THE YANKEES BEING THE TOP SUITOR FOR MARCUS STROMAN IS NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF

The Yankees and Marcus Stroman are talking extensively. I wish it was a short or even non-existent gossip but it's not. I wish it was a "thanks but no thanks" but it doesn't sound like it. Is this a sign of desperation.....or just failure?

We are all ready for some stability behind Gerrit Cole. The Yankees had a big swing and miss with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and it sounds like the Yankees are giving up on both Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Now the Yankees sound like they are past "Plan B" and have jumped to "Plan X" which is Stroman, read more HERE.

I remember the 2019 trade deadline; Brian Cashman was talking about the rotation and said the reason the Yankees didn't get Stroman was because they didn't see him as a "difference maker" and thought he would likely be in the bullpen instead of the rotation. It wasn't a fit and that really didn't sit well with Stroman.

He went on X and had to post a temper tantrum about it. "Besides [Gerrit] Cole, there's no current Yankee pitcher who will be anywhere in my league over the next 5-7 years," Stroman tweeted in 2019. "Their pitching always folds in the end. That lineup and payroll should be winning World Series’ left and right…yet they’re in a drought. Lol.” In 2020 he had to repost it again "This tweet will continue to age unbelievably well," and it just makes me shake my head.

Both of those posts have been deleted. He's scrubbed all "anti-Yankee" sentiments from his account and now suddenly what I never thought could be a possibility really might be.... even though I don't think it should. I don't think Stroman moves the needle enough for the Yankees. He's got a chip on his shoulder. He's not fond of the Yankees, and he doesn't want to pitch for us to help, he wants to pitch here because he has an axe to grind. He thinks we need him.....we don't. 

At this point in his career, I'd say he's good but if he wasn't a difference maker in 2019, he isn't now either. He's past his prime years and he hasn't even pitched 140 innings since 2021 and that doesn't put him at the top of my list. Without a remarkable bounce back year from Carlos Rodon, this doesn't improve the rotation and that's just a risky gamble. This just doesn't sound like a mutually beneficial fit. The Yankees can do better than this....and they NEED to do better than this.

If the Yankees pull the trigger and sign Stroman we know they are officially desperate. You can delete your tweets, Stroman but that doesn't mean they were never posted. It still happened. We know how you feel about us....and trust me, the feeling is mutual for a lot of us.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj