Yankees: Brian Cashman says he didn’t think Marcus Stroman would be a difference maker

The Yankees stayed quiet at this year’s trade deadline and opted not to part with any of their top prospects to improve their starting rotation. Marcus Stroman was one top starter the Yanks were rumored to be interested in before he was dealt to the Mets but according to GM Brian Cashman, he really wasn’t that high on the right-hander.

When the trade deadline passed without the Yankees adding an impact starter to their rotation it was pretty shocking. They were in desperate need at the time, but the front office felt that the asking prices to complete a deal were way too high so they stood pat and held on to all of their top prospects and trade chips.

After reading some of the offers thrown the Yankees way it’s no wonder why Cashman and company passed especially when you consider how much most of the starting pitchers they targeted have struggled since the deadline. The Diamondbacks reportedly asked for Clint Frazier, Clarke Schmidt and more for Robbie Ray which is absolutely ridiculous. Ray only has a year left on his contract after this season and has pitched to an ERA of 4.81 since the All-Star break.

Trevour Bauer is another guy the Yanks were reportedly high on but he’s been terrible since joining the Reds (6.39 ERA). Matthew Boyd stayed put in Detroit but he was another top starter on the trade block and the Tigers asked for Gleyber Torres of all people in return for his services. Since the All-Star break, his ERA is a robust 5.57.

The only big name who was traded that’s been decent since switching teams (outside of Zack Greinke, who was never going to be a Yankee) has been the aforementioned Stroman. The 28-year-old has a solid 3.23 ERA on the season and a 3.86 for cross-town rival Mets in 10 starts but before he was traded the Blue Jays were reportedly demanding Clint Frazier in return from the Yankees and they obviously said no.

That’s according to Wallace Matthews of Yahoo who recently had a conversation with the Yankees GM where he explained why he wasn’t willing to meet the Jays asking price.

"“We were interested in Stroman but we didn’t think he would be a difference-maker,” he said. “We felt he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”"

This seems rather harsh, especially coming from Cashman and also somewhat unnecessary but he’s not entirely wrong. Stroman is a solid big-league starter but I don’t think many GMs in baseball would categorize him as one of the elite top of the rotation guys in the game today who could carry a staff in October. If anything he’s a quality third starter but in this current Yankee rotation, he’d probably be fourth in line behind James Paxton, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka.

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Stroman’s had a better regular season than Tanaka but given Masa’s outstanding postseason track record there’s no way he’d start ahead of him in the playoff rotation, at least during the ALDS. I will say, however, that he’d definitely be a better option than CC Sabathia or J.A. Happ and I don’t think anyone would’ve had a problem with him being the Yankees fourth starter during a seven-game series. That’s where I think most would disagree with the second half of Cashman’s statement.

Cashman said that he didn’t think Stroman would be a difference-maker but there’s no doubt that he would’ve improved the Yankees rotation if they acquired him. Before the deadline passed Paxton, Tanaka and Happ were all struggling and we didn’t even know if Luis Severino would ever return. He would’ve helped and made somewhat of a difference.

I think the question to ask is whether he would’ve made a big enough impact with the Yankees through the 2020 season to justify trading someone like Frazier for him who is still under team control for multiple years and has serious offensive potential. The answer is probably no.

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