Blue Jays name Marcus Stroman opening day starter, other notes

The 24-year-old Blue Jays ace will open the season against Chris Archer and the Tampa Bay Rays next Sunday at Tropicana Field

It was the Toronto Blue Jays’ worst kept secret.

Marcus Stroman has officially, and finally, been named the team’s opening day starter for the 2016 season. This comes one year later than both sides had expected, as Stroman was on track to pitch on opening day in New York last season before a knee injury derailed him.

More from Jays Journal

• Blue Jays: A Hypothetical Trade Package for Shohei Ohtani
• Blue Jays: Santiago Espinal receives Super Two status
• Blue Jays: Nate Pearson finding early success in Winter League ball
• Toronto Blue Jays: Early Lessons From the World Series
• Blue Jays: Which teams could come calling for a catcher?

“I want to be the ace,” Stroman told Sportsnet’s Mike Wilner earlier in the year. “I’m ready for it, I think I have a good opportunity to run with it and I would love to be the guy to put an end to having a bunch of different opening day starters.”

This also creates an interesting forecast for the Blue Jays home opener and who will get the nod on that day.

Given the off day following their four-game set in Tampa, it’s conceivable that the Blue Jays leapfrog their fifth starter (whoever that may be) and return to Stroman.

Other possibilities include Marco Estrada, who could benefit from his season beginning on April 8th instead of the 4th or 5th. The Jays could also keep a traditional rotation and roll out one of Gavin Floyd or Aaron Sanchez.

Edwin Encarnacion update… 


This morning’s news regarding the injured Blue Jays slugger(oblique) is encouraging, but this still doesn’t put him as far along in his recovery as the team would prefer.

Manager John Gibbons had originally said that Encarnacion likely could not afford any setbacks. There has not been one, thankfully, but the longer it takes Encarnacion to get into live game action, the more difficult it will be for him to start the season on the 25-man roster.

Earlier this week we looked at a handful of options for the Blue Jays should they need to fill that spot for a week or two.