The Yankees are looking for one more arm to bolster their starting rotation behind Gerrit Cole and a two-time All-Star pitcher wants to join their ranks.
The Yankees, however, aren’t reciprocating that interest.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman has let the Yankees know that he’s “seriously interested in signing with them,” but the front office has declined to make an offer.
Stroman is coming off an All-Star season with the Chicago Cubs, a team he has spent the previous two seasons with after a successful stint with the crosstown-rival Mets. He went 10-9 with a 3.90 ERA and 1.259 WHIP with 136.2 innings pitched, which on paper are pedestrian. However, he was one of the National League’s top pitchers through the first half of the season, going 10-6 with a 2.88 ERA across his first 20 starts.
A hip injury resulted in three successive down starts which featured 17 earned runs and ultimately sidelined him in late July. During his recovery, however, he was diagnosed with a ribcage cartilage fracture in mid-August that held him out until Sept. 15. Across his last seven appearances of the season, which bookended his IL stint, he posted an 11.00 ERA.
Now healthy, Stroman could provide a top-to-mid rotation option given his track record. Since the 2019 season in which he was traded at the deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Mets, the 32-year-old Long Island native owns a 3.38 ERA. That included a 2021 campaign with the Mets in which he posted a 3.02 ERA across a league-leading 33 starts.
The Yankees appear to be interested elsewhere on the open market, though. Not only have they been linked to their former southpaw Jordan Montgomery, fresh off a World Series win with the Texas Rangers, but they are also considering a run at reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.
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