3 pitchers New York can sign after missing on Justin Verlander

1. Carlos Rodon

With the experience of Jon Gray and a buzz comparable to Greinke, free agent Chicago White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon is somewhere in between these two in terms of longevity, experience and potential.

Having been with the White Sox since 2015, the White Sox mysteriously did not offer Rodon a qualifying offer this offseason.

The decision comes as a surprise, as Rodon was an All-Star in 2021 and ranked fifth in Cy Young voting, illustrating how his talent on the mound is gaining recognition across the league.

As of now, Rodon is “a free agent detached from draft pick compensation coming off a breakout season,” which makes him a tantalizing add for the Yankees at the moment. In 2021, Rodon recorded stats like 2.37 ERA, 2.63 FIP, 4.9 WAR over 132.2 IP, with a 34.6% strikeout rate and a 6.7% walk rate.

The risk here is that the White Sox chose not to extend a qualifying offer based on what the White Sox know, which makes it seem like the team had significant reservations on resigning him due to injury risk.

“And we made the assessment based on everything we know, which includes our needs and our other targets, that that wasn’t an offer we were comfortable making at this time,” White Sox GM Rick Hahn said.

As long as the Yankees do their own evaluation, Rodon could be the perfect answer to the questions surrounding who will lead the Yankees to another World Series.