Stro Show near end, Jays future emerging

BALL CLUB MAY TRADE EVERY ASSET IT HAS

In between taking a shot at team management and thanking fans across Canada, Marcus Stroman reflected on his favourite memories in a Blue Jays uniform.

There have been many, he said, but two stand alone: The bat-flip game and the wild-card game.

“Those are kind of the moments that will always hit home,” Stroman said on Wednesday night, following what was widely expected to be his final start in Toronto with next week’s MLB trade deadline looming. “Those are kind of the two scenes that will always have a lasting effect on my memories. Just how loud it was in those moments and how crazy the fans were.”

Stroman was on the mound to start both those definitive contests at the Rogers Centre, Game 5 of the 2015 American League Divisional Series against the Texas Rangers that featured Jose Bautista’s epic home run, and the 2016 wild-card game that was won when Edwin Encarnacion homered in extra innings.

The 28-year-old Stroman is one of the few remaining ties to that winning era, and it’s possible the cord connecting past to present could be severed entirely in the coming days.

While veterans Justin Smoak, Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini all be could dealt as the Jays brass attempts to sell off the remaining assets in one final push to bolster the youth movement, Stroman appears to already have one foot out the door.

“There’s been no willingness from the front office to sign me, so I’ve just kind of come to terms with it and I’m ready to dominate — wherever that may be. Absolutely dominate,” Stroman said Wednesday while making what might have been his final comments as a Jay in what has been a drawn-out and uncomfortable process.

That brings us to what lies ahead for these Jays. The potential departures and returns are anybody’s guess. Expect the dominoes to start falling when the San Francisco Giants make up their mind on ace Madison Bumgarner.

Will the Jays go the wholesale route and sell off Stroman, closer Ken Giles, relievers Daniel Hudson, Biagini and David Phelps, shortstop Freddy Galvis, super-surprising super-utility man Eric Sogard and starter Sanchez — the latter being less likely given his season-long struggles — in exchange for players and prospects more in sync with the team’s reconstruction timetable?

Patient fans of this team, which is well on its way to a 100-loss season, should cross their fingers for such deadline action, though bringing viable pitching back in return also should be high on the priority list. If ever there was a time to disassemble the remaining older talent, as uncertain as that trade market is, now is that time.

While the final destination of the 2019 Jays roster remains very much in flux, this much is clear: Come Wednesday, this young-gun squad should be that much closer to being rooted in a true identity in which to grow from.

While former Toronto greats Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson continue to crush longballs at a torrid pace on contending teams elsewhere, a new world order has been established in Toronto. It’s led by a cast of young hope: 20-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 24-year-old Cavan Biggio, 24-year-old Danny Jansen, 25-year-old Lourdes Gurriel Jr., 26-year-old Teoscar Hernandez, 27-year-old Randal Grichuk, and likely sooner rather than later, 21-year-old Bo Bichette,

This is their team now, and that will be even truer once the deadline, and its distractions, pass. With 58 games remaining, Toronto’s place in the standings from here on out won’t matter, just as that didn’t a month ago or a month before that in what was never going to be a summer ending with the words “World Series” or “playoff berth”. But it’s now squarely upon this core group of youngsters, the ball firmly in their court, to take the required next steps to improve down the stretch, then carry it into 2020.

“I like the kids we have, is all I know,” first-year Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said when asked if he anticipates his job becoming easier or more difficult post-deadline. “I like the way we’re playing, what’s coming, whenever Bo gets here, you know. I like Sogard, I like Galvis, those guys that might go, might stay. I like what we have right now.

“If we happen to lose people, I hope we get better.”

By next week, team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, now several years deep into their mandate, will have made their latest and possibly most significant marks at the head of the Jays’ table, for better or worse.

The players in the locker-room today will be pleased to see the dust settle, one way or another.

“I’m not really sure. I guess we’ll kind of find that out after the deadline happens,” 24-yearold outfielder Billy McKinney said of what he expects the post-deadline vibe to be.

Added rookie Biggio: “I guess when that time comes we’ll see. I’ve got a lot of trust and faith in where we’re going.”

I’VE GOT A LOT OF TRUST AND FAITH IN WHERE WE’RE GOING.

MARK BLINCH / GETTY IMAGES Marcus Stroman delivers a pitch against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday in what may have been his last game as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Stroman is expected to be traded before the MLB deadline next Wednesday.