Already there are five starting pitchers on this Yankees team who have, at one point or another, suffered from pitch-the-best-season-of-your-life-and-immediately-need-surgery-on-that-arm-itis. Two of them, Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon, are trying to recover from shaky 2023 campaigns. Both have been incredible in the past, and both used 2023 to recover from...well, doing so well in 2022. Rodon already has complained about not quite reaching his fastball this spring, and Cortes has responded similarly to early starts. But they seem to be doing better and hitting good numbers otherwise.
Then you have Marcus Stroman, who's a few years removed from the tactic of having an excellent season and then getting injured. Last year with Chicago he was strong, if imperfect in parts. Signing with the Yankees meant he was willing to bury the hatchet after criticizing the team in the past, and seeing that the last guy who made an enemy of the team before joining it went so well [enjoy retirement, Josh], it's understandable to be somewhat worried about Stroman's material. I watched an early spring start of his, he wasn't as sharp as I would have liked. He has been better in follow-up starts, and looks to factor favorably into the rotation going into the year. I think he might be our most reliable arm this year, though I'd love to be proven wrong.
And then you have Luis Gil, who made headlines by winning his first 5 starts, then proceeded to do nothing of note again and battled injuries in the minors the last 2 years. A clearer rotation, without Vazquez, Brito and King ahead of him, means Gil might actually have a shot at a roster spot this year, and he has admittedly looked good this spring, with 2 wins, 14 Ks and only 3 runs in 8 innings of Tampa play. Unfortunately the other guy he's facing for the last rotation spot, Clayton Beeter, has been having a better spring, with more starting opportunities and more overall dominance. Gil will likely get some starts in the majors this year, and with the rate of veteran injuries it's more of a foregone conclusion than anything, but he might not get the spot out of camp.
The Yanks looking to go with a Cortes-Rodon-Stroman-Schmidt-Beeter rotation to start the season points out two very interesting things. 1- the Snell deal is probably not gonna go our way. 2. For a Yankee rotation without Gerrit Cole, this could honestly be worse.
The thing we need to remember is that we're only supposed to be without Cole for a month or so. If these guys can get the job done for a month and a half, and with the number of veterans here that is definitely possible, there shouldn't be much bleeding. This isn't exactly the Sixers without Embiid, I trust Stroman, Nestor and Rodon to keep things together, even if Nestor's looked a bit scary at times this spring. Also, I'd be more scared about missing Cole if we didn't have a jacked lineup and an improved bullpen. We will probably fine.
It's not missed starts and April that scares me. Missed starts in September is gonna be what does this team in, and I am really hoping this rotation doesn't lead us to that point.
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