Yankees Pitcher's Unique Contract Situation Raising Trade Value

The New York Yankees may find that a laundry list of suitors will emerge for one of their starting pitchers on the injured list due to a quirk in his contract.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale recently reported that Yankees right-hander Marcus Stroman's value has increased while on the mend due to the fact that he is no longer on pace to reach 140 innings on the year, which would've allowed him to accept a player option worth $18 million for the 2026 campaign.

“Yankees starter Marcus Stroman’s trade value is actually increasing by being on the injured list," Nightengale wrote. "Now that he’s sidelined, he won’t be able to automatically exercise his player option since he’ll fall short of 140 innings.”

Nightengale further expressed that Stroman drew interest throughout the offseason, but his option was a major roadblock that stood in the way of a trade being consummated.

The 34-year-old was placed on the 15-day injured list on April 12 with left knee inflammation after struggling mightily through his first three outings of the year, posting an unsightly 11.57 ERA and 6.62 FIP in 9 1/3 innings.

The two-time All-Star threw a bullpen session at the beginning of the month before pitching in a simulated game on May 9, though he emerged from it with additional discomfort after having previously shown promising signs in his recovery. A timeline for his potential rehab assignment is currently unknown as of now.

The Yankees are Stroman's fourth stop in the major leagues, as the former first-round pick broke into the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014 before a trade sent him to the New York Mets at the 2019 deadline.

He later agreed to a three-year deal worth $71 million with the Chicago Cubs in November 2021 that included a player option for 2024, which was ultimately declined. After recording a 3.73 ERA across 52 appearances (50 starts) as a member of the North Siders, the Long Island native returned to the Big Apple on a two-year, $37 million pact last offseason that tacked on an aforementioned vesting/player option.

After logging a 4.31 ERA and 4.62 FIP in 154 2/3 regular season frames last season, Stroman did not pitch during the playoffs.

Some drama ensued at the onset of spring training in February, as Stroman was absent for the Yankees' first handful of pitchers and catchers workouts before declaring that he wasn't tenable to coming out of the bullpen to begin the year.

He cracked the team's Opening Day rotation following injuries to both Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, though he eventually went down with his own ailment.

Pitching is always at a premium come deadline time, so perhaps the Yankees could extract a strong return should they look to send Stroman elsewhere this summer.

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