There are a couple of conversations that we can have about the latest comments from Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and the front office's hush tone about any contract extension talks with the right-hander.
On Friday night, Stroman had another fabulous start, allowing two earned runs in 6.2 innings, leading the Cubs to a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants. That was Stroman's MLB-leading 12th quality start of the season. On Saturday, Stroman made headlines, as he responded to a post on Twitter that was detailing his success so far through the 2023 season, and the veteran pitcher wanted his message to be loud and clear.
As you probably know, Stroman signed a three-year deal that had a player opt-out included after 2023. At this point, it's pretty much a guarantee that Stroman will test free agency once again, as he's put up another great season on the mound. A few weeks ago, Stroman spoke to The Athletic's national MLB reporter Ken Rosenthal about his preference ahead of the trade deadline.
Stroman wants to stay with the Cubs and sign a new contract extension, but he also knows that this is a business and he can't control what the front office will do.
This is from May 28. Via The Athletic.
If his present team, the Cubs, does not turn around its season, he could be on the move again.
Stroman does not want that to happen.
“At this point in my career, I’m so open to anything. But it would bother me a bit, just because I feel like I do love it here, as far as the city, the organization from the top down, the fans,” Stroman told The Athletic on Saturday. “It’s incredible playing at Wrigley. Me coming out here 30 minutes before a game and getting a standing ovation, it’s hard to top that.
“It would be tough, very tough in that regard. But at the end of the day, that’s out of my control. I’m sure I’d be happy going to play somewhere else as well.”
“I don’t know what they’re thinking, where they’re at as far as moving forward, but I would love to stay here and sign an extension and not even get to free agency, honestly,” Stroman said. “I’m very confident myself in free agency as well. I’m real big on just letting it play out. I’m cool either way.”
Stroman is hyper aware that narratives in the media can spiral out of control and pin fans against players. Well, he's being proactive in letting Cubs fans know that for one, he wants to remain a Cub, and more importantly, he has now publicly talked about how he and his agent have reached out to the Cubs to engage in negotiations for a contract extension.
However, the Cubs do not seem interested in bringing back Stroman.
If you want to take an optimistic point of you, then you point out how Stroman said the team wasn't interested in exploring an extension, "now," which you know kind of leaves the door open for talks down the road.
To add to that point, USA Today's Bob Nightengale spoke to Stroman and also added this bit to his Sunday story about the Cubs eventual plan to speak with the pitcher about his future.
Via USA Today.
The Cubs have yet to engage. That will change. The Cubs plan to talk to him before Aug. 1 to see how much money he’s seeking. If they can’t reach an agreement, they’ll have no choice but to trade him knowing that teams will be clamoring for him at the trade deadline.
However, I think we've seen this story before. I mean, last year it was so obvious that the Cubs were trying to trade Willson Contreras and had no interest in re-signing him. That appears to be the case with Stroman this season because there hasn't been any sort of hints from the front office that they want to keep Stroman long term.
Via USA Today.
Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations, declined to talk about Stroman’s future, but told reporters this week that Stroman has been worth every penny of the contract.
"He’s been everything we hoped for when we signed him," Hoyer said. "We’ve enjoy having him. We’ve given him the freedom to be himself and I think he’s reciprocated that by pitching great and he’s been terrific for us."
For me, the biggest question is, are the upcoming free agent pitchers better than Stroman? I know that some fans will say something like the Cubs having the ability to get prospects for Stroman and then re-signing him in the offseason. Well, that just does not happen. The examples of players getting traded and then going back to the team that traded them are few and far between.
Plus, signing Stroman to an extension this summer would cost the Cubs less money than waiting for the offseason and having to compete with other offers.
But here's the thing, I can get behind the idea of the Cubs trading Stroman IF and only IF you can guarantee me that they will go out in free agency and sign one of the premier starting pitchers. But even that can be scary. Look no further than Jameson Taillon, who has had a rough debut season with the Cubs. But even Taillon was a mid-tier free agent. The Cubs would have to target the top of the free agent class.
We have seen how Stroman's pitching style perfectly fits with this team's defense and his consistency and work ethic has been top notch, too.
As far as the rest of the Cubs starting rotation, Drew Smyly also has an opt-out, while the front office will most likely not pick up the team option for Kyle Hendricks. Maybe Hendricks returns on a cheap deal, but we're already talking about having to replace Stroman and Smyly, and possibly Hendricks in the rotation in 2024.
Yes, the Cubs have a handful of exciting pitching prospects that we should be hyping up, but they still are just prospects. You can argue that not only do the Cubs need to re-sign Stroman, but still sign another top-tier starter to go along with him and Justin Steele.
At this point, Cubs fans just have to hope that they are going to be all-in on the free agent starting pitchers because a contract extension with Marcus Stroman does not seem likely right now.
