Blue Jays: Could Padres and Blue Jays re-engage in Stroman talks?

With the Padres recent signing of 4x All-Star Manny Machado, could the Blue Jays and Padres re-engage in a possible deal involving Marcus Stroman?

The Manny Machado sweepstakes are finally over.

After awaiting news for months now about where Bryce Harper and Manny Machado would end up signing, Machado ended up signing a 10 year, $300 million deal with the Padres earlier today. We’re still waiting on Harper to make a decision, but at least things are finally starting to move on the high end of the market.

With the Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, White Sox, and Phillies, among others, linked to Machado, it was little surprising to see him end up signing with the Padres. San Diego has the #1 ranked minor league system in all of baseball, and adding Machado definitely speeds up the process to eventually competing.

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And if the Padres want to compete in the near future, their starting rotation is going to need an upgrade, and Marcus Stroman could be that upgrade.

Stroman said on Sunday that he wouldn’t be surprised if trade rumours involving him continued in the future. Three days later, those rumours are back already.

As mentioned, the Padres have the #1 minor league system in baseball, which means they have the assets to pull off any potential trade. Unlike San Diego, the Blue Jays didn’t just sign a superstar caliber player for the next decade, and with Stroman being linked to the Padres this past offseason, a potential deal between these two clubs actually makes sense. It was a topic of discussion earlier this offseason, and now that the Padres have secured Machado they may feel a great sense of urgency.

While the Padres have a shot at potentially competing this season and next, the Blue Jays are unlikely to. With all eyes on the future for this Toronto club, and Stroman voicing his frustration with Blue Jays management these last few days, maybe acquiring a few young pieces to help you win in the future in exchange for Stroman isn’t the worst thing; for the club, and for the starter.

A comparable starter to Stroman would be Chris Archer. Archer was traded from the Rays to the Pirates at last year’s deadline in exchange for outfielder Austin Meadows and starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow. Meadows slashed .250./.308/.417 in 10 games last season for the Rays, while Glasnow started 11 games and pitched to a 4.20 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.

Looking at that Archer trade, the Blue Jays could expect to receive two pretty good prospects in return for a pitcher who has injury problems and has bashed this front office multiple times. That said, the two clubs apparently discussed possible scenarios earlier in the offseason, and weren’t able to get close enough to make a deal. Again, given everything that’s happened since on both sides, it wouldn’t be shocking to see discussions pick back up.