Even in the middle of February the Bronx is a Zoo

 The New York Yankees have started camp for the 2025 season. Not everyone is down in Tampa, that will be February 17th, but the stories have already started to flood out.

Marcus Stroman “showed up late” to camp, even though he technically didn’t, but what the veteran right-hander has done is stir the pot by declaring he won’t pitch in the bullpen and that he is strictly a starting pitcher. However, right now going into the start of Spring Training Stroman is the odd man out of the 5-Man rotation. That doesn’t mean Marcus Stroman won’t start games. The Yankees will likely not go into the start of the 2025 Regular Season fully healthy. That could open a window for Stroman to slide into the rotation. The Yankees have nine games in 11 days to start the season and then 13 games in 14 days following that. With the way the Bombers have managed their starting rotation at the start of each of the last three seasons’, Stroman will find a start or two at some point to help ease the early season workload of a good starting rotation. Even if he is adamant that he will not pitch out of the bullpen, Stroman will factor into the Yankees plan at the start of the season.

Whether he finishes the first month with the ball club, that’s a different story entirely.

Elsewhere in camp, the lack of answer at third base is jarring. Nowhere else in baseball does a contending team have a clear hole in their starting lineup. The Yankees do. There is an open competition between DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Pereaza for the Opening Day spot at the hot corner. It has become apparent that an option at third base outside the organization will not be possible due to the luxury tax implications it would bring along. The Yankees are over the top luxury tax threshold for the fourth consecutive season, so any new editions are taxed at 50%. I understand you didn’t click on this piece to read about accounting, but that is the state the Yankees still find themselves in given the comments of the Yanks Owner Hal Steinbrenner during the offseason. Even with the Yankees breaking their streak of not making it to the World Series, the streak of not winning one remains, and until ownership operates with the mindset of the other fish in their tax bracket, money will be the biggest hurtle the Yankees will have to clear in order to capture title number 28.

With that, the final story that has engulfed the start of Pitchers and Catchers is not the lack of a contract for Juan Soto, but for the expiring contract of Manager Aaron Boone. Boone is in the last year of his contract extension from 2021. Hal Steinbrenner said this offseason that another extension was in the works for Boone, but for seven-year skipper is acting as a lame duck manager. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said, “our intent is to make sure Aaron Boone is going to continue with the Yankees past the 2025 season.” During his time as skipper in the Bronx Boone is 603-429 (.584) and the only managers with more wins since Aaron Boone stepped into the managers chair are Brian Snitker (604-427 [.586]) of the Atlanta Braves and Dave Roberts (656-377 [.635]) of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Already, Boone is 7th in managerial wins with those 603 on the Yankees all-time list. Whether Yankee fans believe Aaron Boone is a good manager or not, they cannot deny that he wins games.

Unlike last season where there was incredible optimism around the arrival of Juan Soto, 2025 has the vibes of much of the last decade, the highest level of cautious optimism.

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