Phillies trade candidate to avoid: Marcus Stroman
Avoid Marcus Stroman? This has to be a joke. A noted groundball pitcher and one of the most excellent starters of the first half, the Phillies have already been linked as a potential landing spot for him. Stroman is 9-6 with a 2.96 ERA for the Chicago Cubs this year in 19 starts. He has had a couple of rough starts recently but that’s not why the Phillies should avoid him.
Stroman is a different kind of pitcher and person. There hasn’t been a tweet with his name in it he has failed to react to.
On the field, there is little doubt Stroman can provide the Phillies with an improved rotation. It’s the behind the scenes and effect on the locker room chemistry we should be concerned about.
Stroman isn’t shy about bashing the New York Mets organization which might endear him to Phillies fans but what’s to stop him from doing the same in Philadelphia? Wheeler has done the same, after all. Neither seemed all that happy during their time in New York.
With Stroman, it’s more about the inability to keep things to himself. His extension talks with the Cubs have been an unneeded distraction for them this year. They’ve been surprisingly alive in the NL Wild Card race but unable to get over the hump.
Stroman makes the Phillies better, but that lurking danger of adding an already unhappy player to the locker room is something to avoid. Plus, with how the Cubs managed to swipe Ben Brown away from the Phillies so they could rent David Robertson last year, maybe it’s better we stop handing them prospects on the rise.