Yankees' early rotation re-do will be hard to match success of 2024
Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon walks to the dugout after the top of the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
What’s harder to comprehend these days about the Yankees’ pieced-together rotation? That it’s mostly composed of starters that didn’t figure into the top five when everyone showed up in Tampa two months ago? Or Carlos Rodon being the de facto No. 1 for the defending AL champs, largely due to the Bronx comfort factor and pinstriped seniority?
We’d call it a tie. No offense to Rodon, but the Yankees gave him $162 million to be Gerrit Cole’s sidekick — not replace him as the alpha dog of the Yankees’ rotation. And yet that’s where Rodon once again found himself Wednesday night, as last week’s Opening Day starter was trying to serve as the backstop to the Yankees’ first losing streak of the 2025 season.
Rodon failed in that mission, doomed by an early combo of velocity dip and inability to throw strikes. By the time he straightened himself out, retiring 10 straight to finish his six-inning effort, it was too late for the K-prone Yankees to rebound in a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on a 38-degree wind-chill evening in the Bronx.
Given the disheveled state of the rotation, and a flailing lineup that has now whiffed 30 times in two games, the Yankees need Rodon to embrace a No. 1 role with Cole on the shelf. Or at least be a co-ace with Bronx newbie Max Fried, who certainly deserves a share of that title based on his own $218 million price tag.
We saw a glimpse of that on Opening Day, when Rodon fanned seven over 5 1⁄3 innings, the longest outing by a Yankee in the first four games. But he faded right back into the pack Wednesday as Arizona jumped to a 4-0 lead through two innings, spurred by Lourdes Gurriel’s two-run homer in the first.
With Cole lost to Tommy John surgery until 2026, and Luis Gil probably not available until June — at the earliest — due to a lat-muscle strain, I asked Rodon after Wednesday’s loss if he felt a duty to step up, to maybe set the tone for a rotation that no longer had its captain in Cole. He deferred to the group instead.
“I just kind of take it as, every day someone else is pitching, they’re the guy that day,” Rodon said. “I don’t think it’s one of those things where you have to bear that weight. It’s a team game. So it takes all of us.”
Beyond Rodon and Fried, that’s a lot to ask. Marcus Stroman is the No. 3 starter by default after the Yankees couldn’t find any takers for him during the winter. Will Warren is a rookie coming off a 10.32 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance last season. Carlos Carrasco, who turned 38 last month, was a non-roster invitee to spring training and only made the team when Clarke Schmidt had to be put on the IL with rotator cuff tendinitis in late March.
Now Carrasco, a 16-year veteran, will try to prevent the Yankees from getting swept when he makes his starting debut in Thursday’s series finale. Carrasco conceded some jitters during his pinstriped relief appearance Saturday, so he’s happy those are out of the way.
“Getting this opportunity,” Carrasco said, “I just got to go out there and show that I can still pitch.”
Fortunately for the Yankees, they’ve been down this topsy-turvy road before. Last year, in fact, when Cole’s spring training elbow scare cost him the first 11 weeks of the regular season. Now that Cole, Gil and Schmidt again have left sizable vacancies in the rotation, manager Aaron Boone & Co. are faced with the unenviable task of duplicating the near-miracle they pulled off during the first half a year ago.
Stunningly, without Cole, the Yankees’ rotation performed like the best in baseball, leading the majors in wins (36), ERA (2.86) and opponents’ batting average (.212) in those 75 games minus their $324 million ace. They also were third with a 1.12 WHIP.
For those dreaming of an encore, consider this: Only two of the five pitchers responsible for pulling that off — Rodon and Stroman — are now on the staff. Gil was the main engine, and he’s gone for a while. Nestor Cortes was last seen being pummeled in a Brewers uniform, but Schmidt is on the horizon after Boone said Tuesday that he should return for a mid-April debut against the Royals.
The Yankees weren’t sure where they were going to find a substitute for Cole a year ago — replacing the reigning Cy Young winner figured to be impossible. But Gil skyrocketed from high-ceiling prospect to Rookie of the Year based on the foundation he established during Cole’s absence, when he went 9-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 14 starts.
Who’s capable of doing that now? Fried certainly has the resume, with a pair of top-five finishes for the Cy Young Award, but he failed to complete five innings Saturday despite being staked to a 16-6 lead (he needed 94 pitches to get 14 outs). Rodon was at the head of the class after his Opening Day performance, but Wednesday’s shakiness didn’t instill all that much confidence.
Combine the rotation’s worries with the Yankees’ sputtering offense of the past two days — notably against top-notch pitching — and the margin of error has shrunk to zero lately. That could be a troubling trend.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
