Let’s donkey cut to the chase, shall we?

Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez were attached at the hip.

Sanchez, a laid back California kid.
Stroman a loud, brash kid from New York.

They were introduced through the Blue Jays development program, and quickly became close friends. Their friendship was well documented through social media posts in offseason gatherings, parties, vacations, and of course in season dug out celebrations. They even had their own nicknames, right Marcus?

Strochez. 416! #TORONTO @A_Sanch41 pic.twitter.com/wIBSWDcQaq

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) January 26, 2015

They’re both around the same age, similar interests, and at the same point in their careers.  A perfect in-house rival for some friendly competition.  Is there a better feeling than beating your best friend at something? Exactly.

Circle back to last season. A season where the entire rotation was healthy.  A perfect chance for two best friends to battle it out for over 30 starts. Unfortunately, for Marcus Stroman, their seasons could not have been more different.

Aaron Sanchez: 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA.
Marcus Stroman: 9-10 with a 4.37 ERA.

How does one BFF react when he’s grinding all season for wins, while the other BFF was taking the league by storm and making it look easy? Not very well.

According to sources close to the ball club at deanblundell.com, quote “there’s something there for sure.” Stroman didn’t handle Sanchez’s success very well, and Sanchez was getting tired of the circus surrounding the “me against the world” mentality of the Stro Show.

Word is they do not speak very much anymore and if you can find us a recently posted picture of them together, gladly comment below.

A couple of weeks ago, Marcus Stroman was throwing a gem at the Rogers Centre. Every time he made his way to the dugout the likes of Happ, Estrada, and Pitching Coach Pete Walker were there for a fist bump and or ass smack.

One problem, Aaron Sanchez didn’t want any part of the fist bumps, the ass smacks, as a matter of fact, he wouldn’t even look at the Stro Show.

Fast forward to yesterday.  After the game it’s brought to the media’s attention, Stroman was battling some potential blister development. Stroman had this to say:

Stroman on blister: "It's been up and down but it's something I have to deal with. Obviously I'm not going to miss any starts." #BlueJays

— Gregor Chisholm (@GregorChisholm) July 23, 2017

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH.  Shots Fired?

Instead of saying, blister issues are up across baseball due to the new seams and all the guys are battling some kind of blister, he chooses to point out the fact he isn’t going to miss any of his upcoming starts because of some stupid blister. Without naming names, he takes a swing for Aaron Sanchez’s missing starts with blister issues this year.

Shots fired across the clubhouse?🤔 https://t.co/wga1OeTXwR

— Vernon Wells (@VernonWells10) July 23, 2017

Enter Vernon Wells. A member of the Toronto Blue Jays for over ten seasons, second all time in hits as a Jay, all star, two-time silver slugger, and Gold Glove winner. One of the greatest Blue Jays of all time thinks shots were fired, hard to argue they weren’t.

Now what? Where do the Blue Jays go from here? A fragile clubhouse just got a little more awkward. Your two young aces have grown sick of each other, and one of them decides to use the media as his platform to take a shot at the other’s blister issues, insinuating he’s a pussy.

We don’t expect a knee jerk reaction to these comments from Stroman, nobody on the club will even address them, and if they do, consider that surprising.

But what we do expect is this.

One of Marcus Stroman or Aaron Sanchez will not be in the starting rotation to kick off the 2018 Blue Jays season. A case can be made to keep Stroman. A case can be made to keep Sanchez.

Injuries to almost all of the key pieces, the circus in left field along with under performing stars, are all things to consider when discussing the reasons the 2017 Toronto Blue Jays will miss out on the postseason.

But also consider this.

Their two young franchise building blocks can’t stand each other, and it’s getting worse.

This beef has been brewing for some time, and though no one will say it, has been THE unspoken killer of the Jays 2017 season