After Missing Two Days Of Spring Training Workouts While The Team Tries To Trade Him, Marcus Stroman Showed Up To Yankees Camp Today Saying He's a Starting Pitcher And Won't Pitch Out Of The Pen

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You won't believe it, but the end of Marcus Stroman's tenure with the Yankees is coming to a fiery crash. Who on Earth could have seen this coming? Everyone? Oh…

Let's start from the top. A year ago the Yankees were in need of a starting pitcher. Instead of seriously chasing Blake Snell they opted to go the cheaper direction and pursued Stroman, signing him to a two year, $37M contract. Obviously that was never going to work out. Not that he was ever a strikeout machine during his prime, but his current form offered him as a strict pitch-to-contact pitcher who lives off ground balls. Problem with that is the Yankees assembled a dog shit defense behind him that did not make for a good duo with the right hander. A good first half faded away to the point that down the stretch and into the playoffs Stroman was not considered an option for the team. He didn't see an inning of action during the team's journey to the World Series. With the addition of Max Fried now, there's really no place for him on the roster heading into the 2025 season. 

It's been the worst kept secret in the world that the Yankees have tried everything in their power to trade Stroman this offseason. Unfortunately given Stro's diminished value and $18M owed this coming season, trading him has become quite the challenge. That's created an awkward situation as pitchers and catchers report this week to Tampa for Spring Training. While Stroman showed up on the first day for physicals, he was absent the next two days of workouts. Questions and speculation surrounding the situation immediately became a headline everywhere in the baseball world. Boone admitted it was awkward, but that everyone was on the same page and they were in communication the whole time. Take anything that buffoon with a grain of salt, especially when he says everything is fine. 

Today Stroman showed up and spoke about everything happening. People are running with this quote about his insistence on being a starting pitcher. 

I know it's very White Sox Dave to blog something and say you don't care about it, but I really just don't think any of this is a big deal. The Yankees are clearly trying to trade this dude and have zero role for him in 2025. Stroman wants to be a starting pitcher. Why wouldn't he say that? Oh that's insulting to the relievers on the team? Sure, but at least he's not trying to take one of their spots. Who cares if he's not at workouts in mid February. Isn't that better so it avoids injury and you can still eventually trade him before the season starts? 

The Yankees starting rotation is Gerrit Cole-Max Fried-Luis Gil-Carlos Rodon-Clarke Schmidt with several young and veteran options available to add depth to that group. There's no plus to putting Stroman to the bullpen anyways with his lack of swing and miss. I just don't get why this is a big deal. If Gerrit Cole or Luis Gil didn't show up to workouts I'd smash the panic alarms. Stroman? He might as well be already off the team at this point. Stay away until the team trades you. Feels like a win for everyone. 

Stroman is just another name to the list of unnecessary acquisitions that never made sense to begin with for the Yankees. Now he's going to likely have to attach a prospect to convince a team to take on Stroman's money or even a portion of it. And until that happens they won't address 3rd base because Hal won't go over the Cohen tax. This team man. I love them to death but they drive me fucking crazy.