The Yankees are coming off of another disappointing and heartbreaking season as they again failed to win their 28th title. One of the biggest reasons why they weren’t able to make the World Series and have a chance to win it all was because of their depleted starting pitching staff.
The rotation had numerous injuries throughout the season. Even if their rotation was fully healthy though, they still probably would not have been playing in late October. They simply have one of the best pitchers in all of baseball in Gerrit Cole. However, after him they don’t have too much. James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka are scheduled to hit the open market in just a couple of weeks, and rookie Deivi Garcia is just getting his feet wet in MLB. Jordan Montgomery is still developing, Domingo German’s future is still up in the air, and Luis Severino is going to be on the shelf at the beginning of next season.
Luckily for the Bronx Bombers, there are a couple of really good pitchers hitting free agency and one of them is Marcus Stroman.
Stroman recently made the news when he tweeted about the Yankees saying that they need pitching, and “besides Cole, there’s no current Yankee pitcher who will be anywhere in my league over the next 5-7 years.” He clearly isn’t wrong (due to the reasons listed above), but it was odd hearing him publicly say that.
It’s not clear that this means he wants to join the Yankees, but it looks like he really wants to go there. It can’t be a coincidence that he decided to tweet and callout the Yankees while he hasn’t really said anything about any other team. Last year, there were also multiple reports that he was really upset that he was traded to Flushing and not the Bronx.
Stroman wants to be in the pinstripes and the Yankees should be all over him, as he’d give them a true #2 starter. The Yankees are in need of a pitcher of his caliber. It’s clear that Severino was really messed and they needed someone that would give them that type of production he previously had. Until he eventually returns, the right handed Stroman would surely make up for Severino’s absence.
Stroman is an ace-type pitcher who’s been an all star, Gold Glove winner, he’s only 29 years of age, and he’s one of the top 2 free agent pitchers this year. If the Yankees were to sign Stroman, they would have arguably the best starting pitching trio in all of baseball when Severino returns. Adding Stroman to a rotation with Cole and Severino would be more than enough to win a championship.
Not only would Stroman be a major help to the rotation, but the fact that he is a ground ball pitcher will also give the club a needed boost. The long Island native gets most of his outs by batters grounding out, which would be a great fit for the current team. The Yankees have great defensive infielders in Gold Glove finalist 3B Gio Urshela, SS Gleyber Torres, three time 2B Gold Glove winner DJ Lemahieu (who is a free agent, but will likely re-sign) and 1B Luke Voit who is slowly progressing his defensive skills.
The fact that Stroman is a ground ball pitcher would also be helping out Gary Sanchez. Sanchez is pretty bad defensivley which has been well documented for a long time now. The ball is going to be put in play much more which is going to put less pressure on Sanchez, and that is ultimately going to save them a good amount of runs, winning them more games.
Marcus Stroman wants to be a Yankee, the Yankees need a pitcher like him, and he’d fit very well with what the team needs. If The Yankees were to sign him, they would greatly increase their chances of winning the World Series as soon as next year.
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