Game #135 Preview: Estrada vs Chen

After a huge comeback win, the trade of a cornerstone player, and the trade of one of the best teammates imaginable, the Blue Jays look to have a bit less of a drama filled day today as they continue their 3 game set with the Marlins. First pitch is at 7:10 ET.

Blue Jays’ Starter

At least somewhat surprising, Marco Estrada is still a Blue Jay after the waiver trade deadline last night. He is still here though, and he gets to head to the mound looking to put the nightmare of his last start behind him. In 2+ innings against the Phillies, Estrada allowed 5 runs on 7 hits, walking 4 and allowing 3 home runs. How that all added up to just 5 runs is rather impressive, and he probably has Justin Shafer to thank at least a little bit for that.

The future for the 35 year old righty is probably starting to come into question. There is a chance that he doesn’t finish out the season in the Jays’ rotation, which probably doesn’t bode well for someone heading to Free Agency this winter. With his health problems the last couple years coupled with his age, we may be seeing the unfortunate end of a pitcher we were so fortunate to watch carve through lineups when he was on. For his sake, I hope he has an awesome September, starting tonight in Miami.

Marlins’ Starter

Wei-Yin Chen, now in the 3rd year of a 5 year, $80m deal with Marlins, looks to put in a strong September and have the best season of his Marlins’ career. He certainly hasn’t provided the Marlins with any return on their investment yet, as he has spent a lot of time on the DL, and has a 4.80 ERA in 48 starts since the start of 2016.

The 33 year old lefty is coming off one of the best starts of his Marlins career last weekend against the Braves. He scattered 6 hits across 6 innings, allowing a pair of walks and no runs while striking out 10. It was the 3rd time in the last 2 months that he went at least 5.2 innings allowing 0 earned runs (and also 3 of the 4 times he has done so as a Marlin).

Blue Jays’ Lineup

With Curtis Granderson off to Milwaukee, the Blue Jays no longer have a player that they platoon and would sit against lefties.

Today is also roster expansion day, the day where MLB gets weird and changes the roster composition rules for teams during the stretch run. I don’t think the Jays are anticipating any position players before the Bisons end their season tomorrow, but there will likely be a couple pitchers added today.

Kendrys Morales got the start at 1B yesterday, which allowed Smoak to come in as the pinch hit hero. I would guess that Smoak gets the start today.

Marlins’ Lineup

For their September callups, according to Fish Stripes, our sister site her at SBN, there will be a couple additions. The biggest one will likely be Lewis Brinson, one of the key returns in the Christian Yelich trade and Miami’s top prospect at the start of the year. Catcher Chad Wallach is also a prediction.

As for the lineup itself, if Brinson isn’t out there, look for it to be the same as yesterday, and marvel at the work JT Realmuto does at the plate.

Yesterday’s Heroes

Scott Schebler went 3-5 with a home run and a double, earning the Monster Bat award. However, his efforts were barely a speck on the wall, as the Cardinals walked all over the Schebler’s Reds 12-5.

I’m pretty sure we all know the WPA King - that would be Justin Smoak. His pinch hit, go ahead grand slam in the 9th last night was worth .735 WPA, his total for the day in the Jays 6-5 win over the Marlins.

Smoak’s grand slam stole the win away from the Pitcher of the Day too, as Dan Straily was very impressive through his 8 innings of work. He surrendered 1 run on 4 hits and a walk, holding the Jays bats quite silent throughout the night.

Find the Link

Find the link between Chen and Yu Darvish.