Marcus Stroman “Seriously Interested” in Signing With Yankees

The Yankees have not yet made an offer to the right-handed pitcher.

The New York Yankees are still looking to make pitching upgrades this offseason.

After losing out on the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, they have been pursuing free agent left-handers Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and Josh Hader, and have been linked to trade targets such as Dylan Cease.

However, another free agent option has suddenly emerged for the Yankees: starting pitcher Marcus Stroman.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Stroman has “informed the Yankees he’s seriously interested in signing with them”. But Nightengale also reported that the Yankees have declined to make an offer to the 32-year-old right-hander.

Marcus Stroman has informed the Yankees he’s seriously interested in signing with them, but the Yankees have declined to make an offer, per @BNightengale pic.twitter.com/PeP6cJWdZZ

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) January 7, 2024

Stroman was previously targeted by the Yankees at the 2019 trade deadline, when he was with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was ultimately traded to the New York Mets during that deadline; after pitching roughly a season and a half with the Mets (he opted out of the Covid-shortened 2020 season), he became a free agent and signed a three-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. 

After two seasons in the Windy City, Stroman opted out of his contract to re-enter free agency. He finished the 2023 season with a 10-9 record in 25 starts and 136.2 innings pitched, recording a 3.95 ERA, 3.58 FIP, and 1.259 WHIP.

Known for being a pitch-to-contract pitcher with an impressive 57.1% ground ball rate last season, Stroman has a 3.65 career ERA and a 3.63 career FIP. Outside of 2015, he has pitched at least 100 innings every year, making him a very dependable presence in a starting rotation. Stroman is also good at keeping the ball inside the ballpark, with a career 0.8 home runs per nine innings rate; his 0.6 HR/9 in 2023 was a career-best.

However, Stroman has also been very outspoken off the field and unfortunately had plenty of run-ins and arguments with Yankee fans. Although he has experience in pitching under the bright lights of New York thanks to his Mets tenure, he left Queens under controversial circumstances by blasting former general manager Billy Eppler in since-deleted Twitter posts. 

It is somewhat surprising that the Yankees don’t want to deal with Stroman’s off-field behavior; they were willing to trade for Josh Donaldson in 2022 despite a past conflict with pitcher Gerrit Cole. The Yankees have also dealt with the off-field issues of Domingo Germán for six seasons, which were much more distracting than any of Stroman’s previous antics.

Nonetheless, the Yankees have little interest in bringing Stroman aboard. But if the Yankees can’t attract their preferred pitching targets to the Bronx, maybe they can reconsider bringing in the outspoken but talented righty as a fourth or fifth starting option.