Marco Estrada in the Bronx in 2016?

Tonight we will watch what we have watched as a fan base pretty much all season long, we will watch the emergence of Marco Estrada for the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s had his ups and his downs this season but Estrada has been strong overall in 2015 leaving many to wonder if the right-hander will wear Toronto’s uniform next season. Estrada is set to hit free agency for the first time before the 2016 season and boasts a 3.14 ERA with a 4.42 FIP, 1.073 WHIP and a 126 ERA+. If the Blue Jays cannot afford him and their newfound juggernaut of an offense would Estrada made sense in a Yankees uniform in 2016?

Estrada has been a Yankee killer this season posting a 1-2 record with a 3.16 ERA in four starts. Estrada has struck out 14 Yankees while allowing just 20 hits combined as he has essentially turned the Bronx Bombers into the Bronx Bombless this season. Snatching him away from the Toronto Blue Jays is an automatic addition by subtraction in the American League East and would leave the Blue Jays not only without Estrada but without Price as well as the left hits free agency as well. Toronto could make a serious run at Price, especially without having Estrada at the top of the rotation to pair with Marcus Stroman, but the Blue Jays would not be without competition for his services making that signing far from a sure thing.

Would Estrada work inside Yankee Stadium for essentially 15 starts a season though? This season Estrada is giving up a league low 6.8 hits per nine innings and has given up a 1.2 HR/9 ratio, which is down from his career 1.4 HR/9 ratio, pitching his home games inside Rogers Centre. His walk numbers could be better at 2.9 BB/9, which is up from his career 2.5 BB/9, and hasn’t struck out as many batters as you’d like to instill confidence in you. Estrada is essentially striking out and walking as many batters as Nathan Eovaldi while giving up hits and home runs at a clip similar to Masahiro Tanaka to put this all into a frame of reference.

Estrada would not be an ace or maybe not even a #2 by any stretch of the imagination but he’d be better than Ivan Nova and at this point a marginal upgrade, or any upgrade for that matter, is still an upgrade. If the price is right and the team can move Nova in an offseason trade to possibly upgrade elsewhere then I say go for it. If the team wants to stand pat I think I’d feel confident in their chances but if they wanted to go all out and hand David Price a $200 million contract I think I’d feel much better with that too.