Alexander Wilson
Getting Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon back is going to create one of the most enjoyable headaches in baseball. The New York Yankees are about to have too much quality pitching, and figuring out how to fit it all in is genuinely the best problem a front office can face in May.
Here’s where things stand right now without those two. Max Fried has a 2.09 ERA and has been the most reliable arm in the rotation all season. Cam Schlittler is at 1.51 and pitching like a Cy Young candidate. Will Warren is at 2.39 over 37.2 innings and has been one of the bigger positive surprises in baseball this year. And Ryan Weathers just held Baltimore to one earned run on Saturday, dropping his ERA to 3.03 and showing that his health is holding up in a way it never has before in his career.
That group, right now, is one of the best starting units in baseball. And it doesn’t even include the two arms the Yankees are waiting on.
The Math Problem
When Cole and Rodon slot back in, the Yankees suddenly have six legitimate starting pitchers for five rotation spots. The easy answer is that Luis Gil stays in the minors, and Elmer Rodriguez, who made his MLB debut earlier this week, heads back to Triple-A to keep getting stretched out. That accounts for one move but still leaves one too many arms in the mix.
Weathers is the most likely candidate to transition out of the rotation when the full group is available, and honestly that’s not a punishment. His 11.44 strikeouts per nine and his sweeper, which is getting swings and misses at an elite rate, make him a devastating option as a multi-inning reliever or a high-leverage lefty who can navigate the middle innings and hand the game off to David Bednar. Moving him to the bullpen extends the rotation depth without losing his contribution to the staff.
A six-man rotation is also on the table, at least temporarily, to ease Cole and Rodon back in without overloading their pitch counts in the first few starts. It’s not something Aaron Boone would run indefinitely, but for three or four turns through the order while those two find their rhythm, the extra off day for every starter actually benefits the whole group.
What Comes Next
The trade deadline in July is where this rotation surplus becomes a real organizational asset. When you have pitching depth this deep, you have trade chips. Rodriguez and Weathers both have value to other organizations, and if the Yankees identify a target at third base or in the bullpen that would make this team a better World Series bet, the pitching depth is what they use to get there.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Yankees go into July looking to upgrade their bullpen rather than their rotation. The starting pitching problem is solved. The high-leverage relief situation, with Camilo Doval still figuring things out, is where the roster has room to improve. Having this rotation gives them the flexibility to address it without gutting the farm system.
The Yankees couldn’t be better positioned on the pitching side right now. The next few weeks will tell us a lot about how they choose to leverage it.
More about:New York Yankees
