Quick thoughts after Gerrit Cole has an MRI on his elbow

Opening Day is still more than two weeks away, and already this season is starting to feel cursed. Gerrit Cole’s elbow is acting up for the second straight spring. He’s already had an MRI and the results are being sent out for second opinions, because that’s what you do when your $36M a year ace has an elbow issue. Cole admitted he is “concerned."

“I’m hoping for the best,” Cole told Bryan Hoch on Saturday morning. “In the game there was a lot of good stuff happening the other day, but as I got home I just continued to get more and more sore. Something wasn’t right.”

Cole missed the first 2.5 months of last season with an elbow injury, though that was nerve inflammation, not anything structural. I’ve already seen the “he should’ve had Tommy John surgery last year!” takes and nope. Those are just wrong. His UCL was fine last year. And hopefully it’s fine this year. We’ll see. There are two types of pitchers in this game: pitchers who are injured and pitchers who aren’t injured yet.

This has been an especially brutal spring for injuries. The Yankees have lost Cole (elbow), Luis Gil (lat), DJ LeMahieu (calf), Giancarlo Stanton (elbows), and a small army of relievers. Also, pitching prospects Chase Hampton and Thatcher Hurd blew out and needed Tommy John. This is the rotation depth chart at the moment: 

1. RHP Gerrit Cole (had MRI on elbow)
2. LHP Max Fried
3. LHP Carlos Rodón
4. RHP Luis Gil (out until at least late May/early June with a lat strain)
5. RHP Clarke Schmidt (behind the other starters because of an achy back)
6. RHP Marcus Stroman
7. RHP Will Warren
8. RHP JT Brubaker (will miss time with broken ribs)
9. RHP Carlos Carrasco? (starting Sunday)
10. RHP Allan Winans? (starting Saturday)

Gil stepped up big time when Cole got hurt last year and the Yankees will need Warren to do the same this year. He’s looked great this spring, but it is only Spring Training. The Yankees might have to put Carrasco on the Opening Day roster just to prevent him from opting out of his minor league contract in two weeks. They need the depth. Carrasco’s looked okay this spring. Like a competent long man.

Teams usually aren’t eager to trade away pitching in Spring Training, though the Marlins are in everything must go mode and will probably listen on Sandy Alcantara. Dylan Cease’s name was out there all winter because the Padres were looking for ways to clear money. Maybe Cole’s injury will finally convince Hal Steinbrenner to raise payroll and they can swing a Cease/Luis Arraez trade? (crowd laughs)

There are a few veteran starters available in free agency. Kyle Gibson is the best of the bunch. He threw 169.2 innings with a 4.24 ERA (4.42 FIP) with the Cardinals last season, and Jon Morosi says Gibson is stretched out to 60 pitches and throwing live BP to college teams. He wouldn’t have to get built up from scratch. Marco Gonzales, Lance Lynn, and Spencer Turnbull are the other notable free agent starters.

One way or another, Cole will miss time. Basically never does a pitcher go for an MRI on his elbow and have everything come back squeaky clean, and he can resume throwing right away. The best case scenario is a little inflammation, a week or two of treatment, then building up from there. That would put Cole on track to return at the end of April, maybe? The worst case scenario is see you around the 2026 All-Star break, Gerrit.

The American League is very watered-down right now and even the Cole-less Yankees are good enough to get a postseason berth. Their margin of error has really shrunk though. They’re already pushing the limits of their pitching depth (starters and relievers) and they’ll need their high-variance players (Rodón, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jasson Domínguez, etc.) to click to best weather this injury storm.

It’ll likely be a few days until we get word on the nature and extent of Cole’s injury. Second opinions always take some time. So, until then, we wait and hope for the best. However long Cole is out, the Yankees will need Fried to be the ace, Rodón to not miss a start for the second straight year, and Stroman to pitch as good as he thinks he is. No more injuries, please. The Yankees have had a brutal spring on the health front.