Yankees place starter on IL following abysmal outing

The Yankees announced that Marcus Stroman was placed on the 15-day injured list due to left knee inflammation. Right-hander Allan Winans is taking Stroman’s spot on the active roster after Winans’ contract was selected from Triple-A.

It has been a brutal start to the season for Stroman, who has an 11.57 ERA over three starts and 9 1/3 innings.  The lowest point came in the Yankees’ 9-1 loss to the Giants Friday, as Stroman was charged with five earned runs over an abbreviated start that lasted only two-thirds of an inning.  Following the game, New York manager Aaron Boone said Stroman was dealing with some knee soreness and had undergone x-rays.

Since the issue is being described just as inflammation, it appears as though Stroman has avoided any type of structural damage, even if an IL stint is still necessary. If the injury is relatively minor and Stroman misses around the 15-day minimum, the absence could essentially act as an unofficial reset to his difficult year.

Missing any time at all could heavily impact Stroman’s contractual future, as he has a vesting option for the 2026 season.  Stroman is in the final guaranteed season of his two-year, $37M deal with the Yankees, but he’ll lock in an $18M player option for 2026 if he pitches at least 140 innings this year.  Stroman logged 154 2/3 innings in 2024 while posting a 4.31 ERA, 49.2% grounder rate, 8.9% walk rate, and a 16.7% strikeout rate that was well below his career norm.

Between this so-so production and up to two years of salary commitments on the way, the Yankees made Stroman available on the trade market last winter, but no takers were found.  New York also seemingly had a rotation surplus that made Stroman expendable, but the Yankees’ pitching depth was quickly reduced when Gerrit Cole (Tommy John surgery), Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt and JT Brubaker were all lost to the IL.  Schmidt is expected back this coming week, but his return just as Stroman hits the injured list only adds to the Yankees’ difficulties in finding enough healthy arms to cover the rotation workload.