They are trying to nail down the division title that would afford the Yankees a bye out of the opening, lightning-round best-of-three. That’s important but not necessarily critical to the cause.
Rather, the priority facing manager Aaron Boone and the hierarchy over the 15 games and two-plus weeks remaining in the regular season is crafting a postseason rotation, lineup and back end of the bullpen that will have staying power.
Autumn starts a week from Sunday, yet the rest of the month will be filled with spring training-like auditions. Will the Yankees trot out Alex Verdugo in left field every day while Jasson Dominguez is on the bench? Will the team actually start the playoffs with a Closer-for-the-Day?
And of their six potential starting pitchers, which one(s) will be dropped from the rotation — if not likely the postseason roster — for at least the best-of-three and the next round’s best-of-five?
Boone provided a pretty heavy hint before Friday’s game in The Bronx against the Red Sox. And while the manager stressed that no decision is irrevocable — and of course, that is the case — it does not look promising for Marcus Stroman, who will be skipped next time through as the Yankees work with a five-man rotation that will feature Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Nester Cortes.
“Stro will be out this time around,” Boone said of the 33-year-old righthander, who has pitched to a 5.57 ERA over his last four starts and was knocked around his last two times out. “He’ll be available for us in the bullpen probably on Sunday and then we’ll keep evaluating.”
Stroman has made 28 appearances this season. All starts. He has made 259 appearances in his major league career that commenced in 2014. All but eight have been as a starter, with six relief appearances coming in his rookie season with Toronto and the other two last year with the Cubs.
Let’s just say Ramiro Mendoza, he is not.
“I’ll try to put him in the best position, make sure we try to communicate well with him,” said Boone. “He and I spoke [Thursday] about it, nothing is necessarily permanent, but with the off day [coming up Monday], I want to have us go five at least this next turn and maybe the next time around, too. We’ll see.”
Stroman has filled his purpose in this first season of a two-year contract under which he is in for $18 million next season and holds an $18 million player option for 2026. The animated right-hander has been instrumental filling innings in the rotation with Cole, Schmidt and Gil each down for stretches. Stroman’s 28 starts ranks third behind both Rodon and Cortes, each with 29 starts. His 148 ¹/₃ innings is also third-most behind Rodon and Cortes.
“He’s one of the reasons we’re here,” Boone said when asked his evaluation of Stroman’s season. “You know, he’s going to the post for us, taken all his starts, won a lot of ballgames [10] for us.
“I think one of the reasons we have a chance to get to the postseason is the consistency of our starting pitching. On balance, he’s done a really good job for us, and I told him he’s one of the reasons we’re in this position.”
Baseball can be a cruel animal. Stroman’s second-half splits have consistently trended down over his career. He does not necessarily have an out pitch that would play in the postseason. If this decision is not etched in stone, it’s likely as close as it gets to that, barring a couple of injuries.
Cole has Game 1. It is likely the Yankees would lean toward Gil in Game 2, though matchups will play an integral role in the final decision. Schmidt, Rodon and Cortes — 3.11 ERA at the Stadium as opposed to 4.81 on the road — are all in the mix to become the franchise’s latter-day Andy Pettitte, who started nine straight Division Series Game 2s from 1995 through 2003. The team, by the way, went 6-3 in those starts.
Schmidt, who attempted to build on last week’s 75-pitch, 4 ²/₃ scoreless innings of work at Wrigley in this one against Boston, spent the first part of his career as a relief pitcher before he was moved into the rotation at the start of last year. So maybe he has more October value as an integral bullpen piece.
Boone said Stroman took the news with a one-for-all and all-for-one attitude, despite how disappointing and bitter it surely was.
“He’s all about the team in there and all about the guys in there,” Boone said. “His basic message to me was, ‘Whatever you need and I’ll be ready to go.’ And I think he just wants to be part of a winner, and as much as we’ve enjoyed him being here with us and becoming an important part of our room, that room has certainly loved him back.
“He’s been a real joy for me to manage.”
The Yankees started the night with a two-game lead over Baltimore, their largest edge since Aug. 7. They’d like to nail this down, maybe give Aaron Judge a rest. First, they need to nail down their rotation, bullpen and lineup.
Stroman may be the first to fall.