Cubs starter Marcus Stroman remains hopeful of finding a long term contract extension with the Cubs, with the veteran telling Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that a trade away from Wrigley would “bother” him.
“At this point in my career, I’m so open to anything. But it would bother me a bit, just because I feel like I do love it here, as far as the city, the organization from the top down, the fans,” Stroman said.
Stroman is the middle of another quality campaign, posting a 2.95 ERA through 11 starts. That mark comes with a 9.1% walk rate and a 21.3% strikeout rate.
It’s already been reported that Stroman and the Cubs had preliminary extension talks in the spring, and while Rosenthal adds that the Cubs are open to a new deal, it does not appear that anything is imminent. The Cubs, in the midst of an 8-19 run, would seem to be trending towards selling at the deadline and Stroman may well be a valuable trade chip for them.
Stroman holds a $21MM player option for 2024 but would appear to be on track to opt out of that and test the open market. It’s also worth noting that the Cubs can’t tender a qualifying offer to Stroman, as he already took one (and accepted it) from the Mets.
Here’s some more bits and pieces from around the sport:
- The Orioles are one team that certainly are not trending towards being sellers, and Orioles general manager Mike Elias says they’re “preparing to be buyers”, per Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun. While there’s quite a bit of time before trade season really heats up, it should come as no surprise that the 33-19 Orioles will be adding. Despite having a hugely promising young roster, the O’s have resisted pushing the chips in, opting to sell at last year’s deadline before making only modest additions this past winter. The team has made a notable step forward this year though, and perhaps that’ll be enough to encourage Elias to be a bit more aggressive on the trade market.
- Some help is on the way for the Twins, with Kenta Maeda and Caleb Thielbar to start rehab assignments this week, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Maeda made just four ugly starts for the Twins this season before hitting the shelf with a triceps strain, giving up 16 earned runs in as many innings. The Twins rotation has done well in Maeda and Tyler Mahle’s (Tommy John surgery) absence, and it’s possible the team could use him in relief at least to begin with. Thielbar has been out since early May with an oblique strain, and his return will give the team another left handed option in the bullpen. Thielbar was off to a nice start to the season, working to a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings.
- The Nationals have released Franklin Barreto, per the Talk Nats podcast. The former A’s and Angels infielder joined Washington on a minor league deal but hit just .202/.282/.455 in 111 plate appearances at Triple-A. A former top-100 prospect, Barreto never hit in the big leagues, compiling a .175/.207/.342 line over parts of four seasons in the big leagues.
I think Kenta Maeda has reached the end of the line.
If he can accept a bullpen role again maybe the stuff will play up a bit. Thielbar returning is the real win
Franklin Barretto, another can’t miss prospect that missed big time
Now he’ll fade into obscurity. Can’t see anyone else giving him a shot – not even the Asian leagues.
He’ll probably go to the KBO or Mexican league and rake
I liked Barretto better when he was Toma.
You do realize that only people over the age of 60, like me, will understand that reference, right? Keep your eye on the sparrow.
It’s almost like the odds of any particular player becoming a successful major league are long. There’s no such thing as a can’t-miss prospect.
80% of can’t miss prospects, miss.
The O’s only sold Jorge Lopez at the deadline. We weren’t buyers by any means but we also really weren’t sellers.
Trade already paid off with Cano being better than Lopez.
Povich looks like the best young starter in our system not named G-Rod also. DL is bullpen bound I believe.
Coulombe for cash was certainly another W for Elias. Hopefully he keeps trading with Minnesota……
The MLBTR top expert shared that the 4 pitchers the O’s got from the Twins weren’t well regarded prospects.
It’s all about an organizations scouting – in-person / video along with using internally programmed analytics to determine chances of success when bringing in minor league players, based on what the team feels they can do to develop / fix him. Most players don’t have more success – teams count the percent that do.
Looking at publicly available rankings of prospects is nice, but has little to do with what may happen when an organization acquires a players stuck in anther organizations farm system.
The Orioles are one of the top 5 MLB organizations in making shrewd trades (Rays probably #1).
Yes, that Lopez trade was a brilliant move. Cano has been elite and Povich looks like a potential future #3 starter who should be ready by next season. The Mancini trade was also a great move, as they snagged Seth Johnson, who if healthy should also debut next season and also has middle of the rotation potential. They also got Chayce McDermott in that trade, who has looked great this season.
Between his drafting and his trades, Elias looks like the best GM in baseball currently. My only knock I had on him was bringing in Gibson and Irvin over a more established starter in the off-season, but with how well Gibson has pitched and how bad big-money additions like Taijuan Walker and Jameson Taillon have looked, he seems to have proved me wrong there. The Orioles are going to be very good for a very long time.
In addition to finding talent through drafting and trades, Os evaluators seem pretty savvy at finding players in other ways as well. Bencoseme a 10k amateur FA, Wells a rule fiver, Denoyer a UDFA. Dudes r a bunch of hard ball junkies.
The Os FO has a key insight. Be a contrarian on pundit rankings. They find underrated guys like Povich, McDermott, Cano and Johnson and plot to acquire them. These are all scouted guys on their draft board. Gunnar and Johnson were drafted a few picks apart. Povich and McDermott were undoubtedly guys on their board. The trade of Sulser and Scott for the Fabian draft pick captures it all.
MLBTR knocking the 2022 trades plays well into the Elias plan. Let fans and GMs be persuaded. So when Elias offers good prospects for a vet pitcher and prospect “throw ins” be sure of one thing:
The vet pitcher is the throw in!!
I have never been impressed with Hall. To me, he’s a #4 starter or 7th-inning guy at best.
Did I hear right, in addition to control issues, DL has lost velocity?
Billy Beane has admitted on more than one occasion that the josh Donaldson for Barreto in three buckets of used golf balls was the worst trade he ever made. He said he didn’t know what he was thinking when he did that.
In those years Donaldson wasn’t going to do anything for Oakland and the A’s were getting nothing but a QO pick when he inevitably left as a free agent. Lawrie and Barretto did nothing in Oakland but Graveman was serviceable helping bridge the gap to the A’s next window of contention
This post is completely insane relative to the Os 2022 deadline. Elias bought and the Twins and Astros sold Yannier Cano, Jose Siri, the current AA K leader, the current AA WHIP and BA against leader and two solid international pitching prospects. The price was a few months of Trey Mancini and Jorge Lopez, who came within an eyelash of a non tender.
Call that “selling” is like saying that the Dutch sold valuable jewelry for worthless land that became Manhattan.
Not sure that extending Stroman is the best use of resources at this point. If the Cubs don’t pick it up soon, Then trading Belli and Stroman and maybe even Mancini and Smyly might be the way to go. Ross is having a terrible year making decisions and his perplexing decision making in Pitching rotations and bullpen usage are horrible. I doubt they could get anything for Hendricks even IF he stays healthy until then. Hoyer swung for the fences this year and it really hasn’t worked out so far and his magical bullpen selection eluded him this year. I still can’t believe he planned to win games with pitching and defense with no closer in place wasn’t his best idea ever. Still with Brown, Wicks and Wesneski coming soon, Next year should be more promising. Mervis from the start and a closer would of helped and if Amaya, Slaughter MacGeary and PCA progress should be fine. PCA hasn’t even been playing everyday for some reason and they even had him in RF the other day. He’s slumping and Davis is completely lost but there’s a lot to be happy about. I still can’t believe what Amaya is doing and how good he looks. I was completely wrong there. Mervis is going through what Morel did last year, He’s just swinging at everything. Morel is still better at that. I don’t mind if he swings and misses so much if he’s swinging at strikes more often than not.
Unclemike1526;
The Cubs are perplexing to me.
While not as bad as the ALC, the NLC is a weak division that I felt the Cubs could win. Have never been a big fan of Hoyer or Ross (in their current positions) – it starts there.
It’s June 1, far too soon to make a determination of any teams record at the end of 2023. But in the Cub games I’ve seen they just don’t look right most of the time.
I think they’re perplexing to everyone. Still even with all that’s gone wrong they could still go on a run. As bad as it’s been, They’re hanging around .500. Since Happ and Suzuki and Taillon are all here for next year( And more), And if PCA doesn’t pick it up and make it to AAA this year, You’re looking at an OF of Happ, Morel and Suzuki and maybe a 1B -DH platoon of Slaughter-Mervis or maybe Slaughter at 3rd depending on what they do with Wisdom. It’s not bad at all. But one thing they better figure out before then is the bullpen. Until that gets fixed they aren’t going anywhere fast. They should run not walk away from Fulmer and Boxberger as soon as possible. Velasquez as 4th OF and Amaya and Gomes with Amaya getting teaching moments from Gomes would be just fine.
This guy Stroman really just wants teams to overlook his 2.35 K/BB ratio and terrible peripherals and overpay him based on his hot streak. Nothing new here…
Outcome > peripherals. They’re called peripherals for a reason. He’s always been more of a ground ball pitcher, loves his sinker
His career numbers aren’t that great, though. He also has a FIP within .10 of his career ERA, so it’s not like he’s Zach Britton or anyone.
I’ll agree an ERA + of 131 since 2019, 118 career, isn’t great. He’s received Cy Young votes, been an all star, has a gold glove, generally healthy and looks really good right now. What’s not to like. He doesn’t stoke a ton of people out, so what?
The Cubs should trade Stroman and if they do, expect him to rip them. He has done that to every team that didn’t extend him. In Toronto, he said all the same things about loving the city, fans, organization and then he shredded the team when they didn’t offer and extension and traded him. He was traded to the Nets8and told everybody how much he loved the organization, fans and city. When the Mets didn’t offer him a deal, he ripped them as well and even hinted at racism in the organization. He ripped the Yankees for not wanting him as well. Now, he is with the Cubs and is saying how much he loves the city, fans and organization. It’s a pattern. Watch what will happen if the Cubs move him. He will tip them as well. Guaranteed. He takes everything as a personal slight. That is how he motivates himself
Well he can say whatever he wants, But if they don’t start winning and soon, Then since he wanted the opt out ( And got it), He put himself in this position. It makes no sense to keep him around if they’re going to lose him. I’m quite sure he signed with the Cubs because, A. They offered him the best deal with a strike coming on and B, He got his opt out out which HE wanted. He signed that contract awful soon in that off season. The Cubs have some good young Pitching coming and he will soon become an obstacle rather than a solution IMO. But I said that about Happ too.
Stroman is 32 and the Cubs are still 2 or 3 years away from contending. Taking advantage of the sellers market at the trade deadline seems like the obvious decision
The Cubs don’t think so and they have money to spend. Stroman is more likely to be extended than traded.
Stroman will be in his mid 30s by the time the Cubs are competitive again. He’s also a low strikeout rate pitcher in a hitter’s park. Extending him would be an incredibly stupid move for the Cubs
You should tell Hoyer that. He said that Stroman has been one of the best starters on the staff and they wanted to talk to him about an extension and also that they plan to be buyers, not sellers at the deadline.
I’m not a Cubs fans so I’m not all that concerned about it. However, that could just be a tactic by Hoyer to give the rest of the league the idea that they don’t actually want to move Stroman in order to raise the asking price
What the Twins need is a new hitting coach.
The Twins are leading all of baseball in strikeouts.
Pitching is fine.
The Twins need hitters.
Miquel Sano is out there.
Sano’s career BA average and strikeout percentage is better than the Twins team.
Plus, Sano has the power to drive in runs, even if the only run is himself with a homerun.
Sano, the former Twin? They one that couldn’t get a job in the majors this year? I don’t think they are interested. Been there, done that.
Sano had an OPS+ of 2 last year over 20 games, yeah 2. Being said, he’s 116 for his career. His production fluctuates more than his weight, which is a lot. Still surprised he’s not getting the same opportunity as Andujar, or any other big producer who’s up and down. He must be a real headache for front offices
Sano is getting no opportunity anywhere. Not even a minor league deal. That says a lot about him.
Maeda didn’t have 4 ugly starts. 10 of those runs came in his last outing. His first two starts were fine, 11 Inning, 5 ER, 11H, 0 BB, 12Ks.
So who are the top pitchers that might be on the trade market? That is who both the Dodgers and Orioles will be after.
I like the Orioles making a run at Dylan Cease; Jordan Westberg headlines the package.
If not Cease, the White Sox have a rotation of available pitchers the Orioles (and others) could be looking at.