New York Yankees Worth $975.2 Million For Providing New Prolific Star Players For 2024 Season On A Year Contract…
Marcus Stroman was never expected to sign with the Yankees entering the winter, and yet yesterday he took the ball for their third game of the season. With the team collecting two early-season wins, the right-hander would have a chance to hand the Yankees their first 3-0 start to a season since 2003, when they won the AL Pennant. It’s been 14 years since they’ve been to the World Series, and Stroman knows that the goal for this team is to bring home their 28th World Series Championship.
The expectations in the Bronx can be overwhelming, and we’ve certainly seen both the good and ugly when Marcus Stroman is under the spotlight. Yesterday however was a performance from someone with poise and control of their emotions and stuff on the mound, and he turned in a brilliant outing in his debut with the Yankees.
The Yankees knew they were getting a groundball machine in Marcus Stroman, and that means that he relies on a strong defense behind him to convert the soft contact he induces into outs. Instead, the Bronx Bombers made three errors behind Stroman, resulting in three unearned runs, which would normally sink any other pitcher’s night. Runs were hard to come by for New York as well, as they scored just one run in the six innings that Stroman was on the mound for, and yet the right-hander remained resilient and continued to battle against a potent Astros lineup.
One of the first things that stood out in this start was the aggressiveness with his cutter usage, a pitch that mirrored the shape of a slider more than his usual cutter. His ability to locate it down and away gave it a Whiff Rate of 56%, and it was his pitch of choice when he wanted a strikeout against difficult right-handed batters. He used the sinker and cutter 39% and 37% of the time respectively, and while Stroman isn’t a high-whiff pitcher, these two pitches could work in tandem to help him miss bats in situations like yesterday where the defense is spotty.
The cutter thrown to Jeremy Pena to end the sixth inning was his final pitch of the game, and yet it was arguably his most brilliant. More of a slider than a cutter, this pitch had -0.4 inches of Induced Vertical Break with -4.2 inches of glove-side sweep, it was a perfectly placed pitch that he knew the hitter would chase at. His horizontal release point was wide in this game, something that could have come from the small tweaks he made in Spring Training to change how high he holds his glove during his delivery.
Marcus Stroman is always tinkering with his mechanics and arsenal, constantly looking to improve and refine his craft, a studious pitcher in the same manner that Gerrit Cole is. He prides himself in being able to pitch deep into games, he wants to be the ace of this staff, and this team desperately needs someone to step up and do the impossible job of replacing the reigning AL Cy Young winner while he’s sidelined with elbow inflammation. Yesterday doesn’t ensure that the 33-year-old right-hander has turned a new leaf or is ready to return to his All-Star form, but it’s step towards that goal.
Things haven’t always been pretty between the Yankees and Marcus Stroman, and yet here he is firing quality innings in Houston to help spark a comeback. It wasn’t too long ago that he was an enemy to the fanbase, but this second chance to try and amend his image in New York is an opportunity few get. The Yankees aren’t asking Stroman to not be fiery on the mound or flashy when he gets a big strikeout or makes a great play, and that’s an important part of making this relationship work.
He’s passed his first test in the Bronx and has stuck to retweeting highlights (and liking tweets on Fireside Yankees) instead of tweeting. Stroman could have snapped back at the radio hosts questioning his commitment to the team for not starting on Opening Day, or the fans berating him for that very same choice, but there was never a response on social media. That’s a step in the right direction as well, unfair or not, the criticism in New York will always persist, regardless of what you accomplish on the field.
Marcus Stroman has plenty he has to prove still to make his contract in New York worth it, but in an ever-important start to open the season, he was everything the Yankees needed him to be.
The New York Yankees have received a bit more clarity regarding veteran third baseman DJ LeMahieu, who was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture in his right foot following an MRI taken on Friday. LeMahieu opened the season on the injured list after sustaining the injury on March 16 by fouling a pitch off his foot during spring training. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise before additional imaging revealed the fracture. Given the uncertainty surrounding when he might return, the Yankees acquired Jon Berti from the Miami Marlins on Wednesday to address their infield depth. Oswaldo Cabrera, meanwhile, started his third consecutive game at third base Saturday in the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros. The win was New York’s third straight in the four-game series in Houston. The Yankees will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon.
On Saturday, Cabrera hit a game-tying, two-run home run in the seventh inning and is 7-for-13 with two homers, three runs and six RBIs in the series. As for LeMahieu’s timeline to return, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said: “It doesn’t really change much. It’s tolerance as he builds up and the last two days have been good. He actually hit in the cage (Friday), and I know he feels a lot better. They’ll reimage it in two weeks and see where he’s at, but it shouldn’t stop him from progressing now as we go. “It’s not something that he’s going to play through. He’s going to be 100 percent, and I think the sense is that it should be, over time, fine.”
Right-hander Clarke Schmidt (9-9, 4.64 ERA in 2023) will start the series finale for the Yankees on Sunday. Schmidt allowed three runs or less in 25 of his 32 starts last season. His lone appearance against the Astros came Aug. 3, when he allowed two runs on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts over five innings. He did not factor into the decision of New York’s 4-3 victory. Right-hander J.P. France (11-6, 3.83 ERA in 2023) is the scheduled starter for the Astros as they attempt to avert the series sweep.
France led all American League rookies last season with 13 quality starts and was tied for first in wins while ranking third in ERA, fourth in opponent OPS (.737) and fifth in WHIP (1.36). France faced the Yankees on Aug. 6, working 3 1/3 innings of relief and allowing one unearned run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts while earning a 9-7 victory. Astros reliever Bryan Abreu had a rocky season debut in a 5-3 loss on Saturday, allowing three runs on two homers and two walks. He missed the first two games of the season while serving a suspension tied to the 2023 AL Championship Series. “He did not look as sharp as we’ve seen (him) look in the past,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Just working on his mechanics, and I don’t think he’s quite there yet. Just not the usual Bryan Abreu when it comes to execution.”