MLB Rumors: Yankees ‘Top Candidate’ for Marcus Stroman Contract amid 2024 Free Agency

The New York Yankees are reportedly now the front-runners to sign free-agent starting pitcher Marcus Stroman.

MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Wednesday that Stroman and the Yankees have had “productive discussions” recently, making New York the “top candidate” to secure him.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Sunday that Stroman had reached out to the Yankees and told them he was “seriously interested” in signing with them, but the Yanks reportedly declined to make a contract offer at that time.

The Yankees have an obvious need in their starting rotation behind reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, and Stroman could potentially fit the bill.

Stroman, 32, made his Major League debut in 2014 and has been among the most consistent and solid starters in baseball ever since.

Born in Medford, New York, which is on Long Island, Stroman has enjoyed success with the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs.

In 2017, Stroman won a Gold Glove and finished eighth in the AL Cy Young Award voting when he went 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA.

He was later named an All-Star for the first time in 2019, which he split between the Jays and Mets, going 10-13 with a 3.22 ERA.

Stroman’s best statistical season arguably came with the Mets in 2021 when he went 10-13 with a 3.02 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 158 strikeouts over 179 innings.

The righty spent the past two seasons in Chicago as the anchor of the starting rotation for a young Cubs team on the rise.

Stroman went 6-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 2022, and he followed that up with the second All-Star nod of his career lasts season when he went 10-9 with a 3.95 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 119 strikeouts in 136.2 innings.

While Stroman isn’t necessarily an ace for a contending team, he wouldn’t have to be that for the Yankees due to the presence of Cole.

Also, he has already proven capable of handling the pressure of playing in New York, as his 3.21 ERA with the Mets was better than what he produced in Toronto and Chicago.

Outside of Cole, the Yankees’ top starting pitching options for 2024 right now are Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortés and Clarke Schmidt.

Rodón is a two-time All-Star who was signed last offseason to be the main complement to Cole, but he battled injuries and made only 14 starts. Even when healthy, Rodón was awful compared to his usual performance, going 3-8 with a 6.85 ERA.

After going 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA and earning his first All-Star selection in 2022, Cortés came back down to Earth last season, as injuries limited him to 12 starts, and he went 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA.

Although Schmidt performed admirably in his first full season as an MLB starter, going 9-9 with a 4.64 ERA last season, he would be the Yanks’ No. 4 or 5 starter in a perfect world.

All of that means the Yankees need a hurler who can slot in near the top of the rotation. They took a big swing at Yoshinobu Yamamoto earlier this offseason in hopes that he could fill the role, but the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers secured him after their signing of Shohei Ohtani.

That left reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and former Yankee Jordan Montgomery as the top two starting pitchers left in free agency, although Stroman perhaps isn’t too far behind in the next tier.

New York will likely need to sign at least one more starter even if it does secure Stroman, but he would be a good starting point in terms of improving the rotation on the heels of a major upgrade to the lineup with the acquisition of All-Star outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.