It’s weird when a day of spring training goes by and a Yankee isn’t injured. It’s been a weird few days made weirder by Brian Cashman seemingly meeting with the media daily when such occurrences have always been infrequent throughout the year. That’s what happens when your roster is falling apart with two weeks until Opening Day.
“We’ve taken a number of hits in the starting rotation,” Cashman said. “We certainly can’t afford to take too many more.”
“Too many more?” The Yankees can’t afford to take one more. As it stands, either Will Warren or Carlos Carrasco is going to be in the rotation to start the season. One more injury and both of them will be in the rotation.
“Every pitcher is one pitch away,” Cashman said of potential injury. “You certainly hope you can avoid injuries, but injuries are also part of this.”
The free-agent options available aren’t appealing. For the Yankees to think Carlos Carrasco (who has a 5.02 ERA in 547 1/3 innings since the start of 2019) is better than any still-available arm tells you all you need to know about what’s available.
Because Hal Steinbrenner is reluctant to solve his team’s problems with money, if the Yankees are to sign an arm now it will prevent them from trading for an arm actually worth something later. That’s not to say the Yankees shouldn’t be adding to their depth by any means possible right now, it’s just the way it is for the Hal Steinbrenner Yankees. It’s why Cashman said it’s “less likely” the Yankees will add more payroll at the moment. This comes a day after it was reported the Yankees made a franchise record $411.7 million off of ticket and suite revenue last season, including $101.9 million from the postseason alone. The $411.7 million was a 40 percent increase from 2023.
The Yankees’ 2025 payroll is currently the same as it was in 2024 (and actually even a few million fewer). Despite record revenues, the payroll is staying the same, even though ticket prices, concessions, merchandise and advertising costs won’t.
Because the Yankees were planning on Gerrit Cole to pitch on Opening Day, Max Fried’s current schedule doesn’t like up with him being available for Game 1 of 162. Odds are Marcus Stroman is going to get the ball for the first game of the season against the Brewers. (Last April against the Brewers, Stroman blew a 4-0 lead and put 12 baserunners on in four innings.) The same Stroman who showed up to spring training expecting to be traded and who had spent the first day of his spring answering questions about a possible trade and the possibility of him moving to the bullpen. Now it’s likely Stroman will throw the first pitch of the Yankees’ season and the likelihood of him throwing 140 innings and guaranteeing himself $18 million for 2026 grows. All Yankees fans need to be Stroman fans and forget about the possibilty of Stroman being a part of the 2026 roster, the way Cashman forgot about Cole’s elbow issues last season when he brought him back this offseason.
“I think, ultimately, when you get enough distance between episodes,” Cashman said of Cole, “you start to forget a little about things that have happened in the past.”
Only the man who creates the roster would say, think and operate like that, despite age, a decline in strikeout and a decline in velocity serving as reminders for him.
“We’ll evaluate again what we have here,” Cashman said. “We’ll also evaluate what’s available outside camp.”
There’s not much left here. There’s nothing outside camp. The Yankees’ rotation is going to have to stay healthy and stay afloat until July when Gil is expected back and when teams are willing to move reliable starters.
Last modified: Mar 12, 2025
