Alexander Wilson
Will Warren gets the ball Wednesday with the Yankees riding a six-game losing streak, which is a brutal way to ask a back-end starter to steady the room.
That sounds unfair. It also sounds like July baseball. The Yankees have dropped six in a row after Tuesday’s 9-3 loss to Detroit, and now Warren gets Troy Melton in the series finale with the offense still trying to find its pulse.
Will Warren has been useful enough to keep the job, carrying a 7-3 record, 3.75 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and 84 strikeouts over 84 innings. Useful does not mean comfortable, though. Not with Max Fried working his way back and the trade deadline creeping closer.
The Yankees need more than survival innings
The temptation is to look at Warren’s record and call it fine. I get it. A 7-3 mark plays well on the scoreboard graphic, and a 3.75 ERA from a mid-rotation arm should not be treated like a crisis.
The problem is the texture underneath. Warren has allowed 85 hits and 29 walks, and that 1.36 WHIP keeps too many innings one mistake away from turning sideways. The Yankees can live with some traffic when the lineup is healthy and smashing baseballs. Right now, they are not living in that version of the season.
Warren can still change the deadline read
This is where the start matters beyond one night against Detroit. If Warren gives the Yankees six clean innings, the rotation picture feels less panicked while Fried ramps up. If he gets knocked around again, Brian Cashman has a harder time selling patience as an actual plan.
I would not make Warren the scapegoat for a team-wide slide. The lineup has done plenty of damage to itself, and the injuries have chewed through the roster. Still, the Yankees are at the point where every rotation answer has to prove it twice.
Wednesday gives Warren a chance to make the next week feel calmer. If he cannot, the Yankees’ deadline board gets louder by breakfast.
More about:New York Yankees
