Getty

Yankees urged to trade for star pitcher to replace Marcus Stroman.

The New York Yankees have been hit by the injury bug in the rotation, and one analyst urges them to trade for a starter from an NL team.

MLB analyst Jake Elman of Athlon Sports urges the Yankees to trade for Colorado Rockies right-hander German Marquez. Elman believes Marquez could replace Stroman and add much-needed depth to the rotation that is battling injuries.

“Admittedly, it sounds strange to consider that the New York Yankees could fix their starting rotation issues by adding a league-average pitcher from arguably the sport’s worst team,” Elman wrote. “Then again, beggars can’t be choosers, and Germán Márquez makes far more sense for the Yankees than skeptical fans might think…

“Unfortunately for Yankees fans, it’s not about getting their hopes up so much as about accepting reality,” Elman added. “Simply put, Márquez checks every box that the front office likely desires. Márquez is a league-average pitcher in the final year of his contract, meaning he could realistically come at a reduced price.”

As Elman puts it, Marquez is in the final year of his two-year, $20 million deal. So it likely wouldn’t cost much to acquire him. The right-hander would add some much-needed depth behind Max Fried as Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Gerrit Cole, and Stroman are all injured.

Marquez is 0-3 with an 8.20 ERA in 4 starts as he has struggled to begin the year. But Marquez has been a solid starter in the majors. He was an All-Star in 2021.

Yankees’ Stroman Off to Injured List With Knee Injury

Stroman struggled to begin the year, and he is now on the injured list with a knee injury.

The right-hander was put on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation. He got put on the IL after recording just 2 outs and allowing 5 runs against the San Francisco Giants.

Despite Stroman being on the IL and injured, Yankees manager Aaron Boone has confidence the right-hander is still an MLB starting pitcher.

“I do, because I think the movement qualities are there,” Boone said. “Again, (Stroman has) less margin for error. And there’s probably some adjustments we can all make with him that hopefully allow him to go out there and be effective. Because the stuff is not much different than the first half of last season, to the second half to now. So we’ve just got to execute a little better.”

Stroman is in the final year of his two-year, $37 million deal.

Yankees Get Boost to Rotation

New York will be without Cole for the entire season, and Gil is out for a couple of weeks, which has hindered the rotation.

However, New York did get a boost as Schmidt returned from injury and went 5.2 innings, allowing 3 runs.

“We lost some guys with Gerrit, who’s hard to replace,” Schmidt said after the game. “But I definitely have to step up. The whole rotation has to step up. I know that my job is to go out there and be as consistent as possible every five days and give my team a chance to win.”

The Yankees are 12-7 and atop the AL East.

Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton