Making sense of the Marcus Stroman situation

Is there a phrase for an elephant in the room that everyone is willing and ready to talk about at pretty much all times? Because that’s been the situation with Marcus Stroman this year.

With Major League Baseball’s trade deadline rapidly approaching, the discussion around Stroman’s future with the organization is reaching a boiling point. I think we’ve pretty much all accepted that the team’s ace is going to be dealt at the trade deadline. Stroman himself has come to terms with it.

We can argue all day and night if it’s the right idea to trade the 28-year-old starter who seems to be just entering his prime. This is a bit of a mystery box and the boat scenario with a few other wrinkles mixed in. Really, we’ll have to wait until the trade is made before we dissect whether it was a good idea to sell high on Stroman in order to add more to the farm.

The new piece of information I want to talk about is this report from Andy Martino that suggests the Blue Jays have, in fact, considered offering Stroman an extension.

Of course, all we’ve heard from Stroman all along throughout this process is that the team has shown zero indication of wanting to keep him around. This began back in February when Stroman said he was disappointed with the fact the front office hadn’t offered him a long-term deal. That quote compounded what is clearly, from the outside, a rocky relationship between Stroman and the Blue Jays’ current front office.

That’s what makes this new piece of information from Martino interesting. Along the way, it’s appeared as though the Jays very clearly viewed the 2019 trade deadline as the ideal time to deal Stroman. He had a disappointing 2018 season thanks largely to injuries and he’s steadily rebuilt his value.

What I assume is going on here is that the Jays are combating Stroman’s public comments which more than likely depreciate his value. According to Jamie Campbell, the Jays aren’t being offered top prospects in Stroman trade negotiations, and this could have something to do with the fact that all 29 other general managers are cognizant of what’s going on here.

I mean, it’s no secret the Jays want to deal Stroman because it matches with their philosophy of loading up the farm with cheap and controllable players, but it isn’t exactly easy to squeeze the most out of other teams in a trade when the player is coming out and pretty much explicitly saying “they’re trading me.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Stroman coming out and saying what’s happening here. He doesn’t owe the front office anything. He doesn’t have to come out and dance around the issue or pretend this isn’t happening. Stroman is a proud guy who clearly wants to be a Blue Jay and he’s more than likely agitated that the front office doesn’t think it’s worthwhile to extend him. Fair enough.

So coming from the other side, if Stroman is going to let it be known the front office doesn’t want him around, subsequently harming their stance in negotiations, they need to let it be known that they actually are considering a contract extension, even if that isn’t the case. My guess is that this leak is manufactured by the Blue Jays as an attempt to make it appear as though they’re not 100 percent sold on trading Stroman.

I would be shocked if a trade isn’t made in the next few days.