Breaking down ‘very formidable’ Yankees rotation after Roki Sasaki rejection

The hunt for Roki Sasaki is over, which likely means most of the drama around the Yankees rotation is over for the rest of the offseason.

After Sasaki rejected the Yankees on Monday, the club’s starting group looks set — apart from the wild card that is Marcus Stroman, whom the club has looked to trade as a way to free up salary.

The Yankees can proceed with Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt penciled in as their front five. Stroman would project as either a sixth starter or a swingman, but the $18 million he is due for 2025 might be better spent elsewhere. The 40-man depth includes Will Warren, JT Brubaker, Clayton Beeter and Yoendrys Gomez.

Gerrit Cole’s strong postseason put aside concerns he can no longer be the Yankees’ ace.

Without now-Met Juan Soto, the Yankees have upgraded elsewhere. They hope the addition of Fried has turned a good rotation (that rated as the 13th most valuable last season, according to FanGraphs, without Cole for a long stretch) into a great one.

“We feel like we’ve added a championship piece [in Fried] to … what we believe is an outstanding rotation,” manager Aaron Boone said last month.

Here’s a look at a rotation that GM Brian Cashman called “very formidable”:

Cole: In what was a strange 2024, the ace missed almost the entirety of spring training and nearly three months of the season with nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow.

He returned with a few hiccups and his stuff a notch below his usual standard, but any lingering questions about his excellence were answered in a dominant postseason.

In five starts, he tallied a 2.17 ERA, virtually his only mistake not reaching first base on that Mookie Betts ground ball.

After a rare injury and a rare abbreviated season, Cole is handling this offseason a bit differently.

Roki Sasaki, of Japan, is down to the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays as potential destinations.

“He actually took a little bit less time off this year, kind of kept the arm moving,” pitching coach Matt Blake said last month.

Fried: The Yankees introduced a pitcher whose resume earned him $218 million and suggested he has not been maximized.

In bringing in a lefty who pitched to a 3.07 ERA in eight seasons with the Braves, the Yankees lifted the ceiling on their rotation — and believe there is more ceiling to Fried, too.

“He’s had a lot of success, but then as we looked at him, there’s a level of improvability going forward, just with how the arsenal can be crafted and pulled apart,” Blake said. “There’s some room to evolve with us.”

New Yankee Max Fried pitched to a 3.07 ERA in eight seasons with the Braves.

There probably is not another pitch for Fried to master — his arsenal included seven distinct offerings last season — but the club sees something in the 30-year-old’s repertoire that can be refined.

For his part, Fried is excited about the Yankees’ pitching lab in Tampa and technological equipment he has not yet experienced.

“I’m someone that is always looking for a way to get better, whether it’s adding something or trying to shore something up,” Fried said.

Rodon: For a second straight winter, the lefty has spent a lot of time at the Yankees’ spring home in Tampa.

Rodon has not pitched like a $162 million pitcher, but he did bounce back in a solid, if unspectacular, 2024 season.

Carlos Rodon had a solid season in his second season with the Yankees, but still has not pitched like the $162 million the Bombers thought they were getting.

After a disastrous and injury-filled first year in The Bronx, Rodon made 32 starts, tallied a 3.96 ERA and struck out 195 in 175 innings. He was up-and-down in October, ending with a rough start in a loss to the Dodgers.

He has established he can pitch in The Bronx. Now he will try to pitch better in The Bronx.

“It’s not easy to play here sometimes, especially when you come in as a big signing and you struggle and you fail a little bit and you fall on your face,” Boone said at the end of the season. “He picked himself up, and that’s credit to him. It’s because of the work he put in to get himself in this position.”

Gil: The reigning American League Rookie of the Year looms as an X-factor for the 2025 rotation: What if Gil, in his second complete season in the majors, can turn his glimpses of greatness into more than just glimpses?

Last season the righty won a rotation spot in spring, might have been the best pitcher in baseball for two months (holding a 1.82 ERA on June 4) and then declined, perhaps due to fatigue.

Gil had undergone Tommy John surgery in May 2022, returned to a minor league mound in September 2023 and then managed 29 starts in 2024, his control a growing issue as the season wore on.

He led the majors with 77 walks in 151 ²/₃ innings. His goal this offseason, he said, is honing that command, which would improve if he is fresher.

“I think it’s something that I can keep improving as I keep growing as a pitcher,” Gil said in November.

Schmidt: A lat strain cost the righty all of June, July and August and cut short what might have been a true, breakout season.

But when healthy, Schmidt broke out, pitching to a 2.85 ERA for the season — 11th best among pitchers who threw at least 80 innings.

Relying more on his cutter that he has discovered as a way to finally retire lefty hitters, Schmidt took a large step forward, and now will hope he can do so for an entire season.

Stroman: The Yankees are willing to pay down some of the veteran’s contract in a trade, The Post’s Jon Heyman has reported, and Stroman should have some interest for teams looking for an innings eater with some upside.

Since 2021, Stroman’s 112 starts are tied for the 22nd most in baseball. He still induces tons of ground balls — which might have hurt him last season, when the Yankees infield defense was poor.

The 33-year-old was excellent for two months (2.60 ERA through May) and then tailed off the rest of the way (5.70 ERA from June through September) and did not pitch in the postseason.