CHICAGO — When Marcus Stroman was a rookie in Toronto, he had the perfect mentor in Mark Buehrle.
Stroman watched how Buehrle worked, on and off the field, and took mental notes. A decade later, he still follows some of Buehrle’s between-starts routine.
Buehrle never had the big fastball, but he carved out a borderline Hall of Fame career by showing up every five days and dealing. Consistency was his calling card.
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“When I was a rookie, I had Mark Buehrle who I was looking up to, and it was 200 innings and making every start,” Stroman said. “That was the standard. And that’s still my standard.”
Buehrle worked fast, he threw 200 innings every season — the only full season he missed this mark was his last one in 2015 when he threw a measly 198 2/3 — he fielded his position and he led by example.
Stroman is two starts and 12 innings into his stated goal of making 30-plus appearances and throwing at least 200 innings. He’s made 30-or-more starts four times in his career and eclipsed 200 innings just twice (2016-17).
Last year, after signing a three-year contract worth $71 million, Stroman led the Cubs with 25 starts and a paltry 138 2/3 innings.
Jon Lester was the last Cubs pitcher to get past the nice, round 200-inning mark when he logged 202 2/3 in 2016. Kyle Hendricks came close when he threw 199 in 2019. This isn’t unusual. Last season, only eight starters got to 200 innings, with Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara leading everyone with 228 2/3 innings.
Stroman hasn’t been shy about speaking into existence his goal of being the Cubs’ new load-bearing starting pitcher, and like new shortstop Dansby Swanson wanting to play every day, it’s the kind of follow-me leadership the Cubs need as they attempt a return to relevancy.
“The thing about Stro is that he has a lot of confidence in himself,” Cubs manager Davis Ross said. “He knows his strengths. He never panics. And he expects to be out there, (he) wants to be the horse. He said that to me last year. He wants me to look at him like, ‘That’s my guy, that’s my ace. He’s gonna carry us, he’s gonna save the bullpen. He’s gonna do all the things that an ace does.’ So to have that mentality is important, for sure.”
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Stroman had a forgettable first half last year (4.69 ERA in 11 starts) with the Cubs after signing a surprising free-agent contract just before the owners’ lockout hit in the winter of 2021. But after the All-Star break, he made 14 starts, averaging just under 6 innings per outing, and had a 2.71 ERA. He has continued on that trend line this season, with no earned runs allowed through his first two appearances.
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“I feel great, man,” he said. “I’m not somebody who puts too much emphasis on a good start. I’m someone who focuses on the whole, always. My goal is to make 30, 35, 33 starts. And usually when you do that, the numbers kind of play themselves out.”
Stroman got me thinking about something Cubs president Jed Hoyer said to me in a spring training conversation about additional changes he’d like to see in baseball. One of them was he wanted to see starting pitcher matchups become marquee events again.
“I love things that will make the starting pitcher prominent, and I love things that will cut strikeout rates and keep the ball in play because ultimately the pitcher controls so much of the game,” Hoyer said. “I hope that the rules continue to evolve so that we see strikeout rates come down we see starting pitchers’ impact grow.”
I told Stroman that and it’s music to his ears.
“When I came into the league, that’s what starters were, guys who needed to go seven, eight innings, help the bullpen — obviously, over the course of the year, you want to put less tax on the bullpen,” he said. “So when I came up in the game you had to pitch your fastball, you had to go deep into games.”
Last season, Stroman made it into the seventh inning eight times and the eighth only once. As a starting pitcher, he’s pitched into the seventh 81 times in 200 starts, the eighth 24 times and the ninth sixth times. He’s thrown three complete games, all coming in 2014 or 2017.
If baseball is embracing its roots with rule changes to encourage contact and stolen bases over power and station-to-station approaches, then maybe the innings-chomping starter will return too, right? That’s what Hoyer is portending, isn’t it?
“Umm, I’m going to say no,” Ross said. “I think some of the conversations we have sometimes would actually refute that. I’m not saying we don’t want the starter to go nine, but I think there are some times where the information would tell you to go to the bullpen and we rely heavily on information. (Balancing that is) my job. That’s why you guys yell and scream at me on Twitter.”
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That makes sense, of course. Now that every team has a bullpen of guys throwing in the upper 90s, managers (and front offices) are more likely to trust fresh flamethrowers over tired starters after the lineup turns over a couple of times. But certain starters still get the luxury of working through it. Stroman wants to be that kind of pitcher for the Cubs.
“A hundred percent,” Stroman said. “I feel like I get better sometimes as the game’s going on too. And when my sinker’s playing, it’s still a hard AB even when I’m turning a lineup over three times, because I have multiple pitches I can choose from at any point in the game. So yeah, like I said, I’m old school. I want to be left out there in the seventh and eighth. I am easily capable of throwing 110, 120 pitches. That’s why I work as hard as I do. But at the end of the day, I’m not going to be out here arguing with anybody.”
Stroman has an opt-out after this season, and if he keeps throwing like this, doing so would make a lot of fiscal sense. But right now, given the team’s bullpen questions, he’s just what the Cubs need and what Hoyer claims he wants: A starter willing to go the distance and see his name up on the marquee.
(Top photo of Marcus Stroman encouraging the Wrigley Field crowd after throwing six scoreless innings in the Cubs’ 4-0 Opening Day victory over Texas: John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)