On Tuesday night, Joel Sherman of the New York Post stirred up Yankees fans by unveiling some pertinent offseason information as it concerned the team’s endeavors to trade Marcus Stroman before Opening Day.
We already heard about the rumored Stroman-for-Nolan Arenado swap, but it wasn’t clear if talks spanned beyond that given the limited interest in the right-hander. Not only that, but the Yankees likely aren’t willing to absorb much money in a trade, so that further narrows their market.
Sherman dropped a nugget about the Yankees exploring a Stroman trade with the San Francisco Giants in a deal that would have sent reliever Taylor Rogers to the Bronx. Not a bad idea, right? Rogers is a sidewinding left-hander who was an All-Star as recently as 2021 and honestly got snubbed out of a nod in 2024.
Except … this essentially would’ve been a salary swap that wouldn’t have really helped New York? Though Rogers’ presence would’ve upgraded the bullpen, that was already a position of strength after they imported Devin Williams, ditched Clay Holmes, moved Luke Weaver to setup man, and re-signed Tim Hill. They’re also hoping for Mark Leiter Jr. to rebound (and he could) as well as Jake Cousins to take steps forward. It’s in a good place
As for the salaries, Rogers’ $12 million against Stroman’s $18 million theoretically saves the Yankees $6 million, but it’s hard to believe those would’ve been the agreed upon terms. If the Giants were risking paying Stroman another $18 million in 2026 due to his vesting option, they definitely would have asked the Yankees to get closer to $18 million (for example, perhaps Brian Cashman sent SF an additional $3 million to sweeten the pot). In that relatively pedestrian scenario, the Yankees are only saving $3 million
The whole point of trading Stroman was to free up enough money to improve the offense via free agency, or find an offensive player that would be viewed as a buy-low candidate (i.e. Arenado). This deal for Taylor would’ve accomplished neither, unless it was to replace the Tim Hill signing, but then again that would’ve only saved the Yankees $5.85 million (Hill’s salary was $2.85 million) — not enough to acquire an impact bat
