3 riskier internal options that could replace Marcus Stroman right now for Yankees

Remember when the New York Yankees had an embarrassment of riches in their starting rotation? Remember when it was imperative that the club trade Marcus Stroman? Remember when Stroman then became a vital cog in the rotation following the long-term injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil? You'd be forgiven if the last two months have given you whiplash.

Things were starting to look up for the Bombers and their rotation last week. Max Fried threw an 11-strikeout gem in Detroit. Carlos Rodón, for better or worse, has been about exactly what you'd expect Carlos Rodón to be. Carlos Carrasco has been better than expected at points, while Clarke Schmidt's imminent return was about to bump Will Warren back down to Triple-A.

Maybe it wasn't how the Yanks drew it up, but the rotation finally seemed to be coming together, until Marcus Stroman landed on the 15-day IL following his horrendous start against the San Francisco Giants.

Just like that, even with Clarke Schmidt coming back, the Yankees are short a starter. The internal options to replace Stroman are, well, risky to say the least, and what on paper heading into the season looked like a real strength has now become Max Fried and a bunch of guys that make you hold your breath.

Allan Winans is a risky choice to fill Marcus Stroman's rotation spot for the Yankees

While it's not a given that Allan Winans is the man tasked with taking on Stroman's vacated spot in the Yankees' rotation, it's a good bet that he gets the first crack. Brought in over the offseason to be the new Cody Poteet after Poteet was swapped for a much better Cody with the last name Bellinger, it makes sense that Winans will get the first shot, if only because he was the player called up in direct response to Stroman being moved to the IL. For now, the Yankees will roll with Fried-Rodón-Schmidt-Carrasco-Warren. But ... if an additional move must be made to account for impending failure ...

Winans has not exactly done much to inspire confidence over the course of his career. The 29-year-old has eight career big league starts under his belt, tallying 40 innings and posting a 7.20 ERA. His brief stint with the Atlanta Braves last season was even more horrifying, making two starts and recording a 15.26 ERA.

His velocity tops out around 90 miles per hour on the fastball, and his repertoire includes a sinker, changeup, and slider, which shows that he at least has some options to try to keep hitters off balance. If there is a silver lining, it's that he's at least had some success in Triple-A with a career 3.20 mark over 258.2 innings spread across four seasons.

If Stroman's absence isn't a long one, perhaps Winans can string together a couple of acceptable starts to see the team through. While possible, the odds of that aren't great, though.

After seeing some action as a reliever, Brent Headrick could get a shot as a Yankees fill-in starter

After being optioned to Triple-A Scranton to make room for the now-departed Adam Ottavino following the Yankees' extra-inning loss to Pittsburgh, 27-year-old southpaw Brent Headrick could reappear in the Bronx, this time as a starter.

Working in relief, Headrick didn't look half-bad in an albeit small sample. He averaged 15.19 K/9 over 5.1 scoreless innings in his brief stint with the Bombers, relying mainly on a fastball-slider combo that may not be enough to consistently get through a lineup multiple times.

Throughout his much more extensive minor-league career, Headrick has been a swing man of sorts, getting opportunities to start while also racking up a healthy number of relief appearances. His largest body of work came back in 2022 when he made 25 appearances (23 starts) and logged 108.1 innings while pitching to the tune of a 3.32 ERA across Hi-A and Double-A.

His strikeout numbers have always been healthy, but outside of that, he rarely gets the ball on the ground, and those flyball tendencies could be a recipe for disaster in New York, especially over prolonged exposure.

The other question worth asking is whether or not he'd be ready to go as a starter given that he's only served as a reliever so far this season. Perhaps in an opener-type role, he could get the job done, though it would put a strain on a Yankees' bullpen that's been somewhat up-and-down to start the season.

Ryan Yarbrough might be the Yankees' most experienced starting pitching option

The most battle-tested of the Yankees' fill-in options, Ryan Yarbrough landed in the Bronx with a major-league deal after being released from the minor-league contract he signed earlier in the offseason with the division rival Toronto Blue Jays.

Over the years, the 33-year-old lefty has carved out a role as a swingman, appearing in 201 big league games and starting 68 of them. The definition of a crafty lefty, Yarbrough's sub-90 mile per hour velocity will scare no one, but he makes up for it with a variety of pitches that move all over the place.

2024 was the best year of his career by ERA and, ironically, his only season where he didn't make at least one start. Instead, he served as a bulk man out of the bullpen, logging 98.2 innings over just 44 games and recording a 3.19 ERA, though his 4.64 FIP would indicate that he wasn't as good as it may appear at first glance.

Through eight innings of work out of the Yankees' pen, Yarbrough has a 5.63 ERA, which leaves something to be desired. He's been bitten by the long ball at times in the past, which, again, would make him a risky option to start.

With all of that said, Yarbrough might just be the best of a group of bad options, as the Yankees look to piece things together in the starting rotation until the reinforcements come back.

Even as the injured starters begin to make their returns, it would behoove general manager Brian Cashman to explore external options sooner rather than later, because the Yankees internal depth leaves much to be desired, and it would be naive to think that they won't arrive in a similar conundrum at some point in the future.