The 2021 Yankees have no concerns over the durability and dependability of their starters. Gerrit Cole and… was.
The Yankees loved the upside potential for Domingo German, Corey Kluber and Jameson Tillon. However, that trio combined for one start last year, and Kluber and Tillon combined for 15 starts and 74 innings between 2019-20. Jordan Montgomery played just 17 starts and 75 had / from innings from 2018-20.
So Cole started Thursday against Astro on Thursday and was a positive first step to start this Yankees rotation with a seventh turn without injury.
Of course, this is just one step. This concern is not missing, as concern with non-Cole starters also focuses on how they will tolerate innings played recently with weapons on so few pitches.
Ultimately, moving from comfortable to uncomfortable about the depth of rotation can happen quickly. The Dodgers were jealous of the rotation volume before Trevor Bauer felt like a luxury sign. But Dustin May blew his elbow last week and would not pitch before next season. Tony Gonsolin and David Price – beginning in almost any other rotation – started the year in the bullpen before joining IL. The two are set to return soon. For now, however, Edwin Uketa had to make his major league debut and the Dodgers could officiate a bullpen game on Saturday.
Which explains why, when Astro was asked about his team’s health Thursday before 7-4, Brian Cashman said, “I feel comfortable that we are in a position to be on May 6, 2021 . “
But in a season that is “Survivor” due to a return to 162 games after 60 regular season games in 2020, a positive baby step is valued. The Yankees did not place a starter on IL in April 2021. It was first marked in April to August (there are no signs of multiple September ILs following the expansion of the roster) that the Yanks had not put a starter on IL in a calendar month from July 2018.
While providing more time for others, Yale has manipulated Cole to allow him to pitch regularly. Thus, Davey Garcia was promoted to a start and Nick Nelson was once used as an opener. But that was the strategy, not the injury. And through 31 games, the Yanke’s 3.56 rotation was ERA AL’s second best.
The Yankees were doing well overall injury-wise through 30 games – and then in Game 31, Geo Urshella hurt his knee and was sent for a postgame MRI exam, with immediate results not made public.
Wednesday’s report by The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal said that MLB injuries increased 15 percent (last full season) from the first month of 2019 this year, including 22 percent for pitchers and 97 percent for soft tissue injuries, including hamstrings. Or as oblique strains.
The Yanks had eight IL signs this year for non-COVID reasons, tied for the 17th-most. But he had only two since the season began: Darren O’Day’s right rotator cuff strain and Ragnad Odor’s strain on his left knee. An odor injury – caused in a home-plate collision – cannot help any such training employee escape.
It also has its meaning. In 2019, the Yanks set a record with 30 different players, covering 39 stents of IL. In response, Cashman overhauled the team’s training / medical staff, specifically appointing Eric Corresi as director of player health. Nevertheless, the series of injuries continued in 2020. Perhaps this reflects a disgruntled season, including two spring training with a long shutdown in between. But Cashman said studies by the office before him showed that the injuries actually went away with a new training staff, as time is needed to install the new system and gain player approval. Cashman said the results would come in time. Maybe now we are seeing the same.
“I know that our implementation and compliance is very high,” Cashman said. “You’ve got, top to bottom, a lot of buying – most everyone has changed. It gives you more cohesion and confidence that you’re in a better place to increase your ability to stay on the field.”
Cashman described a process in which managers and coaches – who normally want their players to play – also have to be part of a series that regularly returns players keeping the big picture in mind. Which tells of keeping Aaron Boon out of the lineup with a higher frequency than normal starts. Aaron Judge recently recalled the games being publicly described as lower-body pain.
In the big picture, the judge and Giancarlo Stanton – who noted high flexibility in training methods modified in the spring and less training in high loads – were in the starting lineup for the 23rd time in 31 games this year on Thursday. It was just 33 times between 2019-20.
And the preteen injury group has also offered optimism. Justin Wilson returns to the majors quickly, Luke Voyt is on rehab and nearing a comeback, Miguel Anduzaar is playing in Triple-A, and the Yankees have reported positively on the rehab of Zac Britton, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Severino. In the Yanks’ biggest scenario, Severino arrives in late June to help ease the workload as the innings is healthy yet, but still a doubtful start.
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