The Blue Jays missed an opportunity to trade one of their top assets before last year’s deadline because of injury. There’s at least an outside chance it could be happening again.

Right-hander Marcus Stroman, arguably Toronto’s biggest trade chip leading into July 31, was scratched from his scheduled start against Boston on Thursday night because of a supposed cramp in his left pectoral muscle. The same cramp that forced Stroman to depart his last outing versus the Royals last Saturday.

Toronto did its best to downplay the situation prior to the series finale. Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo insisted that Stroman is day to day and might even get into a game before the all-star break. And the club hasn’t ruled out Stroman’s availability for next week’s midsummer classic in Cleveland.

By most accounts, this is a minor setback and it’s possible two weeks from now hardly anyone will remember it happened. Yet at the same time, there has been a shroud of secrecy surrounding Stroman’s situation ever since he was removed from that game against the Royals after four innings. Fair or not, it has raised the level of doubt about his health.

Prior to Wednesday’s game against Boston, Stroman had a closed-door meeting that lasted approximately 15 to 20 minutes with Montoyo, general manager Ross Atkins, pitching coach Pete Walker and the club’s training staff. Afterwards, Stroman told a small handful of reporters, including Scott Mitchell of TSN, he was feeling approximately 90 to 95 per cent healthy and would not be out of action long.

The following day, Stroman was temporarily pulled from the rotation. When pressed for specifics on what’s going on, the Blue Jays didn’t have much of an answer.

“It was described as a cramp before, how would you describe it now?” a reporter asked Thursday afternoon.

“That’s what I keep hearing, cramp,” Montoyo said.

“A weeklong cramp?” the same reporter retorted with a sense of bewilderment.

“I don’t know, that’s a good question,” Montoyo replied as the entire press corps burst into laughter. “I know what you’re saying. I guess it turned out to be a little worse than that.”

The reason there’s a bit of skepticism here is because the Blue Jays have a track record of not being forthcoming with medical updates. To its credit, Toronto has been more transparent in 2019 than it was the last several years, but quite frequently it appears the media and fans are not getting the full story. Just look at some of the recent examples:

Lefty Ryan Borucki was shut down in spring training with an elbow injury for what was supposed to be a week. “Just precautionary,” Borucki said at the time. He hasn’t been on a big-league mound since and likely won’t return until at least the end of the month.

On May 20, Montoyo was asked about Ryan Tepera’s health after he allowed two runs out of the bullpen. Montoyo declared his setup man healthy. The following day, Tepera was placed on the injured list. A week after that, Tepera announced on his own that he underwent surgery.

Clayton Richard and David Phelps were projected to be ready for opening day. Richard didn’t get into a big-league game until May 23 and, even then, it was only because the club limited him to one rehab start. Phelps didn’t make it back until the middle of June. Someone might need to send a search party for Devon Travis.

There were even more issues last year. Josh Donaldson’s calf injury was never fully explained. It was supposed to keep him out the minimum 10 days and ended up costing him almost an entire season. Troy Tulowitzki went missing in action for weeks at a time, and when rare medical updates were provided they typically included generic phrasing like “time spent on feet.”

Not all of this is the Blue Jays’ fault. Players experience setbacks all the time. Each body is unique and a rehab schedule that works for one athlete might not work for another. Recovery timelines are difficult to establish for any doctor, and it becomes an even bigger guessing game when dealing with high-performance athletes. Even so, Toronto has room for improvement.

Baseball is a non-contact sport and, unlike football, hockey and even basketball, there is no competitive advantage in hiding injuries from the public eye. Yet, at times, the Blue Jays appear to be guilty of trying to pull the wool over the media’s head anyway. There is enough of a track record to establish the Jays often leave out key details when it comes to a player’s health.

Is that what’s happening with Stroman? Maybe not, but it’s too early to say. He declined an interview request through a club spokesman on Thursday afternoon and instead allowed Montoyo to do the talking for him. It was a missed opportunity by the club to control the narrative and tie up loose ends.

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The Blue Jays better know Stroman is completely healthy before allowing him to go back on the mound because one more setback would be devastating. Toronto got pennies on the dollar for Donaldson at last year’s deadline, at least in part because of injury. That can’t happen again if the Jays want to maximize their return.

With Stroman’s club control ending after 2020, his trade value is going to significantly drop after July 31. Teams are more hesitant these days to part with a package of top prospects for a rental.

Fact will soon be separated from fiction with Stroman’s health. At this point it almost doesn’t matter if Toronto is telling the truth anymore — we’ll find out for ourselves soon enough.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca

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