As we approach the 2024 MLB Season, the Yankees have one major move left to make, and that is to acquire the 2023 NL Cy Young winner, Blake Snell. Last year, Snell made 32 starts, finishing the year with a strong 14-9 record. He tallied 234 strikeouts in just 180 innings pitched. These are excellent numbers that warrant a Cy Young winner. His 2.25 ERA and 5.8 H/9 were the best in the league.
The Yankees, however, have an ace of their own in the 2023 AL Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole. Heading into the 2024 season, the Yankees pitching rotation is taking shape but is not finished yet. The five-man starting rotation is as follows: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, Marcus Stroman, and Clarke Schmidt, so picking up Blake Snell is an absolute must for the Bronx Bombers.
Yankees must land SP Blake Snell ahead of the 2024 season
Looking at the Yankees’ starting rotation, Gerrit Cole is an incredibly reliable pitcher. Cole was unanimously voted the AL Cy Young Winner. He led the AL with an ERA of 2.63 and also led the entire MLB with a WHIP of just 0.98. Cole finished with a 15-4 record in 33 games started. He also registered 222 strikeouts and 24 quality starts, which included two complete games.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Carlos Rodon. In December of 2022, Rodon signed a six-year deal worth $162 million. This is scary, considering how downright awful Rodon was in 2023. Despite being injured most of the season, Rodon mustered up a 3-8 record with an ERA of 6.85 in 14 games started. These are brutal numbers for the once-great pitcher. Hopefully, we will look back on 2023 as an outlier year, and Rodon will get back on track in 2024.
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The rest of the Yankees pitching staff can be viewed as a question mark. Nestor Cortes is normally a great pitcher when he can stay healthy. However, that seems to be a big IF as of late — he did strike Juan Soto out three consecutive times on Tuesday.
Clarke Schmidt was decent towards the end of 2023 but was arguably the worst pitcher on the Yankees for a good portion of the season. Marcus Stroman played well last year for the Chicago Cubs but fizzled out quickly in the second half.
Does that make you feel confident in this pitching staff? It shouldn’t. With how injury-prone some of the Yankees starting pitchers have been lately, the Yankees need to acquire one more big arm. Acquiring Blake Snell is an absolute need for the Yankees at this point. If they don’t, they could maybe work out a trade that includes Gleyber Torres for another pitcher at the deadline, but this should not be the first choice.