Marcus Stroman signs two-year deal with Yankees

Marcus Stroman signs two-year deal with Yankees

Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and the New York Yankees have agreed to a two-year, $37 million deal, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan and MLB Network insider Jon Heyman were among the first to report Thursday evening.

Right-hander Marcus Stroman and the New York Yankees are in agreement on a contract, sources tell ESPN. Stroman, 32, was an All-Star with the Cubs in 2023 and had a great first half but struggled down the stretch and finished with a 3.95 ERA.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 12, 2024

Stroman Yankees deal guarantees $37M over the 2 years. (Also has vesting option)

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 12, 2024

According to SNY’s Andy Martino, the vesting option will be for 2026 if he reaches 140.0 innings in year two. He has been just shy of 140.0 innings each of the last two years–recording 138.2 and 136.2 innings, respectively–but he’s reached that benchmark in four of his other seven seasons.

Stroman, 32, tossed a 3.95 ERA with a 3.58 FIP in his lone season with the Chicago Cubs last year, fanning 119 batters to 52 walks.

He is most commonly known as a ground-ball pitcher and has done a proficient job avoiding the proverbial “barrel.” He graded in the 88th percentile in barrels last year and in the 94th percentile in groundball rate in 2023, per Baseball Savant. Though he recorded the highest walk-rate (9.0% BB%) and tied his second-lowest strikeout-to-walk rate (11.7%) of his career.

Stroman, a New York native, will join the back end of a rotation headed by Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon— their prized free agent acquisition a year ago who experienced arguably the worst season of his career from a performance standpoint–and Nestor Cortes.

Pitching coach Matt Blake and the Yankees have had recent success developing sinkerballers such as Michael King–who was involved in the Juan Soto trade–and closer Clay Holmes. It remains to be seen if New York can fashion the same results from Stroman, a bulldog on the mound who will compete every fifth day.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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