Marcus Stroman entered the Toronto Jays dugout at Rogers Centre on Friday about four hours before the Blue Jays game against the Boston Red Sox, decked entirely in black – including his Gucci baseball cap.
His mood was also festering in a dark place.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman.Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
Through seven games this season Stroman is winless (0-5 with two no-decisions). That, along with a worrisome 7.71 earned-run average, has led to a lot of head scratching among the club’s hierarchy trying to figure out Stroman’s problems.
After his most recent outing on Tuesday, in which the ultra-proud 27-year-old endured another pedestrian start – five runs in five innings in a 5-0 loss to Seattle – Stroman complained to the coaching staff that he had shoulder fatigue.
On Friday, the Blue Jays placed Stroman on the 10-day disabled list – retroactive to that last start – in the hope the break will allow the pitcher to get his physical state and mental state back on track.
The Blue Jays had been hoping Stroman would be the linchpin of a rotation that many believed would be the team’s strength.
Instead, Stroman became the poster boy for inefficiency – and the Blue Jays are struggling to win, 8-12 over their past 20 games heading into the three-game set against the Red Sox.
Blue Jays starters have lasted six full innings just once in their past eight games, a span in which the collective ERA has risen to 5.33 from 5.13, the third highest mark in the majors.
Toronto general manager Ross Atkins said moving Stroman to the DL was based on “subjective” evidence, rather than any medical data that his right throwing shoulder was damaged. There was no MRI ordered, Atkins said.
“We just got to the point where, with any athlete when they are less than efficient and the results are way less than the standard, you have to start considering alternatives,” Atkins said. “And when we were made aware of the fatigue it became clear to us that that’s not a time to push.”
Atkins did not sound optimistic when he was asked if a 10-day layoff would be enough for Stroman.
“There’s certainly a strong potential that it’s longer than that,” Atkins said. “But we’ll see. I think from the rest, the recovery – and Marcus has talked about how that has weighed on him mentally. And so that will be a part of it, that recovery and getting back into the right mindset, the right state of mind and then the right physical state.”
Stroman, talking with reporters after the news of his DL stint was announced, said his sub-par performances were extracting a toll on him mentally.
“It’s hard to do everything that I can, for my shoulder and my body, in between starts while also focusing on lineups and being the best out there,” Stroman said. “I just got to a point where it’s so mentally and physically frustrating, I just need to take a step back for a second, put it all together and then come back and be myself out there.”
As for the physical limitations with his shoulder, Stroman said he felt he had to work at “115-120 per cent” capacity when his usual throwing would be around 85 per cent.
“There’d be spurts where I did feel great,” he said. “And then I’d kind of lose it and then I’d get it back. That’s why it’s so frustrating.
“I want to find it where I have it permanently, 100 per cent each time, every time, every pitch. So that’s kind of where I’m at.”
Stroman has walked 18 batters in 37 1/3 innings, a high rate that might be attributable to him trying to overthrow to compensate for a tired shoulder.
“Generally, when you‘re fatigued, you’ve got to try a little bit harder to maintain whatever you’ve always had,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said. “Naturally that affects location, first and foremost, I think.”
Stroman, not surprisingly, said he resisted the move to the DL.
“I’m not lying when I say I do everything in my power [to remain in the lineup],” he said. “I don’t slack, I don’t slouch. Daily, from the time I wake up … I’ve been trying to figure this out. So yeah, it’s been frustrating.
“It’s just I’m off right now, it’s not all there.”