Toronto Blue Jays: Marco Estrada frustrated over slump

As the Toronto Blue Jays struggle to find consistency in the month of May, Marco Estrada didn’t hold back on his feelings about the recent slump.

It should come as no surprise that frustration has affected members of the Toronto Blue Jays in what has been a disappointing month of May.

On Monday, Steve Buffery from the Toronto Sun wrote an article that included some interesting quotes from Blue Jays’ pitcher, Marco Estrada.

Estrada explained his frustration with the Jays’ season, but also knows that things can get better:

"“We have the team to do it, we’ve been bit by the frickin’ injury bug again and we’re missing some key guys right now and it sucks.”"

While it is true that injuries are having an impact on the roster, he was also asked if players were not giving their best effort which led to an honest response from the 34-year-old:

"“I couldn’t imagine somebody being complacent with losing,” said Estrada “If you are, then I don’t want you on my team.”"

Generally, Estrada is a relaxed man, a very go-with-the-flow kind of guy. When he starts voicing his criticism to the press, especially with this kind of wording, it’s serious. He’s obviously kept these emotions in for a while, before the mountain of losing and frustration boiled over.

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These comments were not out of the blue; they are obviously directed at somebody or multiple people. He is clearly trying to send a message to his team to turn this slump around.

The Blue Jays are 7-13 in the month of May and two games below .500. Their rotation and hitters have disappeared, the defence is crumbling, injury remains a huge factor, and the bullpen has been unreliable. The Blue Jays’ season seems very bleak.

However, an MLB regular season is 162 games long and the Blue Jays are on game 48. There are still plenty of games left to play and so much time to turn this season around.

Estrada certainly cares about the outcome of this team, especially since he’s on a one-year deal. For many other players, they would give up, accept their “inevitable” losses, and spread negativity throughout the dressing room.

A “losing culture” is what many managers and executives are afraid of and they fight hard to avoid it. Estrada is right. People who are complacent with no progress are dangerous for the team and shouldn’t be on the roster.

His comments show that he cares. It shows this team won’t go down bleakly and will bounce back from this slump – because at the end of the day, this month is just a tiny fraction of the entire regular season.

If the Blue Jays want to get out of this, they’re going to need to shorten their approach on the season. Many of them are so focused on the playoffs, but if they can’t even hit or field a baseball, this will become a wild fantasy.

Next: It's up to the Blue Jays players to turn it around

A lot of their problems are on their minds right now. Errors galore and blown leads by shaky relievers are a major reason why the Jays can’t buy a win right now. If they can’t get a hold of themselves mentally, there will not be playoff hopes to worry about.