When AL Rookie of the Year established himself as a foundational piece for the Yankees rotation, that left the club with an interesting dilemma: the club had more starters than space in the rotation. While trading to the Brewers in the deal that brought closer into the fold helped to unclog the rotation somewhat, the deal only came after the Yankees had already added . With Fried joining Gil, , , , and in the rotation mix, the club still has more starters than rotation spots available. Thats led to plenty of speculation that another trade could be coming down the pipeline for the Yankees, with Stroman sticking out as the likeliest to move. The club has reportedly been the veteran righty throughout the winter, and is said to be to pay down a portion of the veterans $18.5MM salary in order to get a deal done. Its a sensible goal for the Yankees, given thatt those dollars could be reallocated to help bolster Jeff Lindgren Jersey second or third base. A suming moves back to second base, some combination of , , and project to man the hot corner. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Stroman is coming off the worst season of his career. The veteran posted a decent 4.31 ERA (95 ERA+) in 154 2/3 innings of work. Thats serviceable production for the back of a rotation, but a look under the hood reveals some worrying trends. Stroman posted career-worst numbers in terms of strikeout rate (16.7%), walk rate (8.9%), groundball rate (49.2%), and barrel rate (6.7%). That acro s-the-board decline in skills combined with his fastball velocity being nearly two ticks down from 2023 left him with a FIP that was 10% worse than league average and a 4.74 SIERA that was better than only , , and among all pitchers (min. 150 innings). While Stroman has been a fairly consistent three-WAR player throughout his career to this point, the wide-ranging decline in peripherals reduces optimism for a substantial bounceback in 2025 his age-34 season. Recent deals for veteran back-of-the-rotation arms suggest Stroman is overpaid, but perhaps not egregiously so. landed a $15MM guarantee after making just three starts in 2024. is 35 years old and has never thrown an MLB pitch; he commanded $13MM nonethele s. His 41-year-old rotation-mate in Baltimore, , secured a $15MM guarantee of his own. It shouldnt be all that difficult for the Yankees to find a taker for Stroman if they were able to pay down his salary to, say, the $10-12MM range that more well-regarded back-end veterans like , and others have been able to find in free agency in recent years. That would seemingly allow the Yankees plenty of flexibility to sign an infielder, but one other obstacle to a Stroman deal is the veterans 2026 vesting option. If the right-hander pitches 140 innings in 2025, his 2026 option will vest and become an $18MM player option for the 2026 season. It seems unlikely that Stroman would turn that option down without a major bounceback season, meaning that an acquiring team that wishes to avoid that outcome would have to find a way to limit him to just 140 innings this year. Thats far from impo sible, seeing as the righty posted back-to-back seasons with fewer innings than that benchmark with the Cubs in 2022 and 23, but barring significant IL time, Stromans new club may need to move him to the bullpen at some point. How do MLBTR readers think things will shake out? Will the Yankees be able to get a Stroman deal done? And if so, how much of his salary will they have to pay down to make a trade happen? Have your say in the poll below: Will The Yankees Deal Marcus Stroman? They'll trade Stroman while paying down at least half his salary. 41.00% (4,428votes) Stroman will be a Yankee on Opening Day 2025 29.58% (3,195votes) They'll trade Stroman while paying down le s than half his salary. 27.32% (2,951votes) They'll trade Stroman without eating any money. 2.10% (227votes) Total Votes: 10,801 Jean Segura Jersey