Trading Marcus Stroman will be about business |
In the winter of 2021, before the MLB lockout, the Cubs were able to sign Marcus Stroman to a three-year, 71 million dollar deal. This was the top of the rotation arm the Cubs needed to kick start the rebuild back in the right direction. However, the contract included an Opt-out for Stroman after the 2023 season.
It appears likely that Stroman will be opting out. Especially with the current optics of the MLB and the contracts that players are getting, Stroman could easily get more than the 25 million dollars per year he is making. There are 27 players in the MLB currently making more than that. Stroman indeed believes he is worth that amount of money or more. The nine-year MLB veteran is enjoying arguably his best season yet. He was named to his second career All-Star game earlier this month, has shared the MLB/NL lead in ERA at multiple points this season, is near the MLB lead in wins, and his ERA has never risen above 3.24 all season long. Not to mention, Stroman’s best-pitched game of his career came on Memorial Day with his complete-game shutout, where he allowed just one hit. With the Cubs spending the majority of this season below .500, the trade deadline has proven to be a big topic of discussion. Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer has made it clear that a third straight full sell fire sale is not the goal, but the Cubs have not quite yet done enough to justify Hoyer buying at the deadline. Since Stroman is due to be a free agent, his name has swirled very frequently in trade rumors. Stroman is known as one of the league’s most reliable starters and one of the best athletes at his position — so a large group of teams will be interested in acquiring his services should he be available. Why would you want to trade a top-of-the-rotation starter as the Cubs continue their rebuild? Why wouldn’t you want to keep one of your more reliable players? Stroman has made it very clear that he would like to stay in Chicago. But the fact of the matter is baseball is a business. Marcus Stroman has been rumored to want upwards of 30 million dollars a year and a contract longer than the two-year deal he just signed. Stroman is a good pitcher that the Cubs would like to keep in Chicago long-term but paying over 30 million dollars per year for a pitcher that will be 33 and near 40 when the contract ends may not be the best business decision. Yu Darvish, Chris Sale, Jacob DeGrom, Shohei Ohtani, Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer are the only pitchers in the MLB making more than Stroman per year. Sale, Degrom, Darvish, and Strasburg are immensely talented but have battled injuries into their 30s. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are future Hall of Famers, but as both pitchers near age 40, neither is pitching like the star they used to be. Cole is 32 and is pitching like an ace, and Ohtani is 28 and might be set for a contract closer to a billion dollars than it is closer to a million dollars. The point is, paying an aging pitcher deep into their 30s isn’t something that typically works out for MLB teams — unless they have the pedigree of players like Scherzer, Verlander, or Clayton Kershaw, which Stroman does not. So if keeping Marcus Stroman isn’t in the Cubs' long-term plans beyond 2023, it makes sense to shop who has been one of the league’s best pitchers this season for a slew of close-to-major league-ready players and prospects. While it is unreasonable to expect the Cubs to pull off a Jose Quintana for Dylan Cease+ Eloy Jimenez type of deal based on the way the trade landscape has changed — the Cubs could undoubtedly improve their farm system. The Cubs have a better chance of making the playoffs or a playoff push with Stroman on the roster, but as Stroman said, it is business too. “Ideally, I’d want to be a Cub,” Stroman told reporters. “But it’s a business at the end of the day, and that’s how it has to be handled at times.” Many may argue that trading Stroman sets the Cubs back in their rebuild process, but if signing Stroman long-term is unlikely, you do not want to lose Stroman for anything. Wouldn’t you be set further back if you lose Stroman in the offseason for no return?
