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The bright lone spot of the Blue Jays rotation, at least for the first half of the season, has been Marcus Stroman. So, of course, we are talking about trading him.
On Twitter, I’m always seeing people suggest that teams trade off their players having crappy years, not quite understanding that to trade you have to have someone that wants the player. My favorite fan suggested trades are always the ones that group 5 replacement level players to get one star from another team.
At the mid-point of the season, Marcus has made 18 starts, has thrown 104.2 innings, allowed 100 hits, 10 homers, 32 walks and 81 strikeouts adding up to a 3.18 ERA. He has a 3.81 FIP and a 4.16 xFIP. FanGraphs has him at a 2.0 WAR. Baseball Reference a 2.4 WAR.
He could use the team to score him some runs. In 9 of his starts the team has scored 2 runs or less. And he’s had 3 games with 10, 10 and 12 runs scored. Not surprisingly he’s picked up wins in those games.
He’s continued to pitch well even with all the rumors, I think he enjoys the attention. I like guys like that, that don’t mind if the focus is on them.
I’d love the team to sign him to an extension. I think that, in a couple of years, we are going to be wishing we had a pitcher like Marcus to head up our rotation. Or a pairing of Stroman and Pearson in the rotation.
Of course, I don’t know that he would be open to signing long term with the Jays. I’d expect he’d want 5 years and a fair bit of money. His next contract will be the big one of his career, maybe he’ll want to go to free agency. He says all the right things about Toronto. I like him saying that any player who gives Toronto a chance will fall in love with the city. Someone that speaks like that is someone I’d like having around for a long time.
If he’s going to be traded, we better get an excellent starting pitcher prospect in the deal, plus, I hope, another good pitching prospect. And perhaps something else. Right now there should be a bidding war building. That’s why so many deals are made right at the deadline. Teams will up the bids at the last moment.
Anyway, let’s have the vote.
Poll
For the first half I’d grade Marcus Stroman an
This poll is closed
-
45%
A
(313 votes) -
37%
B+
(258 votes) -
10%
B
(73 votes) -
2%
B-
(20 votes) -
1%
C+
(9 votes) -
0%
C
(3 votes) -
0%
C-
(1 vote) -
0%
D+
(1 vote) -
0%
D
(0 votes) -
0%
D-
(1 vote) -
1%
F
(7 votes)