Colorado Rockies: Could Marcus Stroman finally be a fit?

There has been plenty of talk in the past about Marcus Stroman potentially joining the Colorado Rockies rotation. Could 2021 be the season that it actually happens?

When the Colorado Rockies looked to be churning toward a postseason berth during the 2019 campaign (spoiler alert, it didn’t happen), there was some talk of what a potential trade might look like between the Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays to land right-handed starting pitcher Marcus Stroman. The stars didn’t align then, but could it be possible for the 2021 season?

Stroman, now 29, will enter the 2021 season with some question marks. After all, he didn’t pitch during the 2020 campaign after opting out of the one-year, $12 million deal he signed with the New York Mets. And, of course, we’re still in the midst of a pandemic and it’s unclear how soon we will be back to what might be considered “normal baseball conditions” as in the past.

However, if Stroman needs a home and the Rockies could use a veteran arm in the rotation, perhaps a deal could be made.

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Yes, it’s probably unlikely, knowing Stroman will command a higher figure and knowing that Coors Field is often the place where pitchers don’t choose to try to prove they can still pitch. However, the thought is intriguing.

Our colleagues at JaysJournal.com, covering the Blue Jays, posted a piece about how Stroman would collect a big paycheck this offseason after finding where fit best for him. After all, his numbers show how solid he has been during his six-year MLB career.

And yes, that is Stroman who retweeted those numbers. He’s entering 2020 pretty confident of what he can bring to a team, as he tweeted to our colleagues at JaysJournal.com.

As a comparison, German Marquez and Jon Gray each logged 3.6 bWAR in 2019 as they led the Rockies rotation.

Stroman has pitched two career games at Coors Field, holding the Rockies to a .220 batting average and allowing just two extra-base hits (both doubles) in 51 Colorado plate appearances. His tOPS+ is 42, ERA is 1.93, and WHIP is 0.857 in downtown Denver.

And hey, just for good measure, let’s not forget that Stroman and Nolan Arenado have a good relationship. Just after the pandemic shut down baseball, Stroman tweeted out that Arenado had told him he was in to play in the 2021 World Baseball Classic for Team USA. Of course, all of that is up in the air now, but Arenado and Stroman played together on the 2017 WBC squad (along with Rockies reliever Mychal Givens). Could those ties help the Rockies?

For Stroman to be in Colorado in 2021, he would have to accept a challenge that few free-agent pitchers have … and the Rockies would have to be willing to pay him a sizable fee to be in Denver. It may be improbable, but it’s not impossible.