Spring training has arrived, baseball is back and for the defending American League champion New York Yankees that can only mean one thing — controversy. In the 2025 Yankees spring training in Tampa, Florida, much of that controversy centers around disgruntled, 10-year veteran pitcher Marcus Stroman. Though in this case, the disgruntlement goes two ways.

Stroman appears ready to leave the Yankees behind after just one season of his two-year, $37 million contract — which could extend to a three-year deal with another $18.3 million tacked on if the 33-year-old righty pitches 140 innings in 2025. And the feeling appears to be mutual.

After adding former Atlanta Braves lefty Max Fried to a rotation that already included 2023 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, Yankees 2017 first-round draft pick Clarke Schmidt, and veteran southpaw Carlos Rodón who struck out 195 in 175 innings last year, the odd man out in the Bronx is Stroman — as manager Aaron Boone acknowledged on the podcast The Show, hosted by New York Post columnists Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.

Stroman Situation ‘Is What it Is,’ Says Boone

“It is what it is, the situation. There’s obviously been a lot of noise around it. I’m sure on some level he’s heard that and gets that. I had a very good talk with him,” Boone said on the podcast. “Acknowledging there’s some awkwardness with, where does he slot in? The reality is, I’m getting him ready to go.”

But does Stroman want to get ready, at least ready to play for the Yankees? He now appears to be the odd man out in Tampa as well as the Bronx. According to a report by the New York Post on Thursday, Stroman has been missing from the Yankees spring training camp for at least two days, even though pitchers and catchers were required to report on Tuesday.

In addition, on January 28 some sharp-eyed, social media-savvy Yankee fans noticed that Stroman had removed his “like” from the Yankees page on Instagram. In fact, according to media accounts, he scrubbed all Yankees-related content from his social media presence altogether.

Boone was asked about Stroman’s seemingly angry social media activity by Heyman and Sherman, and the Yankees manager offered a bizarre-sounding explanation.

Stroman Deleting Yankees Was ‘Standard Scrub’

“The unfollow was a standard scrub that he does that was actually very coincidental,” Boone said — leaving some fans wondering what he meant by that odd phrasing.

“Personally, I couldn’t care less why Stroman scrubbed the Yankees from his Instagram account, but it’s been a topic of conversation for a while now,” wrote Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa, senior managing editor of the site Bleeding Yankee Blue. “Boone is doing more of his Boone babble though and trying to spin this a different direction in hopes some team is going to buy the BS….but no one smart is going to buy this.”

Bellezza-Ochoa called Boone’s explanation for why Stroman “unliked” the Yankees “word salad.”

“Lemme get this straight Boonie, it’s normal for Stroman to delete his social media connections but deleting the Yankees was purely unplanned?” Bellezza-Ochoa continued. “Gimme a break.”

As of Thursday, Stroman still had not reported to Yankees spring training camp. Despite the February 11 “pitchers and catchers” date set by the team, under the MLB collective bargaining agreement, all players may take until February 22 to report without penalty.