Alright, let's get into it.
I just have to LOL at any of you who thought that Atkins would not have taken the best deal offered for Stroman. Like, is he going to inexplicably sabotage his own team and job? f***ing of course not! LOL! This is the Toronto Blue Jays - one of the most technologically-advanced and analytically-inclined FOs in baseball. There was obviously always going to be a sound process in place to narrow down and determine the best offer for Marcus Stroman. They took the best one they were offered and tried to push for more. Whether they were at all successful in that endeavour, we may never be specifically privy to that information, but the return is what the end result was after the absolute multitude of unrelenting phone calls, text messages, emails, and lunch meetings that Ross Atkins has undoubtedly had over the past few weeks leading up to the deadline. This s*** isn't rocket appliances, folks.
Was this a great return? Nope. But it certainly wasn't bad, either. Some of you seem to lack the ability to comprehend that a trade can be merely decent/solid/fine/okay, while simultaneously producing a fap-worthy piece (SWR) in return.
You don't have to like the trade, but just know that the correct processes were in place and you're allowed to be wrong. If you're still disappointed with this trade in a few days after your biases and emotions are no longer a factor in your judgment, your expectations were likely far too high, so consider this deal a necessary recalibration for where the market is and the fruits it will likely yield. With every passing season, teams are becoming more and more stingy when trading prospect capital for short-term contracts. That's the reality.
Maybe we could all try to utilize even a shred of critical thinking here. Not everything that gets reported by the media is real. Sometimes we aren't given the correct context to the report, sometimes we are only privy to partial truths, sometimes we're fed ******** for the sake of clicks or because the source was just wrong. In this case, there are always two sides to every story. We've heard Stroman's side, as he's a loud-mouthed buffoon who decided to constantly put the FO on blast in the public sphere. That wasn't smart. Atkins took the high road and was always the consummate professional about the situation. No doubt the bridges were burned beyond repair and the only viable decision remaining was to trade Stroman.