The Burlingame Blue Ducks have turned up the heat in recent days and found their first big addition to a rotation starving for innings. The club announced the acquisition of RHP Marcus Stroman (3/$5) from the Lake Merced Goutfish in exchange for outfielder Jazz Chisholm, Jr. (3R/$5) and a 2024 5th Round Pick.
The 2023 season was a tale of two halves for Marcus Stroman. The 32-year-old made his second All-Star team on the strength of a first half which saw him collect a 2.96 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 98:41 K:BB over 112.2 innings. In the second half, Stroman missed six weeks with hip and rib injuries and posted an 8.63 ERA, 1.96 WHIP and 21:11 K:BB over 24 frames. Undaunted by his poor finish, Stroman opted out of the one year and $21 million remaining on his contract with the Cubs to pursue free agency before landing a two-year, $37M deal with the Yankees. Although there have been some curvy roads along the way, Stroman has been rock-solid on the whole over the last three seasons in holding a 3.45 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 396:132 K:BB across 454.1 innings.
Chisholm Jr. first got the baseball world excited for his fantasy future after a solid rookie campaign, but his follow-up efforts have been marred with injury. 2023 saw him miss time with turf toe, an oblique strain, and a hamstring strain. The turf toe required offseason surgery to fix, but the demands of the centerfield position are not likely to reduce Chisholm Jr's. injury risk any time soon. He remains capable of a 30/30 season, but his aggressive approach has led to a career .304 OBP on over 1,000 at-bats which limits his overall upside.
Comments