Dodgers secretly eye Marcus Stroman as quiet fix for shaky rotation: Report

The Dodgers have not yet made a major offseason signing, but they've been quietly linked with a few names. DJ LeMahieu, Corey Kluber, and Carlos Carrasco are among them. But there's one name that has not yet received much attention and maybe should and that is Marcus Stroman. The 27-year-old Toronto Blue Jays righty could be a smart target for Dodgers president Andrew Friedman. Stroman doesn't receive much fanfare, but his style could be just what the Dodgers need.Marcus Stroman is a perennial member of Toronto's rotation for years. He's not well-known for big strikeout counts, but that's not why he's valuable. Marcus Stroman is one of the best ground ball pitchers in baseball. He had the highest ground ball percentage among all MLB starters (with 100+ innings) at 62.1% in 2018. That kind of statistic is made to order for what the Dodgers have been looking for.The Dodgers have been in the practice of going out and getting pitchers who generate ground balls. In 2018, Scott Alexander, Dylan Floro, and JT Chargois were among the players who helped to raise the team's ground ball percentage. Stroman would fill this role and offer even more stability in the rotation.He's also great at not taking the ball out of the yard. His career home run rate (0.81 per 9 innings) is among the best in the game since 2015. For a team that plays in a division full of homer-friendly parks and has to work against strong lineups, it's a luxury. Marcus Stroman's greatest flaw? Strikeouts. He owns a career strikeout rate of 19.3% and saw it fall to 17.2% in 2018. But why? His slider, one of his strongest offerings just a year ago, lost its bite last season. The problem appears to have been an alteration to the vertical release point, which caused more sliders to be thrown into the zone and fewer swings and misses.That might sound pessimistic, but it's the kind of problem the Dodgers relish fixing. They've helped pitchers like Joe Blanton and Tony Cingrani work on their sliders with positive outcomes. With guidance from the Dodgers, Stroman's slider can recover.He is also under team control for the year 2020, giving the Dodgers some leeway. If they sign Stroman, they can trade out of their pitching depth. Alex Wood can be traded, and even Ross Stripling can be part of a trade. And with pitchers like Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu set to hit the free market after 2019, Stroman would bring some much-needed long-term depth.It wouldn't be expensive to acquire him. A trade would probably cost an outfielder such as Joc Pederson or Alex Verdugo, a young pitcher such as Dustin May or Yadier Alvarez, and a lower-level prospect. That's worth it for a reliable starter with potential.Also Read: Yankees Replace Injured Marcus Stroman With A Triple-A Pitcher