Marcus Stroman reaches deal with Yankees (Source)

The Yankees have reached agreement on a two-year, $37 million contract with right-hander Marcus Stroman that includes a third-year vesting option, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. Stroman also posted a photo of himself wearing a Yankees uniform to his Instagram Stories.

The club has not confirmed the deal, which is awaiting a physical examination. If Stroman reaches 140 innings in 2025, he will receive a player option for 2026 worth $18 million, a source told Feinsand.

This isn't the first time Stroman has been linked to the Yankees. In 2019, New York showed interest in his services before the trade deadline. Stroman was with the Blue Jays at the time and dreamed of playing for the Bronx Bombers. Stroman is from Medford, New York, which is less than two hours from the Bronx.

“I'm from New York and I'm a New York boy. That kind of says it all in itself,” Stroman said at the time. “I love throwing [at Yankee Stadium]. New York is like Mecca in the world. I love the excitement, the bright lights, the competition, and I love the pressure. I've always loved promoting here. I didn't necessarily promote well. I've always enjoyed it. Yankee lineups are brutal. They are kind of hard to navigate. I love the lights. The bigger the moment, that's what I wanted it to be.”

Stroman has been a consistently above-average starter for the bulk of his career since he debuted with the Blue Jays in 2014. His ERA+ has never been worse than 113 in any of the past four seasons. He scored 113 goals last season, which is starting to look like a potential career year for the 32-year-old. He carried a 2.28 ERA and .536 opposing OPS over his first 16 games with the Cubs en route to making his second All-Star team.

However, Stroman's 2023 campaign took a dip in July as he allowed 27 earned runs across 26 2/3 innings during the month before landing on the injured list on August 2 due to right hip inflammation. Stroman's return to the mound was delayed by a fractured right rib cartilage, and once he rejoined the Cubs on September 15, he threw just eight innings over four relief appearances to close out the year. He finished with a 3.95 ERA, the second-highest mark of his career.

These injuries also left Stroman's innings total below 140 for the second straight season. In 2022, he missed a month with right shoulder inflammation and was also sidelined for more than two weeks due to COVID-19.

Before that, Stroman was one of the most durable pitchers in baseball. He topped 180 innings three times in a four-season span between 2016-19. He topped 200 innings in 16 and 17 with the Blue Jays. His final season saw him earn a Gold Glove Award and finish in the top 10 on the AL Cy Young team.

After being selected to his first All-Star Game in 2019, Stroman was traded from the Blue Jays to the Mets, for whom he played through 2021. He missed all of 2020 because he tore a left calf muscle in the lead-up to the shortened game. The season was then canceled due to concerns about coronavirus-19 in August.

Stroman, who typically converts with below-average strikeout rates, has always relied on his low-90s sinker to get a lot of players down the ground and limit truly damaging contact. His groundball rate was above 60% in each of the first four years of his career and never dipped below 50%. He ended 2023 at 57%, his best level since 2018.

But with Stroman's chase rate (26.8%) and zone rate (45.8%) dropping significantly last season, his walk rate rose to a career-worst 9.0%. He finished the year with a K-BB walk rate of 11.7%, which ranked 67th out of 87 pitchers who threw at least 130 innings.