Marcus Stroman is seeing fewer and fewer of players like him — veterans — around the Blue Jays.
And it could lead eventually to the Blue Jays having one fewer Marcus Stroman.
The right-handed starter, in a lengthy sit-down with media in Dunedin, Fla., at spring training on Sunday, complained about the lack of experienced players around camp after an offseason that saw a stunning number of free agents get ignored. The middle-class player is being phased out, and a reliable if unspectacular veteran who is more expensive than a farmhand is being left behind.
“There is really no veteran presence anymore,” Stroman told reporters Sunday. “It’s me and KP [Kevin Pillar], John Axford, a few other guys, Justin Smoak. I can’t speak any more highly that the game needs to get to a point where we’re starting to put these veteran players back in the clubhouse.”
It was apparently a pointed plea by Stroman.
“Where you at my bro!?” he had written on Twitter on Saturday. “Could use you and your clubhouse presence in Toronto! @RealCarlosGomez.”
A good part of the reasoning here could be that Stroman wants to protect himself, as the 27-year-old from New York enters his sixth big league season and does not want to be one of those veterans looking for work. He expressed frustration that Toronto had not extended him a long-term contract — a charge that the Blue Jays anonymously then disputed — and can’t be a free agent until after the 2020 season. He and the Blue Jays avoided arbitration this offseason, agreeing to a $7.4 million deal.
“Would it bother you?” Stroman said about allegedly not being offered a long-term deal. “I play year to year pretty much, it’s a business, like I said. It doesn’t affect my relationship with the country of Canada. I’m able to disconnect the two now, between business and people.”
Stroman continued: “I want to play here. I’ve been wanting to play here for a long time. I’ve been waiting to sign a long-term deal. I’ve been offered nothing. There’s no one that embodies the city of Toronto more than me. And you’re not going to find guys who want to come in and embody the city of Toronto because it’s just not natural, and I’ve taken a liking to that myself, and that’s been organic and natural, it’s not something I had to do. That’s something I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to be here.”
The plea might not be the best timed. Stroman had a terrific 2017 but struggled in 2018, putting up a 5.54 ERA in 102 1/3 innings, though Sunday he said last season his shoulder bothered him.
