It’s fair to say that Marcus Stroman is one of the most outspoken voices in Major League Baseball. For better or worse, the Chicago Cubs All-Star pitcher is never afraid to speak his mind. And with the league’s trade deadline inching closer, Stroman’s future in the Windy City remains uncertain, despite his maintaining that he wants to be with the organization long-term.
After some uncomfortable exits from Toronto and New York, Stroman has found a home in Chicago. In his second season with the Cubs, the 32-year-old is rounding into form, as he’s pitched to a 10-6 record with a 2.88 ERA in 118.2 innings pitched.
Coming off his first start of the second half, where he allowed just one run on three hits in six innings against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, Stroman was asked about his long-term future with the Cubs. He didn’t hold back and was brutally honesty about what his future in baseball may look like after Aug. 1.
Marcus Stroman on his long-term future with the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/47Vs5YIpgV
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 15, 2023
“Yeah, I would love to be here long-term,” Stroman said following the 10-4 win over Chicago. “Everyone’s always putting this emphasis on, ‘Oh, we need to play good in seven days, 10 days and then we can be buyers.’ But I truly don’t believe in that. This division is wide open. And if you even look deeper than that, as an organization, why would you not want to be competitive for multiple years, year after year after year?
“[Cody Bellinger’s] is a guy who changed your lineup. Why would you want him to get away? Why would you want a guy like myself, who goes out there and gives you quality starts in a league that it’s incredibly hard to do, you know what I mean? It’s incredibly hard to say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna get this production out of this young guy.’ It’s hard.”
Stroman said he knows that Bellinger wants to stay in Chicago, along with himself. At the same time, he acknowledged that the decision is not in his control and ultimately lies in the hands of the Cubs’ front office.
“At the end of the day, it’s a business, so we have to treat it as such, even when we have this love for this fanbase and the organization. It’s hard to separate it at times, but yeah, I love being Cub. I love everything about it,” Stroman said. “But someone who’s been through it before, it’s something that you have to kind of distance yourself a bit because a lot of it’s out of your control. No matter how much I love it, I can wake up tomorrow and be gone. It’s rough, but I love everything about the city of Chicago and this organization.”
Stroman said that no matter what happens, he hopes the Cubs would be in the mix in the offseason when it comes to his free agency. Obviously, what happens between now and then remains out of his control, so it remains to be seen what the Cubs will ultimately choose to do with Stroman come the Aug. 1 trade deadline.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.