The Yankees add a starting pitcher, but not one of the top free agent left-handers, Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery.
Instead, sources briefed on the talks indicate the team has reached an agreement with free-agent right-hander Marcus Stroman on a two-year deal worth $37 million with a vesting option. The deal is still pending.
Stroman, 32, is a Long Island native and has a career ERA of 3.65 in nearly 1,400 innings. He will join a rotation that includes defending AL Cy Young champion right-hander Gerrit Cole, two left-handers, Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes Jr., who are coming off an injury-riddled season, and right-hander Clarke Schmidt.
Last season with the Cubs, Stroman led the NL with a 2.28 ERA on June 20 and made the National League All-Star team. But then he faded, partly due to right hip inflammation that kept him out from August 2 to September 15. None of his last four appearances lasted longer than three innings. It was the second straight season he finished with fewer than 140 innings.
Despite this troubling trend, Stroman opted out of the final season of the three-year, $71 million contract he signed in the 2021-22 offseason, losing $21 million in guarantees. Tim Britton and Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic ranked him No. 11 on their Top 40 Free Agent Big Board, and Britton predicted he would receive a three-year, $63 million contract.
The Cubs were unable to extend a qualifying offer to Stroman because he accepted one from the Mets in 2020, and under the collective bargaining agreement a player cannot receive such an offer twice. This means the Yankees will not lose a draft pick or sacrifice a spot in the international bonus pool once the deal is completed.
Stroman, who spent his first four-plus seasons with the Blue Jays, would give the Yankees the starter they have been looking for since losing the bid for Japanese free-agent right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is a 12-year starter. The Dodgers signed a $325 million contract.
Snell, a former Ray, and Montgomery, a former Yankee, were also familiar with the AL East. But Stroman, represented by his former GM with the Mets, Roc Nation's Brodie Van Wagenen, always planned to sign for less than the two left-handers, both of whom employ Scott Boras as their agent.
The Yankees, after their unfortunate experience in their first season with Rodón, another Boras client, may have been concerned that Snell has spent his entire career in Tampa Bay and San Diego, two smaller markets. However, the same questions about pitching in the country's largest media market could apply to Stroman, who is occasionally prone to speaking out on social media.
The Yankees and Stroman also have an interesting recent history. Before Stroman was traded to the Mets in 2019, his father told Newsday that the right-hander was “kind of hoping it would be the Yankees.” Brian Cashman said the team at the time was interested in Stroman, “but we didn’t think he would make a difference. We had a feeling he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.” In 2020, Stroman wrote in a now-deleted tweet that other than Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino, “there is no current Yankee pitcher ready to play in the next five to five.” will be somewhere in my league for seven years.”
Regardless, the Yankees will be getting a starter who, when healthy, has proven he can be at the top of a rotation. Stroman may be their last big offseason move. The Yankees previously revamped their outfield by adding Juan Soto, Trent Grisham and Alex Verdugo as trades.
(Additional reporting by Brendan Kuty)
(Photo: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)