Marcus, Oh, Marcus...
Unless I have something urgent to file in the early hours, one of the first things I do every morning is to check in on my Toronto teams. And with the NBA on the All-Star break and the Leafs not playing today, I tried to read up on what the Jays were up to out in Dunedin, Florida.
And boom, Marcus Stroman dropped a bombshell.
A day after refusing to speak to the media, Stroman just went off. Apparently, he waved off a club official who was trying to cut the media session short. (That club official must have been in full panic mode, trying in vain to stop the train wreck. Once Stro has his mouth running, it's hard to get it in control.)
You can read his comments in the above link. The gist is: "Look, I love Toronto, I want to play there a long time, but the team hasn't offered me a long-term deal. I hate this rebuilding thing. I want the team to go out there and get some decent talent for a change. I don't want to go through losing."
My initial reaction was rather visceral. If I may censor myself, it went something like, "Oh jeez, here we go again. I am getting tired of this guy." Stroman has long been known for speaking his mind and that hasn't always sat well with our fan base or local media. It's one thing to be opinionated, but sometimes, people cross the fine line and become infinitely annoying. I think there were times last year when Marcus crossed that.
But I tried to take a step back for a bit and see things from his perspective. Why is he saying these things? I believe contract talks are best left private between the player and the team, but why did he feel compelled to let it all out in the media and put pressure on the front office?
I am not sure I know the answers.
And if it's simply the long-term deal that Marcus is seeking, I don't think sounding off on the lack of an offer in the media is the best way to go about it. There's a reason players have certified agents.
When a player takes these matters to the media, it usually doesn't end well for the player. I can't see how this is going to lead to anything positive for Stro.
The Jays' front office has taken a beating for the past couple of years, and rightfully so. Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins seem more interested in the bottom line than improving the product on the field. But in this day and age, you can say the same about perhaps 25 other teams. Except for super rich clubs like the Yanks, BoSox, Dodgers, etc, big leaguers have become increasingly more about saving money than making bold investments to try to go for it, the end result be damned. Everyone is trying to lose 100 games, tank to get high draft picks, use those young, cheap assets to contend in a few years, and when those kids become free agents and their stocks go through the roof, teams will simply press the reset button. In 2018, MLB enjoyed record gross revenues for the 16th consecutive year. But to hear these teams talk, you'd think everyone was bleeding red ink. In a way, teams have become too smart. It's frustrating to fans. It's frustrating to players who want a big pay day. It's no fun when mid-market teams don't snatch up coveted free agents and raise a big middle finger to the haves of the league.
I digress.
Disillusioned Jays fans tend to think that Atkins, the GM, is merely a puppet for Shapiro, the team president. I've never met Atkins, and so I shouldn't pass judgment on the man based on televised interviews I've seen. But he just comes across as too robotic and corporate for my taste, and not particularly genuine or forthright. I understand people in his position must be careful with what they say. As Toronto sports execs go, the Leafs' GM Kyle Dubas and Masai Ujiri (though he's the president of basketball operations for the Raptors, not GM) have far more genuine public personas.
Back to the Stro story. The management refued Stroman's claim and said a long-term has indeed been offered. So one side is probably lying. Either way, if you were in Atkins' shoes, would you have offered Stroman a multi-year contract this past offseason?
Me, I wouldn't have made that offer.
In 2018, he was limited to just 19 starts, and was 4-9 with a 5.54 ERA. Compared to a very good 2017 season (13-9, 3.09 ERA and a Gold Glove), all the peripheral numbers were worse. His strikeout rates were down, his walk rates went up, and he also allowed more base runners per inning.
Any way you cut it, this isn't a player who deserved a long-term commitment from a ball club. He isn't yet eligible for arbitration, and he still got a raise from $6.5 million to $7.4 million. You could argue the guy is being overpaid.
Let's throw aside these numbers and talk about other stuff, or what people like to say "intangibles."
Depending on how you look at Marcus, he's either a fiery guy who pitches with a chip on his shoulder, or an entitled malcontent whose "me against the world" attitude can be more annoying than inspiring.
I used to think of him as the former, but I now see him as the latter.
I had so much respect for Marcus when he came back late in the 2015 season from his serious knee injury. He was 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA in his four regular season starts and had a solid postseason as well.
My feelings have changed over the past couple of years, to a point that now I am beginning to think he's the one responsible for the fallout with Aaron Sanchez, who used to be his best friend on the team. There have been games when Stro didn't hold himself accountable and only pointed fingers all over the place. I've read reports about how some of his teammates have grown tired of his antics.
Forget the chip on his shoulder. He just seems insecure to me.
In his Dunedin tirade, Stroman said he loved "the idea of being a leader."
"I think if you asked any of the guys, they would tell you I'm a leader," he said.
It's one thing if "any of the guys" told the media first that, "Hey, we think Marcus is a great leader." But coming from his own mouth? Seriously? That's just narcissism.
In all my years of watching and following sports, I've never heard true leaders tell the media, "Go ask my teammates. They'll tell you I am a great leader." It's simply not something that a leader would do, right?
And it doesn't reflect so well on the "leader" that Stroman is when he is going off on the front office like he did today in the media. He said he enjoyed being a leader but this sort of act isn't leadership.
Stroman hasn't earned a long-term deal on the field, and things he's done and said off the field aren't helping.
Will the Jays hold on to him? We won't be able to trade him now because he has no value. Right now, he is a soon-to-be 28-year-old right-hander coming off a 5.54 ERA season.
But what if he pitches really well in the first half of the season? Then he becomes a right-hander in his late-20s prime who has proven the sub-par 2018 season was an anomaly and the good 2017 season will be the norm for the next whatever years. That's when we should start exploring the possibility of trading him.
There's just no way Shapiro and Co. will throw money at him and try to tie him down for five or ore years. They'll just keep their fingers crossed for young pitching prospects to develop and they'll rummage throughthe garbage bin the waiver wire and the open market for more affordable arms.
Based purely on his on-field production, Stroman doesn't deserve a long-term deal. His act off the mound is only making things worse.
And boom, Marcus Stroman dropped a bombshell.
A day after refusing to speak to the media, Stroman just went off. Apparently, he waved off a club official who was trying to cut the media session short. (That club official must have been in full panic mode, trying in vain to stop the train wreck. Once Stro has his mouth running, it's hard to get it in control.)
You can read his comments in the above link. The gist is: "Look, I love Toronto, I want to play there a long time, but the team hasn't offered me a long-term deal. I hate this rebuilding thing. I want the team to go out there and get some decent talent for a change. I don't want to go through losing."
My initial reaction was rather visceral. If I may censor myself, it went something like, "Oh jeez, here we go again. I am getting tired of this guy." Stroman has long been known for speaking his mind and that hasn't always sat well with our fan base or local media. It's one thing to be opinionated, but sometimes, people cross the fine line and become infinitely annoying. I think there were times last year when Marcus crossed that.
But I tried to take a step back for a bit and see things from his perspective. Why is he saying these things? I believe contract talks are best left private between the player and the team, but why did he feel compelled to let it all out in the media and put pressure on the front office?
I am not sure I know the answers.
And if it's simply the long-term deal that Marcus is seeking, I don't think sounding off on the lack of an offer in the media is the best way to go about it. There's a reason players have certified agents.
When a player takes these matters to the media, it usually doesn't end well for the player. I can't see how this is going to lead to anything positive for Stro.
The Jays' front office has taken a beating for the past couple of years, and rightfully so. Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins seem more interested in the bottom line than improving the product on the field. But in this day and age, you can say the same about perhaps 25 other teams. Except for super rich clubs like the Yanks, BoSox, Dodgers, etc, big leaguers have become increasingly more about saving money than making bold investments to try to go for it, the end result be damned. Everyone is trying to lose 100 games, tank to get high draft picks, use those young, cheap assets to contend in a few years, and when those kids become free agents and their stocks go through the roof, teams will simply press the reset button. In 2018, MLB enjoyed record gross revenues for the 16th consecutive year. But to hear these teams talk, you'd think everyone was bleeding red ink. In a way, teams have become too smart. It's frustrating to fans. It's frustrating to players who want a big pay day. It's no fun when mid-market teams don't snatch up coveted free agents and raise a big middle finger to the haves of the league.
I digress.
Disillusioned Jays fans tend to think that Atkins, the GM, is merely a puppet for Shapiro, the team president. I've never met Atkins, and so I shouldn't pass judgment on the man based on televised interviews I've seen. But he just comes across as too robotic and corporate for my taste, and not particularly genuine or forthright. I understand people in his position must be careful with what they say. As Toronto sports execs go, the Leafs' GM Kyle Dubas and Masai Ujiri (though he's the president of basketball operations for the Raptors, not GM) have far more genuine public personas.
Back to the Stro story. The management refued Stroman's claim and said a long-term has indeed been offered. So one side is probably lying. Either way, if you were in Atkins' shoes, would you have offered Stroman a multi-year contract this past offseason?
Me, I wouldn't have made that offer.
In 2018, he was limited to just 19 starts, and was 4-9 with a 5.54 ERA. Compared to a very good 2017 season (13-9, 3.09 ERA and a Gold Glove), all the peripheral numbers were worse. His strikeout rates were down, his walk rates went up, and he also allowed more base runners per inning.
Any way you cut it, this isn't a player who deserved a long-term commitment from a ball club. He isn't yet eligible for arbitration, and he still got a raise from $6.5 million to $7.4 million. You could argue the guy is being overpaid.
Let's throw aside these numbers and talk about other stuff, or what people like to say "intangibles."
Depending on how you look at Marcus, he's either a fiery guy who pitches with a chip on his shoulder, or an entitled malcontent whose "me against the world" attitude can be more annoying than inspiring.
I used to think of him as the former, but I now see him as the latter.
I had so much respect for Marcus when he came back late in the 2015 season from his serious knee injury. He was 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA in his four regular season starts and had a solid postseason as well.
My feelings have changed over the past couple of years, to a point that now I am beginning to think he's the one responsible for the fallout with Aaron Sanchez, who used to be his best friend on the team. There have been games when Stro didn't hold himself accountable and only pointed fingers all over the place. I've read reports about how some of his teammates have grown tired of his antics.
Forget the chip on his shoulder. He just seems insecure to me.
In his Dunedin tirade, Stroman said he loved "the idea of being a leader."
"I think if you asked any of the guys, they would tell you I'm a leader," he said.
It's one thing if "any of the guys" told the media first that, "Hey, we think Marcus is a great leader." But coming from his own mouth? Seriously? That's just narcissism.
In all my years of watching and following sports, I've never heard true leaders tell the media, "Go ask my teammates. They'll tell you I am a great leader." It's simply not something that a leader would do, right?
And it doesn't reflect so well on the "leader" that Stroman is when he is going off on the front office like he did today in the media. He said he enjoyed being a leader but this sort of act isn't leadership.
Stroman hasn't earned a long-term deal on the field, and things he's done and said off the field aren't helping.
Will the Jays hold on to him? We won't be able to trade him now because he has no value. Right now, he is a soon-to-be 28-year-old right-hander coming off a 5.54 ERA season.
But what if he pitches really well in the first half of the season? Then he becomes a right-hander in his late-20s prime who has proven the sub-par 2018 season was an anomaly and the good 2017 season will be the norm for the next whatever years. That's when we should start exploring the possibility of trading him.
There's just no way Shapiro and Co. will throw money at him and try to tie him down for five or ore years. They'll just keep their fingers crossed for young pitching prospects to develop and they'll rummage through
Based purely on his on-field production, Stroman doesn't deserve a long-term deal. His act off the mound is only making things worse.
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