Looking more postseason stability, Carlos Rodon ready to put Yankees over the top

Carlos Rodon has just 2.2 innings of postseason baseball on his ledger, coming over two very brief stints in the playoffs with the Chicago White Sox in 2020 and 2021.

It’s something the 30-year-old right-hander has craved entering his ninth MLB season — but moving forward, he’ll be pursuing October baseball with the Yankees after signing a six-year, $162 million contract to join the Bronx Bombers.

“That brief experience I had with the Chicago White Sox, don’t get me wrong, the White Sox organization — great organization — took a while to put a winning product on the field,” Rodon said during his introductory press conference at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. “So that brief taste is, you know, I’ve always wanted more. So winning has been at the top of my list as a player so and as we know, it’s the Yankee way.”

Rodon has been one of the top pitchers in baseball over the past two seasons with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants, going 27-13 with a 2.67 ERA, 0.998 WHIP, 12.2 K/9, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.80. He provides much-needed top-end legitimacy to a rotation that didn’t get the most consistent version of Gerrit Cole but saw the emergence of Nestor Cortes as a surprising ace.

Suddenly, the Yankees are looking at quite an imposing rotation of Cole, Rodon, and Cortes supported by Luis Severino and Frankie Montas.

“I think our rotation is really deep,” Rodon said. “Looking at the back end, Frankie Montas, I had the pleasure of playing with Frankie in the White Sox organization. A very, very hard worker and a good person.

“So I think we look at the rotation from top to bottom and obviously… we’ve got a lot of good arms with the mix and match for me and Nestor you know we could join two lefties in there and break up the righties I think it’s very good.”

It’s a goal realized for the Yankees considering Rodon had been a player that had been on their wish list for quite some time.

“Last trade deadline, we certainly tried to connect with the San Francisco Giants and see if we could come out with a deal and we were unable to do so,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “I felt it from our clubhouse downstairs because they were hopeful and wanting specifically a name to come walk through there. And it was Carlos.

“We had another shot at it this winter and we’re really proud to bring in someone with his ability, his talent. You know, he’s got an elite fastball an elite slider that you know really makes it difficult on opposing offense.”