Padres reportedly interested in Blue Jays' Marcus Stroman

During the baseball Winter Meetings in Las Vegas last week, it seemed like a new rumour involving the Toronto Blue Jays pair of starters Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez would pop up every day.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins was quick to shoot down any and all of them, including Buster Onley and Jon Morosi both strongly suggesting there was significant interest from the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds eventually did end up following through on a different deal, landing Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, and Alex Wood from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That means it is time for some other team to take over as the rumoured lead suitor for the Blue Jays arms, legitimacy be damned.

On Saturday evening, MLB Network’s Morosi let fly with the latest bout of speculation, naming the San Diego Padres as “engaged in ongoing discussions” about a trade for Stroman.

For the uninitiated: “ongoing discussions” can mean just about anything and potentially fake smoke doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any kind of fire to be found. That being said, the list of teams to have been attached to interest in Stroman seems to grow by the day. Basically any rotation in need of an extra arm seems to have made at least a courtesy call to check on his status, and there must be a consensus that if you’re calling to ask about him you aren’t going to immediately be hung up on.

With another round of random rumours including his name swirling around the internet, Stroman himself took time to reassure his followers that moving to San Diego is not on his Christmas wish list.

There are understandable reasons that teams may think Stroman can be had for a discount. He struggled through a blister injury and shoulder fatigue throughout the 2018 season, finishing with a career worst 5.54 ERA and 1.476 WHIP over 102 innings.

The Blue Jays likely value him much closer to the version that posted a 3.09 ERA over 201 innings the year before, and have as much need for quality starting pitching as anyone in baseball.

Beyond those numbers, there is another reason it would seem like strange timing for Toronto to move on from one of their best arms right now. He just tweeted earlier this week about how much loves pitching in the AL East!

How could you take someone so excited about facing lineups like that and place them in the cushy confines of baseball’s most pitcher-friendly park?

It would be shame.

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