On Stroman

"This is not fun. It’s not a fun atmosphere." - Marcus Stroman, last night after a 4-2 loss to Colorado.

Marcus Stroman's ERA dropped to 2.84 last night but his record also dropped to 3-7 in what is turning into a routine performance behind and supporting Stro. An abysmal Jays offensive effort turned in only four hits and his defensive support was fucking this; an embarrassing single turned into a little league home run, for only the second time this week. 

The Blue Jays fucking stink right now, sinking to 21-37 overall after a sweep against the Rays during the work week and then the most recent broom-dusting in Denver. As Jonah Keri noted this week, the Jays offence is historically anemic, on pace for the lowest on-base percentage in 50 years.

Stroman's frustration is absolutely understandable for those outside of Jeff Blair's comment section. He's pitching fantastically and gets zero support from the organization on the field, nor off it seems sometimes. The Jays are also juxtaposed with the Raptors right now. Stroman is watching that team capture the city in a way that hasn't been done since the 2015 Jays did. It must compound his frustration to see how the market can support a successful sports team and how far off the GTA sports map his employer has fallen in the past few years.

Stroman is also due to hit the free agent market at the end of the 2020 season and with the team playing the way they are, him and his on-and-off again bestie are hotly rumored on the trade market. But why? Stroman is everything the Jays will ever need in a starting pitcher. He competes. He doesn't allow home runs and pitches extremely well in the AL East and the Dome, neither which are easy tasks. He's morphed into the rotation leader and represents the city.

The question Jays fans need to be asking the front office is what's the plan? When do you plan on competing? If the answer is within the next 3-4 years, then there is no reason why the only discussion to be had at this point is an extension for the best home grown Blue Jays pitcher since #32. If the answer is outside of that, then, what the fuck are they doing? Is there any semblance of a plan moving forward here?

This is year four of the Shapiro/Atkins regime. They have made some good moves and have improved the farm system since taking over after 2015. Four years later though, 2019 has been beyond dreadful. The team slept through free agency and the lack of talent is...noted. At some point, this franchise is going to have to broach the question: is this the front office we want to continue moving this team forward? A trade instead of an extension of Stroman will make that conversation be had sooner than later.