NY Mets News: Marcus Stroman sees “potential fit” with the Angels

Now former New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman led the majors in starts in 2021 with 33. He pitched 179 innings, gave up 161 hits, 60 earned runs, 44 walks, and struck out 158 batters. He had an ERA of 3.02, a FIP of 3.49, a WHIP of 1.15, and an fWAR of 3.4. Stroman is good at avoiding the barrel of the opponents’ bats, ranking in the 68th percentile on Baseball Savant. He is in the 84th percentile in walk percentage and chase rate.

On Wednesday, November 3rd, Stroman tweeted about the 1,000-inning grind it took for him to reach free agency. @porckchopper995 responded to his tweet wishing him well in free agency and saying that he would “not be upset” if his Angels showed interest. Stroman responded saying “Could be a great fit.”

Marcus Stroman, who just reached free agency after a great season with the New York Mets, is going to be one of the most highly coveted arms on the free agent market this winter.

The Angels have a great offense with names like Mike Trout, Jared Walsh, Anthony Rendon, and Shohei Ohtani, plus some young guys with potential like Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh. However, they’ve needed pitching since their inception, so yes, they could absolutely benefit from adding Stroman to their rotation. Other than two-way Ohtani, who is a stud, and Reid Detmers, who is a young southpaw with good potential, the rest of their rotation is not great. Patrick Sandoval, Jose Suarez, and Jaime Barria filled the other three spots in their rotation, but let’s be real, the Angels would happily bounce any of them to AAA to make room for Stroman.

It’s worth noting that Angel Stadium is not as friendly for pitchers as Citi Field. Angel Stadium has a park factor of 102. This is only slightly above the average number of 100, but it is the 8th highest park factor in baseball. Citi Field is slightly below average at 98, good for 19th out of 30. Stroman has solid numbers in his career at Angel Stadium, with an ERA at 4.00 in 27 innings over five starts.

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While I hope Stroman will stay with the Mets for the foreseeable future, he is going to have plenty of suitors this winter and he should go wherever he feels is best for him. The Angels have the dangerous offense that pitchers like to have behind them, and their rotation would get an instant boost from signing him. But are the Angels actually going to pursue pitching this winter? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.