Yankees send Marcus Stroman to IL after nightmare start, recall Triple-A option

The New York Yankees endured as much Marcus Stroman as they were able to withstand between June 2024 and the present day. On June 11 of last year, he lowered his ERA to 2.82 with 5 2/3 sparkling innings in Kansas City. He was living his childhood dream.

From that point forward, his ERA has been astronomical, clocking in at 5.98 in the second half last year and 11.57 in 9 1/3 innings (across three starts) in 2025. This offseason, when Stroman reported to camp, he did so with a self-inflicted delay, declaring that he was a starter, no matter what the Yankees thought of him.

The Yankees tried to get on board and share the vision after a flurry of spring injuries. After three starts, there was no way to continue on with that charade.

Stroman complained of left knee issues after a bizarre two-thirds-of-an-inning start in the driving rain on Friday. He received X-Rays late into the night, consulted with team doctors on Saturday afternoon, and hit the Injured List prior to Game 2 of the series against the Giants.

Yankees place Marcus Stroman on Injured List, turn to Allan Winans

Winans will serve as a necessary depth piece for the time being, after Stroman helped empty out the bullpen in a rain-soaked massacre on Friday. Thankfully, the game was cut short and the Yankees didn't have to cover a full nine in his wake, but that didn't stop Yoendrys Gomez from tiptoeing dangerous close to the line of suffering an injury in the dew.

At Triple-A for his career, Winans is 6-10 with a 3.48 ERA in 52 games (36 starts). At the big-league level, he hasn't found similar success, posting a 7.20 ERA in eight career starts spread across several seasons. At best, he could be a Cody Poteet-esque change of pace.

Ideally, though, he won't get a start; the Yankees intend to activate Clarke Schmidt the next turn through the rotation. Stroman's injury leaves them thin and wedded to Will Warren/Carlos Carrasco by default (unless Winans dazzles), but the timing matches up (especially since the Yankees would rather nobody think about Stroman at all for a little while.