Marcus Stroman isn’t going to start Opening Day and he isn’t happy

As we all cynically expected back when it was reported he was dealing with shoulder inflammation, Marcus Stroman has been ruled out for Opening Day against the New York Yankees on March 29.

According to all of the beat reporters, John Gibbons said that Stroman won’t be pitching Opening Day, but there’s still a chance that he’ll get a start in that opening four-game series against the Yankees.

“The shoulder really isn’t a big deal,” Gibbons said. “But my experience in this game says that sometimes, it’s better to be smart than stupid.” Gibby The Best. 

Gibbons went on to report that Stroman wasn’t all too jazzed up about the decision.

“My best judgement is that it makes no sense at this time because we want him healthy the whole year,” Gibbons said. “He doesn’t like that, I get that. But I think it’s best for him and best for the team.”

Stroman started Opening Day for the Jays back in 2016, taking the role of team ace from David Price who left in free agency the previous off-season. After a disappointing 2016 season for Stroman, it was Marco Estrada who was given the ball for Opening Day in 2017 while Stroman enjoyed a breakout season.

This kind of thing doesn’t really actually matter at all, but knowing “Big Game” Stroman and his intensity, it isn’t surprising that he’s rattled by not being given the chance to go out there in front of 50,000 fans at Rogers Centre and mow down the newly-loaded up Yankees.

Still, from a fan perspective, its much, much better that the team is taking things slowly with this injury rather than rushing their ace starter back to reach an arbitrary deadline. I’m much more concerned about the other 32 starts Stroman will make throughout the year than this one at the end of March.

So, who’s going to start Opening Day?

“We’ll see,” Gibbons said. “We could go with any of them.”

My money is definitely on Jaime Garcia.