On Thursday, the New York Yankees were deemed one of the biggest winners of the trade deadline, acquiring all of Ryan McMahon, Austin Slater, David Bednar, Jake Bird, Jose Caballero and Camilo Doval. They also shipped Oswald Peraza to the LA Angels.
But everyone knew something else was coming on Friday once the team was prepared to make the roster moves official. And it has arrived. Marcus Stroman has been released to accommodate the newcomers.
This means the Yankees will be rightfully prioritizing Cam Schlittler moving forward as they look to get back atop the AL East. Stroman had his last chance to convince the team otherwise right before the deadline, but he struggled and surrendered eight runs on 11 hits and four walks in his final two starts (8 2/3 innings pitched).
He will be paid out the remainder of his $18.5 million salary (about $6 million) by the Yankees, no matter where he ends up next. The Yankees were much more comfortable making this decision knowing Stroman had no chance of hitting the numbers necessary to exercise his 2026 vesting option (140 innings pitched).
Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees made the following roster moves:
• Added RHP David Bednar (#53), RHP Jake Bird (#59), RHP Camilo Doval (#75) and INF/OF José Caballero (#72) to the active roster.
• Released RHP Marcus Stroman from the roster.https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1951339169999102363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Yankees News: Marcus Stroman released after trade deadline acquisitions become official
With Luis Gil’s return on the horizon, the full starting rotation should feature the young righty alongside Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Will Warren, and Schlittler. This seems like a no-brainer, but it doesn’t make it any less shocking. Stroman will join a long list of notable names making money not to play for the Yankees.
DJ LeMahieu is one after he was DFA’d in July. Aaron Hicks (final year of contract) and Anthony Rizzo (buyout) are two others. But there was a clear need for the Yankees to get better this season and the organization knew sacrifices would need to be made in order for that to happen. Credit where credit’s due. Fans are always complaining they don’t pull the trigger. But they did here (even though there’s an argument they should be doing it a bit earlier).
Stroman will unfortunately go down as a disappointing Cashman decision despite there being good intentions behind it. The writing was on the wall, though, with his injuries, historically lackluster second-half play, and previous beef with the Yankees. Probably should have just stayed away from the start, but at least it created a sense of urgency 18 months later … we guess.
