Yankees' Marcus Stroman the odd man out in one of Aaron Boone's tough choices

The Yankees solidified their place atop the AL East standings during a 5-2 homestand that ended on Sunday with a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox.

When the homestand began on Sept. 9, the Yankees led second-place Baltimore by a half-game. Now the lead is three games heading into the final 12-game stretch of the regular season, which the Yankees will begin on Tuesday in Seattle.

Can the Yankees start to look forward to the postseason? With one eye, no, because they still have a very late-in-the-schedule West Coast trip through Seattle and Oakland and will host Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the regular season’s final homestand. (The Orioles are 6-4 against the Yankees, and if the Yankees do not sweep the three-game series next week, Baltimore will have the tiebreaker advantage if they tie for first.)

With the other eye, though, general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone can start plotting their postseason plans. Even if the Yankees somehow finish behind Baltimore, they are virtually assured of a wild-card berth.

With that in mind, we bring you the story of Marcus Stroman and how it shows that the Yankees are thinking of today while pivoting to October.

The Yankees used five relievers on Sunday to pitch the final 3 2/3 innings. Stroman, who was available out of the bullpen, was not one of them.

Sunday was the first day the Yankees considered Stroman  a bullpen option since Boone removed him from the starting rotation. The Yankees now have six starters, and Stroman is No. 6, so he was sent to the pen.

Stroman has not publicly discussed his new assignment. When he was approached in the clubhouse by a phalanx of slowly creeping reporters on Sunday morning, he declined to be interviewed.

“Got a lot to do today,” he said.

Other than accepting congratulations in a pregame ceremony for being the Yankees’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award on Clemente Day, Stroman’s things to do consisted of being ready if Boone needed him.

Before the game, Boone was asked if he saw a circumstance in which he might use Stroman, who has eight career relief appearances in his 10-year career (six in his rookie season of 2014 with the Blue Jays and two in 2023 with the Cubs.)

“He is available,” Boone said. “It would be more of a length scenario today.” 

The situation in which “length” was needed — i.e., if starter Carlos Rodon was bombed early — did not occur.

It’s unclear if the Yankees will reinsert Stroman into the rotation. With two consecutive Mondays off, they can stick to a five-man plan if they’d like.

If they win the division title with one of the top two records in the AL, which seems likely, their first playoff game won’t come until Saturday, Oct. 5. The regular season ends on Sept. 29.

So it’s conceivable that Stroman, who signed a two-year, $37 million contract in the offseason, might not pitch again in 2024.

This is not a knock on Stroman. Once Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt returned from the injured list, the Yankees had six viable starters. They determined that Stroman was unlikely to be of much help as a reliever because he hasn’t done it much.

Contrast that with Nestor Cortes, who was skipped in the rotation one time, wasn’t happy about it and wasn’t shy about expressing those emotions. But the statement came after Cortes put his money where his mouth was by throwing 4 1/3 hitless innings of relief on Sept. 7 against the Cubs.

Cortes went back into the rotation, at least for the regular season, and gave up one run in five innings in a victory over Boston on Thursday. With 49 career relief appearances, the lefthander is an intriguing option for Boone in a length scenario if one of the top three of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Schmidt and/or Gil falters in a postseason start.

As the regular season dwindles and the playoffs approach, the Yankees are making tough choices. Finally.

Cortes. Stroman. Jasson Dominguez up and taking some of Alex Verdugo’s playing time. Clay Holmes no longer the closer.

Boone is rightfully seen as a players’ manager, and it was awkward when he pulled Gleyber Torres out of an Aug. 2 game for not hustling and then struggled to explain why he waited an inning to do it.

But Boone did something bold — even if he had to be nudged a little by some unseen hand.

Coincidence or not, Torres followed his brief benching with arguably his best month of the season to that point, hitting .276 in August, and has really taken off in September (.339 average, .878 OPS). Since being moved to the leadoff spot on Aug. 16, Torres is 35-for-114 (.307) with an .841 OPS.

Boone  probably is done with pulling people out of games or out of the rotation. Barring injuries, this is the team the Yankees have. No more messages need to be sent.

Juan Soto hit a fly ball in the fifth inning on Sunday that barely made the warning track in right. He stood for a bit and watched as if he had perhaps hit a home run.

Soto was not pulled from the game. The Yankees may be making tough choices now, but let’s not get crazy.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.