July 28, 2019

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

According to multiple reports, the Toronto Blue Jays have dealt Marcus Stroman to the New York Mets.

Per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Blue Jays will receive pitching prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods-Richardson in return. Baseball America ranks Kay as the fourth-best prospect in the Mets organization and Richardson as the sixth-best.

One of the longest tenured Blue Jays, Stroman was a first-time all-star this season who had cemented his position as the staff ace, posting a 2.96 ERA in 124 innings in 21 starts.

Selected in the first round of the 2012 MLB draft, the Duke alum was in his sixth major league campaign with the Blue Jays. In 135 regular season starts, spanning 789 2/3 innings, he has posted a 3.76 ERA.

The 5-foot-7 right-hander was also chosen to pitch in a number of key post-season games for the Blue Jays in 2015 and 2016. In five post-season starts, he owns a 1-1 record with a 4.40 in 30 2/3 innings.

Although the Blue Jays have not officially announced the trade. The outspoken Stroman, who is very active on social media, confirmed it’s happening with a series of Twitter posts on Sunday night.

Kay, 24, is a highly regarded left-handed pitching prospect from Stony Brook, N.Y. Here is his scouting report from Baseball America:

The Mets' first-round pick in 2016, Kay didn't pitch after signing due to an elbow injury and missed all of 2017 after having Tommy John surgery. He returned last year and has flown up the system, reaching Triple-A this year in just his second season on the mound. Kay is a power lefthander with a fastball that sits at 93 mph and regularly reaches 95-96 mph. He complements his fastball with a curveball he can land to both sides of the plate and a changeup that plays well against righthanded hitters with sink at the bottom of the zone. Kay's arsenal is that of a mid-rotation starter or better, but his control and command are inconsistent and make him a back-end starter in the eyes of most evaluators. He is nearly major league ready and could make his debut this year.

Woods-Richardson is an 18-year-old right-hander from Sugar Land, Tex., who is a work in progress, but with a potentially high upside. Here is Baseball America’s scouting report on him:

The Mets' second-round pick last year, Woods-Richardson made his full-season debut this year and earned raves from scouts as one of the best pitchers in the low Class A South Atlantic League despite a pedestrian 4.25 ERA. Woods-Richardson is a 6-foot-3 power righthander who pounds the strike zone with his power arsenal. His four-seam fastball reaches 95-96 mph and his cutter sits at 92 mph, giving him two hard offerings to front his four-pitch mix. His 12-to-6 breaking ball has hard downward action and shows the potential to be an impact pitch, and his changeup flashes average. Woods-Richardson struggles leaving the ball up and gets hit as a result sometimes, but evaluators feel he could be an impact starter once he learns to work the edges of the strike zone. He earns wide praise for his fearless, bulldog mentality on the mound and aggressiveness in attacking hitters.