The Tuesday Discussion: Stroman Traded?

January 28, 2025

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This week we asked our writers the following:

Will the Yankees be able to trade Marcus Stroman before the season?

Here are their replies:

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Cary Greene - Highly doubtful unless the Yankees are willing to eat most of his outlandish (based upon his performance) contract. Stroman is an overpaid, underperforming pitcher. He has some insurance value to the Yankees and like LeMahieu and Stanton, Stroman is another example of Cashman's poor - but forced by Steinbrenner due to lack of resources - free agent signing decisions. 

Let's face it, the only reason Cashman signed Stro was because he didn't have the approval to sign a better starter last offseason and...so here were are. Same situation different year. Thanks Hal. Yankees fans love what you're doing with the franchise! Am I right?

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Paul Semendinger - I doubt it. But, the bigger concern is why the Yankees seem to be making this a condition for making the team better. For too long, the Yankees have placed the priority on payroll limits rather than building the best team they can.

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James Vlietstra - Being able to trade Stroman isn’t the problem. There’s lots of teams that need pitching. It’s more a matter of being patient and getting the best return for him. That probably means waiting until a star pitcher inevitably gets hurt during spring training. 

And when I said return, I think we all knew I meant for the Yankees to pay less of his salary. If he’s owes $18.5M, I think the goal is to pay less than half of it. If they are willing to take on an equally high salary, for instance Nolan Arenado, maybe the Yankees pay $7 of Stroman if the Cardinals pay all of Arenado this year and $5M each of the next two. 

That’ll keep their payroll below the $301M threshold for this year. And probably allow them to

add more payroll at the trade deadline. 

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Ethan Semendinger - This past Sunday, the Houston Astros were able to trade away Ryan Pressly to the Chicago Cubs. (Pressly even waived his 10-and-5 rights to make the move happen.) However, the Astros needed to eat $5.5 Million of his remaining salary, which was $14 Million, leaving the Cubs on the hook for $8.5 Million for a solid reliever who has had an ERA+ of 110 or better for 10 of his 12 MLB seasons.

Marcus Stroman is not as good as Pressly, and he has a more expensive contract than Pressly. Thus, the Yankees will need to eat a considerable amount of money to make a trade happen.

I think it will eventually happen, but it won't happen anytime soon. The Yankees will continue to be held back from the market, and they will not have enough time to address their (serious) needs for relief help and a third baseman.

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Ed Botti - Mr. Stroman, the Brian Cashman gift that keeps on giving!

Now that, 1) Luis Gil has established himself as a legit MLB starter, 2) after moving on from Nestor Cortes, and 3) adding Max Fried to rotation to go with Cole, Rodon, and Schmidt, along with Chase Hampton, Clayton Beeter, Will Warren & Henry Lalane as depth, Stroman will not be in the rotation in 2025 (barring injury or unforeseen circumstances).

They have been shopping him throughout the winter, and are open to pay down a good portion of his $18.5MM salary in order to get a deal done.

But a deal hasn’t been found.

Regrettably for the Yankees, Stroman who put up an adequate 4.31 ERA (95 ERA+) in 154 2/3 innings of work, but also put up career-worst numbers in strikeout rate (16.7%), walk rate (8.9%), groundball rate (49.2%), and barrel rate (6.7%). Couple that the with his fastball velocity being down from 2023 and he will be 34 on May 1st…. you have a hard piece to move.

Additionally, if he pitches 140 innings in 2025, his 2026 option will vest ($18MM player option).

It seems unlikely that Stroman would turn that option down without a major bounce back season (odds not in favor of that). Which means that an acquiring team that wishes to avoid that consequence would have to find a way to limit him to just 140 innings this year.

So, they have in essence, backed themselves into an expensive corner with that ill-advised 2024 signing, and may not be able to find a trade partner by the beginning of the season.

Then again, maybe the Dodgers can just defer 90% of his 2025 and 2026 salaries!!

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Derek McAdam - I think Cashman will be able to unload Stroman before the start of the season. I’d imagine that some other team has a starter that goes down long-term and a replacement will be needed. Stroman can fit that need for a potential team. 

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Mike Whiteman - I think the Yankees will have an injury in the rotation - I don't know who - and Stroman will stay a Yankee, and throw a solid 160 innings.