The New York Yankees could get creative with their offseason regardless of whether they bring back Juan Soto or not, as they currently have six starters on their 26-man roster. The odd man out is Marcus Stroman, who didn’t have a great first season in the Bronx due to a decline in his fastball velocity that made him a lot easier for hitters to barrel up. If they want to move some cash and potentially upgrade their roster, they could make an interest contract swap.
“The Yanks sending Stroman to the Giants who were interested in him last year, San Francisco dealing Taylor Rogers to the Cubs, who would still save a lot in 2025 and potentially all of 2026 by sending Bellinger to The Bronx.”
Joel Sherman of the NY Post suggested that the Yankees, who have a surplus of SP depth, could use Stroman to acquire a much-needed left-handed reliever in Taylor Rogers, whom the Giants don’t seem very fond of. While the front office that placed Rogers on waivers last winter was let go and replaced by Buster Posey’s regime, perhaps their need for rotation help would cause them to look into a deal where they swap veteran arms with the Yankees.
Why a Yankees and Giants Mock Trade Could Make Sense For Both Teams
The San Francisco Giants lost one of their top starters in Blake Snell to their hated rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers, and their need for pitching help is obvious. While Stroman’s 4.31 ERA wouldn’t make them incredibly better, perhaps pitching at Oracle Park would fit his skillset better than Yankee Stadium.
Had the right-hander made all of his starts at Oracle Park, he would have allowed just 14 home runs instead of 19 according to Baseball Savant’s Expected HR metric. While you can’t make 100% of your starts at one ballpark, pitching in San Francisco might help lower the high home run rates, and the Yankees didn’t do many favors for Stroman either.
While the underlying metrics weren’t great for the veteran, he also dealt with horrendous defensive play behind him, as no pitcher had a worse OAA when they pitched than he did (-16) this season. If the Giants sign someone like Ha-Seong Kim and pair him with elite infielder Matt Chapman, they could mop up groundballs and help Stroman prevent runs at a high level.
As prices for starting pitchers start to soar, the Giants might be inclined to pay the $18.3 million in 2025 for his services if they’re able to offload some money in the process.
Taylor Rogers is owed $11 million for the 2025 season and could be a strong fit for the Yankees’ bullpen. The left-hander had a 2.40 ERA across 64 appearances with a 25.7% strikeout rate and 46.3% groundball rate. While he had a higher HR/9 rate than his career average this season and didn’t miss bats at the rate he usually does, he remained a solid bullpen arm who could provide value to a Yankees’ bullpen that currently lacks one.
With a sinker at 93 MPH and a sweeper with tons of movement from a crossbody release, the issue with Rogers has less to do with his talent and more to do with his price tag. Perhaps the Yankees can help him generate better results on his sweeper, which had a .477 SLG% allowed and a .338 wOBA this season despite low EV numbers and high whiff rates, as they’re usually excellent with breaking balls.
If the Yankees wanted to complete this deal it would likely require them to either send cash to make the money even or send a prospect to get the Giants to bite. A player who could intrigue San Francisco is RHP Yoendrys Gomez, who is out of MiLB options but could help replenish some of their pitching issues as a long-relief arm. ‘
He had a 3.97 ERA with the Yankees at the MLB level across 11.1 innings and had a 3.67 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate at the Triple-A level in 2024. Gomez has a solid fastball with a sweeper that gets a lot of swings-and-misses, and perhaps he could intrigue the Giants and make this mock trade go through.
