(Audacy) Right-hander Marcus Stroman's decision to accept a one-year, $18.9-million qualifying offer from the New York Mets last offseason proved to be a tremendous business decision.
In addition to making nearly $19 million during his age-30 season, Stroman put together an excellent campaign for the Mets. After opting out of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Stroman had one of the finest seasons of his career, posting a 3.02 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 3.4 fWAR across 179 innings.
Perhaps Stroman is more of a No. 3 on a contending team, but he's one who pretty consistently is going to give you at least 175 innings. And because he played on the qualifying offer in 2021, any team that signs Stroman this offseason won't have to surrender draft compensation.
Here are six potential landing spots for one of the league's best fielding pitchers as he has hit free agency.
Los Angeles Angels
Justin Berl/Getty ImagesAngels manager Joe Maddon was pretty blunt in his late-September assessment that the Angels needed arms "who are ready to win right now." Stroman alone doesn't solve their problems, but when paired with another veteran -- such as Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander -- he could help the Angels to avoid wasting another year of Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon. Stroman is among the pitchers the Angels have interest in, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic already reported. That's why we've projected that Stroman will land a five-year, $105-million deal from the Angels this winter.
St. Louis Cardinals
Vincent Carchietta/USA Today SportsIf they can't lure Scherzer back to his home state of Missouri, the Cardinals could consider Stroman as an option to bolster their rotation. Stroman would fit well into a rotation that already includes Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson and Jack Flaherty. It's easy to envision him borrowing some stirrups from Wainwright.
Houston Astros
Mary Holt/USA Today SportsWhile there's a lot to like about Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia and Framber Valdez, the Astros could lose two future Hall of Famers this offseason in Verlander and Zack Greinke. In a rotation thin on arms that have ever approached 200 innings in a season, Stroman could add some certainty for manager Dusty Baker.
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Chicago Cubs
Elsa/Getty ImagesStroman told Gordon Wittenmeyer of NBC Sports Chicago in late September that he would be open to joining the Cubs, with Wittenmeyer adding that the team has kept tabs on him in the past. Spotrac estimates that the Cubs have more than $112 million of space under the luxury tax threshold, which could allow them to lure a top-tier free agent even if they probably aren't going to contend in 2022.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Kyle Ross/USA Today SportsBoth Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw are free agents, and it's unclear if Trevor Bauer will ever pitch for the Dodgers (or any other MLB team) again. If the Dodgers re-sign Scherzer and Kershaw, Stroman will probably go elsewhere. But if not, Stroman could be a pretty good No. 3 or No. 4 in a starting rotation that will also include Julio Urías and Walker Buehler.
New York Mets
Quinn Harris/USA Today SportsThe Mets have a lot of moving parts this winter. At the time of publication, Noah Syndergaard has yet to make a decision on whether he'll accept the qualifying offer from the team. Michael Conforto, Javier Báez and Aaron Loup are among the team's other notable free agents. The Mets also don't currently have a general manager or manager. Without much certainty in Queens, we'll just say this, if the Mets want to catch the World Series champion Atlanta Braves in the National League East, it would behoove them to find a way to keep Stroman around.
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