We need to stop pretending the Yankees’ starting rotation is a fortress just because the names on the back of the jerseys are famous. Brian Cashman has assembled a pitching staff that looks incredible on a baseball card but terrifying on a medical chart.
Entering the 2026 season, the Yankees are banking their World Series dreams on a group of arms held together by surgical tape and optimism, and if you aren’t sweating, you aren’t paying attention.
The “Aces” Are rehab Projects, Not Sure Things
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Gerrit Cole. We are all desperate to see the ace return, but expecting him to roll out of bed and dominate after missing the entire 2025 season with Tommy John surgery is delusional.
We don’t know what version of Cole we are getting—the velocity might be down, the command might be rusty, and he won’t even be on the mound for Opening Day. You can’t win a division in April, but you can certainly lose your sanity watching a bullpen game every fifth day while waiting for your savior.
Then there is Carlos Rodón, who actually gave us a solid 2025 campaign before his elbow decided it had enough. Removing a bone chip might sound minor compared to ligament replacement, but it still means our number three starter is starting the year on the shelf. That leaves the rotation without its top two punch, forcing the Yankees to lean on depth that frankly scares me.
Max Fried Is the Only Adult in the Room
Thank the baseball gods for Max Fried. The lefty was nothing short of tremendous in his debut season in pinstripes, providing the kind of stability this rotation desperately lacks. He is the only guy you can circle on the calendar and feel confident he will give you seven innings of quality ball. But one man cannot pitch every day, and asking Fried to carry the load while the rest of the staff plays catch-up is a recipe for burnout.
The Kids Are Alright, But Are They Ready for War?
The hype train for Cam Schlittler has officially left the station, and to be fair, the kid flashed legitimate ace potential last year. He posted a dazzling 2.96 ERA and a 27.6% strikeout rate across 14 starts, showing off a 98-mph heater that overpowered big-league hitters. But let’s pump the brakes for a second; we haven’t seen him navigate a full 162-game grind yet. Relying on a rookie with less than 20 starts to be a frontline savior is how you get your heart broken.
Will Warren is the other side of that coin. He ate innings last year, tossing 162.1 frames, but a 4.44 ERA and 1.37 WHIP tells you exactly who he is: a back-end arm who allows way too much traffic on the bases. His sweeper is nasty—generating nearly 20 inches of break—but he’s inconsistent, and inconsistency kills you in the AL East.
The Depth Is Just More Injury Risk
If you think the depth will save us, look at Ryan Weathers and Luis Gil. Weathers has “breakout” written all over him with that 96.8 mph fastball (86th percentile), but the guy is a walking injury report who barely tossed 38 innings last year. Gil is electric when he’s on, but his mechanical violence makes him a ticking time bomb for the IL.
Clarke Schmidt is already gone for the year, so there is no safety net there. The Yankees are walking a tightrope over a canyon of injuries, and one more slip could send the whole season plummeting. We have the talent to win it all, but we also have the fragility to be out of it by June.