Blue Jays: Marco Estrada sets sights on comeback attempt

According to Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors, former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada has his sights set on a comeback attempt in 2020.

Marco Estrada was renowned for being the master of the changeup during his tenure with the Blue Jays. The soft tosser perfected the art of changing speeds and made many a batter look silly at the dish during his days in Toronto. Unfortunately for Estrada, he also became well known for a wonky back that was the cause of his eventual demise and inflated earned run average.

The 36-year old signed a $4 million dollar pact with the Oakland Athletics for the 2019 campaign, however, he only managed five starts before once again succumbing to the nagging back ailment. At that time, it appeared that Estrada was poised to hang up the spikes and call it a career.

In his five starts with the Athletics, Estrada surrendered 18 earned runs including seven home runs in just 23.2 innings of work.

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According to Adams, Estrada could be potentially ready to compete by June and has already had dialogue with a few clubs about a possible return. The veteran hurler will presumably only garner minor league offers with possible incentive clauses from prospective teams.

The former Blue Jays fan favourite spent four seasons north of the border after he was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Adam Lind during the 2014 offseason. Estrada went 39-40 with a 4.25 earned run average along with a 10.1 WAR in 124 games with Toronto.

Estrada was an integral part of the Blue Jays two postseason runs in 2015-16 combining for three wins over six playoff starts.

The native of Mexico last appeared in the majors on April 16th, 2019 so it is conceivable that the layoff has rejuvenated his wonky back and the hurler is back to full health. If Estrada is willing to accept a minor-league pact, then there is no reason the Blue Jays should not offer him an opportunity to prolong his career where he experienced the most success.

There was nothing more exciting than watching Estrada embarrass hitters with an 82 MPH changeup that everyone in the stadium knew was coming before it left his hand.

Best of luck on the comeback attempt, Marco!