Yankees are in on Stroman, the most predictable move ever

In what seems like the peak of baseball sadness, the Blue Jays are in discussions with the Yankees about a possible trade sending a very good pitcher to New York.

According to New York Post columnist Ken Davidoff, the Yankees have spoken to the Jays about acquiring Marcus Stroman, the only good starter left in the Jays rotation. As the July 31st trade deadline approaches and many teams that want to win baseball games have struggling arms, trade talks might heat up sooner rather than later to secure some of those rare wins.

As Nicholson-Smith states in his tweet, the Jays have been open to trading the 28-year-old starter if the right deal comes up. A very broad thing to talk about, but one can assume that it would involve a very highly-regarded prospect that fits Toronto’s timeline to success.

But it has been talked about so much before — to win now, a team needs really good pitching. That’s clearly why contending teams like the Yankees and hopeful teams like the Padres have been linked to Stroman so far, because he’s a really good pitcher.

It’s a weird concept in general, but what if the Jays were to keep Stroman around and therefore have at least one good pitcher in their rotation? It might feel odd not wanting all of those young assets with heaps of mysterious potential, but keeping his services for when the Jays are hopefully winning more games, might be useful.

Vlad and Stroman can share the same timeline — at 28, the pitcher isn’t necessarily going to just turn to decrepit dust as soon as he reaches his 30s.

Him and his current 3.31 ERA is not going to decline at such a rapid rate that any sort of extension talk would be deemed unnecessary. With the recent extensions signed by Chris Sale and Blake Snell, a reasonable guess is that Stroman would accept any sort of addition to his contract before hitting free agency after the 2020 season. Could be speculation, but it’s a trend.

The extension theme continues if he is sent to New York, much like Sale getting extended before free agency after he was traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox. Stroman signing an extension with the Yankees would sting, but it all depends on what the return in this hypothetical trade would be.

There were thoughts of the Jays getting a similar package to what the Rays got for Chris Archer, but getting an under-performing arm that surges like Tyler Glasnow and a prospect like Austin Meadows is extremely unlikely. So many factors had to go their way for the Rays to get those steals.

Seeing Stroman flourish and most likely go deep into the postseason with the Yankees would be just the icing on the asset management sadness cake.

It’s frusurating, but with the amount of trade smoke around Stroman, and Sanchez to a lesser extent, a trade just feels inevitable. Maybe the Jays just want to beat the Orioles to having the worst rotation in the history of the sport.