The New York Yankees have been heavily connected to starting pitcher Carlos Rodon on the free agent market. At this point, it seems only a matter of time before general manager Brian Cashman inks him to a big contract, but the two sides are hung up on the number of years they would prefer.
Rodon is looking for a deal in the 6+ year range, whereas the Yankees would like to keep it below that number, given his longevity issues in the past.
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The Yankees would get a lot better with Carlos Rodon in the rotation:
Rodon, 30, pitched 178 innings this past season, a career-high after pitching 132.2 in 2021. He’s pitched over 150 innings just twice in his career, spanning eight seasons. His injury history is lengthy, but he’s been relatively clean the past two seasons, indicating the Yankees might be a bit more confident in his services.
“There is definite interest in Rodon. The Yankees have continued to have discussions with his agent Scott Boras.”
Cashman seems willing to give $30 million per year to Rodon, but locking him in on a $200M deal over seven years, which Jack Curry of the YES Network suggested, seems to be lofty.
“The financial aspect of this is going to get heavy. We have seen talked about a 7-year 200 million dollar deal potential. How comfortable are the Yankees in swimming in those waters?”
Rodon hosted a 2.88 ERA, 2.91 xFIP, 12 strikeouts per nine, and a 75.1% left-on-base rate with the San Francisco Giants in 2022. He features a 4-seam fastball and slider combination, two elite pitches by his metrics.
There is no question that the former Giant has quality stuff and would be a significant boost over Jameson Taillon, who signed a new deal with the Chicago Cubs after having a decent season with the Yankees. Rodon offers yet another lefty arm in the rotation, averaging out at 95.5 mph with his fastball, representing solid velocity.
There is certainly a lot like when it comes to the veteran starter, but the Yankees only have about $13 million until they reach their projected 2022 active total payroll post-arbitration. It basically confirms that ownership will push into the second tier of the luxury tax threshold, which will account for a 42.5% sub charge, up from the 12% sub charge in tier 1 the Yankee settled in last season to conserve a bit of cash.
However, with Josh Donaldson coming off the books next season and the team actively looking to move Aaron Hicks, they should be able to reduce their expenditures moving forward, but owner Hal Steinbrenner did promise Aaron Judge they would continue adding pieces to the mix, so landing Rodon would achieve that goal.