Marcus Stroman has averaged under 120 innings in each of the past three full seasons.
When the New York Yankees signed Marcus Stroman to a two-year, $37 million deal last offseason, the calculus was clear: short-term upside with a manageable out clause. A vesting option worth $18 million for 2026 would only kick in if Stroman reached 140 innings this year.
At this point, barring a miraculous recovery, that option is effectively dead. Marcus Stroman’s 2025 campaign has already been derailed by a nagging knee injury that first landed him on the injured list on April 12. Since then, he’s received cortisone injections and attempted a return via bullpen sessions and, most recently, a simulated game in Tampa. None of it has worked. The discomfort remains. And now, according to manager Aaron Boone, Stroman has been shut down indefinitely, offering no return timeline after the simulated outing failed to produce any meaningful progress.
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Best-case scenario? Stroman returns in June. That would give him about four months, roughly 17 to 18 starts, to cover 131 2/3 innings (assuming he finds his way into the Yankees rotation which would expect Luis Gil back somewhere then). For reference, he’s averaged under 120 innings in each of the past three full seasons.
Even if Stroman’s rehab resumes in the next week, the road back to the mound won’t be quick. His first attempt at recovery took three weeks just to reach a simulated game. A restart means another long buildup: flat-ground work, bullpen sessions, live batting practice, and at least one rehab assignment. By the time he’s game-ready, the Yankees could already be deep into the summer.
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It’s a rough outcome for Stroman, but in a cold sense, a bit of relief for the Yankees’ front office. That $18 million option for 2026 not vesting clears some future payroll space. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that New York has committed $37 million for what now looks like a diminished return over two seasons.
Stroman struggled down the stretch in 2024, finishing as the sixth-worst qualified starter in baseball. The Yankees bet on a rebound and may end up paying for damaged goods. The injuries were always part of the risk, and while it may have seemed like a better play than handing out $200 million to Blake Snell (who’s now dealing with shoulder trouble), this deal still looks like another strike on general manager Brian Cashman’s ledger. In 2024, in 29 games started, Marcus Stroman pitched 154.2 innings with an ERA of 4.31 with 10 wins and 9 losses. So far in 2025, before his injury, he made three starts (0-1) with a whopping 11.57 ERA in just 9.1 innings pitched.
This wasn’t supposed to be another high-risk, low-reward pitching experiment. Stroman was meant to bring stability. Instead, the Yankees find themselves without one of their projected top arms before mid-May. And with every passing day, his shot at salvaging the season, and triggering that third year, gets slimmer.
The Yankees avoided being locked into another year of Stroman. But that doesn’t mean they’re winning this deal. Not by a long shot.
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