TORONTO – The first signs of trouble for Marcus Stroman came after he threw his final warmup pitch for the top of the fifth inning. He lifted his left arm up in the air and grimaced as he dropped his glove hand back for a stretch, proceeding to massage his shoulder, armpit and chest area.
“I thought it would be something I’d be able to work out over the next few pitches, know what I mean?” said Stroman.
Given that the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander often twists and turns between pitches, it didn’t seem particularly out of the ordinary. As catcher Danny Jansen put it, “Stroman kind of does that stuff, he’s a flexible guy, always moving around.” But before throwing his first pitch of the frame to Whit Merrifield, Stroman still didn’t look particularly comfortable.
“I felt it and I thought it was something that over the next few pitches, at my intensity level, it would have just fixed itself,” said Stroman.
The first pitch was an 81.6-m.p.h. slider that he didn’t finish at all, sailing it high for a ball. His next offering was an 89.5-m.p.h. two-seamer, well off his game average of 92.4, that he pulled off on at the end and also sailed high for another ball. Immediately afterwards he called for trainer Nikki Huffman and, after a brief mound conference, his day was done.
“It was just tight, just a crampy sensation in my left pec that made it hard to pull in my delivery, which is extremely important to do for a pitcher, having your front side there,” explained Stroman. “Just being cautious. I fully expect to be out there in five days.”
The Blue Jays later said a left-shoulder pectoral cramp forced Stroman out of what finished as a 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals thanks to Cavan Biggio’s fifth-inning grand slam and Jansen’s walk-off two-run shot. With the club strapped for starting pitching but expected to deal the right-hander ahead of the July 31 trade deadline – quite the dichotomy, we know – it has much riding on Stroman’s status, which made the post-game diagnosis a relief.
“He’s not going to miss any time,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “He’ll be fine for his next start.”
Sam Gaviglio took over from Stroman, who allowed three runs on four hits and two walks in four innings of work that pushed his season total to 104.2 frames, 2.1 innings more than his entire total from 2018. He’s pitched to a 3.18 ERA over his 18 starts this season and, with his big-game experience in the post-season, is positioned to be among the top arms available in trade over the next month.
The scare created by Stroman’s early exit underlined the current stakes for the Blue Jays with the 28-year-old. Since the club appears intent on turning him into prospect capital rather than extending him, watching him over the next couple of weeks will be akin to tracking a security on the stock market.
While his value won’t fluctuate wildly – opposing clubs have a pretty good idea of what he is – contenders want players they acquire to be healthy and performing well, since they don’t have time to let someone work through struggles in the midst of a pennant race.
Last year, J.A. Happ slumped ahead of the trade deadline and whether that had any impact on the return the Blue Jays got from the New York Yankees for him – infielder Brandon Drury and outfielder Billy McKinney – is unclear. But when someone is at the top of his game, the way Stroman has been nearly all season, it certainly gives the selling team some extra leverage.
Stroman’s next scheduled start is Thursday against the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox – whom he handled so well at Fenway Park last week.
“I’m not worried about (the cramp),” he said. “I’m a warrior, I’m a dawg, always. I’ll be back out there.”
An injury, of course, is the nightmare scenario, because if the Blue Jays keep him past July 31, his value only goes down since they’ll be selling one post-season run with Stroman instead of two. Their leverage will also decrease sharply because other teams know bringing back Stroman for another year of rebuild makes zero sense if there are no plans to extend him.
An additional factor in the mix is that the Blue Jays must do better in trading Stroman than they did in dealing away Happ, with acquiring a controllable starter who has the potential to provide impact a necessity to keep the rebuild from spinning its wheels in the mud.
With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – whose solo shot in the third was his first homer since June 5 – Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Biggio – whose slam erased a 4-1 Royals lead – Jansen and, probably within the next month or so, Bo Bichette, the makings of a solid lineup are in place.
But, in terms of grooming a rotation to complement that group, there’s far less certainty there, although Trent Thornton has shown promise and Ryan Borucki’s next rehab start will be for 60 pitches at advanced-A Dunedin on Monday.
So Stroman means a lot right now, as does closer Ken Giles, who didn’t pitch the ninth Saturday after finishing Friday night’s victory. Giles returned from the injured list June 19 and has only pitched three times since and has yet to appear in back-to-back games.
“This is the first time we didn’t want to use him on back-to-back days, before that, he hasn’t had a save situation (on consecutive days since returning from injury),” said Montoyo. “But we decided before the game that he wasn’t going to pitch. He’s fine.”
Daniel Hudson, sure to generate some interest before the trade deadline, surrendered the tying run in the ninth on an Alex Gordon sacrifice fly. But Jansen drove a 3-2 fastball from Scott Barlow over the wall in left centre to end it in the bottom half, providing a happy ending to a day that threatened to have much bigger repercussions.
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