Marcus Stroman is among the many pitchers the Royals “appear to [have] on their radar,” the New York Post’s Jon Heyman writes (X link). Rotation help is a stated goal of the Kansas City offseason, and the club has been linked to such other free agents as Seth Lugo, Lucas Giolito, and the now-signed Sonny Gray and Erick Fedde, as well as trade targets on teams like the Mariners and Marlins.
Stroman is another name that would pretty much instantly become the de facto ace of a largely unproven K.C. rotation. Cole Ragans looked tremendous after being dealt to the Royals in the Aroldis Chapman trade, but Ragans has only 136 Major League innings on his resume. The rest of the Royals’ homegrown young arms struggled across the board, as did veterans Jordan Lyles, Zack Greinke, and Brad Keller. With the latter two now free agents, the 2024 rotation currently lines up as Ragans, Lyles, Brady Singer, and then question marks.
It wasn’t exactly a clean season for Stroman either last year, as injuries spoiled what was initially shaping up to be a very strong 2023 campaign. Stroman had a 3.95 ERA over 136 2/3 innings, which broke down as a 2.96 ERA in 112 2/3 frames prior to the All-Star break, and then a 8.64 ERA over his final 24 innings of the season. The right-hander missed about six weeks due to hip inflammation and then a cartilage fracture in his right ribcage, and thus the Cubs limited to Stroman to shortened starts and bullpen work after he returned from the injured list in September.
With injuries also hampering Stroman in 2022, some durability questions naturally have to be asked as the righty enters his age-33 season. That said, Stroman chose to bet on himself by exercising the opt-out clause in his contract with the Cubs, leaving behind a $21MM salary for 2024 in search of a larger pact in the free agent market.
MLBTR predicted a two-year, $44MM deal for Stroman, who ranked 18th on our top 50 free agents list. This projection acts as reflects his recent injury history while still locking in some extra money and security. Of course, only the market will determine how accurate this prediction was, and if Stroman’s price tag does approach a $22MM average annual value, it might put him out of Kansas City’s spending range.
GM J.J. Picollo recently said that the Royals have at least $30MM available on free agents this winter, as ownership is willing to allocate a bit more payroll than usual in order to address the club’s pitching needs and simply to help right the ship after a dreadful 106-loss season. Stroman making over $20MM would alone eat up a good portion of that budget, but the fact that the Royals are even considering Stroman, Lugo, or even Gray indicates that Kansas City is prepared to make a relatively big splash for a larger upgrade. Likewise, it should be noted that the Royals could also still look to obtain pitching help in trades, though giving up prospects would represent a different kind of cost than simply spending on a free agent.
Picollo made a point of noting how the Royals (and other rebuilding teams) need to work harder to convince veteran free agents to join a club that doesn’t look like a contender for 2024 or perhaps even in the near future. That said, Stroman was willing to join the Cubs two years ago when Chicago was in the midst of a rebuild, so he could perhaps be amendable to joining the Royals if the price is right and if Stroman has confidence that the franchise is on the right track. It also can’t be ruled out that Stroman might view K.C. as something of a stopover, whether via a trade at the deadline or perhaps another contractual opt-out clause.
I hope they have ear plugs.
I don’t get it
Tjenk – I think it’s a reference to him saying he wants to be heard and him talking a lot.
Stroman’s a world-class yapper
OMG! Stroman would be better off signing with the San Francisco Giants instead.
True, but I doubt the Giants will be better off w/ Stroman at, say, 2/44m, for his age 33-34 seasons than they would spending the money somewhere else. .
Until he proves otherwise teams have to treat him as a 2/3 of a season pitcher, around 125 innings once the usual age-related decline is figured in. And it’s not as if he’s been an ace during the last two years, either. A 116 ERA+ is nice, but not brilliant—and we should expect a decline their, as well.
I wonder if…….. If Stroman had known the Cubs were going to steal Counsell, He would have taken that 21 million to stay one more year? Another thing I wonder is…….. Is Stroman interested in the Royals? My answer is probably not. He wants to pitch on the big stage and the Royals aren’t going to be there anytime soon and he’s 33.
He’s “just” 32, and while he’s not an ace, he can be a decent #2-3 for the next couple of seasons (on a good team with strong defense), and a solid 3-4 for a few more years. I certainly wouldn’t mind him on my favorite team for the right price.
Why? Both are poverty franchises.
Hey Captain,
Your obsession with SF is borderline perverse at this point. Find some new material, you say the same thing every day
Didn’t Fedde sign as well?
Yeah this Polishuk dude needs to be polishing up his work. Usually lot of typos too
Ahhhhhhhhhh
I think Mark was just saying they were supposedly in on Fedde and Gray, Although if he has 30 million to spend and about 14 holes to fill did he really think he was going to be in Gray’s League? Or the top of the FA Pitcher pool for that matter? Fedde signed with the White Sox and Gray with the Cards. They need to aim way lower or get the Royals to cough up some more dough. I doubt admitting you only have 30 million to spend is going to make your phone ring off the hook.
My favorite is Nick Deeds. You can play a drinking game while reading all of his posts to see how many times he uses the word “brutal”.
@Theo: “…and the now-signed Sonny Gray and Erick Fedde.”
What part of that accurate statement needs polishing up?
I’ve got Jack Flaherty going to KC.
Stroman is not going to sign a one year deal and it wouldn’t make sense for the Royals to sign him to a multi-year deal unless they believe they are close to contending
Idk if they’re close, but they’re probably the closest they’ve been since like 2018. Witt Jr is a star and they have a handful of pieces in a weak division. They’re also trying to get a new ballpark so it might be time to show the fan base you’re willing to spend some money. I don’t think this would move the needle for them but it’s better than nothing.
You never know, the division is so weak that it’s really anyone’s to take. Twins have won it the most consistently but even they’re unpredictable.
It makes sense for the Royals to sign anyone who throws a baseball hard and within a two foot radius of where they are trying to throw the ball.
Do you really understand how bad the AL Central is? Not saying the Royals are contenders but the climb may not be that steep. In 2025 they get former 20 game winner Kyle Wright back from Tommy John surgery. The offense is likely to improve greatly as their kids mature. The Royals are likely to offer more years than than other teams can. Their current shopping list shows they mean business.
So according to MLBs lackey (Dennis Lin) the Padres shouldn’t even bother with any free agents. Stroman is out of reach, even after shedding payroll. So no Soto and Stroman is too expensive?
#FIRESALE
Padres are acting like a Poverty Franchise.
That’s what happens when your ownership decides they are tired of coming out of pocket every year to cover expenses and MLB won’t cover your tv deal again.
This isn’t about the TV deal. Guess what? The Padres are the only team in town. There are grounds for a new TV deal due to the popularity. The Padres sold out a majority of games.
Ownership has the capital to spend…if it wants to.
Is this about the Padres winning a WS or increasing profit?
I was a skeptic, but I went ahead and looked. The Padres attendance last year was outstanding. 40,390 average and there was a waiting list for season packages.
Wtih a very affordable average ticket price of $33.81, that’s $110MM on gate revenues alone. Double that considering concessions and merchandise in terms of game day revenue.
I’d guess Padres total revenues were in the $325-350MM range for the season based on Forbe’s estimate of $325MM in 2022. That said, it’s not pure profit and San Diego’s player payroll was $282MM including IR according to Spotrac. Considering operating expenses, I’d bet they lost money.
So everyone else is wrong and delusional Padre fans are right. Just like they weren’t trading Juan Soto and now they have plenty of money to spend.
You figuring in the $50 million loan they had to take out to cover payroll ?
The owner knew his health was in bad shape and he told Preller to go all in.
Preller just is not a good GM & made bad choices.
Bogarts was a terrible contract for a player that was not needed.
As long as Preller is calling the shots the team is going to underachieve.
Let’s revisit why the TV deal is in shambles. Diamond Sports Group, who owns the media rights, is in bankruptcy. Why are they in bankruptcy?? Because the amount of money they have coming in from the cable company is far less than what they financed the media rights deal for. The cable tv model, which previously was a cash cow is imploding. Cable cutters is killing revenue. In other words, the media rights ain’t worth what they overpaid for it. Huge impact on the Padres who need that money!
Signing players to 10, 12 and 13-year contracts is a recipe for future disaster!
The salaries are this high because the media rights have been OVERPAID for. Streaming is not nearly as lucrative. Not Close!
This is going to be an absolute disaster for Major League Baseball. A disaster.
You already see it with the Seattle Mariners as well. Team was a player or two away ….. Fire Sale!
Honestly, I think the underachieving was a 2023 thing. Didn’t they lose a lot of one run games? Doubt that happens again, although now that the team is dismantled, good luck.
They had to pay into rev sharing last year. So that means they had a rev of at least 440-460m.
The avg team got like 70m from the national tv deals, padres got at least 50m in the local tv deal last year 80% was covered by the mlb. 10 from that patch and I’m sure several other millions from ad’s and what not.
Anyways even at 440m they likely didn’t make much at all. They did spend 20m on renovating the stadium this year. The also have a 1.5b project on changing the stadium lot.
martras – Your attendance number for last year was incorrect, it was actually 36,931 which is still quite good and ranked them 5th in MLB.
Also it’s important to note the Padres are in violation of MLB’s debt service ratio rules.
The tv rev is a real problem for the padres starting next year. They were counting on getting 60m from it.
MLB has already said they will not cover any of it going forward. The Padres sold about 18k single package deals last year. That’s about 2m if they keep every dollar. They also sold the right to each local tv provider. No idea how much each one of them paid for it. Sure in the millions but unlikely total was greater then 60m. Maybe it was 20m…I have no idea.
Either way this is an issue until they come up with some sort of long term agreement. Some whispers there is some options but nothing for sure yet.
If the padres can figure out how to get the tv money back near 60m then they can easily afford a payroll over 200m.
I’m not worried about this loan stuff since they were approved for double of what they took. Even the repor said as much.
Anyways I do think the padres want to reset the tax this year. Btw every lone saying they are broke…they are running a 200m
Payrol while being broke. Most teams would love that. They don’t have to be nor will they be a top 5 payroll team in the league.
No the padres were third in attendance on 23, think you are looking at 22.
There’s a day of reckoning coming for professional sports.
The Padres can spend about 200 million on payroll, per their own admission whether Padre fans want to believe the report or not.
For the past two seasons, the Padres were coming out of pocket to make payroll, last year, ownership refused, hence the loan. The Padres can play verbal judo all they want “the money wasn’t for payroll, it was for other expenses” but if I have a business and I pay all my employees but cannot afford rent or power, I really can’t afford my employees can I?
The Padres requested 100 million, they were approved but MLB stepped in and said no, only allowed 50. The mindset some people have that they have to be profitable to get a 100 million dollar loan is wrong, it’s basically an equity loan and no bank would refuse a 100 million dollar loan to a business with 20 times that in equity.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with running a 200 million dollar payroll and it’s great to have owners willing to come out of pocket to win when they are in their window. The problem for the Padres is Preller took advantage and spent like a drunken sailor on a very flawed team. The Cubs went through a similar issue after running up a 236 million dollar payroll, TR finally got tired of operating at a sunk cost. Baring in mind similar to the Padres but on a grander scale, the Cubs just came off a billion, self funded, renovation of Wrigley Field and ballon payments were on the horizon.
The tv deal screwed the Padres for this season as did not making the playoffs last year. Playoff revenue is big for teams.
@Fever Pitch Guy – Where do your numbers come from? Mine are from baseballreference.com.
baseball-reference.com/teams/SDP/attend.shtml
Not sure what the debt servicing ratio has to do with attendance, but I’d agree the Padres are going to cut payroll for multiple reasons.
And the Twins. Finally win the division, break the 18 game playoff losing streak, finally have some starting pitching, and still saying they’ll be cutting payroll by more than $20M/yr or more. (They were getting $60M/yr from Bally’s)
Why bother being a fan of any team not named the Dodger or Yankees? If the Padres do not have the financial flexibility to compete with those teams then there is no point.
The Padres, A’s, Royals, White Sox etc are MLBs version of NPCs(non playable characters) with no chance of a WS ever.
Why bother? So that Dodgers and Yankees fans have a place to vacation and see their teams play on the road?
The Padres are similar to that boxer on the schedule to inflate the stats for an upcoming star.
Because there’s more to being a fan than being a front runner.
If the Dodgers and Yankees were appearing in the World Series and winning it on annual basis, your outburst would have more merit. As things stand, that’s far from the current state of things.
Really? I’d say being a frontrunner is more or less the opposite of your assertion. You should be passionate about your team winning a WS and doing everything in it’s power to do so. If your team isn’t doing that and simply cares about turning a profit,hold them accountable by not going or spending your money on them.
Your memory is short. 8 years ago the Royals were celebrating a World Series victory. I realize they caught lightning in a bottle. That said it can be done. That said every World Series winner since has been a large market team.
Then go ahead and root for the Dodgers and Yankees. Have a good time.
Baseball, by Seligs design, is a regional sport, not a national one. Big markets going to and winning the World Series is good for the financial strength of the game.
When a small market team makes it to the playoffs and World Series, it’s like the NCAA basketball tournament, it makes media headlines “David vs Goliath” also good for the league but deep down, baseball needs the big markets to succeed. Funny how small market apologists Big Bud caused the weakening interest of the mid-small market teams by doing a cash grab with the regional tv deals.
Stroman to the pirates. One year deal.
It’s weird are the Royals trying to compete?
In all honesty, they are trying to justify building a new stadium. Acting like they are trying to compete and actually competing are 2 different things. Jackson County/Kansas City doesn’t want a stadium for a yearly 100 loss team.
KC thinks they’re the Dodgers because they both have blue uniforms
Only difference the dodgers haven’t won a full season championship since 1988 the royals 2015
Small fish in a pond of no fish
I don’t see Stroman entertaining the Royals unless there’s little to no other interest in the league. Kansas City lost over 100 games and they’ve been awful for several years now.
The Royals are going to have to stretch their expenditures out and sign a couple other pieces before approaching a mid/upper rotation starter who’s clock to retirement is ticking.
At least that’s how I see it.
I don’t like Stroman’s attitude. Or his “swagger.”
and shave those sideburns, Mattingly!!!
Stroman screwed up opting out and not staying with the Cubs.
Agreed. What was he thinking? I believe the Cubs lucked out. What kind of deal do you see him getting?
He was atrocious in the second half and relegated to the bullpen. If he gets multiple years over 20 million, I’d be stunned.
4/80 wouldn’t susprise me at all.
lol Stroman wasn’t relegated to the bullpen, he made TWO appearances out of the bullpen because he didn’t have any rehab starts and then Ross threw him to the wolves out of desperation.
This is what happens when writers write, you don’t get the full story then you’re led to believe a lie.
Stroman was bad of course but he was also injured.
His last 7 starts before his “injury” were atrocious. He came back and pitched out of the bullpen and if he did start he got shellacked. We can mince words but he wasn’t pitching in the playoffs as a sp.
It was obvious Stroman tweaked his hip in the London start, if you actually watched any of his games. It was right when or right after Wisdom made a costly error (that somehow wasn’t recorded as an error).
To me, it’s kind of silly (actually stupid) to discredit Stromans season, opps, no, career, based off eight games where there was an injury and no rehab starts. It’s like saying Scherzer is done because he pitched without a rehab start in the post season and got shelled too.
Neither of Stromans injuries are career altering, not like a ligament injury and would have been better off just sitting out the rest of the season but he wanted to try to help his team make the post season. Without the rehab starts, Stroman should have been left in relief but Ross and his infinite non-wisdom, out Assad in the pen and Stroman back in the rotation.
But is Marcus Stroman interested in them?
I don’t see Stroman as a fit for K.C.
if he is willing to sign a 1-2 year deal the Braves would jump all over that.
He is clearly looking for the most money.
I think if the Pirates opened up their checkbook for a 3 year deal he would be a great fit for them. Even a 4/$80 I think he would sign & be worth.
It is time for the Pirates to make the next step
Wouldn’t mind my Braves going 3/$$70 for him
He has a relationship with AA with their time in Toronto. He could even be the next Josh Donaldson on a 1 year deal to reestablish his value.
I would rather role with rookie pitchers like AJSS over the little man Stroman.
I would even go as far to say bring in Trevor Bauer over Stroman. Yes they are both mental cases but Bauer is still a TOR pitcher. Bauer pitched well in Japan last year.
I originally thought Stroman would sign for 3 years 51 million but given some of the comical contracts this year it could be more.
It’s funny to be that certain fans… think Stroman is a head case, has a bad attitude etc. which based on his time in Chicago, wasn’t the case.
Yeah, Stroman is going to speak out on racial issues which rub some fans the wrong way and he’s “emotional” on the mound but people, viewing in their narrow scope, don’t realize that he and some other African American players made that conscious effort to be more showy and expressive in hopes to make the game more intriguing to African American youth.
Loud mouthed bum
Go Cubs Go!!
Stroman would be a great addition to almost any team if he’d just shut-his-mouth and pitch. Guy is talented, but exhausting.
Exactly. He wears out his welcome everywhere he goes. He’s a bit of a head case.
Guy is talented, but exhausting.
=====================
I don’t often agree with Parks, but he nailed it with this one. If Stroman was available for $40M/2, his numbers say it is an absolute steal.
But I don’t remember him ever not being in the news. His agent should suggest a 2-year contract with a one-year opt-out, and tell him to stay off social media for the entire year.
It’s funny people get all kinds a b hurt about his tweets on social injustice but ignore all the tweets about his community outreach and tweets about how great Justin Steele was/is and how great his catchers were.
I could honestly care less about Stroman’s political views. He has been a problem wherever he has been. Look at how he treated the media in Toronto. Then when Toronto didn’t trade him to the Yankees he threw a fit. He goes to the Mets and pitches decently then flips on Eppler when he wasn’t resigned. He goes out and pitches decently for a half season in Chicago and is lobbying for an extension. It’s nice that he cares about social injustice and has been a good teammate to Justin Steele. He has shown time and again that all he really cares about is Marcus Stroman.
Seems like addition by subtraction for teams that value limited distractions. I don’t see a contender signing him for more than a year, with a vesting option based on starts or IP, as his second half numbers were beyond putrid. He should be grateful for any interest after that 8+ ERA he twirled last season after the midpoint mark.
Don’t do it K.C. he’s a head case and he’s hurt I can’t believe how lucky the Cubs got with him opting out!!!!!
Stroman isn’t going to KC, maybe Lugo because he still wants to start , Flaherty or Carrasco ( unless he goes back home to Cleveland) and retires there.
Feels like KC is going to sign one starter, and end up in a Gil Meche situation again.
I don’t see him wanting to sign with KC.. beautiful city and good BBQ but KC isn’t a contender. They’ll only trade him at the deadline. But money talks so if he gets $22 million per like the projection says get it.
Yeah, KC is a team that could sign him with the intention to parlay into a deadline trade – he seems like a good candidate for such a move. Strange how his name hasn’t been attached anywhere.
How come no team Strohman plays on ever wants him back?
Did you read a single one of the other comments answering your question for you?
That question answers itself
I can see Stroman signing with the Giants. They do need another starter, he’s a groundball pitcher, and he’s praised the organization before. I think it would be a good fit, and they would still have money for Yamamoto or Lee.
Stroman’s market value is $15.6 per Spotrac and the Royals said they had $30M to spend so unless they Royals want to put half their winter spending into one pitcher, I doubt that happens.
I seriously doubt he is interested in the Royals.
KC is a perfect fit for Stroman. His need for publicity is not going to derail a contender, and he makes them much better. And likely has trade value 3 months into his contract.
He would never fit in with KC. Talk of the town is still Taylor Swift. I don’t think he would share the spotlight.
The Dodgers should be trying to sign every free agent pitcher available.
Twins need Stroman. He could be a real good number 2 behind Pablo Lopez if he stays healthy.
A “real good number 2” could go a couple directions I guess.
Sounds like you need to see a proctologist…
If a player signs with a team, it means he’s AMENABLE, not AMENDABLE.