The Bronx Tales: A surprise move all around, Marcus Stroman has signed with the Yankees. Sign of desperation or solid signing to shore up the rotation?

A mere five days ago, I wrote about how Marcus Stroman's desire to join the Yankees, only to bring up the past and how that could be a deterrent to Brian Cashman and Co. Turns out, I was wrong.

Bob Nightingale went from "The Yankees aren't interested" into "things are heating up" to now, out of the blue, Marcus Stroman has joined the Yankees staff, and it sent the fan base on an absolute spiral.

So much for the whole "Mets Fan" growing up comment. All of the Yankee hate comments better be deleted by the time pitchers and catchers report back. I really don't put too much stock into it. We all say stuff we regret, but everyone wants to wear pinstripes at the end of the day.

If you told me last year that Marcus Stroman and Alex Verdugo would be New York Yankees, I would laugh out loud. To be honest with you, take the past and personality out of the players, they are both solid depth bolstering moves. We get an above average left handed outfielder, and a solid former ace on a relatively low risk deal to shore up the rotation. Adding Juan Soto to this mix, and you are telling me the Yankees are losing the offseason?

Let's dissect this Stroman deal. It's a 2-year, $37 million deal with a a third-year vesting option. If we are talking about short term investments that allows the Yankees to lock in Juan Soto and maybe even Gleyber Torres, then this is a great signing. If money doesn't matter, still, for a guy that can give you 130+ innings and 25+ starts, then let's do it. If you look at the market and see what other players are getting, you'd be surprised how much this signing could be a steal.

What Yankee fans aren't reading and understanding, is that this shouldn't come as a move of desperation. Signing Jordan Montgomery for $200+ million is a sign of desperation, especially when the organization didn't see him as a playoff starter, and now he is a World Series champion. The Yankees put out a massive offer for Yamamoto, they have offered Blake Snell a contract, they are talking to various teams for ace-type pitchers. All in all, they are very much active in a market that has been sluggish. Again, do I love the move, no. But do I hate it? The answer remains the same.

I don't think this is the final pitching move, but if Marcus Stroman is the 3rd pitcher come Opening Day, I would start being a little worrisome.

That leads you with the following...

1. Cole

2. Rodon

3. Stroman

4. Cortes

5. Schmidt

6. Weaver? Gill? Beeter?

It's not awful, but it's not elite. Now again, we could be completely wrong and see progression from Rodon and Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt will fill in for Mike King and eat innings and perform, but that is a lot to gamble on. Now, I think we can all agree, this is the rotation we want to see.

1. Cole

2. Bieber - Cease - Burnes - Luzardo

3. Rodon

4. Stroman

5. Cortes

6. Schmidt

Now that screams 'World Series Champs'.

The whole situation is just wild as a whole, but I hope it ends with more additions, and a season that ends with a parade, because I can't deal with us being the laughing stock after decades of being the most proud and historic franchise in the entire league.