Blue Jays right-hander and prime trade chip Marcus Stroman has been dealing with a left pectoral issue since June 29, but he expects to return to the mound Sunday, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. Stroman’s set to take the ball at Yankee Stadium against a team that has shown interest in acquiring him prior to the July 31 deadline. Whether it’s New York or another club that reels in the 28-year-old, expectations are he won’t be a member of Toronto’s roster once the calendar reaches August. That isn’t lost on Stroman. Regarding the Blue Jays, Stroman told Mitchell, “They haven’t had me in their plans for the future, and I’ve come to terms with it.”
Here’s more on a few other notable hurlers…
- Shoulder and lat injuries have kept Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez from taking a major league mound since May 11. It’s now likely Hernandez won’t rejoin Seattle’s staff until at least the end of July, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Hernandez may have even thrown his last pitch as a Mariner should more setbacks occur, per Divish. That would make for a sad ending in Seattle for the 33-year-old Hernandez, a free agent after the season. A career-long Mariner who debuted in 2005, King Felix enjoyed a long run as one of the majors’ premier aces, but the six-time All-Star and 2010 AL Cy Young winner is now in the throes of a sharp decline. Despite solid strikeout, walk and groundball rates (7.91 K/9, 1.86 BB/9, 50.0 GB%), Hernandez slumped to a 6.52 ERA/5.40 FIP in eight starts and 38 2/3 innings this season before going on the injured list.
- Elite Padres pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore is inching closer to a major league promotion. The Padres promoted the 20-year-old left-hander from High-A ball to the Double-A level Tuesday, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune relays. Gore, the third overall pick in the 2017 draft, ranks as a top 10 prospect according to Baseball America (No. 3), MLB.com (No. 3), ESPN’s Keith Law (No. 7) and FanGraphs (No. 10). After injuries limited Gore to 60 2/3 innings last season, he jumped out to a magnificent 1.02 ERA with 12.48 K/9 and 2.27 BB/9 in 79 1/3 High-A innings this year to earn a promotion.
- Unlike Gore, fellow high-end pitching prospect Forrest Whitley has failed to impress in 2019, Josh Norris of Baseball America observes. In addition to posting horrific numbers and battling injuries with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate this season, Whitley has shown serious immaturity and underwhelming stuff on the mound, evaluators have told Norris. The 21-year-old did enter the season as the youngest player in the Pacific Coast League, though, Norris points out.
Sounds like the Astros shouldn’t even mess with Whitley and his poor attitude and trade him to SD for Yates :P
There is some value in selling low on a guy: it saves you from having to sell rock bottom on him.
While that’s true, and they have waited too long recently on guys (Reed, Fisher, Davis), I don’t think Whitley falls into that category until after 2020 at the earliest.
Davis? Davis wasn’t a high prospect at all. Never would’ve been a centerpiece like Whitley would.
He was top 10 in the Astros system, which is top 5 in many other systems. He was a prospect with good value, they waited, gave him a shot at playing time instead of cashing in at his relative high point, much like the others I mentioned.
Sounding like Mark Appel…
And eventually getting nothing like with JD Martinez,, Jonathan Singleton and recently AJ Reed.
Must be on that Cali kush to dream like that.
I’m not sure where Felix will go after this season. No one is going to invest same $27 mil he’s getting this year. He should probably look at retirement. He’s only 33. He’ a proud man who needs to face the facts that he’s no longer an ace and needs to change his style. if he wants to remain in the game.. Bull pen,maybe closer if he’ll accept that role might be all he’s offered and no where near what he’s making now..
Maybe talk to Verlander about what he did a few years back to turn things around.
Get healthy? Get a supermodel wife?
The latter plays a more significant role. And I stand firm in my belief on that. Sorry to be such a stiff.
If there’s anyone who can, I think the Pirates can fix Felix Hernandez but it would have to be next season at a cut rate salary.
There really isn’t anything to fix if he won’t change his mentality and style of pitching. He still tries to blow pitches by guys like he is still throwing 97 instead of 90 now. He has the pitch arsenal still if he would just adjust to what he has left, but it’s been the same issue for 3 seasons with no changes. You can lead a horse to water but…
Actually this year Felix did buy into the change. He would have a few games he did great then a game when things went a little bad and he reverted back. I think it will take time just like it did with Verlander.
If he does want to play a few more years and can show improvement during this time off I hope Seattle signs him again. It is rare a player finishes with the same team he started with. He will never see the velocity that Verlander has shown again but still might have a few more years with the right changes.
His biggest problem is his change up and fastball are within 5 mph I think they said the last few times he pitched. You take away the devastating change up and a good fastball and they turn into one pitch it hurts him.
You hate to see a player of his caliber leave with no playoffs on his card. I wonder if Seattle isn’t using this time to let him rest and work on his pitches for a couple more seasons after this and hope the young guys can get him into the playoffs. Wouldn’t be a bad strategy. Not sure if he has enough to get into the HOF a few playoff wins might have done it for him.
Just to give you a few games Felix pitched pretty good in are 4/1 4/13 and 4/24. There are a game or two more of you dig into the stats that are OK. Then of course some real bad ones.
PCL is where pitchers go to die. Hats off to the hurlers managing to keep their ERA under 4.
If Houston really isn’t happy with him, package him for a deadline deal. Although I’m sure in a few hours Houston will deny it, have Whitley’s back and bury that report. They have no choice.
Brett Kennedy had like a 2 era in the pcl last year. Comes up to the big club and gets lit up. Lit up so hard he is still on the dl
Some guys find success in the PCL. It’s just really hard. I remember some Blue Jays pitchers would be kept in AA to avoid Las Vegas and the launching pad.
Maybe Yahoo Fantasy will stop telling us Whitley is the top pitcher to pick up
What did he do to ear the “seriously immature” tag? Only 21. There are some college pitchers that take a couple of years to settle in, pushing their time frame to 23-25. Way too early to throw in the towel.
I’m afraid the Blue Jays are going to fleece the Pirates on Stroman. Archer 2.0
No way they are in on Stroman. I don’t even see how they’d get Sanchez.
It’s going to be Nova again, we all know it.
who do they have left to give up? they gave up their best MLB ready prospects for Archer (hahahahaha remember that time omg i still cant get over it) and im not too familiar with their deep farm. is there some kid in A+ ball thats tearing it up?
How does Stroman know he’s not part of the Jays plans when he gets to free agency? The Jays don’t even know that. What he and the Jays do know, is that it would be a mistake to keep him now while his value is high.
Like how the Yanks squired Torres, Mckinnie and Warren from the Cubs for Chapman. Then signed Chapman later.
You know….that might be an interesting plan on the part of the Jays who can extract value from trading Stroman now, and then swoop back in a re-sign him in free agency this winter……might be a good plan!
Next winter. He has another year of control. But I would expect the same type of return.
It seems simple to trade a player for prospects and then re-sign them in FA. The problem is the player gets a taste of a pennant race and post season possibilities they are loath to sign with a club that has no chance at either.
For sure the parties have to align.
I suspect that the Jays and Stro’s agent have had enough talks to know that they are not on the same page about extension value. I also suspect (with no evidence whatever) that Stro is demanding Corbin money and the Jays are (ahem) “declining”
Just so pathetic again on the part of Shapkins. Stro wants to be here, he’s got major league stuff unlike the majority of the Jays staff, and they should be signing him long-term as part of an investment in their “rebuild”. Unless he returns *more* than one MLB ready arm with All -Star upside, trading him with one year of control is nothing more than a cost cutting measure. Sadly, too many Jays fans on this chat buy-in to the perpetual “rebuild” mode that has been a cancer to this organization for most of the past 26 years. You need to invest in your homegrown talent, add talented FAs instead of these reclamation projects, and make some targeted trades of guys that are blocking roster spots like Smoak, Galvis and Sogard.
Everything would have been fine had they pulled the chute in 2017. Most blame has to be levied on Rogers for this too. Trying to make a buck because of a bad hockey deal wasted better deals on the table for Donaldson and Pillar. Smoak should have been dealt a year ago. They’d be buyers this offseason had they done it.
And Stroman would have been an extension candidate. Not Grichuk.
The franchise did not extend him and he yapped loudly and publicly about his disappointment. Jays no like the yappy yap on him. They’ll get what they can for him, maybe. Or not. And let him walk in FA.
I always liked king Felix. Sad that his time is dwindling down. There are a lot of quality innings on that arm. Let’s hope he can get it back for another season or two.
No chance! He done!
Don’t be shocked if the Blue Jays offer him a minor league deal next year.
Maybe they’d do that once he’s been out a while and clearly outta gas. Eg., D Train, Joba, etc…
We will know better after the deadline and what the Jays have after, hopefully, dealing Stroman, Giles, Smoak, Galvis, Sogard and a player to be named later. Will be another transition year for them. King Felix wouldn’t be a bad mentor to have.
If you think Felix (and his ego) would accept a minors deal you are off. He’d retire before taking one of those.
Who said he’d accept?
Unfortunately he was done 2+ seasons ago.
If Forest Whitley had been the centerpiece of the Gerrit Cole trade, people would have said that the Pirates made a good trade because of his prospect ranking.
Instead, all they got was a #3 starter with 5 pitches, a 3B who can play 2B and LF in a pinch who is on pace for 20 HR and 80-100 RBI, a suddenly useful MLB bullpen arm and a decent prospect who has already been called up and helped the team when injuries hit even though he’s far from ready…all of whom are under team control for half a decade or more.
Correct. Whittley still isn’t cooked and could be G. Cole 3 years down the line if he puts it together. Musgrove is a mid-back end arm and Moran is a decent 3B. But decent is the extent to what kind of 3B Moran is. We don’t even know if he can hit lefthanders yet. You didn’t get a zero package you just got nothing with the upside to possibly be a real impact player.
Moran’s current pace is nothing to sneeze at and I think Musgrove has upside left to tap. I love that guy. A real ball player.
Having watched most of his starts, he usually looks great and then a few bad pitches get him in trouble. He’s a young guy who can clean up his pitch selection to get better. If he does that AND improves his location just a little bit, he’s then a really good pitcher.
And obviously, Whitley could still turn it around. Glasnow did.
I think I was one of the few who actually liked that deal for Pittsburgh. I still think there’s a breakout coming in Musgrove as well. I wouldn’t say that deal will turn into a steal for the Pirates, but I can definitely see them getting way more value out of it than two years of Cole.
Also, people forget, they didn’t trade the Astro version of Cole. They traded a guy coming off of back to back down years.
What is immaturity on the mound? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard that term used. Immature when talking about a person, sure. But immature on the mound? No. Does he get frustrated and throw his glove? I don’t really get it.
Joaquin Andujar, to some, may have qualified as immature.
John Lackey, to some (not all), may have qualified as immature.
Bryce Harper, although not a pitcher, may qualify as immature (to some).
Bottom line, it is just some guy’s opinion. Could be right, could be wrong. Getting hit around, his overall stuff, his location, pitch execution, they don’t lie. But, PCL is a tough place for pitchers.
John Rocker comes to mind with mentality and mound immaturity
Good point. I guess we could add Mitch Williams and Armando Benitez.
The domestic abusers would be considered immature, at best.
It says “serious immaturity and underwhelming stuff on the mound.” I read that as 2 separate things, not as “serious immaturity on the mound.”
baseballamerica.com/stories/forrest-whitley-2019-t…
I was referring to the linked article. It was an odd phrase for me to hear.
Giles punching himself in the face? I guess he was walking off the mound, technically, but…
He’s done okay since and reestablished much value. He won’t be a Jays much longer either.
Don’t forget that Whitley didn’t sign as a 22 year old, somewhat experienced college pitcher. He signed out of high school and after three minor-league seasons is 21 now. Even college pitchers from great programs take a year or two to be called up at 23 0r 24. Whitley has the time to further develop. The Astros co-aces and AL All-stars Verlander and Cole, both were first round draft choices out of college and both got their first taste of MLB after short stints in the minor leagues..
2019 is a minor hiccup for Whitley and I expect him to be back on top of his game by 2020. This outlandish freak out on this thread is humorous.
To your point he’s still very young and has tons of upside. It’s not like he’s Tim Tebow and well past his peak…
The knock on Whitley has been his propensity to spend less time in the weight room than he does hanging out with his boys. He’s 21. He has time to turn it around.
Work ethic is developed by the early teens and not 22. Forrest Whitley is as good now as he will ever be.
Worst comment I’ve seen in a while (and I’ve made a few of my own). MANY athletes, especially in baseball, don’t come into their own until the mid to late 20s.
I’ve been told I’m the worst. I’ll show you…..
If you think people can’t change after their teenage years I feel sorry for your outlook on life.
Lol. I skipped a lot of classes in college before I got my s&#t together. Sowing the oats is part of maturing. If he was 25 I’d be worried. The kid has only been legal to drink for a couple of months.
Is it? He completely remade his body from like 260 lbs to 195 prior to the draft. I don’t think that happens without a commitment to working out. Unless he’s completely lost that drive, I doubt that’s the problem.
Is it any wonder top free agents no longer want to come to the Blue Jays? Your best player and lone All-Star tells Scott Mitchell of TSN that “They haven’t had me in their plans for the future, and I’ve come to terms with it.” The guy actually wants to be here. He’s under team control through 2020. You could spend to sign him to a long-term deal and gave him be a solid #2 starter in a rebuilt rotation. Instead you trade him for Clint Frazier when you already have low ceiling Yankees rejects Drury and McKinney? Could this be the worst front office in all of baseball?
RIP King Felix Your stuff was Nasty!!!! But now it’s just gross to watch