Sometimes, contenders will trade their main roster players. It sounds weird, but this literally happened in 2020, when the Dodgers traded the Jays Ross Stripling for two prospects.
I’m split on what the Jays should do with the 32-year-old. One half believes the Jays should do everything to re-sign him. The other half of me thinks they should trade him to a contender for a haul of prospects.
Let’s be real, the Jays making the playoffs is not even close to being guaranteed. While they currently sit two games above the next team for the final wildcard spot, there have been signs that point to the team needing a lot of work.
Despite having “one of the best offenses”, when it goes cold, it’s enough to give you frostbite. Whether it be with the approaches at the plate, incredibly streaky hitters, or too many right-handed bats in the lineup, if their bats go cold in the playoffs, they’re done.
Surprisingly, starting pitching has been fine, aside from Jose Barrios and Yuma Kimchi starts. Barrios has been the better of the two (regardless of ERA), and he’s had some fantastic games. Kimchi, on the other hand, should be a relief pitcher, as he gets a lot of swings and misses.
Which leads me to my next point – the bullpen. Aside from players who’ve pitched under 10 innings, it really hasn’t been that bad in terms of FIP and ERA. The highest FIP of anyone with 10+ innings pitched is Casey Lawrence at 6.88 (ERA of 8.04). This is more of a depth issue. Next up is Trent Thornton, who was absolutely blown up by the in Yankees in that one outing, and Trevor Richards, who has been much better since returning. Most of the main core members of the bullpen have put up either a solid FIP or a solid ERA, sometimes both. For example, David Phelps has posted a 2.70 ERA and a 2.86 FIP.
They definitely could use swing and miss, but I also don’t think it’s as big of an issue as some think it is. So why does it seem that the team hasn’t lived up to expectations?
The biggest issue really comes from none of these things being good all at the same time. Take for example the start of the season. The Blue Jays bats were pretty cold, yet the starting pitching and the bullpen helped them win a ton of one-run games.
Then you look at the series against the White Sox back in late June. They scored 22 runs in three games, yet lost the first two by a score of 7-6 and 8-7, before winning game three 9-5. These were winnable games that were dropped, despite the White Sox not being the greatest of teams.
I think the Jays can make the playoffs, I just don’t know if I can call them contenders.
After around 500 words of interlude, let’s look at the pitcher of discussion today, Ross Stripling:If this is the case, the Jays would’ve lost Ryan Nova and Kendall Williams, two solid prospects, for two playoff games. It would be tough, right?
There was an interesting tidbit to ending the lockout regarding qualifying offers. If the ML BPA and MLB could agree on an international draft, the qualifying offer would be removed (which the players want.)
Well, we’re three days away from the deadline of July 25th, and the two sides have made one proposal apiece.
The last proposal came from Major League Baseball, as they offered a bonus pool of $181 million with a hard cap. The Union wants a $260 million bonus pool with a soft cap that would see teams be taxed if they go over the $260 million.
It’s safe to say, the two sides aren’t even close, with the deadline quickly approaching. Now, they can agree to an extension, but there is still a possibility that the qualifying offer remains.
Now that begs the question, would the Jays offer Ross Stripling a one-year, $18.5 million deal? I would, as he’s put up an ERA of 3.03 and a FIP of 3.08 in his 74.1 innings pitched.
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