What lies ahead is an unenviable task for Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees. The weight of expectations is always something to be handled by the Yankees front office, but a series of circumstances have converged to put them in a position where it looks like this season is going to be an uphill battle. And yet it's one they must face without changing direction and "rebuilding," as many other franchises could afford to do.
Cole's injury and the rotation question marks
The big news on Wednesday was the elbow injury to Gerrit Cole and the expectation that he could miss at least a month. This isn't just a run-of-the-mill injury to a frontline starter. It appears to be a serious injury that will test Cole's durability, arguably one of the most important features of the workhorse Cy Young winner. In the last seven non-COVID seasons, Cole has topped 200 innings six times. He led the AL in innings pitched last season. Basically, he's been the most reliable pitcher in baseball in terms of taking the ball and eating innings. Oh, and he was pitching at an elite level while doing so.
He's irreplaceable.
Behind Cole, there are a bunch of question marks, too. Carlos Rodón is coming off a disaster of an injury-riddled season and his injury history in general is very concerning. Marcus Stroman is very good, but he's also been inconsistent at times and was bad for a stretch before injuries totally derailed him last season. Nestor Cortes looked like a Cy Young winner to start 2022, but he was pretty bad last season and dealt with a shoulder injury. And then there's Clarke Schmidt, who posted a 4.64 ERA (93 ERA+, 4.42 FIP) last season, his first full year in a rotation.
The Yankees can now pivot to add help to the rotation -- which they probably needed to do anyway -- but the loss of Cole for months instead of days or even weeks is a crushing blow that they must overcome.
Judge's injury situation and contract
Aaron Judge is one of baseball's best players when healthy. Of course, a toe injury held him to 106 games last season and it's a problem he's said will require constant maintenance the rest of his career now. He's also having other issues this spring and is having an MRI on his abs.
He's on the second year of a nine-year, $360 million deal. He's 31 years old. These long-term deals are generally expected to be what looks like an overpay in the last few years of the deal, but teams pay them to take advantage of the elite-level production in the early years of the contract.
After the Yankees missed the playoffs in the first year of Judge's deal, following it up by missing the second year too would be pretty catastrophic.
The Juan Soto trade and his looming free agency
The Yankees traded a bunch of pitching depth -- including three pitchers who made starts at the MLB level last year for them -- to get Soto and Trent Grisham from the Padres.
Soto is only 25 and will hit free agency after the season. He's already won a World Series and has three top-six MVP finishes. It's likely he gets a free-agent deal similar to Bryce Harper.
It's entirely conceivable that the Yankees would get a leg up in negotiations with Soto. Yankee Stadium's short porch is perfectly aligned to his pull side and anyone would love making a deep playoff run with the Yankees. They have plenty of money, too.
If this season falls off the rails, though? Surely the Yankees wouldn't want to turn around and trade him in July, right? Right? And how fun would it be for Soto if the Yankees are mediocre again? It would be fresh in his mind as he headed to being wined and dined next offseason by outside suitors.
It's the Yankees
Since the Yankees' first AL pennant in 1921 and World Series title in 1923, this has been a franchise synonymous with championships. In a 103-season span, they've racked up 40 AL championships and 27 World Series championships. In the Wild Card Era (starting in 1995), they've only missed the playoffs five times. From 1996-2009, they won seven pennants and five World Series.
Of course, since 2009, the Yankees have zero pennants. They've watched the Astros win the World Series twice, the Giants take three World Series and the Cubs, Royals and Nationals each win one. They've seen the Red Sox win two in that time span. This entire paragraph is simply unacceptable from the point of view of anyone affiliated with the Yankees. A 14-year drought with no World Series title is nearly an eternity in Yankeeville and they are actually nearing their longest drought since winning their first.
Given everything above, the Yankees had no choice but to go all out to win this year anyway, but knowing what franchise this is and the way things have gone for the past 14 years, no excuses will be accepted.
As noted, it's an unenviable task for Cashman, Boone et al. Then again, when you join the Yankees, you know what you're signing up for.
