Free Agent Poll: Marcus Stroman

I borrowed an idea from Lone Star Ball. It isn’t the first time I’ve stolen from them. The idea is to go through some of the top free agents, use the contract FanGraphs suggests they will get and have a poll asking if we would like to sign him for that amount.

Marcus Stroman is number 4 on Keith Law’s list of free agents and number 11 on FanGraphs list.

I was going to skip him until we hear it he accepts the QO from the Mets but I saw this tweet:

I’m not thinking the Blue Jays front office wants him back, but that doesn’t have to effect this vote.

Craig Edwards figure Marcus will get a 2-year, $26 million contract, $13 million a season. If he is only going to get that much, he might as well take the QO.

Marcus didn’t throw a pitch this season. I don’t know how that will change the thinking of baseball about him.

We know all about him but Craig has this line:

...the team that signs him could get two very good years from the groundball specialist at a relatively low commitment. Teams without a good infield defense need not apply.

Keith Law says:

He’s still a clear $20-million-a-year pitcher and should be the second-highest-paid starter this winter after Bauer.

Before this season, Marcus had 30+ starts in three of the past four seasons. He’s been very consistent, putting up fWAR numbers of 3.3, 3.4, 1.4 and 3.9 over those four season.

Marcus is colorful (let’s go with that word). He’s loud, he celebrates, he has a personality. As a person who isn’t in the clubhouse, I like watching players like that. If I had to be in the clubhouse, I might not be as much of a fan.

I guess there is a question of ‘do we want a ground ball pitcher with the infield we have?’ I’m hoping there are improvements made to our infield this year, but, if we come back with the same group we had this year, I think Marcus would turn into Dave Stieb, by mid-season, staring down his infielders for letting balls bounce through to the outfield.

But I don’t have to tell you anything about Marcus, you guys watched him too. Let’s have the poll:

I’m going to bee missing a bit for the next couple of days. I’m taking a mental heal break, after being too invested in watching the election and all.