A healthy Marcus Stroman presents Blue Jays with good problem to have

TORONTO – In Marcus Stroman’s own words his surgically repaired knee feels “amazing” and “great.” The Toronto Blue Jays sophomore pitcher was thought to be lost for the entire season when he tore his ACL during a routine fielding drill back in spring training.

But he was back in Toronto on Friday, in between minor-league rehab starts, professing his health and desire to suit up for the big-league team as soon as possible. Believe it or not, that presents a problem for the first-place Blue Jays, though it’s a good one to have.

There’s no doubt Stroman can contribute to the team looking to end a 22-year playoff drought. Despite his mere 130.2 innings of big-league experience Stroman’s stuff is good enough to make him a difference maker down the stretch and in the postseason.

“I’m ready. I was throwing through this entire process,” Stroman said Friday. “When I couldn’t walk, when I was still sitting down, my arm and all my pitches stayed fresh. It’s really good.”

The problem, however, is the Blue Jays are on such a roll it’s difficult to see where exactly he fits in.

Stroman is a natural starter though the Blue Jays initially said he could come out of the bullpen down the stretch. For the time being he’s being stretched out to start. Inserting him into the rotation sometime in the next couple weeks would mean taking someone out, or going to a six-man rotation. The Blue Jays expect him to start sometime soon but have no plans beyond that.

“If everything goes well and he looks good and feels good he could come start a game or two for us,” manager John Gibbons said. “We could [go to six-man rotation]. We could do anything… I don’t know what we’d do, to be honest. You can’t get too far ahead of yourselves.

“If he’s ready to pitch it would definitely be a good problem.”

A spot start or two wouldn’t be a big deal, as Gibbons said it could simply give his other starters an extra days rest – not a terrible idea with a slightly older staff. But if Stroman returns to form there could be tough decisions to make come playoff time when team’s traditionally go down to a four-man rotation, and rosters shrink again. And Stroman definitely wants to be a part of something like that.

“I’m just happy to be back and around the guys,” he said. “You can tell how positive, how upbeat, how motivated and inspired the guys are…. There’s a sense that you just know we’re gonna get the job done. You walk in and everyone is just confident and that’s what you need. The team camaraderie is excellent and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

Who would be left out come the postseason? Bet the farm it won’t be David Price, R.A. Dickey, or Mark Buehrle. That leaves Drew Hutchison and Marco Estrada. If you look past his deceiving record and home splits, Hutchison has had a terrible year. He is last among all Blue Jays pitchers in ERA (4.87), WHIP (1.40) and bWAR (-.06). He also spent a couple weeks in Triple-A in August. Estrada, on the other hand, has been mostly great since moving to the rotation on May 5. His 3.16 ERA is best among starters not named Price, ditto his WHIP and bWAR. Estrada has been a pleasant surprise and helped keep the Blue Jays afloat before their trade-deadline windfall. But he might also look good as the long-man coming out of the bullpen in October.

The Blue Jays and their fans would no doubt like to see a potential postseason rotation that went Price, Dickey, Stroman, Buehrle, but for now this is all still hypothetical. The first step is to get Stroman on to a big-league mound and see how he does after not pitching in the majors since September 26, 2014.

“As soon as I hurt my knee I started mapping it out,” Stroman said. “You hear about guys coming back early and I knew what I was going to do. So I honestly thought there was a realistic chance to be back in September.”

Stroman will pitch in a Triple-A game in Pawtucket on Monday and could join the Blue Jays’ rotation as early as next weekend in New York.

“My knee is great, man, great. There’s nothing there. There’s maybe a little soreness after [I pitch] but when I’m out there I don’t feel it at all.”

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Ian Denomme is an editor and writer for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.