Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada is 34 and will become a free agent at the end of the season. In a wildly uneven season, Estrada has an 8-8 record with a 4.96 ERA in 30 starts, and he has three more starts to impress a potential suitor.

Estrada understands this may be his last chance at a lucrative contract and that he needs to finish well.

As it turns out, though, the only team he wants to impress is the Blue Jays.

He was hoping to get something done in the way of an extension by the end of spring training, but that didn’t happen. Now he’s hoping his consistent three-year body of work in Toronto will encourage the club to pursue him again.

“I think this team has known since I’ve been here that I want to be a part of this, and I’m hoping to be a part of it next year,” Estrada said Tuesday.

“But I know this game is a business and you don’t always get what you want. I’m hoping they can make a good offer, or just an offer to keep me here, because I’d like to come back.”

This has been a tale of two seasons for the veteran hurler. After a fast start, Estrada went through a nine-game spiral of inconsistency and struggle, from June 1 to July 21, in which it seemed hitters knew what was coming. His signature changeup — one of the best in the business — was being crushed, perhaps because he couldn’t seem to command his 89-90 m.p.h. fastball.

In that nine-game stretch he was 0-5 with a 9.52 ERA, allowing 87 base-runners and 43 runs in 40 2/3 innings, with nine homers. Not coincidentally, there was the constant buzz of trade rumours suggesting the Jays were exploring offers that would send him to a contender after it was clear the Jays were not going to be one themselves.

Estrada believes that uncertainty regarding his future, especially when he wanted to remain with the club, has taken its toll. And when finally the Jays confirmed that he was not going to be dealt, he feels that allowed him to rediscover his groove.

“Pitching is one thing,” Estrada said of his inability to battle through the off-the-field stuff. “I’m comfortable out (on the mound) no matter what the situation is, but having someone bring up to you that you’re leaving, it was almost every day I was hearing it from someone new. At first I didn’t care, and as a couple of weeks went by it started getting into my head and the next thing I know I’m struggling.

“But I had other issues going on that aren’t baseball related. That’s why it all snowballed. It was a tough time. Then you start pitching bad, that makes everything even worse. Once I got over all of that stuff, I’ve done much better and I feel like I’m back to who I was, who I’ve been for this team. In all honesty I feel like it was a month-and-a-half of pitching like someone else.”

The rotation in 2016, when the Jays went all the way to the ALCS and lost to the Cleveland Indians, was one of the best in baseball, logging a league-high in innings by its starters in a healthy rotation that included Estrada, J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey and Francisco Liriano.

This season was lost for a variety of reasons, but the lack of rotation depth is still right up there.

“When you take away a guy like Happ and a guy like Sanchez, when you miss guys like that, it’s going to affect that team a lot,” Estrada said.

“Then you’ve got to start using rookies or people that haven’t been around the league too much. It can be difficult. I’m hoping Sanchez takes care of his finger because we need him for next year. Happ looks to be healthy and he’s been pitching pretty well. If Stro can do what he did this year, it seems he kind of figured it out. We’re going to need that guy again next year. Hopefully I can re-sign and be the guy that I was in 2015-’16 . . . I just have to stay away from that terrible June that I had.”

Pitching depth is key. And the fact is, Buffalo was a barren Bison wasteland of backup starters for the major-league Jays, with the likes of Mat Latos (3), Casey Lawrence (2), Nick Tepesch (2) and others trying to fill the void of young pitching prospects at the organization’s upper level.

Next year, Jays GM Ross Atkins has pointed at youngsters like lefties Ryan Borucki and Thomas Pannone, plus right-hander Sean Reid-Foley as talented starters with options able to fill in at the 5-8 spots on the Jays’ depth chart.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Estrada wants to be one of next year’s top-4, along with Happ, Stroman and a healthy Sanchez. The fifth starter out of camp could come from among Brett Anderson, Joe Biagini, Luis Santos or a short-term free agent deal.

“I know in a perfect world I would go play where I live,” Estrada said of his Arizona home. “Right now, my family and I are making huge sacrifices. I’m not basically able to see them the first month-and-a-half or so because my kids are at school. My family knows how much I like it here, and they’re willing to support my decision in trying to stay here.

“I want to come back, I think everyone knows that. Maybe after whatever that contract may be, if I do come back, I’d have to think, ‘OK, it’s about time to go home.’ But right now I feel like I’m in a good place and I feel like this team’s going to be in a much better place next season, and I want to be a part of that.”