February 20, 2025

69 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Back in camp, Stroman says: ‘I’m a starter. I won’t pitch in the bullpen’”

  1. I feel like he’s gonna be a Tiger. They can afford a slightly bloated contract and could use some shoring up if they want to go back to the playoffs.

    1. This is also what my date was saying about me the morning of Valentine’s Day.

      “Slightly bloated,” I mean. Not “He’s gonna be a tiger.”

  2. Does anyone else have (minor) login issues with the site? Periodically I get signed out and if I’m on a new post (such as this one) I don’t see a sign-in link. I have to go back to a prior post and click on “sign in to reply” after someone else’s post.

    Mac laptop, latest OS, Chrome

  3. I never understood the need to trade him. Injuries happen. It would be a miracle for the Yankees to not have a pitcher injury this year. This situation will resolve itself by March and the Yankees will be thankful he wasn’t traded.

    1. This.

      Zero chance they don’t need his innings. Decent chance that injuries sideline a starter before the end of April, even. Non-zero before opening day.

    3. Two reasons…
      1) Asset allocation. Having that much money tied up for a 6th starter when you have lineup holes isn’t great roster construction.
      2) He has an innings clause that was supposed to be based on health. Now, I don’t think this is manipulation, I think based on his performance late last year, being the #6 starter is fair, but there are 2 MAYBE 3 teams in MLB where he wouldn’t be in the rotation. It sucks for him that he is on one of them with his contract situation.

    5. What SD said.
      A decent starter, and Stroman is that, ought to be a significant piece to get some offense.
      And they need that offense a lot more than they need a 6th starter.
      .
      (Also, I thought his attitude was one of his selling points. Not exactly the “I’ll do whatever the team needs” spirit I’d have expected from this guy.)

    7. Yeah, injuries happen, of course, but the Yankees naturally feel that they would much rather use a cheap option to cover the injury and have the money to add a hitter than to have Stroman there as an injury backup and NOT add a hitter.

      ESPECIALLY a Stroman who is going to complain publicly about his usage.

    8. I think you guys are overestimating Stro’s trade value. He’d probably get 1/10 or 1/12 on the open market and he is owed 18.5 next year. He has attainable incentives to add another year and 18 million above that.

      He probably has negative 12-15MM trade value. Even trading him, the Yankees won’t be able to solve any of their positional needs. Trading him will be a salary savings of 5-10MM because of all the money the Yankees would have to throw in.

      All numbers are POOMA, but directionally correct.

    9. Plank, so you’d keep him and, if there ISN’T a major injury to the rotation, just not use him?

    10. I would keep him. I assume there will be a major injury. In the very small chance that none of the 5 starters go down for any amount of time, I would celebrate the miraculous health I’ve never witnessed in my lifetime, and call that a win despite carrying a “useless” pitcher.

      I’m not necessarily against trading him, but there is no way to get back the same value in a 6th pitcher for the amount of money they would save. They would either have to take another underwater contract, or throw in so much money that the savings would be essentially useless at this point in the offseason.

      Assuming they could save 10M by trading him (which I think is too optimistic) what would they do with that money to improve the team at this point? Which free agents are out there to add to the team?

    11. The point is to save whatever money they can, not to free up money to improve the team, because–say it with me–gold yacht toilets don’t polish themselves

  9. Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with “something akin to tennis elbow” in both elbows. He’s behind schedule and his status for Opening Day is unclear.
    Trent dealing with hamstring issues.
    Call Hixie.

  10. Assuming a four-man bench because, well, they’re obviously going to have a four-man bench, while Stanton is out, they could go Rice at DH (with Grisham also playing center occasionally with Judge DHing), and a bench of…

    Grisham
    Pereirra
    DJ
    Emergency catcher

    2. An interesting guy still out there is Mark Canha. He could fill in for Stanton, and then be a useful piece for the rest of the season (as opposed to JD Martinez, who would be a great fill in for Stanton, but useless once Stanton returns).

    1. Didn’t somebody post this exact same thought when he signed with the Royals last year?

      I think the specific concern then was him going to the Orioles.

      Then we saw him in the playoffs, still with the Royals. Maybe Paul Skenes is good enough to get the Pirates to the World Series this year.

    2. Yeah, that was my concern about him last year, and it came true, and irritated me. 🙂

      Because the Royals annoyingly improved their lineup late with two freebies (Pham from St. Louis, and Gurriel from Atlanta).

  15. Mets camp has only just begun, but Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that free agent pickup Frankie Montas has not been throwing and will be shut down for a “significant stretch.” Details surrounding the apparent injury have not yet come to light. The Mets signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM contract back in early December. He has an opt-out opportunity at the end of the season, though a prolonged injury ab

    2. I mean, if you want to be the top dog on the team, I guess it makes sense in that regard. Like Kyrie Irving not wanting to be second banana to LeBron James.

  18. Someone online suggested Stroman for Marte. Makes some sense. He is a righthanded hitter that could pinch hit for Wells against tough lefties late in the game. He could also play right while Judge DHs during Stanton’s inevitable absence.

  19. I think Stroman has more value than people think. Montas got $17m coming off the last two years of (a) 1 inning pitched and (b) 150 innings of 4.84 ERA.
    Stroman was “terrible” with 154 innings of 4.31 (with higher K9 and k-to-bb) following 136 innings of 3.95 and is owed $18m.

    The Mets should have traded for him before signing Montas. He pitched quite well there in 2021 (3.02 ERA in 179 innings)

  20. Sure, Vladdy is bulky, unathletic and possibly in decline at the age of 26. But if Toronto doesn’t want him, make the trade now. Vlad 3B, Jazz 2B and hope they only ever hit it to the right side of the infield.

    2. I remember someone in a Fangraphs chat saying “why should we be excited about Vlad, he’s a bad body 3B who’s probably a DH” and Meg Rowley getting VERY mad

  21. It’s always fascinating when a player’s free agency contract tells you so much about whether they’re coming back from their injury or not. John Means got only $1 million guaranteed from Cleveland in his deal with them. So, yeah, that dude ain’t coming back from his second Tommy John surgery.

    1. If that makes them more likely to turn Altuve into a left fielder, i love that for them.

      Jose Altuve, left fielder, is so fucking stupid. Almost as dumb as Chas McCormick, right fielder.

  24. Zips top 100 prospects has some surprising Yankees. Martian at #13 not so much but Spencer at 77 is and Pereira at 87 more so. The comment on Spencer is quite optimisitic “ Jones’ strikeouts have been climbing as he’s progressed through the minors, and they reached a terrifying, bust-indicating level in 2024. The former two-way, oft-injured player might still improve as a hitter and defender, but he’s looking more and more like a Franchy Cordero type of player.”

  25. The Athletic: “ Among all players with at least 2,000 plate appearances since the start of the 2021 season, LeMahieu’s 99 wRC+ is tied with his new teammate, Cody Bellinger, for the 10th-worst in MLB. The Yankees have been adamant that LeMahieu can be the hitter he once was if he remains healthy. It’s a tall task for an aging player who’s dealt with several debilitating injuries. Over the past four seasons, LeMahieu’s line drive rate, on-base percentage and slugging percentage have all tanked while his ground ball rate has increased. The analytics would suggest LeMahieu isn’t a strong candidate to produce at above-average rates like the Yankees say.”

    Cash: “Hopefully, all of that can get thrown out the door and we see a different version of DJ this spring because, ultimately, the one thing that we haven’t been in a position to see is a DJ that’s a healthy version,”

    4. Because the offseason’s ending and he found no way to get a better option than the player he was ready to DFA?

  29. Who says the Yankees aren’t every bit as committed to winning it all as the Dodgers. The Yankees announced this morning that they’ve signed manager Aaron Boone to a two-year contract extension covering the 2026-27 seasons. His previous contract was set to expire after 2025, so this takes him out of “lame duck” status.

  31. ‪River Ave. Blues‬ ‪@riveraveblues.bsky.social
    Important stuff from Spring Training today:

    – Clarke Schmidt has an achy back that Boone isn’t worried about (lol)
    – Pitching prospect Chase Hampton has a flexor/UCL injury (welp)
    – Marcus Stroman will start Friday’s spring opener

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