Yankees plan to fix Marcus Stroman's awkward drama isn't a plan at all

The New York Yankees clearly do not want Marcus Stroman to be a part of their Major League roster when Opening Day arrives. Unfortunately for GM Brian Cashman and his staff, the veteran right-hander is going to be part of the roster when Spring Training begins.

That's largely because New York could not find a suitable trade partner willing to take on Stroman and his bloated salary during the offseason. His name was included in a litany of offseason trade rumors, but in the end, none of those trade thoughts came to fruition.

There's still plenty of time for the Yankees to offload Stroman before Opening Day. Every starting pitcher who suffers a preseason injury will spark new rumors of Stroman being acquired to be his replacement. But none of that changes the awkward nature of Stroman interacting with his teammates down in Florida. Manager Aaron Boone recently was quoted in the New York Post that his primary goal for Stroman in the spring was to get him "ready to pitch." Boone has too much baseball experience to truly believe things can be that simple.

Yankees are in denial about Marcus Stroman's Spring Training limbo

At least Boone had the decency to admit that things might be "awkward" for Stroman upon his arrival. The truth is that Cashman and his front office have put their manager in a bad spot. Boone should be spending all of his attention on players that might help him return to another World Series this year; any time he spends coddling Stroman is going to take away from his chances of helping this year's team end the franchise's lengthy World Series drought. It's front office malpractice that Cashman failed to resolve this situation ahead of Spring Training.

Things might be different if Stroman profiled as the sort of trade asset that could net the Yankees something meaningful in return. New York will be lucky to get a mid-tier prospect, if that, back from a team that's willing to eat the remainder of Stroman's contract.

In the end, Stroman will almost definitely be offloaded before the team heads north. Every day he remains on the team's Spring Training roster will drain his team of the mental resources required to prepare for the grueling regular season. Whether that comes via buyout or trade is the only real question here.