Yankees: Would they pursue a trade for Marcus Stroman?

Marcus Stroman has bounced back in a big way so far this season and as the trade deadline approaches, he should be one of the most sought after starting pitchers on the market. It remains to be seen whether the Yankees will be looking to acquire another starter but if they feel it’s necessary Stroman could be the perfect fit.

The Yankees have been linked to free agent Dallas Kecuhel and just about every starting pitcher who’s expected to be available in trade talks later this summer. However, we’re still two months away from the July 31st deadline and unless the Yanks decide to sign Keuchel next week there’s no need for them to rush into anything.

With James Paxton back from the IL and Luis Severino still slowly working his way towards a return after the All-Star break, the Yanks can be patient in deciding whether or not they should pursue a trade for another front of the rotation type arm. If they do, there aren’t many better options out there than their division rival and Medford, New York native Marcus Stroman.

After having an injury-plagued season in 2018 that saw him finish the year with a 5.54 ERA in 19 starts Stroman has returned to form and pitched like an All-Star through the first couple months. In 12 starts his record is only 3-6 but he has an ERA of 2.74 in 69 IP with 57 K’s. One thing Stroman has always done well is induce a ton of ground balls and this season his GB% of 57.6 is tied for third in baseball among starters with at least 50 innings pitched.

Shoulder fatigue forced him to miss time and struggle last season but clearly, that’s behind him and he’s back to pitching like the ace he’s always had the potential to be. Now the only question is whether or not the Blue Jays would be willing to trade him and if they were would they deal him to an AL East rival?

The Yankees would surely be interested in adding him if there was a need and although their farm system has taken a dip in some rankings since 2018 they should have enough to land Stroman. That being said he wouldn’t come cheap and the Yanks would almost certainly have to give up one of their top prospects to get him. You’d figure either Estevan Florial or Deivi Garcia would have to headline any potential offer in addition to a couple of other top to mid-tier prospects.

The Blue Jays are in a rebuild mode so they’d be crazy not to listen to any offers because with Stroman still under team control through 2020 they could get a really big haul for him. Their rebuild is already going well and any collection of prospects they could acquire for Stroman would only help accelerate it in a winning direction.

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Stroman is sure to garner a ton of interest from teams in the coming weeks but as I’ve mentioned previously the Yankees might not be one of them if Severino comes back healthy. If he comes back and reasserts himself as the ace of the staff he’d be better than anyone they could sign or acquire in a trade and their rotation as a whole would be as deep as any in baseball.

However, if he struggles upon his return or ends up not returning at all the Yanks are going to need some help in their rotation. Right now the starting staff is very solid but their’s a good chance that breakout star Domingo German will have his innings limited during the second half and will probably end up pitching out of the pen down the stretch and in October.

That makes the return of Sevy even more crucial because without him there’s no way the Yanks can head into a playoff series with J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia behind Paxton and Tanaka.

We’ll have to wait and see how things play out but if by late July GM Brian Cashman still feels like he needs to make a big move he should strongly consider going after the local kid Stroman.

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