While Carlos Rodón and Max Fried have been as good as the New York Yankees could have hoped for, the back end of the starting rotation has been a different story.
To be fair, the Yankees were forced to scramble for alternatives when Luis Gil went down with a lat strain in spring training and Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John Surgery. Still, the replacements they have turned to have not inspired much confidence. Carlos Carrasco posted a 5.91 ERA and has since been DFA’d, Will Warren (5.34 ERA, 4.4 BB/9) has not been much better, and Marcus Stroman made just three awful starts before succumbing to a knee injury. Journeyman left-hander Ryan Yarbrough turned heads with five straight starts of two or fewer runs, yet it is hard to trust a starter who tops out at 88 miles per hour, and his recent blowup against the Boston Red Sox may be a sign of things to come.
On the bright side, Clarke Schmidt has been his usual steady-if-unspectacular self after missing the first few weeks of the season with a shoulder injury, and Gil is beginning to work his way towards a second-half return. It would hardly be a travesty if the Yankees put their faith in a Fried-Rodon-Schmidt-Gil-Warren rotation, but with their lineup and bullpen looking to be among the best in baseball, another top-end starter could make them true World Series favorites. This is why The Athletic’s Tim Britton, Aaron Gleeman and Eno Sarris ranked them fourth on the starting pitcher trade deadline urgency index while simultaneously admitting that acquiring another starter is a luxury more than a necessity.
“As a unit, (the Yankees rotation) has floated between 12th and seventh in pitching WAR to this point in the season, as Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren have been indeed good enough to power the back end of the rotation on a team with a strong offense,” they wrote. “The Yankees don’t have to make a move here if everyone stays healthy.”
Complicating matters is the expected lack of top-end starting-pitching talent available this summer. The Milwaukee Brewers' recent hot streak likely takes ace Freddy Peralta off the table, while former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara has seen his stock plummet after posting a 7.14 ERA through his first 13 starts. Perhaps the Texas Rangers making Jacob DeGrom or Nathan Eovaldi available or the Arizona Diamondbacks putting Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly on the block could be the pieces that force the Yankees to make yet another win-now move.
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