Debate Team: Is it time to drop Marcus Stroman?

Each week, two of theScore's fantasy expert discuss an intriguing fantasy topic in debate form. This week: Is it time to drop Blue Jays SP Marcus Stroman in standard 10 or 12-team leagues?

Josh Wegman: It is absolutely time to drop Stroman. Over his last eight starts, he has an ERA of 7.54. Only two starts over that span were of the quality variety, but they came against the Triple-A caliber offenses of the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Players who drafted him certainly had high hopes, but it's time to give it up. In 10- or 12-team leagues much better options can be found on the waiver wire.

Esten McLaren: Stroman has allowed six home runs over those eight starts. He has allowed 10-plus hits in just three of those games, and he has allowed more than two walks on just two occasions. His 5.33 ERA is juxtaposed with a far more ideal 4.05 FIP and 3.88 xFIP. His career-worst 14.7 percent home run to fly ball ratio is what's killing him.

The 10 home runs Stroman has allowed on the season are already more than he allowed in 20 starts during the 2014 season. In four fewer starts - eight fewer games - he's allowed seven more earned runs.

Stroman's struggles can be blamed almost entirely on the home run issue, which can be traced to a mechanical flaw. Once this issue is fixed by the Blue Jays coaching staff, Stroman will immediately start fulfilling on his promise.

JW: There's no doubt a mechanical issue in Stroman's delivery exists. From my point of view, his front side is flying open on his follow through, which is causing him to leave the ball up in the zone. This is why he has allowed 67 hits in his last 45 1/3 innings pitched.

Stroman relies heavily on a sinker, and when his sinker is up in the zone it stays flat. My concern is if his mechanical issue was as simple as I seemed to have diagnosed it, why haven't Stroman and Toronto's pitching staff corrected it? It's obviously more complicated than it looks. It may have swirled into a psychological issue by now.

There are talks that Stroman may be sent down to Triple-A if he continues to struggle. If this is the case, he will need to be dropped anyway. Owners might as well get ahead of the curve before another Stroman start costs them wins in multiple pitching categories in head-to-head leagues.

EM: Despite Stroman's struggles, he still owns a 6-4 record through 16 starts. You don't need to tell me of the issues surrounding pitcher wins, they're as poor of a stat as you can find, but they're still relied upon in the fantasy community. He has however picked up eight quality starts in 16 outings.

Part of his problem is being left in games too long, something which needs to be addressed by manager John Gibbons and the overall poor play of Toronto's bullpen. The Blue Jays' offense ranks seventh in runs scored, providing plenty of run support for the pitchers.

Should Stroman be able to put together some more quality starts, he'll provide elite numbers in the ill-used win category.

JW: How long do you wait, though? How long of a leash can fantasy owners give him? This stretch of eight poor starts is nearly equivalent to a third of a season for a starting pitcher. Since May 17, here is how Stroman ranks out of the 106 qualified starters in the MLB:

These numbers are unacceptable for a pitcher who was supposed to be the "ace" of his staff. There is absolutely no reason why he should be on any fantasy team in 10- or 12-team leagues.

Sure, Stroman is very talented and will likely figure things out down the road (who knows how long that road is, however) but he is doing nothing but hurting your fantasy team.

For those fixated on the run support Toronto can provide, how about picking up Stroman's teammate R.A. Dickey? He hasn't received the same sort of run support as Stroman has (5-8 record), but he has an ERA of 3.26 in 11 starts since the beginning of May.

He doesn't rack up strikeouts, but neither does Stroman, and fantasy owners were aware of that when they drafted him. Dickey, who has always been great down the stretch in his career, is owned in just 17 percent of leagues compared to Stroman's 81 percent ownership.

I'm not saying Dickey is an elite fantasy pitcher by any means, but he's just one of the many very available starters who can easily provide a boost to those who are "waiting it out" for Stroman to turn it around.

EM: Because of Stroman's upside. Plenty of aces have rebounded from horrendous stretches so far this season, including St. Louis Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright and Cleveland Indians RHP Corey Kluber. Sure, Stroman hs neither their long track record of success nor their respective upside, but "aces" deserve a longer leash than most, and Stoman's no exception.

Holding onto him doesn't necessarily mean he must be inserted into lineups for every start, he can be left on the bench until some more positive results are seen. Stroman's potential is worthy of a roster spot over streamable, matchup-based starters.