TORONTO – At this time of the year, the struggle for negotiating leverage and the battle to control narrative gets real, which is how the notion that the Toronto Blue Jays might keep Marcus Stroman and try to extend him found its way into the discourse Friday.
First, before you get your hopes up, not happening.
Not even a little.
The very idea that the Blue Jays would play the situation out to this point and suddenly, days away from the July 31 trade deadline, decide to try and secure the right-hander long-term is hilarious. Dating back to Stroman’s fire-spitting extravaganza in the spring, there’s been no sign from either side that an extension might be in the offing and the environment isn’t exactly ripe for them to come together and hammer something out before Wednesday.
So, when Andy Martino of SportsNet New York writes that “according to sources, the Blue Jays are telling interested teams that they might extend rather than trade Marcus Stroman,” what gives?
Well, imagine for a second that you’re trying to trade a player who keeps saying that you’ve shown no interest in extending him. Not really helping you out there, is he?
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Ideally, the other 29 teams in the league would believe that the Blue Jays might, in fact, be interested in keeping Stroman, so that they might feel the need to really sway GM Ross Atkins with their offers. You know, kind of like the New York Mets are doing right now with Noah Syndergaard, and the Tampa Bay Rays did for years with Chris Archer.
Beyond leverage, the suggestion of an extension also helps with the narrative of a trade, which right now is being controlled by Stroman and his I-love-it-here-but-they-don’t-want-me message. The idea that the team at least considered an extension offers a hint of effort and the possibility that the gap was too wide, offering a counterweight to the pitcher’s claims.
Stroman, though, is determined to retain control of the narrative. As Martino’s report quickly got gobbled up into the aggregation machine, the all-star took to Twitter and threw a wrench in the rotor.
That’s news to me. Lol
— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) July 26, 2019
Cool, cool.
What, then, to make of a conflicting report by the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who wrote “the Blue Jays internally believe they now have a floor with which they are comfortable and that bidding can further increase the potential return in the coming days, making it more and more likely Stroman is dealt before his next scheduled start on Tuesday.”
Now, we’re back to leverage, and, if the idea that the Blue Jays might extend Stroman isn’t going to provide an edge, the idea that they’ve got a strong baseline to work from is a more realistic ploy.
And it’s probably legit, too, as, even if Syndergaard does get traded, Stroman still remains the most impactful starter on the market. Maybe that changes if San Francisco decides to move Madison Bumgarner or Cleveland puts Trevor Bauer in play, but enough teams are looking for starters that someone is going to ante up for Stroman.
To help things along, the Blue Jays wisely will go back to a five-man rotation and insert Thomas Pannone into the Monday slot in Kansas City that Stroman was set to fill. Stroman is now scheduled to start Tuesday, and given that Ken Giles, Eric Sogard and Daniel Hudson are also expected to be dealt, with David Phelps, Freddy Galvis and Justin Smoak also in play, you’d think the big domino doesn’t go right down to the wire.
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The rotation rejig buys them another day.
For now, the Blue Jays are still waiting for the market to fully develop, as teams play chicken, trying to see who blinks on their valuation first.
The Blue Jays have no reason to blink.
Stroman is a quality starter who loves the spotlight and doesn’t shrink from the big stage. If you’re a team not only chasing October, but intent on doing damage once there, that’s a major asset. If other big names move, there are still more buyers than sellers, even if grabbing Derek Holland off the scrap heap is your jam.
Everything else?
Brinksmanship of the finest order. Sit back and enjoy the show.
