Yankees insider predicts delayed Marcus Stroman trade departure with possible suitors

Though the New York Yankees' offseason has been among the busiest across the league, it's also been disappointing because much of the conversation has focused on the misallocation of previous spending. We run into this every year.

The latest topic of conversation is Marcus Stroman, who is owed $18 million in 2025 and has a vesting player option for 2026 for the same price if he pitches 140 or more innings this upcoming season. Among other factors, Stroman's contract has the Yankees up against the final luxury tax threshold — a mark they do not want to exceed as they look to avoid the stiffest financial penalties.

This is sadly the nature of the business. While it's easy for fans to say, "Who cares! Spend the money!", most owners are not going to do that. There are few exceptions in recent memory. And it's not like the Yankees don't spend. They spend a lot. They just limit themselves whenever they make a mistake, which kind of defeats the purpose of being a big market behemoth. You're not the Detoit Tigers. You do not have to live in fear of Javy Baez's wasteful $140 million contract. Same goes for the combination of Stroman, DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Hicks and Anthony Rizzo — all of whom are making money off the Yankees in 2025 but will be contributing next to nothing.

Hicks was kicked to the curb last year. Rizzo is gone after the Yankees bought out his contract instead of paying his team option. LeMahieu is here and they seem to falsely believe in a rebound from the 36-year-old. Stroman is the most valuable of the bunch, but he represents the only option not to end up as dead money.

Latest updates on Yankees' Marcus Stroman trade pursuits

Many have speculated Stroman will be traded this offseason, and the latest from Yankees insider Brendan Kuty could perhaps give us a better timeline to focus on. He says expect Stroman to be on the move during spring training, perhaps an advantageous time when teams arrive to camp and realize they could use a little bit more heading into the regular season.

Kuty also speculated on some destinations, relaying that the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, LA Angels and San Francisco Giants were among the teams interested in Stroman last offseason before the Yankees signed him. We definitely don't see the Sox or Orioles helping the Yankees out of this mess, but others could find value in Stroman after what he did for the Yankees in the first half of 2024. His stats ended up looking bad because of his tough stretch in the second half that was both likely exacerbated by fatigue and a bad Yankees defense playing behind him (Stroman pitches to contact, and wasn't given much help).

This does create another issue, however. Based on the Yankees tendencies, it's obvious they will not be adding another large salary to the payroll until they get rid of Stroman. So don't expect an Alex Bregman signing, or any other notable name you were hoping for. Players of that caliber should probably sign before spring training to avoid the pitfalls of what Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell experienced last year.

This will once again leave the Yankees with the trade deadline as their last frontier to upgrade before the stretch run and postseason. Brian Cashman has not reinvigorated this team with deadline acquisitions since 2017, so this delayed timetable for a Stroman deal leaves the Yankees in an imperfect spot with another year of Aaron Judge's and Gerrit Cole's primes on the line.