Atlanta Braves trade rumors: the team is now scouting multiple starters
MARCUS STROMAN
Meanwhile in Detroit on Friday night, the Blue Jays thumped the hapless Tigers 12-1 behind 7 innings from Marcus Stroman, their best starter.
Stroman K’d 5 and yielded 6 hits while walking none and giving up no runs. He threw 101 pitches – 63 of them strikes.
His season’s ERA dipped to 3.06.
Stroman is nearly to 118 innings after his 20th start, and is showing that the minor hiccup he recently had (pectoral muscle cramping) isn’t hampering his efforts either.
Stroman’s opponents this year: Detroit/Angels/Orioles/A’s/White Sox/Boston (all twice apiece), Rays/Yankees/KC/Padres/Twins/Indians/Rockies/DBacks (once each).
He’s received game scores of 80+ just once this year. He has a 79 and a pair of 77’s.
His best-scored game (85) was a 7 inning 1-hitter against Oakland on April 26.
Bio Stuff
Stroman seems to have been around forever, but he’s still only recently turned 28. He was Alex Anthopoulos’ #22 overall pick in the 2012 draft out of Duke after having grown up on Long Island, NY… which completely explains the interest from Yankee fans.
He’s a freak of nature at a 5’7″ starting pitcher. He’s also a driven bulldog on the mound, carrying his own swagger and toughness.
He’s at 783 major league innings, which included a pair of seasons (2016-17) where he exceeded 200 innings. Injuries slowed him in 2018 (102 innings, 5.54 ERA), but he is currently out-pitching his best full season (2017) with that noted 3.06 ERA – which scales to a 148 ERA+ (100 is average).
He, like Mike Minor, should expect to benefit with a move to the NL since the DH is still a foreign substance in this league (as it should be).
Also like Minor, Stroman comes with one additional year of team control. Of note, while the Braves have included check-ins on ‘rental’ pitchers like Zack Wheeler or Madison Bumgarner (who may not actually be available after all?), these more recently scouting ventures seem to be more focused on players that will be around for more than just the final 2 months of 2019.
Stroman is actually cheaper than Minor this season, though his last arbitration year is liable to be quite a bit more expensive.
What Does Toronto Want?
Atlanta writer David O’Brien chimed in on a bit as part of a larger Kaitlyn McGrath piece in TheAthletic (subscription required) early on this week:
"Stroman’s fine and would fill the need for another starter. But Toronto’s asking price has been way too high so far. They’re trying to get a deal like the Tampa Bay Rays got for Chris Archer. And teams might look at what Archer has done, see similarities and think: ‘Is that something we really want to do? Give up multiple top prospects for a guy with Stroman’s résumé?’ But again, he’d help, and if the price isn’t ridiculous, the Braves could be involved. There is obviously history with general manager Alex Anthopoulos. With so many teams looking for pitching, someone is going to overpay for him."
Yeah, I’d bet they’d be real happy with an Archer-like return… the Pirates don’t buy at the deadline often, but that deal may insure that they never do it again, either.
By themselves, Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 1.86, 0.91 WHIP) and Austin Meadows (.289 with .885 OPS, 2.1 WAR) could have been the straight-up returns for Archer and the Rays might have been happy. Together… and it’s a crazy-steal deal.
So that’s the ceiling. The reality is much closer – and likely a little less – than what we would expect for Mike Minor.
In fact, I could see the following scenario play out: whatever Texas can get for Minor, they’ll take that best deal and then who has the second-best offer turns around and gets Stroman for essentially what they offered Texas.