Blue Jays: Padres aren’t trading for Marcus Stroman

Though there was some speculation that the San Diego Padres, a team desperately in need of starting pitching, would look at acquiring Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman, it doesn’t appear as though they’re going to seriously pursue him, according to a recent report.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Diego Padres will not be trading for Toronto Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman. Acee notes that while the Padres will likely add some starting pitchers this offseason, Stroman will not be one of those pitchers.

He also notes that the team has had “hundreds of conversations” with other teams about acquiring starting pitching help, most recently with the Cleveland Indians about Corey Kluber. The Padres’ reported interest in Kluber become more intense Wednesday, making it seem as though the team had moved on from Stroman.

Last week, it was reported that the Padres had some level of interest in trading for Stroman, though the sources who reported their interest cautioned that there were never any “serious” conversations occurring.

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Stroman, 27, responded to the aforementioned rumours, reinforcing his loyalty to the Blue Jays and their fans, adding that the Rogers Centre is his “second home” in a tweet published shortly after the report surfaced.

Previously, Stroman had been once again linked to the Cincinnati Reds, who’d reportedly shown interest in him in 2015 when the team was in the process of finding a trade partner for Johnny Cueto. According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the Reds were asking for “Stroman plus” in a potential trade that would’ve sent Cueto to Toronto back then, and obviously the circumstances have changed today.

While the possibility of the Padres trading for Kluber seems very much alive, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network, it doesn’t appear as though Stroman will be a Padre in 2019.