TORONTO – Midway through John Gibbons’ daily pre-game session with media Friday, Marcus Stroman stuck his head into the office and pointed to his right arm with a grin. The Toronto Blue Jays manager told his right-hander to hold on a moment, finished an answer and then called him in.
“Stro,” Gibbons bellowed, as the pitcher walked in. “So I’m off the hook? Come on in here and answer questions.”
“He’s out,” a bemused Stroman replied as his manager pointed to his chair and vacated his own office.
“Watch what you say,” Gibbons yelled from the hallway.
“I will, I will,” said Stroman.
And with that Stroman began working through the gauntlet of requests for him on his first day back with the Blue Jays since a strong first rehab outing Wednesday at single-A Lansing, with another 80-pitch start due for triple-A Buffalo at Pawtucket on Monday before a decision on his fate is to be made.
All things being equal, that’s when things get both exciting and tricky for the Blue Jays, as adding a healthy Stroman in September for a playoff run can be a huge shot in the arm, but fitting him in when there’s no obvious hole isn’t straightforward.
“We could,” Gibbons answered when asked if a six-man rotation was a possibility. “We really could do anything.”
The way things appear to be shaping up, Stroman may very well jump back into the Blue Jays rotation next weekend in New York for a spot start against the Yankees, pushing everyone back a day, winging it from there depending on how things go.
“If it’s good we might start him again,” Gibbons said examining the possibilities. “Now if it’s not, maybe then we throw him in the ‘pen. It’s still up in the air, we don’t know what’s going to happen Monday (against Pawtucket), for the simple reason that he hasn’t thrown much. His arm is fine, but is everything else fine?”
If everything else continues to be fine, the Blue Jays could also employ some sort of modified six-man rotation over the final three weeks, keeping David Price on turn, while building in extra rest for R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada and Drew Hutchison. The Blue Jays have, on occasion, used a sixth starter over the past two years to do precisely that, and they believe it’s been very effective.
“We’ve got some older guys, too, now that could use an extra day here and there,” said Gibbons. “It’s not ideal because you throw them a little bit out of their schedule, but I think it’s been proved here the past couple of years, when you give guys the extra day, they’ve benefitted from it, really.”
A sixth starter can also be used to manipulate the rotation so that Price’s final start of the season can be timed for greatest effect, and perhaps set him up for a wild-card outing.
Stroman just needs to hold up his end of the bargain to put the machinations into action, and he’s adamant that he’ll be able to do just that.
“I’m in mid-season form, 100 per cent,” he said. “Every single pitch is ready, I’m ready, my knee is ready. I’m ready to go.”
Ready is a word he used frequently, reminding those who doubted his ability to return from a torn ACL suffered in spring training that he continued to throw throughout the entire process, which meant “my arm, my pitches, everything stayed fresh.”
At Lansing, he threw 4.2 innings allowing just a walk and seven strikeouts, running over to cover first base for his final out. That eased the mind of many wondering about his knee’s ability to withstand rigours beyond pitching, something Stroman says he prepared for before returning to the mound.
“When I was at Duke, we set up everything to make sure that I would be able to handle every single situation in games,” he says. “The last week at Duke was essentially a combine where I did single leg RDLs (Roman Deadlifts), single leg jumps, broad jumps, 5-10-5s, 50-yard shuttles – I did everything possible so after I got through that, I was like, there’s nothing I’m going to face in-game that I’m not going to be able to do.”
So far, so good, with only one more hurdle remaining.
“I’m not trying to take away, what they’re doing is perfect,” Stroman said of being with the Blue Jays again. “I’m just trying to stay quiet, come in here and be with the guys and enjoy what’s going on.”