Ryan Garcia
The Yankees have made it a point to emphasize how important it is to win every single game this season, more so than we’ve seen publicly in previous seasons.
Perhaps that’s just eyewash, but if it’s not, I feel like they have done a very poor job of having their actions reflect this sense of urgency that they believe is rampant inside the organization.
While they’ll sit Ben Rice vs a left-handed pitcher because they want the best matchups possible, they aren’t carrying their five best starters and they have a bullpen that is both shaky and in dire need of optimization.
I think there are three very easy ways to solve these issues, positioning the Yankees to not only win more games, but also giving them some downstream benefits as well that could help them win beyond 2026.
READ MORE: Yankees provide important update on Carlos Rodon’s rehab assignment plans
It’s Time To End Luis Gil’s Time as a Starter
You have to know when the game leaves someone before the game leaves them, and if you’ve watched Luis Gil in the rotation then our conclusions shouldn’t be any different.
His fastball didn’t look right after he returned from injury in 2024, and a serious injury in 2025 certainly didn’t help matters for Gil.
The zip on that pitch has dissipated, the whiff rates have collapsed, and his secondaries are not good enough to make up for his poor four-seam performance.
Among starters with at least 60 IP since 2025, Luis Gil is dead-last in xFIP (5.60) while having the second-worst K-BB% in all of baseball (3.5%), both are indications that he isn’t cut out for the rotation anymore.
I wouldn’t advocate for top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange to come up and join the rotation, but rather I’d recommend that they promote Elmer Rodriguez, who would be ready to go for Gil’s next start rest-wise.
Elmer Rodriguez has similar Stuff+ scores to Luis Gil in Eno Sarris’ model while having better command and a deeper mix, which should allow him to get MLB hitters out at a more effective rate than the former Rookie of the Year.
With Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon seemingly on the way for some point in May, it would give Rodriguez an opportunity to compete with Will Warren and Ryan Weathers for the final rotation spot.
Rodriguez profiles as a groundball pitcher who uses deception and movement to keep hitters from barreling him up, and while there are some command issues and nibbling, I think this would have short-term and long-term benefits.
Seeing him in the Major Leagues would provide the Yankees with a better understanding in what they have with the 22-year-old, and if he were to perform well, they’ve got an excellent problem on their hands.
The Yankees Need to Restructure Their Bullpen
I don’t think you need a bullpen that has two longmen and I said this when the Yankees originally gave Paul Blackburn guaranteed money.
Now the thought process behind this signing actually makes sense given the lack of depth for the rotation, but you’d need to make sure that you were willing to reconfigure the bullpen if no injuries arose.
Blackburn has a 4.44 xFIP and a 6.7% K-BB% so far, he’s pitched much like what I expected which is someone who can keep the ball on the ground but doesn’t present enough swing-and-miss ability to be used in leverage.
The same is true for Ryan Yarbrough, but I think his ability to spot-start is more than enough to justify keeping him around considering how quickly pitchers can go from healthy to out for a season.
Having Jake Bird, who has not been effective overall but has excellent underlying numbers that could signal a breakout, is more valuable short-term and long-term than continuing to have Paul Blackburn.
If the Yankees wanted to bring back Bird they’d have to wait a little over a week, which is why I’m going to link this move with the final one they should make.
Let’s Figure Out What Yovanny Cruz Can Do
Yovanny Cruz has a 99.4 MPH fastball, a bullet slider, and a nasty splitter which gives him one of the highest Whiff% numbers in Triple-A right now.
He has 11 strikeouts and two walks in 7.1 innings pitched, sporting an insane 44% Whiff% due to his elite velocity and deceptive movement profile.
There are some command problems here from previous seasons and he’s hit more batters than you’d like in the early parts of the season, but the Scranton RailRiders have played in some incredibly cold weather so far.
It’s finally started warming up this week, but Cruz’s tolerable command and insane velocity despite temperatures that rattled players across Major League Baseball is a strong indicator that he’s ready for a big-league role.
Carrying a high-upside pitcher who starts in low-leverage before moving up the bullpen chart is far more logical than having the two pitchers at the backend of your bullpen serve the same mop-up role with limited upside.
He doesn’t have great shapes on his fastball but his low arm angle and wide release point create difficult looks that hitters tend to struggle with.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that his fastball regularly hits triple-digits, which is why I think the Yankees need to just see what the have in the youngster before we get to the trade deadline.
If he stinks, he can be optioned back to Triple-A and they can use one of their other Scranton Shuttle options to keep the bullpen full.
The world where he clicks and lives up to his excellent Stuff+ scores is one where the Yankees find a perfect weapon for their bullpen and win some games that they’ve been dropping over the last two weeks.
More about:New York Yankees
