Just weeks before the Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be sellers leading up to the MLB trade deadline, they might have lost one of their top trade chips during Saturday’s game.
Right-handed pitcher Marcus Stroman pulled himself after throwing a few pitches at the start of the fifth inning and left the field with trainers into Toronto’s dugout.
It’s concerning that Stroman’s velocity dropped three miles per hour even from his average for the game. He started to look towards the dugout during his warmup pitches before the inning and seemed to be having some type of issue with his arm before exiting.
However, it’s at least a positive sign that the issue appeared to be with his left arm rather than his pitching arm.
Losing Stroman would be a significant blow for Toronto’s rotation and for potential contenders who would have targeted him as an upgrade via trade. The 28-year-old came into Saturday with a 3.08 ERA and 1.25 WHIP across 17 starts this season.