Carlos Rodon signs with Yankees: Biggest winners and losers

Free-agent pitcher Carlos Rodon signed with the New York Yankees on Thursday night on a six-year contract. While the Yanks clearly won, some teams weren’t as lucky.

Carlos Rodon was the best free-agent starter left on the open market. While he was oft-injured prior to the 2021 season, Rodon has made back-to-back All-Star Games and finished in the top-6 in Cy Young voting both seasons.

In 2021, Rodon pitched to the best ERA of his career at 2.37. Just a year later, Rodon was among the league-leaders for FIP at 2.25.

Safe to say this man can pitch, and assuming he stays healthy Rodon arguably gives the Yankees the best starting rotation in all of baseball.

Biggest winners of Carlos Rodon signing: Yankees

This one should be obvious. Rodon gives the Yanks an elite starting staff paired with the likes of Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas and more. The depth at that position alone — along with the Big 3 of Cole, Cortes and Rodon — will be tough to contend with in the American League East.

Just a few weeks ago, the Yankees were struggling to re-sign the game’s brightest star, Aaron Judge, and had recently lost to the Houston Astros in the ALCS. After watching Houston win the World Series from their couch, Brian Cashman and Co. sprung into action, (eventually) signing Judge to one of the richest deals in MLB history, and backed that up with a six-year contract for Rodon.

And they’re likely not done yet.

Biggest winners of Carlos Rodon signing: Scott Boras

Scott Boras is the definition of a super-agent in baseball terms. He is the Drew Rosenhaus of Major League Baseball, and possesses arguably more power in a sport without a real salary cap.

Rodon was another Boras client, and landed a six-year contract worth $162 million. While Boras initially wanted a seventh year added on, New York’s offer won out over the rest with an incredibly generous AAV.

Before Rodon’s contract, the total value of Boras client contracts was north of $1 billion. It looks like that number will keep climbing for the foreseeable future.