It's not the first time Toronto as been saddled with the 2/$20 deal.
Remember Tomo Okha last year? And John Thompson? And Victor Zambrano? And Billy Koch the year before that?

Yeah, we've read this script before.

It's the first time, however, that the Blue Jays have tried to fill the spot with a reclamation project from their own organization—and there is one advantage:

If Gustavo Chacin turns out to be the Reservoir Dogs of the deal, there's no way he's kept out of the rotation, and you've got a solid fifth starter who's had a record above .500 every year he has pitched in the bigs.

But unlike other years, if Gus turns out to be the Get Shorty of the deal, you've got a strong supporting cast of alternates (Jesse Litsch, Casey Janssen, and David Purcey) with the ability to take over his role.

You took a chance on a safe, economical bet that had seen success in your organization, and if he doesn't work out you have enough resources to fill comfortably from within.

(The word that separates this year from last is "comfortably.")

As I said, it's not like it's the first time that J.P. Ricciardi has gone out and bought himself Get Shorty.