Major League Baseball

Yankees' rotation faced with added pressure following injury setbacks

Published Mar. 16, 2023 12:35 p.m. ET

The fragility of the Yankees’ rotation was underlined this month after Carlos Rodón was shut down from pitching due to a forearm strain.

When Rodón inked his $162 million deal with New York this offseason, there was a sense of relief that, maybe, just maybe, the days of Domingo Germán and other depth pieces forced into regularly starting for the Yankees were finally behind them. Then right-hander Frankie Montas needed surgery, which meant Germán would be fighting for that fifth-starter spot. Then left-hander Nestor Cortes withdrew from the World Baseball Classic with a hamstring strain, an injury that has still, as of today, delayed his spring debut. Then Rodón’s injury was revealed, and suddenly Germán figures to be the Yankees’ No. 3 starter for their season-opening series against the San Francisco Giants.

"It’s clearly not a good situation when you’re down a starter that you were counting on," Yankees GM Brian Cashman stated the obvious to reporters last week.

The Yankees are tired of being compared to the Houston Astros, with questions like, ‘Is that signing enough?’ and ‘What makes New York better than Houston this year?’ that are repetitive and constant. But, the Astros, of late, have always been in the way.

The Astros have knocked the Yankees out of playoff contention four times in the past eight years, including 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022. The Bombers’ three most recent trips to the American League Championship Series ended with the confetti falling for Houston and the champagne being put on ice in the Astros clubhouse.

While the comparisons to the Astros can get irritating for the Yankees – and, in a perfect world, the front office should answer these questions for fielding an inferior team, rather than the players who are performing to their capabilities – New York can make these comparisons disappear by being the better team. But, with Opening Day two weeks away, we are left with the same questions and, so far, the same takeaway.

Without Rodón, the Yankees rotation is not in the same league as the arms Houston will boast to begin the year. Remember, the Astros lost a key starter to injury, too. Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who struck out six Yankees hitters in the 2022 ALCS, is dealing with a forearm strain and will be out to start the season. But Houston’s depth has left the club in solid shape.

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The Astros’ five-man rotation is expected to feature Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Hunter Brown. The Yankees’ five-man rotation will look more like: Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes, Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt. Despite Cole looking sharp as ever this spring, behind him, New York’s lack of seasoned starting pitching depth is a real concern. The talent gap between the Yankees and Astros is still wide.

"The bottom line is, we need to be better if we want to beat those guys," Severino said last October moments after the Astros advanced to the World Series.

Cashman attempted to improve the club’s roster this winter by signing Rodon to a six-year deal, which on-paper created a formidable rotation. But even then, the signing brought slight trepidation due to Rodon’s injury history. Take away Rodon’s successful 2022 campaign with the Giants, and the southpaw has completed just 65 starts and thrown just 365 innings from 2017-2021. During that five-year stretch, Rodon underwent Tommy John surgery and left shoulder surgery, and he experienced shoulder fatigue. Last year he sustained a mild forearm strain, though he avoided missing any time.

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As Rodón battles a strained left forearm in his first spring training with the Yankees, he begins his New York tenure with more questions than answers surrounding his durability. Though the Yankees say Rodón will recover in time to start his season in late April, a cloud of uncertainty will linger around his health throughout the year. Where does the Yankees rotation stand without Rodón?

There is more pressure on Cole to be Cole, Severino to stay healthy, Cortes to build off his success last year, Germán to pitch like he did for the 2019 Yankees, and Schmidt to find results as a reliever-turned-starter. And of that group, Cortes still hasn’t pitched in a spring exhibition game and is considered the club’s fifth starter while he builds up his arm and innings.

OK, so the Yankees rotation will begin the year on some unstable ground. Now, where does that rotation stand if one of those five is forced to miss time due to injury? Even before the injuries to Rodón, Cortes and Montas, the Yankees’ starting pitching depth was already precarious due to the trades they made at last year’s deadline. Jordan Montgomery, Ken Waldichuk, J.P. Sears and Hayden Wesneski were traded away. The club is left with Deivi Garcia as the best in-house option currently on the 40-man roster who can be used as depth. New York can also roll the dice on arms like Randy Vasquez and Yoendrys Gómez.

The Yankees head into their 2023 season with a rotation that poses as their biggest question mark, but it could also turn into their biggest strength. There is so much potential in the 1-2 punch of Cole and Rodón and, though fans must wait even longer for that duo to come to fruition, Rodón can ensure the wait will have been worth it by having a dominant year and making us all forget about his injury that sidelined him to start the season. Remaining healthy is easier said than done, but the health of the Yankees’ rotation can make or break their season.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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