Blue Jays Report: Marcus Stroman trade buzz dying down

While Marcus Stroman has been the subject of numerous trade rumours over the last few weeks, it doesn’t appear as though he’s going to be traded, at least for now.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Marcus Stroman isn’t exactly attracting a whole lot of attention on the trade market as of late, existing within a market that “isn’t exactly bustling right now”.

Passan also posits that “the prospects of the Toronto Blue Jays moving Stroman have decreased in recent weeks. Interested teams simply aren’t offering packages commensurate with what the Blue Jays believe Stroman’s value to be, basing it off the expectation that he’ll return to 2017 form after a disastrous 2018 “.

This, of course, is contrary to recent reports that both the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds expressed genuine interest in acquiring the young hurler, who, according to Ross Atkins at the winter meets in early December, was garnering quite a bit of interest from rival teams.

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Stroman, 27, struggled in 2018, pitching to an ERA of 5.54 in 102.1 frames, striking out just 77 and walking 36. His best season was the 2017 season in which he pitched to an ERA of 3.09 in 201.0 innings, striking out 164 and walking just 62.

For his career, he boasts an ERA of 3.91 and a cumulative record of 41-34 in parts of five big league seasons, all of which he’s spent with the Blue Jays.

A proud member of the team and one of the most colourful characters in baseball today, Stroman has been vocal about the trade rumours that have seemingly engulfed him since the offseason began. He’s one of the few holdover faces left from the last playoff generation, but he’s also young enough that he could contribute in a rebuild, so his situation is different from most of the players that were around during the Alex Anthopoulos era of this team.

In short, it does appear as though Stroman will, at least for now, remain a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, despite somewhat ridiculous speculation that he’ll be dealt. Stroman himself tweeted a simple message, “let it go”, shortly after the report surfaced.