Luis Gil, the breakout starter for the New York Yankees, made his first rehab start for the Double-A Somerset Patriots on Sunday. He struck out six hitters and gave up three runs in 3.2 innings after abandoning his previous start against the Cleveland Guardians and being placed on the injured list due to a lower back strain.
Clarke Schmidt, a fellow right-hander, is recovering from a considerably more serious injury that he suffered in late May: a right lat strain. On Monday, he will face the hill for the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, having dominated the opposition in Somerset in his previous two career appearances.
If they dodge obstacles along the road, it is anticipated that both stars can rejoin the Yankees rotation this week. With their individual recoveries, things are going well so far, but this raises some serious concerns about the team’s future.
What will the Yankees do with healthy Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Schmidt, and Gil? Will Warren was previously sent to Triple-A, so that was the first action taken.
Yes, the Yankees have some choices.
A six-man rotation would be one of the choices. More sleep would have been had by all in preparation for the postseason. Pitchers, however, prefer to follow their routines, so this tactic is rarely used.
For the most part of the remainder of his contract, Cole will continue to be the staff ace. Although Rodon’s contract practically compels the Yankees to use him as a starter, Cortes and Stroman thrive on endurance, command, and pitching IP and are ideally suited for starting duties. He would be the best choice to go to a relief role if his performance up to this point was the only consideration, but that is extremely unlikely to occur.
For the time being, that leaves us with Gil and Schmidt. These things normally end with an injury, but when they come back, one of them is likely to end up in the bullpen if no one else gets hurt.
Gil has a 3.39 ERA while Schmidt, who started games for a few months earlier in the season, has a 2.52 ERA in 60.2 innings. While the former has expertise in the role, the latter possesses more outstanding stuff that might be used in the bullpen.
The Yankees do have other choices, but for the time being the four veterans will probably remain in the rotation. Only time will tell. Thus, one of the two indigenous talents stands a good chance of being relegated to the bullpen.
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