Marcus Stroman decision could be first Yankees domino to fall with playoffs looming

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 14 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?

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?

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Boone provided a pretty heavy hint before Friday’s thrilling 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in The Bronx, spurred by a five-run seventh inning punctuated by a noise-splitting Aaron Judge grand slam that ended a 60-at-bat homerless streak.

Though the manager stressed that no decision is irrevocable, it does not look promising for Marcus Stroman, who will be skipped at least the next time through as the Yankees work with a five-man rotation that will feature Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes.

“Stro will be out this time around,” Boone said of the 33-year-old right-hander, who has pitched to a 5.57 ERA over his last four starts and whose second halves have trended downward throughout his career. “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 a 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,” Boone said. “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.”

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Stroman had value 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 and 148 ¹/₃ innings rank third on the staff in both categories behind Rodon and Cortes.

“He’s one of the reasons we’re here,” Boone said when asked for 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.

“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.”

Cole has Game 1. It is likely the Yankees would lean toward Gil in Game 2, though matchups will play a significant 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 was outstanding, building off last Saturday’s 75-pitch, scoreless outing at Wrigley by holding Boston off the board until Masataka Yoshida’s two-run homer on the righty’s 86th and final pitch with two out in the sixth inning. But Schmidt — who uses a cutter and sweeper as out pitches — spent the first part of his career as a relief pitcher before being converted to a starter last season. So perhaps he could be more valuable as a postseason bullpen piece.

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“He was great,” Boone said. “He might have run out [of gas], but we were short [in the bullpen] so I wanted to get him through the sixth if I could. I was really excited that he had been so efficient.

“He was excellent.”

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 get to manage.”

The Yankees have won six out of eight with their healthiest roster of the season. The victory extended the Yankees’ division lead to three games over the Orioles, their largest gap since July 9. They’d like to nail this down. First seed in the AL, too. But first, they need to nail down their rotation, bullpen and lineup.

Stroman may be the first to fall.

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