Jays close to adding big weapon in Stroman
Back in spring training, the Blue Jays suffered a significant blow when young right-hander Marcus Stroman tore his ACL during a fielding drill. His rehab went well over the summer — Dr. James Andrews was “stunned” by his progress — and Stroman is now moving close to rejoining the team.
Wednesday night, Stroman made his first official minor league rehab start with Toronto’s Low Class A affiliate, the Lansing Lugnuts. How did it go? Let’s look (via MiLB.com):
Yep, that works. Stroman threw 44 of 69 pitches for strikes (64 percent) according to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, by the way.
Stroman threw a pair of simulated games to shake off the rust prior to the rehab start. Chisholm says Stroman will throw a bullpen session Friday before making what is tentatively scheduled to be his final rehab start Monday. That start will be with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
Assuming everything goes well over the next five days or so, Stroman will rejoin the Blue Jays next week, manager John Gibbons told Chisholm. Where does Stroman fit onto the staff? That’s the real question. Gibbons and the Jays have lots of options with the young right-hander. Let’s run them down.
Stroman to the rotation, Hutchison to the bullpen
For many reasons, the quartet of David Price, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Marco Estrada are locked into their rotation spots. All four have pitched very well, either all season or of late. The final rotation spot currently belongs to Drew Hutchison, who has a 4.87 ERA (81 ERA+) and a 1.41 WHIP despite a 13-2 record. He’s getting wins despite not pitching all that well thanks to Toronto’s juggernaut offense.
When Stroman returns, the Blue Jays could simply stick him in the rotation and move Hutchison to the bullpen. It’s the old “replace the worst starter” strategy, which is never a bad one. Hutchison has never pitched out of the bullpen with regularity, so that would be a new experience for him. Still, at this time of the season, the Blue Jays have to put their best foot forward, and that likely means Stroman in the rotation.
Six-man rotation
I’m convinced six-man rotations will be the norm within 10 years or so. Everything in baseball is trending toward using pitchers less and less, and we’ve seen a few teams use six-man rotations for short stretches in recent years. Eventually more teams will use it, then before you know it, everyone will use it all the time.
Anyway, the Blue Jays could always insert Stroman into the rotation and not remove Hutchison or anyone else. Stroman is coming off his injury, so surely they want to take it easy on him, plus both Buehrle and Dickey are on the wrong side of 35, so the extra rest could benefit them. Heck, it could even help Price, who is a Grade A workhorse with a ton of innings on his arm.
We’re in September now, so rosters are expanded. It would be much easier to carry a six-man rotation since Toronto wouldn’t have to play with a short bullpen or a short bench. September is definitely the time to use six-man rotations. It has to be an option for the Jays.
Stroman to the bullpen
Of course, the Blue Jays could simply leave their rotation as is — it does have them in first place, after all — and move Stroman to the bullpen. He initially broke into the big leagues as a reliever last year, so it wouldn’t be new to him. That said, the team has gone through all the trouble of getting him stretched out during his rehab assignment. It seems like it would be a waste to move him back into a one or two-inning role. (I suppose Stroman could serve as a three or four-inning setup man, but relievers aren’t used like that these days.)
Hybrid six-man rotation
This is a longshot but it is worth mentioning. Hutchison has remarkable home/road splits — he has a 2.46 ERA in 87 2/3 inings at home this season and a 9.00 ERA (!) in 51 innings on the road — so perhaps the solution is starting Hutchison at home and Stroman on the road. That way the Blue Jays stick to a five-man rotation, keep all their starters, and maximize their output by hiding Hutchison on the road. It sounds like a wonderful idea. Could they actually pull it off? It’s easier said than done.
Either way, the Blue Jays are close to getting Stroman back from his knee injury, which is incredible all by itself. He was expected to miss the entire season after pitching to a 3.65 ERA (105 ERA+) in 130 2/3 innings last year, but instead he is close to return. However they decide to use Stroman, the Blue Jays are getting a very good pitcher back, and he’ll help them in a big way in some capacity down the stretch.
Marcus Stroman is one step closer to rejoining the Blue Jays. (USATSI)
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