TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees can’t afford to have any more injury adversity in their starting rotation this spring, but the blows keep on coming.
They’ve already lost Gerrit Cole for the year (Tommy John surgery) and Luis Gil (high-grade lat strain) for the first three months of the season, if not more.
Now, Clarke Schmidt won’t make his scheduled start on Monday against the Blue Jays because of shoulder soreness.
“He’s a little sore in recovery,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Sunday’s loss to the Pirates at Steinbrenner Field. “Obviously at this point with some of the attrition we’ve had, it’s not something we want to push.”
Schmidt isn’t shutting down. He’s now scheduled to throw a bullpen on Monday instead of pitching in-game in Dunedin, Fla.
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The hope, Boone said, is that Schmidt will recover as normal and be able to jump back into the Yankees’ starting rotation during the next turn through. That’s assuming Schmidt’s shoulder is suddenly back to normal, though. With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day — and with the other significant injuries the Yankees have been hit with already this spring — this is an obvious concern.
“I think we’re just being cautious with it,” Boone said. “But at the end of the day, he’s not making a start. There’s at least that concern.”
Boone added that this shoulder soreness for Schmidt is not connected to the lat injury that the right-hander dealt with last season where he was sidelined for more than three months after a sparkling start to his regular season. This is a new injury.
Schmidt had a “cranky” back earlier in spring training, an issue that kept him out of Grapefruit League games until his debut on March 11.
With Cole and Gil out of the picture, Carlos Rodón will start on Opening Day for the Yankees. Max Fried is scheduled to take the ball in Game 2. He would’ve started the Yankees’ opener, but he doesn’t line up to pitch on March 27, so Rodón got the nod instead.
Marcus Stroman has a guaranteed spot in the starting staff and either Will Warren or Carlos Carrasco will take the fifth and final spot. A few injuries in the bullpen could also open the door for both Warren and Carrasco to make the club — one arm could work in a long-relief role and still be in pinstripes — but any sort of setback here with Schmidt would ensure that both break camp in the rotation.
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