If hope was a currency, the New York Yankees would be the richest team in baseball right now, but unfortunately, you can’t pay for a World Series parade with optimism. General Manager Brian Cashman has seemingly decided that the best way to navigate the 2026 season is to cross his fingers and pray that two pitchers recovering from major surgery can miraculously carry a rotation.
We are staring down the barrel of a season where Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón are expected to miss the opening months while rehabbing, yet the front office acts like their return is a guaranteed formality rather than a medical gamble.
Leaning heavily on two arms coming off the operating table isn’t just risky; it’s borderline negligent for a franchise with this payroll. To patch the leaking dam, the Yankees went out and acquired Ryan Weathers, a power lefty who throws smoke but can barely stay on the mound. Weathers brings legitimate heat, flashing an 86th percentile fastball that averages nearly 97 mph, which is exactly the kind of velocity that makes scouts drool. But let’s look at the back of the baseball card, shall we?
The 26-year-old managed just eight starts and 38.1 innings in 2025, posting a respectable 3.99 ERA but proving once again that ability means nothing without availability. Betting your season on a guy who hasn’t cracked 100 innings since 2023 is a plan destined to blow up in your face.
The Ones That Got Away Are Haunting the Bronx
What makes this rotation fragility sting even more is watching the “sure things” fly off the board to rival teams. Cashman was reportedly sniffing around Milwaukee ace Freddy Peralta, a guy who would have instantly stabilized the staff, but he watched from the sidelines as the Mets swooped in to close the deal. Peralta was a monster last year, racking up 17 wins with a dazzling 2.70 ERA and finishing in the 97th percentile for Pitching Run Value. He misses bats at an elite clip—204 strikeouts say it all—and losing him to the team across the Triborough Bridge is a bitter pill to swallow.
It wasn’t just Peralta, either. The Yankees also kicked the tires on MacKenzie Gore, only to see him shipped off to the Texas Rangers on Thursday. With every missed opportunity, the list of viable frontline starters shrinks, leaving the Yankees holding a bag full of “what-ifs” and injury rehab schedules.
The Bullpen Is Bleeding Out
If the rotation concerns aren’t enough to keep you up at night, take a look at the bullpen, or what’s left of it. The relief corps has been pillaged, with high-leverage arms Devin Williams and Luke Weaver defecting to—you guessed it—the New York Mets. Losing those innings creates a vacuum at the back end of games that the current roster simply cannot fill.
Cashman is running out of time and options. You can’t enter a season expecting to contend for a title when your rotation is a hospital ward and your bullpen is a ghost town. The Yankees need stability, not more lottery tickets, and unless the front office makes a serious move in the next few weeks, this season could be over before the first pitch is even thrown.
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