If you’re down for a rebuild as so many Toronto Blue Jays fans have boasted they are, then why the outcry about listening to offers for Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Justin Smoak?
I mean, the team was doing it last season and this winter, or the winter before in Stroman’s case, so why would it stop now?
I get the concern about it all being a bit of a buzz-kill, although my sense is this season has effectively been written off in terms of attendance. It’s all about getting the greatest number of pitchers whose service time windows jibe with that of core position players. That’s all that matters for the baseball people running this team, to be honest, not who likes it in Toronto or who the fans like.
Hey, I’d be OK with one of the pitchers signing a long-term deal and serving as a cornerstone – since Sanchez is represented by Scott Boras and there seem to be stress points in the relationship with the team, that would seem to leave Stroman, who has created his own stress points – because the organization doesn’t have anybody internally capable of replacing them.
You could go the Chicago Cubs route and re-load your pitching through free agency (let somebody else deal with that 24-year-old’s Tommy John surgery; sign him at 27 or 28 and squeeze three years out of him and then move on) but who the hell knows what free agency will look like two or three years down the road?
To my mind, the safest thing to do is play out the season with Stroman and Sanchez and then move them in the off-season, making sure you have solid pitching to give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Co. some breathing room this season. After all, you’re not going to hit it out of the park the way the Tampa Bay Rays did when they traded Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates last season. Archer was already under contract for another year with a pair of club-friendly options so the Pirates were getting him for three and a half years.
But the bottom line is: if the front office has already decided that Stroman and Sanchez aren’t going to be back next season, moving at least one of them well before the trade deadline should bring back more than you’d get by waiting for July 31.
As for Guerrero, who is coming off the kind of road trip that for established Major Leaguers gets hidden in the middle of a long season? As I’ve said all along: I just want good defence and a good walk to strikeout ratio. The rest will come.
NOW TWEET THIS
• The Red Sox scored nine runs in an inning against the White Sox on Saturday; it was the first time that had happened to the White Sox since June 19, 2004, when the Expos’ Juan Rivera hit a grand-slam and two-run homer in the second inning #juanbiginning
• The complete game has all but disappeared but this is something else: The Rays haven’t had one since May 14, 2016 and that’s the longest drought in Major League history. Yonny Chirinos came within two outs of a complete-game loss Saturday #incomplete
• Here come my Twinkies for a three-game series against the Jays: on pace for 292 homers, which would smash the club record of 225 set by Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison’s 1963 team, not to mention the MLB record 267 by last year’s Yankees #aguycandream
• Steph Curry has never in his 793-game career put up 22 or more shots and finished with just 28 points as he did in Game 3. But the Warriors lost that game on the boards: out-rebounded 55-35, the first time they’ve been out-rebounded by 20 boards since May 15, 2007, by the Jazz #roomandboard
• David Pastrnak kills the Leafs so Leafs fans aren’t shocked his average 1.17 points per playoff game is third-highest through 30 games in club history. Or that Bobby Orr is ahead at 1.20. But how many know that Barry Pederson’s 1.70 is miles ahead of both of them? #bearfacts
• The White Sox will be in town next weekend for the first time since Randal Grichuk called out Tim Anderson for his bat flip. Anderson and Marcus Stroman also have a history. Could be fun #pullupyersox
• When Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored for Arsenal Sunday, it gave the Premier League three African-born, 20-goal scorers for the first time in its history (Aubemayang, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.) In fact, until this season, there had never been two #diversity
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THE ENDGAME
The Washington Wizards wouldn’t be my first choice, but let’s get real here: why wouldn’t Raptors president Masai Ujiiri be looking elsewhere if a rebuild is in the offing, or at least has an answer one way or another about whether Kawhi Leonard is back. He’s done all he can in Toronto, really. He’s changed the culture around the team and gone all in on what sure seems like one, final bid for a title. If the Raptors come up short and he decides to move on, he deserves both our blessing and appreciation.
Jeff Blair hosts The Jeff Blair Show from 9 a.m.-11 and Baseball Central from 11-Noon ET on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
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