The New York Yankees have been behind the 8-ball with their starting rotation since Gerrit Cole’s Tommy John surgery announcement. They didn’t do much of anything at the MLB trade deadline last week to rectify a situation that’s only worsened with injuries to Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Yarbrough.
One rival AL scout told Newsday’s Erik Boland in March that rotational depth was a problem.
Prior to any of the aforementioned injuries.
“Boone, necessarily playing the role of good company frontman, did not criticize the deadline work of Cashman and the front office — they tried to secure a starter but found the asking prices too high — but did allow of the organizational starters’ pool,” Boland wrote before quoting Boone claiming that “depth’s a little bit of an issue for us.”
“It is,” Boland added.
“Because as suboptimal as the current group of starters has been when it comes to length, if one of those pitchers goes down, the Yankees will have to dip into the rotation pool that Boone also characterized as not having ‘a ton’ when it comes to depth.
“Or, as another rival AL scout assigned to the Yankees’ system put it: ‘What depth?’
“The scout said that, incidentally, on March 1.
“Said it before Gerrit Cole was lost for the season for Tommy John surgery and before Gil hurt his lat.
“It’s a problem.
“It’s been a problem.”
That problem not being solved may not be great news for manager Aaron Boone. After failing to get over the hump for so long and looking outclassed by the Los Angeles Dodgers on the biggest stage last October, Boone was put in a less-than-advantageous position by Brian Cashman and Co. in 2025:
Failing to find top-of-the-line starters, which turned out to be the equivalent of punting the season.
It’s a genius strategy if the front office wants to find a replacement. Especially if that replacement has been in the cards for a while.
