When AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil he made himself the cornerstone of the Yankees rotation, which left the club with an interesting problem: the club had more starters than space in the rotation. While trading Nestor Cortes to the Brewers in a closer deal Devin Williams in the bullpen helped unravel the rotation somewhat, the deal only ended after the Yankees had added Fried Max. With Fried joining Gil, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clark Schmidtagain Marcus Stroman in the rotation mix, the club still has more starters than available rotation spots.
That led to much speculation that another trade might go down with the Yankees, with Stroman emerging as the frontrunner. The club has reportedly been shopping the veteran all winter, and is said to be willing to pay part of the veteran’s $18.5mm salary to get the deal done. It’s a sensible goal for the Yankees, given that those dollars can be redistributed to help bolster second or third base. In consideration Jazz Chisholm Jr. goes back to the second base, some combination of DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabreraagain Oswald Peraza project to someone in the hot corner.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Stroman is coming off the worst season of his career. The veteran posted a respectable 4.31 ERA (95 ERA+) in 154 2/3 innings of work. That’s usable production behind the rotation, but a look under the hood reveals some troubling trends. Stroman posted career-worst numbers in terms of strikeout rate (16.7%), walk rate (8.9%), ground ball rate (49.2%), and barrel rate (6.7%). That decline in skill at the plate combined with his fastball velocity being nearly two down since 2023 left him with a FIP that was 10% worse than league average and a 4.74 SIERA that was better than last. Griffin Canning, Tyler Andersonagain Chris Flexen among all pitchers (min. 150 innings). While Stroman has been a consistent three-WAR player throughout his career thus far, the extensive decline in peripherals diminishes the prospect of a major bounceback in 2025 — his age-34 season.
Recent deals for running back weapons suggest that Stroman is overpaid, but maybe not. Alex Cobb earned $15MM guaranteed after making just three starts in 2024. Tomoyuki Sugano he’s 35 years old and has never thrown an MLB pitch; he commanded $13MM anyway. His 41-year-old traveling partner in Baltimore, Charlie Mortongot a $15MM guarantee of his own. It shouldn’t be that hard for the Yankees to find someone to take over for Stroman if they can pay his salary in, say, the $10-12MM range of highly regarded veteran backs. Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and others have been able to get in free agency in recent years.
That appears to allow the Yankees more flexibility in signing an infielder, but another obstacle to Stroman’s deal is the veteran’s 2026 option. If the right-hander pitches 140 innings in 2025, his 2026 option would be an $18MM player option for the 2026 season. It seems unlikely that Stroman would turn down that option without a big bounceback season, meaning any receiving team that wishes to avoid that outcome will have to find a way to limit him to just 140 innings this year. That’s unlikely, as the righty posted back-to-back seasons with fewer innings than that benchmark with the Cubs in 2022 and ’23, but without significant IL time, Stroman’s new club may need to move him to the bullpen at times. the point.
How do MLBTR readers think things will shake out? Will the Yankees be able to make a deal for Stroman? And if so, how much of his salary would they have to pay to make the trade happen? Have your say in the poll below:
Source link
