One of the many new faces on the Toronto Blue Jays this season is rookie right handed pitcher Shaun Marcum. Marcum began the season in the bullpen, has been demoted and promoted serval times, and now finds himself in the starting rotation. Now the Blue Jays starting rotation for next season is still up in the air, but Marcum has been showing lately that he should be considered for one of the spots.

Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett are a lock for next year. Gustavo Chacin has a good shot at being the teams number 3 pitcher. The Jays would like to bring back Ted Lilly, but at what cost? He's currently earning $4 million, and will definitely want more than that, and most likely a long term contract. But does he want to come back after his little exchange with manager John Gibbons. Rookies Casey Janssen and Ty Taubenhiem made starts this season, but found themselves back in the minors after they struggled. Josh Towers is also under contract for next season at $2.9 million, and we don't have to mention his struggles this season. J.P. may be intested in signing a free agent starter this offseason, but the list is not deep. Lilly is one of the top pitchers potentially available.

So will there be a spot open for the 24-year old Marcum in next years starting rotation? He's posted a 2-3 record as a starter so far this season, and that should've been better. He didn't pick up the win yesterday, despite the Jays victory and pitching 5 innings of 2 run ball. Marcum also did not figure in the decisions where he allowed only 1, 2, 2 and 0 runs. He had really only had 1 bad start where he allowed 9 runs in 4 1/3 innings. But if Marcum wants to be the 4th or 5th starter next season, he's going to have to cut down on the walks, in just over 50 innings as a starter, he's allowed 23 walks. Hopefully over the remaining month, he'll put together some more quality starts to show management that he should get serious consideration for one of the starting spots next season.