Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees Deemed Top Free Agency Destination for 3-Time Cy Young, Per Insider

The New York Yankees could sign a likely future MLB Hall of Famer this offseason.

Grant Young

Jul 12, 2020; Bronx, New York, United States; A view of the New York Yankees logo and seat number of an empty seat during a simulated game during summer camp workouts at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Jul 12, 2020; Bronx, New York, United States; A view of the New York Yankees logo and seat number of an empty seat during a simulated game during summer camp workouts at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
In this story:

The New York Yankees will probably look to bolster their starting rotation this offseason. This will likely start with them securing ace Gerrit Cole (who could opt out of his current contract) by exercising their team option to tack on another year and $36 million at the end of his current deal.

Once Cole is secured, the Yankees will likely look toward free agency to add another arm. And an October 21 article from MLB.com senior insider Mark Feinsand named an intriguing option that he believes would be a great fit for the Yankees.

"The 40-year-old likely Hall of Famer [Max Scherzer] has made only 17 starts since joining the Rangers at last year’s Trade Deadline, going 6-6 with a 3.57 ERA," Feinsand wrote.

"Although Scherzer was limited to only 43 1/3 innings due to back and hamstring injuries in 2024, he believes he can still pitch at a high level when he’s healthy. Scherzer will obviously take a massive pay cut from the $43.3 million he earned last season, but he can still help most rotations around the league," he added before listing the Yankees as one of three potential free agency fits for Scherzer.

Scherzer is a three-time Cy Young Award winner, eight-time All-Star, and two-time World Series champion. While he only has a 4-5 record and 4.29 ERA and 72 innings pitched against the Yankees in his career, Scherzer's whopping 143 career innings pitched in the postseason (where he boasts a 3.78 ERA) is the exact kind of proven playoff pedigree the Yankees could use.

Scherzer is not the same pitcher that won those three Cy Young Awards (the most recent of which came in 2017). But he could still have more of that postseason excellence left in the tank.

Published
Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

Home/News