Yankees' veteran starter takes key step towards return from knee injury
Marcus Stroman threw a live bullpen session in Los Angeles, as the right-hander is hoping to work his way back to the Yankees' rotation.
He struggled mightily down the stretch last year and remained highly ineffective this season, sporting an 11.57 ERA across three starts with a -0.1 WAR on FanGraphs.
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The veteran is still determined to make his return to the Yankees rotation, but he'll have quite a bit of work to do before he can be cleared to even make rehab starts.
While the Yankees' rotation has five starters at the moment, with Luis Gil on the way back as well, injuries could open up the door for Stroman to return.
Will the Yankees Give Marcus Stroman Another Chance in 2025?
Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The proposition of Marcus Stroman making another start for the Yankees this season might upset fans, but this scenario shares a striking resemblance to what occured in Spring Training.
While Brian Cashman and the front office were hard at work trying to find suitors for Stroman, their rotation was decimated with crushing injuries.
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Luis Gil suffered a high-grade lat strain, an injury that could knock him out for the entire first half of the 2025 season after winning Rookie of the Year in 2024.
Gerrit Cole would tear his UCL, which will sideline him for the entire 2025 season and an undetermined portion of the 2026 season as well.
While the Yankees hope their starting five can remain healthy throughout the entire season, pitching injuries are far too common to rule out.
READ MORE: Yankees' key reliever eyes return this week after 'great' bullpen session
Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Even Clarke Schmidt began the season on the injured list with a right shoulder issue, and with the looming threat of an injury being ever-present, Marcus Stroman's role on the roster will remain up in the air.
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Publicly, the Yankees will express faith and confidence in the veteran to be an effective starter if called upon, but internally they have an incredibly difficult decision to make.
Ryan Yarbrough has been effective as a starter, Will Warren had been solid outside of a blowup start against the Dodgers, and there's no chance that Stroman would displace their top three starters.
It's another dilemma of having too many starters and one of those starters being very ineffective, but in baseball those problems tend to sort themselves out.
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