By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Rodón had a fresh shave and a new haircut. He was putting on the pinstripes for the first time.
“You’ll get used to it. There’ll be days when you push the envelope a little bit, and I got to walk up to you,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told the All-Star left-hander.
Rodón appeared without beard at a Yankee Stadium news conference, a day after his $162 million, six-year contract was announced, complying with the team grooming rules. He knows the team and its fans expect postseason success.
“As we know, it’s the Yankee way,” Rodón said after putting on a No. 55 jersey.
Rodón gets a $5 million signing bonus payable within 30 days of approval by MLB, a $22 million salary next year and $27 million in each remaining season.
He joins a rotation headed by Gerrit Cole and projected to include Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino and Frankie Montas.
“We are so convinced that you are going to succeed here,” Yankees President Randy Levine told Rodón.
Rodón went 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA in his lone season with San Francisco, setting career highs for wins, starts (31), innings (178) and strikeouts (237). The 30-year-old left-hander earned his second straight All-Star selection.
Rodón was let got by the White Sox after an injury-riddled 2020 season. He re-signed with his first big league team for a $3 million, one-year deal, and then started to show the form that made the lefty the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft.
Working with White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz, Rodón went 13-5 with a career-low 2.37 ERA in 24 starts in 2021. He pitched a no-hitter against Cleveland that April for his first career shutout and second complete game.
Rodón agreed to a $44 million, two-year contract with San Francisco in March. But he opted out after one season, giving up a $22.5 million salary for next year and becoming a free agent.
Rodón looked like a potential star when he went 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA over the last eight starts of his rookie season with Chicago in 2015. But injuries kept getting in his way.
He was limited to 12 starts in 2017 because of left biceps bursitis and left shoulder inflammation, and then had arthroscopic shoulder surgery that September.
He began the 2018 season on the injured list while he recovered from the shoulder operation and then returned that June. But he had Tommy John surgery on May 15, 2019, cutting short another season.
Rodón is 56-46 with a 3.60 ERA in 152 major league appearances over eight seasons. He has 947 strikeouts in 847 1/3 innings.
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