New York Yankees Trading Former All-Star Key to Making Infield Upgrades

The New York Yankees may need to move this veteran starting pitcher to make one final upgrade to the infield.

Sep 25, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (0) reacts during the fourth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees are getting set to start spring training soon, but there are still a few things they would like to accomplish before the start of the year.

It has been a hectic offseason for the Yankees. Despite making the World Series last year, the 2025 edition of New York will be a much-different-looking team.

While losing Juan Soto was not ideal, the Yankees have done a nice job filling in some areas of need. If they had signed Soto to the massive deal that he ended up receiving, it’s hard to imagine that they would have added some of the pieces that they did this winter.

Recently, New York was able to address one of their remaining needs in the bullpen with the signing of Tim Hill. The southpaw was an excellent addition to the team last campaign and re-signing him was very important considering they didn’t have a left-hander in the bullpen.

With the addition of Hill back into the bullpen, the Yankees now appear to have two remaining needs to address this winter at backup catcher and in their infield. However, with New York hovering right around the next level of the luxury tax threshold, they likely want to try and shed some salary to do so.

Currently, the one player who makes the most sense for the Yankees to trade is former All-Star Marcus Stroman.

After signing Max Fried this winter, Stroman became the odd man out in the rotation. Even though he totaled a 10-9 record and a 4.31 ERA last season, which isn’t bad at all, he is set to make $18 million in 2025.

Despite not having a bad overall season, Stroman struggled in the second half of the year and fell out of the rotation down the stretch for New York. Even though he has been an All-Star recently, consistency has always been an issue for the right-hander.

For the Yankees to trade him, they are going to have to eat a significant amount of his salary in 2025. However, this could be worth it to move him. With a need in the infield to play either second base or third base, freeing up some money from Stroman’s contract could be reallocated to that goal, while also keeping New York under the next luxury tax threshold.

With plenty of teams still in need of some starting pitching this offseason, finding a trade partner shouldn’t be impossible. However, the biggest obstacle will be how much the Yankees are willing to eat off his contract.