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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On a day Ryan Yarbrough started because the Yankees’ rotation depth has been sapped, the club revealed that Marcus Stroman is not progressing as hoped.
Stroman threw a live session Friday in Tampa and still was feeling knee discomfort, Aaron Boone said Sunday.
The manager was not yet sure of the next step for Stroman and whether the righty has been shut down. There is concern, though, for a knee issue that has lingered.
“He’s got a lot of treatments on it and stuff, and he just can’t kind of get over that final hump to really allow him to get to that next level on the mound,” Boone said before finishing a series with the A’s at Sutter Health Park. “We’ll try and continue to get our arms around it and try and make sure we get that out of there.”
The righty last pitched a month ago — on April 11 — after which he was placed on the injured list with left knee inflammation. He continued to throw afterward but was originally limited to playing catch, not returning to a mound because of the knee.
He has begun to build up and is back to mound work, but the knee continues to hamper him.
In Stroman’s three starts — lowlighted by the five-run, two-out brutal night in a rainy, miserable loss to the Giants — he pitched to an 11.57 ERA. Boone said his knee contributing to his rough beginning of the season is “definitely possible.”
“Certainly his last start, I think he just couldn’t really step on that front side like you need to,” Boone said. “I talk about these guys that are like race cars — a little thing off, it can affect just that last level of command or that last level of extra stuff that you need.
“Again, we’ll continue to try and get him where we need to.”
The Yankees could have used Stroman after losing Gerrit Cole for the season and Luis Gil for months. Carlos Carrasco was ineffective until being DFA’d. Yarbrough received Sunday’s start, at least temporarily serving as the fifth starter.
Boone said it is possible the lefty — who began the season as a multi-inning reliever and had most recently gotten a spot start May 3, when he lasted four, one-run innings and threw 64 pitches — continues to receive starts.
“He’s getting more and more stretched out,” Boone said before the game. “Not to the full level, but obviously he’s able to give us several innings.”