The Yankees Had The Day From Hell - And It Could Get Worse
Gerrit Cole is set for an MRI on his throwing arm and that should set alarm bells ringing in the Bronx...
The New York Yankees are having a horrible Monday. Just a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible Monday.
I can’t overemphasize that point enough.
If you missed it - and there is a good chance you did given NFL Free Agency frenzy is now in full swing - the Yankees announced that ace Gerrit Cole will undergo an MRI on his pitching elbow.
Per manager Aaron Boone, Cole is experiencing difficultly in bouncing back between starts.
“He described it as his recovery before getting to his next start has been more akin to what he feels during the season when he’s making 100 pitches,” Boone told reporters in Clearwater, Fla. “When he’s throwing 45 and 55, he usually doesn’t have the recovery issues he’s having. It’s just been more of a challenge and more taxing, so we’re going to get an MRI just to see what we’re dealing with there.”
Yikes. That isn’t exactly the kind of thing you want to hear during the middle of spring training. Especially when it concerns your stud starter.
Now, per Andy Martino of SNY, the Yankees are using the word “precautionary” as it relates to Cole’s MRI scan. The initial feeling is not thought to be one of extreme concern, Martino notes.
However, I’d argue strongly that the fact Cole is having trouble ramping up after just two innings of spring training and is now headed for the MRI tube should elicit nothing but sheer panic.
Furthermore, the Yankees do have a history of covering up injuries and of inspiring false hope. Just look at how they handled Aaron Judge and his big right toe last year. After smashing through the outfield fence at Dodger Stadium in June, Judge was believed to have just suffered a minor injury, because that’s what the Yankees told everybody. Instead, Judge had actually torn a ligament and ended up being out of the lineup for two months. That was a driving force behind the Bronx Bombers missing the postseason in 2023. So, I can’t blame Yankees fans for wanting to take Martino’s report with a very large grain of salt.
Put simply; if I was a Yankees fan, I’d be absolutely terrified about what that MRI is going to reveal.
Yankees fans should be scared to death about receiving the worst possible news, too. Because, if Cole is lost for any significant amount of time or, God forbid, for the entire 2024 season, then it is over. Sorry, but it just is. Gerrit Cole is the most important player on that Yankees roster. Even more so than Judge.
Okay so Cole, unlike Judge, doesn’t play every single day. True. But Cole is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. When he is at the very peak of his powers, he’s absolutely electric to watch on the mound. He does things with a baseball that mere mortals, and a lot of other pitchers, could only dream of.
When Cole has everything going, the Yankees have a chance and that’s exactly why they gave the six-time All-Star a nine-year, $324 million contract. Cole is exactly the kind of big-time pitcher you want to build an entire franchise around. He’s exactly the type of cold-blooded, ice-in-your-veins killer that can get the job done while pitching at an otherworldly level.
Heck, if it wasn’t for Cole, the Yankees would have been eliminated from playoff contention before the All-Star break last year. The righty went 15-4 with a stellar 2.63 ERA and 222 strikeouts on a team that had no other reliable starting pitching and an offense that was an absolute hot, stinking dumpster fire for most of the year. Despite being surrounded by garbage, Cole still absolutely dominated and he won the American League Cy Young after arguably the best season of his entire career.
And what makes Monday’s news even more unsettling is the fact that Cole - who owns a career 3.17 ERA - has been incredibly durable throughout his career. Since he signed with the Yankees in 2020, no pitcher has pitched more than Cole’s 664 innings. He’s also made the third-most starts in Major League Baseball (300) since debuting in 2013.
If Cole does hit the IL for any amount of time, it would present a massive blow to the Yankees’ hopes of winning a first World Series since 2009. Outside of their reliable and elite ace, the Yanks just have too many question marks in that starting rotation. Carlos Rodón was a complete bust in his first year in the Bronx, pitching to an ugly 6.85 ERA in 2023. Granted, the two-time All-Star had two excellent years with the White Sox and the Giants in 2021 and 2022, but who knows what version of Rodón the Yankees will get in 2024. Marcus Stroman is a solid No. 3 option but he isn’t an ace, while Nestor Cortes failed to stay healthy in 2023. Clarke Schmidt is also a backend starter, and not someone who could step up to help fill the void left by any possible Cole loss.
Remove Cole from the equation and it could be a brutally long season for the Yankees, with any championship hopes all but wiped out before Opening Day. Even if Juan Soto is hitting .500/.550/.1.278/.1.828 with four homers and 10 RBIs in spring training.
Given that the depth options outside of Cole are hardly inspiring - Luis Gil, Will Warren, Luke Weaver and Clayton Beeter - the Yankees would absolutely need to go and pay LHP Blake Snell whatever he wants. The two-time Cy Young winner wouldn’t be a direct replacement for Cole, because you can’t simply just replace a pitcher of Gerrit Cole’s stature and quality, but Snell would give you a legit ace atop the rotation in Cole’s absence. Hell, given that New York clearly is all in on 2024, I’d even go and sign Jordan Montgomery too if I were Brian Cashman.
Just a final note on this. Not only would losing Cole for a substantial amount of time absolutely blow for the Yankees, it would suck for Major League Baseball and its fans too. It doesn’t matter what team you follow, you want the very best players in the game on the field at all times and Cole is simply mesmerizing to watch. He’s the type of starting pitcher you’d pay the admission fee just to go and watch, and if I know he’s starting, then I’m watching the Yankees on MLB.TV every single time. Peak Gerrit Cole is unmissable entertainment, and I really hope his shoulder is okay and we get to see him pitch in 2024.
Finally, if you want a clearer indication of just how bad a Monday this was for the Yankees, then Aaron Boone also revealed that star slugger Aaron Judge is in a “mid-spring beat up” and will be held out of the lineup until Wednesday. Now, what the heck a “mid-spring beat up” is I don’t know, but I wouldn’t say that’s exactly an encouraging sign either. For a guy who only has played in six spring training games to already be feeling some wear and tear is concerning to say the least, especially when you consider Judge’s injury history and the fact he played just 106 games in 2023. I’d say that is a situation worth keeping an eye on.
Either way, nobody likes Mondays but the Yankees had arguably the worst Monday possible. Let’s hope the rest of the week doesn’t bring even more gut-punching news as we wait for the results of Gerrit Cole’s MRI.