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Saturday Bantering: Strochez, Jerseys, WBC

Your morning update for everything Blue Jays.

By Mark Colley

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ALCS - Cleveland Indians v Toronto Blue Jays - Game Three
Stroman, headed to arbitration with the Blue Jays, speaks about his relationship with Aaron Sanchez.
Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

As the waves die down after Jose Bautista’s signing with Toronto, here’s the latest Blue Jay news:

  • Bautista, following his signing with Toronto, is likely to play in the World Baseball Classic this March with the Dominican Republic, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports. Multiple Blue Jay players, including Russell Martin (Canada) and Roberto Osuna (Mexico), are expected to participate in the WBC.
  • Speculation is fun, sure, but Marcus Stroman just put an end to an Olympic swimming pool full of rumours. The friendship between Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, with a nickname of Strochez, was pulled into question early this offseason when a Reddit user pointed out the pair, usually inseparable, had stopped following each other on social media. Additionally, in contrast to previous offseasons, the pair has not posted photos or videos together.

In an impromptu press conference of sorts Saturday, Sean Fitz-Gerald of The Athletic asked Stroman about the status of his relationship with Sanchez.

You can read Fitz-Gerald’s article and see Stroman’s awareness of the situation on social media yourself here.

  • The Blue Jays unveiled new red-and-white alternate jerseys Saturday morning, to be worn during special games and Sunday home games. I think the jerseys look nice. The team removed any traces of blue on the jersey, which, although it may seem counter intuitive, eliminates the previous contrasting nature of red, blue and white jerseys used on Canada day.
  • The Blue Jays and Marcus Stroman are officially heading into arbitration after failing to reach a deal, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Blue Jays filed at $3.1M, while Stroman filed at $3.4M. To learn more about arbitration, click here.
  • Nick Dika of Baseball Prospectus (also of the band Arkells, a multiple-Juno winning group) wrote on the almost-franchise-altering deals of the past on Thursday, reflecting on acquisitions that may have brought the likes of David Wright and Yu Darvish to Toronto. It’s pretty freaky, disheartening, while relieving to look back at what might have been.

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