The New York Yankees signed Marcus Stroman to a two-year, $37 million deal last year. He has struggled as a Yankee, and his struggles have continued on his rehab assignment.
Last year, Stroman had a 4.31 ERA in 30 games and did not pitch in the postseason. This year, he had an 11.57 ERA in three starts before landing on the injured list with a knee injury. In three rehab starts, he has a 6.97 ERA for the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate.
Stroman gave up 10 hits and five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings of work on Tuesday. Overall, he has allowed eight earned runs in three outings during his rehab assignment. With Ryan Yarbrough on the injured list, Gerrit Cole out and Luis Gil not slated to return until August, reportedly, the Yankees may have to live with Stroman getting a shot in the rotation.
The team is building him up as a starter, but Stroman has noted he is open to coming out of the bullpen now, unlike he was in spring training, according to The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty. Manager Aaron Boone spoke on the team’s plans with Stroman after his latest poor outing.
“Obviously got roughed up a little bit in the outing and the line wasn’t great,” Boone said per the New York Post’s Greg Joyce. “But we’ll dig into it some more and see what the best next move is.”
It seems like all the Yankees have been doing with Stroman is digging into how to fix the former All-Star. He is not long removed from his last All-Star season, 2023. Stroman will not hit the 140 innings mark required for his player option to be available for next season, so this could be his last run in pinstripes.
It will be nearly impossible for the Yankees to trade him at this point with his struggles and contract. They will need to figure out how to at least get some value out of him, even if that means moving him to the bullpen.