The New York Yankees are still looking to make moves to their starting rotation.
The Yankees currently have six pitchers for five slots after signing All-Star Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal and trading Nestor Cortes to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gerrit Cole and Fried form one of the most potent 1-2 pitching tandems in baseball. The Yankees also have reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman.
However, the Yankees are looking to move one of those pitchers.
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New York Yankees want to clear salary by dealing this starter
According to USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale, the Yankees are trying to trade Stroman, a two-time All-Star.
“They are actively trying to deal starter Marcus Stroman and clear his $18 million salary,” Nightengale reports.
Stroman is entering the second year of a two-year, $37 million deal he signed with the Yankees. In 2024, Stroman went 10-9 in 30 games (29 starts), with a 4.31 ERA, 95 ERA+ (indicating he was 5% worse than the league-average pitcher), and 113 strikeouts in 154 2/3 innings. He saw his strikeouts per nine drop from 7.8 in 2023 to 6.6 in 2024.
Stroman was also left off the ALDS roster and didn’t pitch in the ALCS or World Series.
Earlier in the offseason, the Yankees reportedly offered Stroman to the St. Louis Cardinals for third baseman Nolan Arenado, which was rebuffed.
It’s not known if any teams are currently interested in dealing for Stroman. However, if the Yankees are able to trade him, it would most likely be for a low-level prospect.