It says something about the state of the New York Yankees these days, this self-imposed state, that instead of shopping at the top of the market for someone, anyone, to join Gerrit Cole that isn’t made of dead bugs (Carlos Rodon) or terrible (pretty much everyone else, and Rodon) they’ll turn to a pitcher who actively dislikes them and their general manager. That would be Marcus Stroman, who inked a two-year, $37 million deal to ply his trade at the Boogie Down.
If you don’t recall, Stroman and the Yankees had a bit of a Twitter tete-a-tete, or GM Brian Cashman did, after the GM derided where Stroman might fit into the Yanks’ rotation back then. The Yankees should probably get used to Stroman spouting off on Twitter about something, as the time between the manager taking the ball from him on the mound and him checking out his menchies usually clocks in at about 7.2 seconds. Dude has thoughts about everything, including trying to back up Kyrie Irving once upon a time.
As for what he’ll do on the mound, that’s a little harder to nail down than the chances of a Twitter rant about nothing. Stroman spent the first half of last year as one of the best pitchers in baseball, until gremlins took over his back and he spent the second half of the year being a pyrotechnic show. He’ll turn 33 early in the season, though if he’s healthy he is still likely to be a pretty solid mid-rotation starter. He doesn’t strikeout that many, though New York should have a pretty decent defensive infield to suck up all the grounders he produces, aside from the cadaver of DJ Lemahieu at third.
But that “if healthy” is still a pretty big matzo ball hanging out there, as Stroman hasn’t cracked 140 innings in either of the last two seasons and he’s getting deeper into his 30s. And they still have no guarantee of innings behind Cole, as Rodon is slated to be the No. 2 starter before he ends up looking like the jackass who drank from the wrong chalice again, Nestor Cortes who was ouchy and bad last year, and Clarke Schmidt who is definitely made up. The Yankees bullpen isn’t quite what it was, and even if it was no pen, is built to make up for four out of five starters being made of balsa wood and gasoline.
Stroman’s $18.5 million hit for two years is hardly crippling, but why do the Yankees care about crippling? Yes, Blake Snell and likely Jordan Montgomery, are going to get overpaid, but they’re also good and more of a sure thing than Stroman and the other goofuses who will take the ball. Maybe the Yanks are still working on a trade for Dylan Cease or Jesus Lazardo or another younger pitcher they can count on and, more importantly to them, control for a couple years. But this is the New York Yankees, should they really be a team that worries about control, payroll efficiency and bargains?
Oh, right, Hal Steinbrenner wants all the bleacher creatures to know he’s tapped out, while the decidedly cheaper Orioles and Rays run by the Yankees again.
A winter awakening at Wrigley?
At least the Cubs have awoken from their winter slumber, sort of. A few days after getting Shota Imanaga to bolster the back end of their rotation, they traded for Michael Busch and Yencer Almonte from the Dodgers for a couple of kids whose balls haven’t dropped yet.
Almonte sucks out loud except when he gets all the luck, but Busch is an intriguing find. There was a time when he was one of the Dodgers’ most prized prospects, but wasn’t going to dislodge Justin Turner or Max Muncy from third anytime in the past couple years. He has lit up Triple-A with his bat, though just about everyone with a pulse puts up numbers in the Pacific Coast League.
He’s 26 and has only gotten 81 PAs in the majors, and any team should be wary of any Dodgers product that the Dodgers don’t think they need to keep around anymore, especially when they’re willing to flog him for a couple of lottery tickets. Busch is likely to take up the hole the Cubs have at third, where they probably tired of watching Nick Madrigal have to run to the pitchers mound so he could successfully throw the ball to first base.
Still, if Busch can replicate any of his minor league numbers in The Show with regular playing time, it’ll be a steal for the Northside 9. If they can nab Rhys Hoskins and/or re-sign Cody Bellinger, it’ll go down as a pretty successful offseason for them. Such as one that passed for them, that is.
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