When Marcus Stroman was all set to return from his hip injury last month, and then wound up staying on the Injured List with a surprising and unexplainable rib cage cartilage fracture, absolutely nobody could tell you whether his season was over. Stroman didn’t know. The Cubs didn’t know. Nobody had a template for this one, and with so much time missed, even a ramp-up process would be difficult to pull off.
So the fact that Stroman returned at all this year, in any capacity at any level of success, is great news. The fact that he did it while looking pretty darn good in two (back-to-back) bullpen appearances this past weekend is really impressive.
So what happens now? We haven’t seen Stroman come into a game since Saturday, though he did briefly start to get warm last night according to the broadcast, and staying in a true relief role still seemed like the right guess.
But it’s still possible he winds up making a start before the year is up. From Sahadev Sharma:
“I don’t think we’ve taken any options off the table long-term,” Cubs manager David Ross said of Stroman’s role from here, according to the piece. “What I’d say is maximizing his innings is really important to me. Those leverage innings that might fall in some other guy’s hands are going to be more important, in my opinion.”
So tentatively thinking higher-leverage innings in relief? But nothing off the table?
For his part, Stroman says he’s excited about his ability to face any batter in any situation in any role, and if relief is what the team needs, that’s what he’s going to do. But no one is ruling out a start just yet.
“I think I’m one of the most elite starters when I’m healthy,” Stroman said. “I think we’re day to day now. This is pretty intense, high-pressure baseball now. I think everyone’s just focused on winning each and every day. I can go out there and throw however many innings. At this point, I’m good to go. Load-wise, I could go out there and make a start, I could be in the pen, I could do whatever they need.”
As I said, with Stroman pitching back-to-back out of the bullpen this weekend, it sure LOOKED like the Cubs were thinking he would operate in a true relief role. But if they’re still not ruling out a start, I do wonder.
I also wonder how the inconsistent usage that comes with a true relief role works for a guy in Stroman’s unique situation. I would think you’d want a pretty set schedule of pitching at certain levels of intensity, and in a true relief role, it can be very difficult to artificially keep things in line, from side sessions to in-game appearances. Would the Cubs plan, explicitly, on having Stroman throw today, since it’s been five days since his last appearance? Does that mean you explicitly and unalterably plan to pull Kyle Hendricks after the second time through the order, for example? What of the fact that he was getting warm last night? Still just true relief? I don’t really know. This is just not a common situation, which has made the whole thing hard to project.
I do know that I’m glad Stroman is available, and I think we probably want to see the Cubs put him out there again pretty soon. Probably in relief, but hey, if his appearances get sufficiently spaced out and stretched out that it kind of happens organically that he’s in a position to take a start in the final series or (God willing) in the postseason, that could be huge.