New York Yankees Giving Marcus Stroman The Sunday Start Despite Abysmal Rehab Numbers
The New York Yankees have been decimated by pitching injuries this season. Former Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole is lost for the season, and Luis Gil and Ryan Yarbrough aren’t expected back anytime soon. Manager Aaron Boone has had to piece together a rotation, relying mostly on his offense to win games. Apparently, he is out of answers. The Yankees are turning to Marcus Stroman on Sunday against the Athletics despite some awful rehab numbers.
New York Yankees Turn To Marcus Stroman
Marcus Stroman signed a two-year deal after the 2023 season with the New York Yankees. He had a horrendous start to the season before being shut down with a knee injury. Stroman hasn’t been impressive in his Triple-A rehab starts. In three starts, he has a whopping 6.97 ERA. In his most recent start, he gave up ten hits and five earned runs in only 3.2 innings pitched. This is how desperate the Yankees are for pitching arms. Boone has tried to spin the start as a positive.
“Obviously got roughed up a little bit in the outing, and the line wasn’t great. But we’ll dig into it some more and see what the best next move is.”
The New York Yankees aren’t expecting anything extraordinary out of Stroman. They need him to eat up innings. Part of the issue for the Yankees over the past month has been managing an overworked bullpen. Starters aren’t going as deep into games, and it has put more pressure on the bullpen. If Stroman can at least get through four or five innings, it would be a huge help to the team even if he gave up some runs.
Recent Struggles
The New York Yankees haven’t been as dominant in the past month. The lead in the AL East has disappeared with the Tampa Bay Rays threatening to take over the top spot as the calendar shifts to July. While the pitching has been an issue all year, the offense has gone cold. They went seven straight games in one stretch this month, not scoring over three runs. Outside of Aaron Judge, no one is coming up with the big hits in the big moments.
It isn’t panic time for the New York Yankees. Championships aren’t won in the month of June. They have set themselves up for a shot at a postseason berth, and that is all that matters right now. The trade deadline is about a month away, and the Yankees should be active to try to acquire as many players as possible to help this team.
Final Thoughts
It will be interesting to see how Marcus Stroman does on Sunday. If he can find his All-Star form from the 2023 season, it would be a huge boost to a team that desperately needs rotation pieces.
