NEW YORK — New York Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman was in a difficult spot. Over his previous eight outings, he was 1-4 with a 6.87 ERA. The team had pushed back his most recent start, giving him several extra days to rest and to work out flaws that had been discovered in his mechanics. A strong showing would go a long way toward quieting any concerns about him as the Yankees begin their playoff push.
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On Sunday, Stroman came through, allowing just a run over five innings in an 8-7 win over the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium. The win brought the Yankees (70-49) into a first-place tie with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. The Yankees will start a three-game set with the Chicago White Sox, by far the worst team in the league at 28-91.
Stroman looked more like himself, generating far more ground outs (eight) than flyouts (one). He struck out one, walked three, gave up four hits and his primary pitch, the sinker, hovered near his season average of 89.9 mph after slipping a bit. He had one swing-and-miss.
“I’m not someone who loses confidence regardless of a few outings,” Stroman said. “My confidence is pretty stuck there where it is, regardless of what I’m going through. I go out there with the same confidence each and every start. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it don’t.”
Manager Aaron Boone said he liked what he saw.
“I think he just felt better,” Boone said. “He talks a lot about his mechanics and being in tune with those, and I think probably the extra couple of days but turning those into work days too helped him to kind of fine-tune that a little bit and felt like he did a better job.”
Sunday @STR0 in the park. pic.twitter.com/jcFyIL2Mx2
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 11, 2024
The performance came a day after rehabbing starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt (right lat strain) threw 25 pitches in live batting practice and said he hoped to be back on a major-league mound soon.
“By the end of the month is very realistic, I think,” he said.
The Yankees will welcome back Schmidt, who had just a 2.25 ERA and a 5-3 record through his first 11 starts before hitting the injured list. They’re building him up to rejoin the rotation, which had an MLB-worst 6.00 ERA in 46 games since June 15 entering Sunday.
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But when Schmidt returns, it’s likely that the Yankees will have to bounce someone from the rotation and, if they decide to turn to a six-man rotation for September, surely someone would have to go come playoff time. It won’t be ace Gerrit Cole or Carlos Rodón, who has pitched much better of late. It could be Luis Gil, who has been a revelation (12-5, 3.06 ERA, 22 starts) but may be bumping up against a workload limit after barely pitching in 2022 and 2023 due to Tommy John surgery. It could also be Nestor Cortes (5-10, 4.42 ERA, 24 starts).
But, for a start, Stroman likely made the Yankees feel a bit more secure about what he may provide.
“It’s hard to be results-based in this game sometimes,” Stroman said. “A lot of things are out of your control.”
Here are two more interesting and upcoming roster decisions that are within the Yankees’ control:
The return of Anthony Rizzo
The 35-year-old Rizzo has been on the injured list with a fractured right forearm since June 17. He’s eligible to return Friday, but he’ll likely need more time. Last week, he said he hoped to start a rehab assignment “in a couple of weeks” and that he was no longer feeling pain from the injury.
Standing in his way will be the 25-year-old Ben Rice, a rookie who started hot and has cooled significantly. After posting a .972 OPS through his first 17 games, which included a three-homer performance against the Boston Red Sox on July 6, he entered Sunday batting just .133 over his past 22 games. But Rizzo’s bat (77 OPS+) didn’t inspire much confidence through his first 70 games, especially after his down 2023.
Will the Yankees give a runway to Rizzo to see what they have when he’s ready to play? Or will they stick with Rice? DJ LeMahieu figures to be the right-handed part of a platoon at the position regardless of the outcome.
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The return of Jon Berti
Berti hasn’t played since May 24 due to a strained left calf. Having missed so much time already, it’d be understandable if the Yankees’ preference would be to send him to Triple-A as depth for September. But the 34-year-old is out of minor-league options and he’s under team control through next season. Would another club claim Berti if the Yankees designated him for assignment and he wound up on waivers? No doubt.
So, it seems likely that the Yankees will wait to start Berti’s rehab assignment clock and then bring him back around Sept. 1 when rosters expand to 28 players — provided he doesn’t have another setback. That would allow them to keep Berti, who plays all over the infield and brings speed and contact, as well as Oswaldo Cabrera, a switch-hitter who has been a threat from the left side of the plate this season and particularly since the All-Star break.
The Yankees acquired Berti just before Opening Day as part of a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Marlins. The Yankees paid a decent price for the Michigan native, sending backup catcher Ben Rortvedt to the Rays and outfield prospect John Cruz to the Marlins. At the time, the Yankees imagined Berti jumping into multiple infield spots with LeMahieu (fractured foot) starting the year on the injured list.
(Photo of Clarke Schmidt: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
Brendan Kuty is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the New York Yankees and MLB. He has covered the Yankees since 2014, most recently as a beat reporter for NJ Advance Media. Brendan was honored to receive the 2022 New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year award from the National Sports Media Association. He attended William Paterson University and the County College of Morris, and he is from Hopatcong, N.J.
