For the first time in 2024, the Yankees will have a fully healthy rotation and an expansion of options as they look to clinch the top spot in the American League East over the final four weeks of the regular season.
Manager Aaron Boone disclosed over the weekend that Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil should be activated from the injured list next week, giving the Bronx Bombers six arms to choose from down the stretch.
Schmidt was scheduled to make his final rehab start with Double-A Somerset on Monday after working his way back from a lat strain that landed him on the shelf in late May.
Gil suffered a lower back strain on Aug. 20 and threw 80 pitches with Somerset on Sunday as he continues to ramp back up.
The two right-handers will be added to the mix of a rotation that now has Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Nestor Cortes healthy. Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, has struggled to find his former All-Star form after dealing with an arm injury to the tune of a 3.86 ERA this season.
Cortes is coming off an outing in which he was smacked for five runs on nine hits in four innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. The 2022 season, in which he posted a 2.44 ERA, looks more and more like a fluke as his 2024 mark has soared back over the 4.00 plateau. The same could be said for Rodon, whose big contract with the Yankees has not paid off still as he followed up a disastrous debut campaign last year with that 6.85 ERA with a 4.31 ERA this season. Marcus Stroman has come as advertised after he was signed late in the spring to provide mid-rotation depth.
Both Schmidt and Gil had performed like Yankees aces at different points throughout the season, meaning anything close to their early-season contributions would be a welcome addition.
Schmidt was 5-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 starts before hitting the injured list, while Gil was the best pitcher in the American League from Opening Day until mid-June. In his first 14 starts, he went 9-1 with a 2.03 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched.
It is unknown how Boone plans to approach the rotation. He could expand to a six-man group to diminish the workloads of the four veteran starters that are currently in place, or he could cut out one of the underperforming arms to allow Gil and Schmidt the chance to prove that they can be difference-makers ahead of the postseason.
