Marcus Stroman had a chance to prove the New York Yankees wrong. By signing Max Fried over the offseason, the Yankees were essentially giving up on Stroman as a member of their starting rotation. They were planning on either trading him or using him out of the bullpen. Injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil opened the door for Stroman to enter the rotation for a sustained period, but the right-hander has done nothing to take advantage of the opportunity.
Stroman had allowed seven runs in his first 8.2 innings of the 2025 campaign covering two starts. He couldn't complete five innings in either of his first two outings. Somehow, things only got worse for Stroman on Friday night.
The 33-year-old allowed the first six batters he faced in Friday's series opener against the San Francisco Giants to reach base. He issued three walks against those six batters and surrendered a Jung Hoo Lee three-run homer. He finally recorded his first two outs of the night, but then proceeded to allow another base runner. By then, Aaron Boone had seen enough. Stroman was pulled after recording fewer outs (2) than the number of runs (5), hits (4), and walks (3) he surrendered. It was just a brutal outing across the board.
The weather was brutal, but Robbie Ray gave up just one run over four innings in those same conditions.
Just when Yankees fans thought things couldn't get any worse for Stroman, he wound up getting X-rays to take a look at his left knee which Boone says was "bugging him." The results of the X-ray are unknown as of this writing, but with Stroman hurt, there's a good chance the Yankees' rotation will look different next time around.
Marcus Stroman was sent for testing on his left knee, which Aaron Boone said was “bugging him.” X-rays were taken at Yankee Stadium.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) April 12, 2025
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Marcus Stroman's injury will cause a Yankees rotation shake-up
Rotation Order | Pitcher |
|---|---|
1 | Carlos Rodon |
2 | Carlos Carrasco |
3 | Max Fried |
4 | Clarke Schmidt |
5 | Will Warren |
Again, we don't know what Stroman's injury is, but it's hard to be too surprised that he's dealing with something. Stroman has made four trips to the IL since the start of the 2022 campaign and has not made 30 starts in a season since 2019. The Yankees ought to strongly consider removing him from their rotation, regardless of how poorly he has pitched, but an injury would make the decision to do so easier.
Fortunately, the Yankees have a perfect replacement, Clarke Schmidt, almost certainly ready to take Stroman's spot. Schmidt has made two rehab starts for Double-A Somerset and has yet to allow a run in 7.1 innings of work. He might not be ready for a full workload since he only threw 60 pitches in his last outing, but even if Schmidt can't go more than five innings or 80 pitches, he'd be a major upgrade over Stroman, and honestly, most of this rotation.
Even with Schmidt back, though, this rotation is in trouble. The Yankees' 5.46 starting pitcher ERA is the worst in the majors. Stroman has obviously played a huge role in that, but Max Fried is the only pitcher with a sub-5.00 ERA who has made a start for the Yankees. Again, Schmidt will make this group better, but until the likes of Carlos Rodon, Will Warren, and Carlos Carrasco step up, the rotation will only hold the Yankees back.
Nobody thought it'd be this bad, but there was reason to doubt the Yankees after Gil and Cole suffered their injuries, and Stroman's presence was a big reason why. It's on them to prove the doubters wrong at this point.