Why Marcus Stroman is a perfect fit with the Yankees and their underrated rotation

After the Los Angeles Dodgers outbid the New York Yankees for Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto in December, many fans of the Bronx Bombers wanted them to sign arguably the next-best pitcher left in free agency: Blake Snell. 

I get it. Naturally, a fan base as proud as the Yankees’ would look at the roster, which needed rotation depth, and want to sign a guy who has won two Cy Young awards, including last season with the San Diego Padres. But the move they made (seemingly) instead, signing veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman to a two-year, $37 million contract, is a really smart one. I’ll explain why.

First off, I feel like most of us in the baseball world have forgotten how good Carlos Rodón is. It was a big deal when the Yankees signed him to a six-year, $162 million contract last winter following back-to-back All-Star nods with the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants. Rodón had a horrific first year in New York, but that was almost entirely due to injury. The 30-year-old left-hander missed the first half of the season with back and arm issues that arose in spring training before battling a hamstring strain in August. 

I was surprised when a post of mine on X (formerly Twitter) got a lot of blowback from Yankees fans. I wrote how much I liked the Yankees’ new 1-2-3 at the top of the rotation, comprised of defending American League Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, Rodón and Stroman. Most of the criticism was centered on Rodón and how he was not good for the Yankees when he was “healthy.” I think that argument is incredibly unfair to him.

Yes, Rodón still made 14 starts last season and, yes, he was awful in those starts, with a 6.85 ERA capped off by a Sept. 29 outing in which he allowed eight runs without recording an out. But I believe Yankees fans should cut him some slack due to the injuries he dealt with. When a pitcher misses as much time as Rodón did, without a spring training period to ramp up, a minor-league rehab start or two does not recreate the spring training process. Rodón was essentially playing catch-up all season long, especially after he got hurt again.

Take my brother Justin Verlander last season, for example. He started the year with a shoulder issue, missed the beginning of the season, then returned to the New York Mets in May. He was nowhere near himself for the first two months of his time there before finally rounding into form in July and through the stretch run of the season with the Houston Astros.

By the way, this also applies to Stroman. He was an All-Star last year and had a 2.88 ERA through his first 20 starts. But he started dealing with a hip issue that affected his performance, missed six weeks in August and September, and finished with a 3.95 ERA.

If Rodón and Stroman are healthy next season, and I believe they will be, the veteran duo can be great pieces in New York’s rotation. Neither will be asked to be the ace — that’s clearly Cole’s job, and he’s been doing it exceptionally for years. But I think Yankees fans will be very pleased with what they get out of the whole trio next season.

Plus, Stroman will bring a great personality to this club. Yankees fans have already been on the receiving end of his zeal, as he fired off some critical tweets about the team and its pitching staff in 2019. 

He also once did the “Soto shuffle” last season after striking out Juan Soto, who, of course, is now his teammate as the Yankees’ other big addition of the offseason. But I think the fans should take a page out of Soto’s book, as the slugger said he and Stroman can now “shuffle together.” Here’s guessing they’ll also be winning together, as Stroman backs up his talk on the mound this season.

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Ben Verlander is an MLB Analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the “Flippin’ Bats” podcast. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Verlander was an All-American at Old Dominion University before he joined his brother, Justin, in Detroit as a 14th-round pick of the Tigers in 2013. He spent five years in the Tigers organization. Follow him on Twitter @BenVerlander.

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