Marcus Stroman makes the Tony La Russa situation look even worse

New York Mets starter Marcus Stroman was expected to be one of the top free agents on the market this winter. He accepted a qualifying offer from the Metropolitans, which means he is no longer available, but will be making $18.9 million next season, on a one year deal.

In the current environment of cost-cutting and uncertainty, its probably not a bad decision for Stroman to make. Jake Odorizzi saw the potential down-side of the gamble in 2020, but most players won’t have that bad of injury luck. Stroman is likely to perform well enough to garner a decent multi-year contract after the 2021 season—he was offered a QO for a reason. Even before he signed the paper though, he made the White Sox look foolish, by ruling them out as a destination.

The south side of Chicago should be a high-profile destination for free agents this season. They are an up-and-coming squad, and are very talented. Lots of high end talent has recently, or is about to graduate from their farm system. Rick Hahn probably has a bunch of Jerry Reinsdorf’s money to spend. Reinsdorf, however, overruled Hahn in choice of Manager, and it will at least partially hurt the Sox in the free agent market.

Tony La Russa was a problematic hire anyway, and then the news broke that he was arrested for DUI the day before he was hired. Marcus Stroman responded strongly on Twitter to this information, although it sounds like he wasn’t a La Russa fan anyway.

Playing for the LOLMets, even under new ownership, gives the guy more peace of mind than potentially playing for the White Sox.

Lets hope more big free agents make the same calculus.