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Marcus Stroman on the mound against the Giants.

Things got very ugly for the New York Yankees and Marcus Stroman during the offseason. In fact, there were multiple times throughout the offseason when the Yankees attempted to trade him, and the right-hander seemed to understand that.

He noted multiple times throughout the offseason that he wasn’t interested in being a reliever, shutting down reporters instantly on one of the first days of spring training.

Unfortunately, Stroman is dealing with a knee injury and hasn’t been on the mound for the Yankees. He worked as a starter due to other injuries when he was healthy, despite the speculation of heading to the bullpen.

As New York looks to improve its rotation, RJ Anderson of CBS Sports predicted that would come in the form of Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins, adding that he’s struggled, and teams will have to decide whether they want to move on from elite prospects to take a risk on the right-handed Cy Young Award winner.

“Alcantara appeared to be the league’s most obvious top trade candidate coming into the season as he returned from Tommy John surgery. His velocity is back and he’s generating plenty of ground balls, but his command hasn’t been there and his pitches are finding the barrel too often. Teams will have to assess not only what they think of his chances of righting the ship in-season, but how much they’re willing to part with in order to play the odds,” he wrote.

When Will Stroman Return From Injury?

Getting Alcantara makes sense, even if the New York Yankees understand that Stroman will return sometime in the near future. According to RotoWire, he’s scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday.

“Stroman (knee) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Tuesday, MLB.com reports.

“Stroman has struggled to overcome soreness in his left knee, but tests have shown no structural damage, and he threw a side session Saturday without issue. Should the right-hander get through Tuesday’s bullpen session without a setback, he could be in line for a return from the 15-day injured list in the first half of June. It’s unclear if Stroman will immediately return to the rotation, however, as both Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough have been pitching well, while JT Brubaker (ribs) recently began a rehab assignment and Luis Gil (lat) is approaching a return to the mound as well,” they wrote .

Is Alcantara Still the Elite Pitcher He Once Was?

Throughout the 2025 campaign, Alcantara hasn’t been anything he once was, something the New York Yankees have to consider.

He’s coming off a tough injury last season, missing the entire year. That’s certainly part of the reason why he hasn’t been as good as he typically is, but the Yankees don’t want to trade for somebody who isn’t the same arm they typically are.

Throughout Alcántara’s career, his best attribute has been staying on the mound. That might sound wrong given he missed all of 2024, but he threw in at least 184.2 innings in all full seasons from 2019 on before 2024.

During the 2022 season, there was a strong argument that he was the best starter in Major League Baseball, winning the NL Cy Young after posting a 2.28 ERA and striking out 207 hitters in 228.2 innings.

The Yankees will have to be hopeful that’s the arm they get if they trade for him, but there will be many teams interested at the deadline, something to remember.

Jon Conahan covers the NBA and NFL for Heavy.com. Since 2019, his sports coverage has appeared at Sports Illustrated, oddschecker, ClutchPoints and Sportskeeda. More about Jon Conahan