Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman left his start against the Royals in the fifth inning Saturday with “discomfort,” Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Stroman’s final pitch – a two-seam fastball – clocked in at 89.5 mph, down about 3 mph from his typical velocity, per Davidi. While Stroman’s status isn’t yet known, a serious injury would be a rather unfortunate turn of events for Toronto leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. Stroman, if healthy, figures to end up as one of the best starters on the move over the next month. [UPDATE: Stroman has a left shoulder pectoral cramp, Scott Mitchell of TSN was among those to report. He won’t miss any time, manager Charlie Montoyo told Davidi and others.]
More from the AL East…
- Yankees first baseman Luke Voit exited the team’s London-based slugfest against Boston on Saturday with tightness in his core muscle, according to the Bombers (via ESPN.com). Voit told reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that he hopes to avoid the injured list, but the team will know more about his status Sunday. The 28-year-old collected four hits in as many attempts prior to his exit Saturday, upping his 2019 line to .280/.393/.509 (140 wRC+) with 17 home runs in 349 plate appearances. That would obviously be difficult production for the red-hot Yankees to lose, especially considering they may have just seen fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton go down until at least August. The Yankees replaced Voit on Saturday with Gio Urshela and moved Urshela to third base for the sizzling DJ LeMahieu, who shifted to first.
- Sticking with the Yankees, ace righty Luis Severino is still at least five to seven days from throwing, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Severino has been shelved for almost three months with a lat strain – an injury that’s 90 percent healed, according to King. However, Severino’s still battling some soreness in the area. There has been plenty of speculation about the Yankees acquiring a starter (perhaps Stroman) in the next month, but they’d likely benefit more from a healthy Severino than any other hurler they could land in the coming weeks.
- The Rays aren’t ruling out a return before the All-Star break for injured reliever Diego Castillo, manager Kevin Cash said Saturday (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The club placed Castillo on the IL last Sunday with right shoulder inflammation. That came on the heels of a few rough appearances for the flamethrowing Castillo, whose ERA was 2.05 as recently as June 11 but now sits at 3.93.
MiserableBucsFan
Marcus Stroman to the Padres would be a great trade considering all of the prospects they have – hopefully it’s not a serious injury
bleacherbum
Agreed.
The Padres also have two Canadian born players who would fit well with Toronto. Quantrill, Naylor plus another prospect in the top 10 should get Toronto’s attention.
Stroman would fit well in the Padres clubhouse it seems as well. His attitude & Energy would be welcomed to a team who already has a ton of it.
Taejonguy
non-throwing shoulder
jorge78
It’s really odd to see such a short right handed starting pitcher (Stroman). Talent evaluators are usually very biased against those. Of course, teams used to never draft first baseman in the first round…..
Michael Birks
Roy Oswalt says hi
GaryWarriorsRedSoxx
So does Pedro Martinez.
bravesfan88
Yeah, Stroman stands at a whopping 5’8″ and weighs in at approximately 180 lbs. That’s pretty crazy considering the average ML pitcher stands at about 6’2.5″ and 210 lbs.
Not to mention, as of 2017-2018, there were only SEVEN ML pitchers that were shorter than 5’10”!! Considering how effective Stroman has been in his career, I’d certainly say that out of almost every pitcher in all of the MLB, Stroman truly gets the most from his body..
Not only is Stroman just completely defying the odds, by being such a short SP, he’s also doing this while staying relatively healthy. Usually the knock on shorter pitchers with live arms is their injury risks and carrying a stigma that they’re going to most likely have a “shorter” shelf life….Well, here again, Stroman is exceeding expectations.
Typically, you will see the 5’10” relief pitcher types that can hum it at approximately 96+, but they just rarely end up making it all the way to the Majors. One of my favorite recent Braves’ prospects from about 6-7 years back was J.R. Graham.
Graham was a lights out bullpen arm that could light up the radar gun consistently around 96-100. Graham also stood 5’10”, and he initially began his professional, minor league career with the Braves as a starting pitcher. However, not too long after tearing up the lower and middle levels of the Braves organization, Graham suddenly was hit with a rash of arm/shoulder injuries. He eventually was able to come back healthy, but then he was moved to the bullpen as a possible closing candidate with a ton of potential. After being acquired by the Twins, Graham was able to fight off some more injury issues, and eventually made his ML debut. However, unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the injury bug to come back and bite Graham again.
Ultimately, it was injuries that just sapped a lot of Graham’s arm talent and his MLB career…Extremely unfortunate how things turned out for JR Graham, because when he was healthy he truly looked alot like the RH version of Billy Wagner…Such a talented arm, but unlike Stroman, Graham wasn’t able to defy the height gods!!
64' Yanks
Wow, Ron Guidry was 5-11 and 161 lbs.
its_happening
Was rubbing his left arm in the 5th and the broadcast initially thought it was something with the non-throwing shoulder. Left pec it is. Sigh of relief for everyone.
In other news, quick game out in London today….
Taejonguy
yep… a boob cramp.
Mickey777
If he’s unavailable I wonder where the Yankees, will turn? Leake? Boyd? Wheeler? Any thoughts?
TheTrotsky
I read an article that said the Yanks “love” Wheeler. I’m not sure why.
its_happening
It will take very little to get Wheeler. That’s the appeal. I agree with you, not sure why.
johnrealtime
Former top prospect who had a good season last year and is struggling some but not horribly this year. There is appeal there
its_happening
AL East is a different animal. NL East may as well be AAA in-comparison. Wouldn’t trust Wheeler in a Yankee uniform.
KnicksFanCavsFan
Fewer hits then IP and more K’s then IP usually is a good sign. He’s given up a lot of homers but 10 of his 17 starts have been quality. He throws hard with relatively good control. If the price is right he could be a good option.
bravesfan88
@ Mickey777- I am honestly just not sure who the Yankees are going to go after, to answer your question. However, whichever pitcher the Yankees acquire, it should truly be either a high GB% type or a really low RF Fly Ball% pitcher, and this os clearly due to their back porch of a Right Field..lol Because of their ballpark’s dimensions, the Yankees really have to target pitchers that will be able to most comfortly pitch to the not only their parks strengths, but most importantly to their parks weaknesses.
We have recently seen the Yankees acquire a couple of pitchers that really were not the best fits for their park, but even still, the Yankees unsuccessfully tried to get them to change their approach..
It typically just will not work out in the Yankees favor, so whatever candidate you want to consider for the Yankees, I would highly recommend taking into consideration the pitcher’s fit for the Yankees home ballpark..
Mickey777
Yeah, a ground ball pitcher would be ideal for the Yankees particularly since their infield is playing well now. I don’t know how cheap Wheeler would be for the Yankees. Maybe they’ll hope that Domingo Herman and Severino come back soon.
EvilEmpire
Two things. 1.Fenway is smaller than the bronx. 2. You can always give up 13, if you put up 17. Bomb everyone to hell. Incoming homeruns dont win games comments… runs win games. A home run is a run. Just a little lesson to all you ballbags this evening.
PopeMarley
BW
jimmertee
Jays better not wait. As soon as Stroman is back to 100%, trade him. Jays have made some big mistakes hanging onto assets too long.
90shair
Oh I’m sure Shatkins will hold out and hold out and hold out until Stroman gets injured next season before he decides it’s time to make a move.
its_happening
That wouldn’t be shocking….