The New York Yankees are staring at a calendar they do not like. Carlos Rodón, Gerrit Cole, and Clarke Schmidt will all open the 2026 season on the injured list, and in at least one case the absence stretches far beyond April. For a team built to win now, that kind of early-season pitching void is not just uncomfortable. It is dangerous.
This is not about weathering a couple of rough starts or leaning on depth until arms return. This is about avoiding a scenario where the Yankees dig a hole so deep in April and May that even a healthy rotation cannot fully pull them out. Starting pitching was already a priority. With those injuries, it has become unavoidable.
Why the Yankees Cannot Wait This Out
The Yankees know better than anyone how fragile pitching plans can be. They lived it last season, cycling through call-ups and short starts while hoping elite offense could cover the gaps. Sometimes it did. Often, it did not.
Rodón’s recovery, Cole’s long-term health concerns, and Schmidt’s delayed availability leave the Yankees without a stabilizing presence at the top or middle of the rotation to help Max Fried. That matters. Over the past decade, teams that contend deep into October almost always finish in the top third of the league in innings pitched by starters. The Yankees simply do not have that right now.
Re-signing Ryan Yarbrough made sense as a depth move. It does not move the needle. It keeps innings from being panic innings. The front office knows that alone will not preserve the Yankees’ margin for error.
The Free Agent Reality Check
The free agent market looks attractive on paper. Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Michael King, Ranger Suárez, and Zac Gallen all bring varying levels of reliability and upside. But markets are not won on paper.
Outside of Imai and King, the Yankees have not been strongly connected to any of those arms. Cost is part of it. Long-term risk is another. Paying top-of-the-market prices for pitchers entering their late twenties or early thirties has burned this organization before. The Yankees are not eager to repeat that lesson unless the fit is perfect.
That is where the reporting from YES Network’s Jack Curry becomes especially telling. Curry suggested this week that if the Yankees land a starting pitcher, it is more likely to come via trade than free agency. That tracks with how this front office has operated when facing high-stakes roster holes.
The Trade Market Is Where This Gets Interesting
A trade opens doors free agency cannot. Tarik Skubal is the dream scenario, the kind of ace who could immediately recalibrate the Yankees’ rotation and carry playoff games. Whether the Yankees have the prospect capital to win that bidding war is another question.
Beyond Skubal, there are realistic targets with real impact. Freddy Peralta offers strikeouts and durability. Sandy Alcantara brings frontline pedigree and a chance at a rebound. Edward Cabrera’s raw stuff fits the Yankees’ pitching development model, while Mackenzie Gore represents controllable upside with room to grow.
None of those moves would be cheap. All of them would require the Yankees to accept real risk. But risk already exists in doing nothing. The difference is whether the Yankees choose to control it.
A Decision That Defines the Offseason
This offseason will reveal how aggressively the Yankees view their window. The injuries have stripped away the luxury of patience. They can either absorb the cost of a major acquisition or accept that early-season losses will pile up.
The Yankees do not need five new starters. They need one or two arms who change the tone of the rotation from day one. The front office understands that. The question is whether they are willing to pay the price to act on it.