Blue Jays should target Dan Straily from the Marlins

As the Miami Marlins firesale rages on, the Toronto Blue Jays should focus their attention on acquiring 29-year old starting pitcher Dan Straily from the sunshine state.

With a number of teams jockeying for the pending exodus of Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto, the Blue Jays may be better served to target one of the Marlins starters as the Jays look to solidify that final spot in their rotation for 2018.

Dan Straily could shore up the Jays rotation nicely coupled with Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada. The addition would be two-fold as it would provide the Jays with the luxury of sending Joe Biagini back to the bullpen where he has been the most effective. The Baltimore Orioles were also rumoured to have interest in Straily as well this offseason.

The Marlins acquired Straily last offseason from the Cincinnati Reds and the 29-year old immediately paid dividends making 33 starts for the fish in 2017. The hurler posted a 4.26 earned run average while fanning 170 in 181.2 innings of work. He accumulated a 1.6 WAR down considerably from the 4.6 WAR rating he earned in 2016 with the Reds.

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Straily won’t sniff free agency until 2021 and is arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason. MLB Trade Rumors has Straily pegged at earning somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.6 million for the upcoming season which is a considerable spike from the $552,100 he earned in 2017.

The former 24th round pick of the Athletics could become even more valuable to the Blue Jays if is able to reinvent his sinker he relied on heavily in previous seasons. In 2014, Straily threw his cement mixer 18.3% of the time compared to just 1.6% of the time in 2017. The pitch could be a nice addition to his repertoire in the friendly hitter confines of the Rogers Centre.

Straily has spent time with 5 teams (A’s, Cubs, Astros, Reds, Marlins) over his 6-year career and owns a 37-30 record with a 4.25 ERA, 1.271 WHIP, 549 K’s, 6.4 WAR in 119 games.

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He is definitely not someone the Jays should unload the farm on to acquire but he could be a serviceable and controllable fifth starter for the right price as the Marlins continue to cut salary from their roster.