Yankees Could Make Surprising Addition to Pitching Staff

The New York Yankees’ starting rotation is already littered with injuries. Gerrit Cole is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Luis Gil will be sidelined for a few months with a lat strain and Clarke Schmidt is currently dealing with shoulder soreness that could put the start of his year in jeopardy.

That leaves Carlos Rodon, Max Fried and Marcus Stroman as the only healthy proven starting pitchers on the Yankees’ staff at the moment, which means New York may have to search elsewhere for solutions. But is it possible that the Yanks actually have an answer in-house?

Jack Curry of the YES Network thinks so, noting that Carlos Carrasco could ultimately end up securing a spot in the Yankees’ starting rotation.

“With the way [Aaron] Boone has raved about Carrasco’s swing and miss stuff, indications are that Carrasco is likely to be in the rotation,” Curry posted on X. “He has an opt out on March 22. I see these two sides staying together. Yanks need rotation depth so it would be unwise to lose Carrasco.”

Carrasco has made four appearances and three starts in spring training, pitching to the tune of a 2.45 ERA while allowing just six hits and registering 12 strikeouts over 11 innings of work.

Of course, that’s a very small sample size, and Carrasco really hasn’t been productive since going 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA with the New York Mets back in 2022, but given all of the injuries that have befallen Boone’s club, the Yankees really may not have much of a choice.

There was a time when Carrasco was one of the better pitchers in baseball. Between 2014 and 2018, he was a consistently effective hurler and a strikeout artist. Since then, however, injuries have derailed the 37-year-old, who has spent the bulk of his MLB career in Cleveland.