The Yankees previously signed three free-agent pitchers each to nine-figure deals. Each time, it was a known winner and so far, it has always turned out well for the Bronx Bombers. But big-sized deals carry bigger expectations and run a risk of falling below that. The signing of Carlos Rodon brings joy as well as concerns.
After the 2008 season, CC Sabathia signed a deal worth $161 million over seven years. He was a big reason why his team won the championship in 2009. Masahiro Tanaka got a seven-year, $155 million contract, and the Yankees paid him an extra $20 million as a posting fee. He was a great pitcher who was great in big games. Gerrit Cole‘s nine-year, $324 million deal is still the most money a pitcher has ever been promised. Even though fans want more, the starting pitcher has been an ace for the Yankees so far.
Now, Carlos Rodon, who has a six-year, $162 million deal, joins the Yankees’ rotation. He has pitched like an ace for the past two years, just like Cole did for the Astros prior to his arrival in the Bronx. However, compared to the latest entrant, there were no questions on Cole, Sabathia, and Tanaka.
The Yankees have had the most success with free-agent starting pitchers when they’ve gone to the top market for the clear ace. Before this offseason, their four biggest deals with free-agent pitchers were with Sabathia, Tanaka, Cole, and Mike Mussina, who signed a six-year, $88.5 million deal after the 2000 season. The Yankees won all four games there.
With pitchers like A.J. Burnett, Carl Pavano, and Jaret Wright, the Yankees haven’t done as well when they bet on high-end stuff or a good season or two before they go free agent. The catch is that Burnett’s first season wasn’t very good, but he stuck with it and wrote three great postseason games in between two bad ones in a championship season. That was it, though. After that, the Yankees were no longer happy with the contract.
In the history of the Yankees, no pitcher who made more than 77 starts (Burnett made 98) had a worse ERA than his 4.79. And the Yankees sent the right-handed pitcher to Pittsburgh with two years left on his five-year, $82.5 million contract, which cost them $20 million of the remaining $33 million.
Carlos Rodon is somewhere in the middle of the two groups. He is neither a complete guess nor a sure thing. You might find Cole or coal in the stockings of the Yankees. Because Carlos Rodon has some left-handed Burnett in him. Burnett has great stuff, but there are a lot of worries about his health and how he will handle the Yankees.
The Yankees think they have a top-class starting pitcher in Carlos Rodon, who is about to have a long run of durability and brilliance in his 30s with a fastball-slider combo. Fans too love what he did when he was playing for the White Sox and the Giants. Everyone liked what he did.
But concerns persist about Carlos Rodon’s durability and temperament as he moved to the Yankees. There are some issues regarding his maturity, how much pressure he would put on himself, and how he would deal with bigger reporting groups and more passionately critical fans if he had a stretch of bad performances. He pitched 170 innings and 30 starts only in his walk year.
Carlos Rodon was let go by the White Sox after just four games, two starts, and an 8.22 ERA in 2020. He then signed back with the White Sox for $3 million for one year. At that point, he had played for six years, and his ERA-plus was 100, which was the same as the league average. He had only made 92 starts. Carlos Rodon has lived up to being the third overall pick in the 2014 draft in each of the last two seasons, one with the White Sox and one with the Giants. He was an All-Star every year, and in 55 starts, he had an ERA-plus of 156.
Since the 2021 season, Rodon has been successful by relying on two of his overpowering strengths, which are his fastball and slider. According to Baseball Savant, Carlos Rodon threw either a fastball or a slider 92.3 percent of the time when he threw 900 pitches last year. This was the fourth-highest rate among those who threw 900 pitches.
Carlos Rodon has the best strikeout rate (33.9%), which is higher than Cole’s (32.8%). If the Yankees get that version, they could have the best rotation in the majors with Cole, Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino, and Frankie Montas.
This offseason, money has moved in this way. Teams are taking risks on top players more than anything else, even though they cost a lot and have to sign contracts for a long time. Carlos Rodon is a very good player. When the Yankees moved into their new stadium in 2009, they were so desperate to win a championship that they were willing to bet on the elite stuff and what it could mean from now until October. It’s like when the Yankees spent a lot of money on Sabathia and Burnett in the same off-season.
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