Jack Flaherty is Bad News… for the Yankees’ and their $18.5M Marcus Stroman Dilemma.
Guest Post by Thomas Ballard
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Despite Aaron Boone’s recent supportive comments, the Yankees are clearly focused on shipping Marcus Stroman off. However, with Jack Flaherty’s freshly inked two-year, $35M deal, the market seems stubborn. Albeit, injury concerns could be a factor with Flaherty. Regardless, if it took that long and that fair of a price tag for Flaherty to get picked up, who in their right mind would make a play for Stroman?
Marcus Stroman is a serviceable pitcher and often brings a lot of positive energy that the Yankees sometimes lack. And for all the negativity Stroman may receive from fans and the media, he does appear to be a very team-first player (as seen in last year’s postseason). If third base were already squared away, we likely wouldn’t need to have this conversation, and Stroman would happily (well, maybe reluctantly) accept being stretched out in the pen. But that’s not reality, and unless the front office feels comfortable with Oswaldo, Oswald, or DJ at third, a move needs to happen - removing Stroman’s cost is the easiest answer. However, we should keep in mind his trade value has never been lower. Any potential trade will not solve the Yankees' issues at third base - to make a team eat the cash the Yankees will likely get (at best) an average prospect or an aging bullpen arm.
So, what are the options? The Yankees need teams to fall into one of two camps:
Willing to eat $18.5m this year, and a possible $18M option in 2026
A contender who needs to fill out the back end of their rotation
Camp 1:
Las Vegas Athletics
A team looking to add to their payroll to keep up appearances. With their timeline much further to the right than most teams, one or two years of Stroman’s contract is not an issue. The other benefit for them is Stroman is a veteran presence for a young and almost promising rotation.
Colorado Rockies
Bad rotation, can eat the money. Would be happy to receive a mid-tier Yankee prospect in the package.
Washington Nationals
With what feels to be a very promising future, they need innings eaters to bridge to their next wave of young talent. On top of this the potential to receive a prospect, even if a mid-tier one at best could be enticing to the Nats.
Camp 2:
Chicago Cubs
Two trades in one off-season between the organizations would be interesting. The Cubs are top-heavy in their rotation and could use the depth. They are certainly contending (at least in their own eyes) and may not feel entirely comfortable with Javier Assad or Colin Rea for the full year. Without shedding salary elsewhere, a Stroman move would have them right up against the Luxury Tax though.
Texas Rangers
Another team right up against the Luxury Tax but could use some back-end rotation depth. A rotation with Jacob DeGrom at this point carries injury risk, unfortunately. With solid pitching prospects in Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, they may prefer to keep their depth “in-house” and leave themselves some more wiggle room.
San Francisco Giants
Pre-Justin Verlander, this one would have been an option. However, this feels a little forced now. It may be a team to watch for at the deadline if the Yanks can’t shed Stroman before that and an injury hits their relatively shallow staff.
St Louis Cardinals
It’s unclear whether the Cardinals truly know where they stand in terms of contention. This could be a viable option, or it could be completely off the table - I honestly don’t know, but they aren’t exactly looking to hand out cash right now.
Closing Thoughts:
Ultimately, a Camp 1 team makes the most sense. Every so-called “contending” team in Camp 2 felt like a forced fit in this exercise. Stroman’s ideal role is as an innings eater for a young team where he can (hopefully) serve as a positive veteran presence for their next wave of pitchers.
If no Camp 1 team engages, the Yankees may be stuck holding onto Stroman until the trade deadline - or later. In this scenario, the best-case outcome is that he buys into a long-relief or spot-starter role until the Yankees find a trade partner. That trade would likely come from a team that fooled itself into believing it's a contender (and is now a Camp 1 team) and is willing to move some pieces for rotation help.
ultimately Camp 2 makes the most sense. because the yankees still need another infielder
the problem with getting that infielder in exchange for Stroman is simply that Stroman aint good enuf to cause a team to surrender a first-rate infielder.
suggest that a team with an f-r infielder to spare be plied with an additional player along with Stroman.
a team needing pitching might look more favorably upon receipt of of Stroman and Warren
or Stroman and Hampton
for someone such as Hoerner
Last year Stroman was a nice pickup albeit expensive but didn't work out and now his contract has hamstrung the Yankees I believe we have all seen this movie many times, bad contracts always seem to be the albatross for Cashman however the deeper problem is the self-imposed cap that kneecaps the GM!