New York Yankees Veteran Does Not Look Like Viable Option To Replace Gerrit Cole

The New York Yankees might need to look outside of the organization to find help to replace their ace Gerrit Cole.

Mar 2, 2025; North Port, Florida, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (0) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at CoolToday Park. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The hits just keep coming for the New York Yankees on the injury front, as their roster is being depleted in spring training.

Their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries with several players heading to the sidelines during camp. Relievers Jake Cousins and Scott Effross were both hurt in recent weeks and Jonathan Loisaga is working his way back from an injury.

In the rotation, JT Brubaker suffered a fractured rib and will be sidelined, putting a hole in the team’s depth.

Luis Gil was dealing with shoulder soreness that was diagnosed as a bad lat strain that will keep him from throwing for at least six weeks. A return by the summer is expected for him.

The outlook for their ace, Gerrit Cole, is nowhere near as optimistic.

He is going to miss months, at the very least, as he deals with elbow soreness. There have already been reports of him needing Tommy John surgery, which would sideline him for the duration of the campaign.

With so many key contributors being sidelined, the Yankees are more than likely going to turn back to Marcus Stroman in the starting rotation.

Coming into spring, he was very vocal about not wanting to pitch out of the bullpen. With a crowded rotation, that was the role he looked to be ticketed for out of the gate.

That is no longer the case, as he is now looking at being their No. 3 starter behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodon.

Unfortunately for New York, that looks to be a disaster wiating to happen.

Stroman has not performed well during Grapefruit League games, making three appearances and pitching 6.2 innings.

Despite an opponent quality of 7.6 according to Baseball-Reference (8 is considered Triple-A, 10 is MLB), he has been hit hard. He has surrendered eight hits, three of which have been home runs, and five earned runs for an unsightly 6.75 ERA.

In his most recent outing against the Toronto Blue Jays on Mar. 7, his stuff was not very encouraging.

Stroman threw 3.0 innings, giving up one earned run on two hits, with one home run surrendered to go along with two strikeouts.

Credit should be given to him for the excellent control he has exhibited, as he has not yet walked an opponent in the spring. He also did a good job of avoiding hard contact against the Blue Jays with a 0.0% barrel rate.

But, that is where the positives end with the outing.

His proStuff+ was an 81, well below the average of 100. His whiff rate was an underwhelming 11.5% as he isn’t missing very many bats either.

Out of his six pitch mix, his cutter was the only one to register an above-average proStuff+ with a 108. His slurve was a respectable 98, but none of his other pitches scored above an 83. The lowest offering he had was his splitter with a 58.

Marcus Stroman has easily been the most requested player this Spring Training pic.twitter.com/w9NDGg8Sri

— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) March 8, 2025

There is still some time to iron out the issues and get on track, but these spring performances have been far from encouraging for the veteran.

It certainly looks like it will be tough sledding for the Yankees, who are relying on him to fill the No. 3 hole in the rotation until Gil comes back.