TORONTO – A rotation flip that pushes Marco Estrada up to Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles and Mark Buehrle back to Monday versus the Boston Red Sox also sets the stage for Marcus Stroman to potentially take the mound next weekend against the New York Yankees.
The adjustment, revealed by manager John Gibbons on Saturday, also gives Buehrle seven days of rest between outings, which may help the veteran left-hander, who mentioned after his Aug. 30 victory over the Detroit Tigers that “the last couple of starts I haven’t felt the greatest, but I’ll go out there and grind it out.”
The flip positions Buehrle, at 171 innings and counting, to pitch again Sept. 12 at Yankee Stadium, on turn with Stroman, who’s slated to throw his final rehab game Monday for triple-A Buffalo at Pawtucket.
Should Stroman pass that final test, a likely scenario would have him taking Buehrle’s spot in New York, with the left-hander pushed back to Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves. That would also keep Buehrle from pitching at a place where he’s fared poorly – he’s 0-7 with a 6.22 ERA over nine career starts at the new Yankee Stadium.
Such a schedule also builds in some extra flexibility with how Stroman could fit into the rotation beyond that Saturday start as long as he continues to progress. By going Buehrle on Sept. 15 against Atlanta, followed by David Price – the plan is to keep him on turn – and then Hutchison, Stroman’s next start would line up with Hutchison on Sept. 17.
The Blue Jays then could slide Hutchison out for Stroman and use him Sept. 20 if Buehrle again needs extra rest.
Of course, everything depends on what happens Monday with Stroman.
“Right now, we just want him to get through the start on Monday and then we can figure out, does he need another rehab, we can send him back to Lansing, sim games, we can do all kinds of stuff,” said GM Alex Anthopoulos. “We just want to make sure he keeps progressing and once we feel like we’re completely comfortable with the health, he’s built up, stretched out, then we’ll make a decision.
“Even Marcus doesn’t know. All we know right now with him is he’s throwing Monday and we’ll go from there, and we want him to continue to be honest with us. If he feels anything, has any concerns, that’s the first priority. Then, how does he look, what’s the performance like.”