Marcus Stroman catches heat in unflattering comp to former Yankee Gary Sánchez

The New York Yankees, mashing to start the season and streaking towards respectability, still have a rotation problem currently on the shelf in the form of Marcus Stroman.

Stroman hit the Injured List after a bizarre start to kick off a three-game set against the San Francisco Giants last week. The game occurred in the blistering rain, and Stroman almost exclusively targeted one half of the plate, leading to plenty of speculation about his compromised nature.

Speculation that was, of course, all but confirmed when he was placed on the shelf with knee inflammation. For now, that issue has been tabled. Stroman will someday force himself back into the Yankees' rotation conversation with a clean bill of health. At that point, they'll need to figure out if he can get back to being his sturdy, innings-eating self, or if he'll still be a problem that must be dealt with by way of the DFA.

They didn't exactly get encouraging data back on Monday, either, when Stuff+ went live from the Orioles' near-record-setting beatdown loss against the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend.

Former Yankees farmhand Jorge Mateo and ex-polarizing Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez both pitched in that 24-2 loss. Haha for the Orioles! Right? Ha ... ha?

Well, sort of. As it turns out, Sánchez (not a pitcher) and his horribly graded fastball had more Marcus Stroman comps than you probably wish they possessed. Welp!

Yankees' Marcus Stroman and Gary Sánchez throw similar fastballs and I'm going to go eat glass

Could be worse, though, right? The Yankees could've signed Charlie Morton.

Stroman has gotten by with less-than-ideal stuff before, and perhaps he will again. Perhaps he'll prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is a starting pitcher.

For now, though, Yankee fans will have to hope that he gets back to full health and looks completely different. Because it's been tough enough for the current version of Stroman to prove that he is not a backup catcher.

Kudos to the Yankees on this, at least: their ninth and 10th starters have looked a lot more prepared for the season than the Baltimore Orioles' Plan A of Tomoyuki Sugano and Morton. You want this championship window open or closed, Mike Elias?