Cubs must steer clear of a reunion with Marcus Stroman after Yankees dump him

The multi-year relationship between former Chicago Cubs hurler Marcus Stroman and the New York Yankees is finally, mercifully, at an end after the team officially released him on Friday.

Stroman signed a two-year, $37 million contract with the Yankees on the heels of his final season with the Cubs, in which he earned the second All-Star selection of his big-league career. That success never carried over to his time in the Bronx, as he battled injuries and ineffectiveness, pitching to a 4.69 ERA across just under 200 innings of work - a mark around 15 percent league average.

By dumping him mid-season, the Yankees are eating around $5.6 million remaining on his contract - and if the right-hander latches on somewhere else down the stretch, that number could tick downward. But under no circumstances should the Cubs even pick up the phone and check in on their former pitcher.

New York desperately shopped him last winter and found no takers - and after a brief standoff over his role this spring, the two sides put their differences aside and plowed forward. But he quickly hit the IL and was shelved for nearly two months. He's been better since returning, but still isn't much to write home about.

All the data says a Marcus Stroman reunion is a bad idea for the Cubs

The 34-year-old has been downright bad for some time now and his Baseball Savant page tells you all you need to know. He gets ground balls; that's the only positive news on any metric. He ranks at or near the bottom of the league in xERA, xBA, strikeout rate, whiff rate and hard-hit rate. Given the shot in the arm the Cubs' staff received Thursday with newcomers Andrew Kittredge, Taylor Rogers, and Michael Soroka, it makes little sense to cut someone and roll the dice on a guy who, frankly, hasn't proven he's worth an MLB roster spot this season.

With Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad probably a little over a week from returning from their respective IL stints, that already crowded picture will grow even more so soon, giving the rotation some needed reinforcements. I'd much rather bet on those two impacting the club than look to force a square peg in a round hole with a Marcus Stroman reunion.