Stripling’s contributions go well in line with the Deadline plan

The Blue Jays entered the season with a rotation that turned out to be one of baseball’s best, but the depth beyond the big leagues wasn’t as strong. One or two injuries and it could be interesting. Stripling stepped in and stabilized not just the rotation but the roster as a whole.

In Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Tigers, Stripling looked like his classic self most of the time before struggling in game five. A controversial call to a ball that appeared to hit the button on Jonathan Schoop’s bat but was later ruled a hit batter shifted the inning against Stripling, but the right-hander was mostly a rock in 2022 and owned a 3.16 ERA.

“He was huge. I think guys like him are underrated in the league,” said interim manager John Schneider. “What he did was remarkable. Not even noteworthy because he’s good, but what he did was really valuable to us. We will continue to lean on him. The fact that he’s taking on that role and going back and forth is great.”

Without stripling, the Blue Jays would have had to switch to triple-A depth very early in the year. We saw that recently when Yusei Kikuchi and Kevin Gausman missed time and the results weren’t always encouraging. If this search had started earlier in the year, the picture would be very different.

The pitching starting market opened on Friday when the Mariners acquired Luis Castillo, the top name available, from the Reds. The price, of course, was steep as the Mariners gave up their No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. The Blue Jays have taken the upper hand with Alek Manoah, Gausman and José Berríos rediscovering his old form, but depth is still needed.

Thanks to Stripling, that’s a preference, not an alarming need. However, stripling knows this time of year well. He was acquired by the Blue Jays in a deadline deal in 2020 and honestly a similar takeover may be what this club needs right now.

“We all play GM and we’re wondering if we have a package for Juan Soto,” Stripling said with a smile. “I’ve probably already said that to every one of you here. Here we all agree. When I was done with my outing, I got on and the guys were like, ‘The Rays did it [D-backs outfielder David] peralta.’ One of the coaches said that, so we’re all paying attention. It will be a fun 72 hours here.”

Stripling has also lived a blessed life in terms of team success. For the Dodgers, every season had the potential to be a World Series year. Now in Toronto, expectations are sky high not just for 22 but for the years beyond.

“I was part of teams that usually buy. The Dodgers would always buy,” Stripling said. “We have [Yu] Darwish a year [Manny] Machado a year and then last year we brought José Berríos here. They’re usually A-listers. I meet an A-lister around this time almost every year, which is always fun. I’m excited to see what we’re doing, but I’m also very confident in the team we have that we can beat anyone.”

The emergence of Stripling allows the Blue Jays to focus their resources more on raising the bottom of the rotation rather than improving the middle or top end. This is still on the table, of course, but those same resources make a lot more sense when skewed towards a high-end reliever…or two…or three.

There’s also a possibility that the Blue Jays will seek a depth upgrade for their benched positional squad, but with Andrew Benintendi and Peralta already switched, these left-handed options are quickly flying off the shelves. Ian Happ is different but with Cavan Biggio and Raimel Tapia recently reinforced the new skipper is feeling good.

“We like our squad,” said Schneider. “I think when you function properly, you take advantage of everyone. At the moment we feel good. We have an overall good feeling about any additions that may come in any form.”

It’s completely vague. This squad will take on a new form next Wednesday, but thanks to Stripling and several others stepping up, that effort can be a lot more focused.