Chicago Cubs ace Marcus Stroman could be in line to start in the All-Star Game – The Denver Post

All-Star voting tabulations released Tuesday provided a clue to the Chicago Cubs’ chances of sending a position player to the Midsummer Classic in Seattle.

No one was higher than fifth at their position, so barring a late surge of votes the next two days, none of your favorite Cubs will be in the starting lineup.

Dansby Swanson, who led all shortstops in WAR on Tuesday, could be selected as a reserve, and manager David Ross also mentioned Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki as possibilities, while lobbying for Christopher Morel to get an invite to the Home Run Derby.

But the Cubs’ only sure bet for Seattle appears to be pitcher Marcus Stroman, who threw seven shutout innings Tuesday in a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Stroman, who improved to 9-4 with his seventh straight win, leads the National League with a 2.28 ERA, while his 14 quality starts leads the majors. Home runs by Tucker Barnhart and Mike Tauchman helped the Cubs to their ninth win in 11 games and their fourth straight series win.

Stroman appears likely to be selected as a member of the National League staff, and based on his current numbers could be in line to become the first Cubs pitcher to start an All-Star game since Claude Passeau in 1946.

“Accolades are never something (I look for),” Stroman said. “I’m just trying to do my deal for the team here. Hopefully we can start winning some games, stay hot and make a playoff push. That’s the goal.”

Stroman has the numbers, but the best stats don’t always decide who starts the game. Five starters and three relievers for each league will be selected by a “player ballot,” and Stroman is a shoo-in for that.

Once the rosters are announced and the teams have congregated in Seattle, the Commissioner’s Office, in consultation with the respective managers of the teams — Houston’s Dusty Baker and Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson in this case — select the two starters.

That means Commissioner Rob Manfred could have some say. Yes, that’s the same Manfred whom Stroman referred to as “Manclown” on Twitter, and the guy Stroman said has “got to go.”

When Manfred canceled games before the start of the 2022 season during the MLB owners lockout, Stroman tweeted that “Manfred has been ruining our game while playing puppet boy to the owners. That’s a fact.”

Stroman getting the starting nod in the All-Star Game would be great for Cubs fans. But would the “puppet” commissioner rather have a safer choice, someone like Hall of Fame-bound Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, at the risk of snubbing a more deserving pitcher like Stroman?

We won’t know until starters are announced on July 10, the day before the All-Star Game. Perhaps Stroman would be such an obvious choice by then that his criticisms of Manfred — which many players no doubt agree with in spite of their reluctance to say so on social media — would become a moot point. Or maybe Manfred would recuse himself from the process.

Stroman doesn’t shy away from saying what he wants on Twitter, including his recent tweet that the Cubs haven’t engaged with him on a possible extension in spite of his “multiple attempts” by him and his agent to start talks.

President Jed Hoyer responded by saying “he tweeted it out, which I guess that changed the dynamic, but it doesn’t change our stance on it, which is we’re just not going to comment.”

I asked Ross on Tuesday whether he checks out Stroman’s tweets.

“I don’t,” he replied. “Do I need to?”

Ross quickly answered his own question.

“Being his manager, being around him every day, I don’t need to check his Twitter because I see the comments he (makes) every day,” Ross said. “I think (the media) see a version of him that is definitely in a small context (of his tweets). I don’t know how many words you could put in there. My favorite thing about ‘Stro’ is the confidence he carries, the belief in himself, the mindset he has.

“I wish I would have had more of that confidence in myself as a player. I wish more of our players had that belief (that) even when the world is coming down on you, you still believe in yourself. I think that’s a powerful thing. All of us could probably learn a lot from that, because he works really hard and prepares very hard to keep himself in great shape and values the things that help him to succeed.

“All of that makes for the product you get to see on a daily basis. Twitter aside, I do believe that’s a powerful thing he carries.”

Stroman seems to enjoy proving his critics wrong. After winning on Opening Day he trolled a Twitter user who wrote he was “betting against that crybaby Stroman outta principle.”

And he’s not averse to calling out the media when he believes a narrative is biased. When a New York Mets blogger recently wrote that Stroman was “making it obvious” he was leaving the Cubs, he replied with a tweet that said: “Lol it’s comical how trash NY media is. And the fact that people continue to believe these desperate blogs is hilarious. ZERO DIVERSITY throughout NY media. Dinosaur writers with no skill trying to get clicks with false headlines.”

Stroman is nothing if not confident, a word he uttered many times Tuesday.

“I don’t listen to any analytics,” he said. “I’ve thrown all those GPS’s out. I’m someone who knows my strengths. I’ll put my strengths against your weakness any day of the week.”

Where does he get that confidence? Stroman credited his dad for a tireless work ethic.

“I feel my pops instilled it in me at a young age,” he said. “It’s the endless amount of hours nobody sees. My work comes from my confidence. I know nobody is going to be more prepared than me out on the field. When I step out there, there is nothing in my head that has any bit of doubt of things I could’ve done to make my game even better slightly. I’m confident. Like a true, real confident. It’s not a fake confidence. And that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Ross said it’s nothing new, and that Stroman has been overcoming doubters for years.

“If you look at his story, and just the stature thing, right?” Ross said, referring to Stroman’s 5-foot-8 height. “Just who he is out on the mound. He’s probably had to do that his whole life, if you look at his background. I think that’s no secret to anybody that watches him compete.

“It’s fun. I’ve been with a ton of players that carry whether you want to call it a chip or beliefs or different things. I can only speak for myself. There was a little bit of a fear of failure for me that pushed me to work harder, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself out there in front of everybody.

“Everybody has their own internal drive, whether you knew you were going to be great, or you had a chip and you’re overcoming odds, or felt like you were undervalued, all those things are really important to whatever gets you in the right frame of mind to get out there and compete to the best of your ability and help your team win, more power to it.”

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