A Calamitous Cole Situation For Yankees

Things have grown very dark down in Tampa thanks to another miserable week on the injury front, and this latest bit of horror, Gerrit Cole’s elbow soreness, could be a death blow for the Yankees’ World Series aspirations. Sometimes I wonder if there are war zones that are less dangerous than Yankees’ spring training. Lets get to it.

It was barely three weeks ago when the Yankees began reporting to spring training and I foolishly and naively believed they actually had a chance to be better in 2025 than in 2024 which was quite a take since last year they won 94 games along with the AL East title and their first AL pennant since 2009.

Sure, Juan Soto was gone, but Brian Cashman made what I thought was a sharp pivot when he signed lefty Max Fried to round out an already strong rotation; acquired one of the best closers in MLB in Devin Williams; traded for outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger’s who’s lefty swing should play very well with the short porch; and signed Paul Goldschmidt who is in decline but is still a better option at first base than anything the Yankees had last season.

Yeah, third base is still a big problem and left field is a little worrisome because Jasson Dominguez appears to wear a frying pan for a glove, but top to bottom, this team looked perfectly capable of making a run at another World Series appearance.

Now, as I write on this first Sunday morning of daylight savings time, I doubt very highly that this team is sniffing the World Series.

You know what they say about how a good mood is like a balloon and all it takes is a good prick to ruin it? Yeah, that’s what the past week has been for the Yankees - a balloon that has been completely eviscerated.

Friday night it became known that Gerrit Cole is experiencing discomfort in his pitching elbow, this after getting lit up the day before by the Twins for six runs in less than three innings.

“There were a lot of good things that were happening in the game the other day, but as I got home, I just continued to get more and more sore,” Cole told reporters Saturday. “When I woke up (Friday) morning, something wasn’t right. … It was tough to sleep. It was alarming.”

It was almost exactly one year ago when Cole left spring training to fly to Los Angeles to get his elbow examined and he wound up missing the first two-plus months of the season. That time, the Yankees breathed a huge sigh of relief that he avoided surgery. This time, we wait to see what the outcome will be but Cole admitted, “I’m concerned. I’m hoping for the best. We have an initial idea, but we’re going to wait to see exactly what everybody says before we come to our conclusion.”

That sounds ominous, and when you meld that together with the news early in the week that 2024 AL rookie of the year Luis Gil will almost certainly not be available for the first half of the year, and that Giancarlo Stanton may be out that long as well, (I’m not even going to bother including DJ LeMahieu’s absence because I don’t really think that matters), the Yankees no longer look like a World Series contender, maybe not even an AL East winner.

Sunday, Cashman told reporters before the Yankees lost to the Cardinals in Jupiter, Florida, “Prepared for the worst. We will see how it plays out. I’m always wired to think the worst and hope for the best. Obviously not what you want, but it’s ultimately part of our journey here in 2025.”

Yeah, that sounds ominous, too.

By the time you read this Monday, Cole may be on his way for Tommy John surgery which would mean we’re not seeing him on a mound until the middle of 2026. At the very least, he’s shut down now and you can forget about the first part of the season, similar to 2024. And that means the Yankees’ rotation - which three weeks ago was a strength - now looks like this.

Fried, who is outstanding so long the Yankees’ horrifically bad injury karma doesn’t affect him, is now the ace. Carlos Rodon, who has had a rocky first two seasons in pinstripes and cannot be counted on for consistency, slots in at No. 2. Clarke Schmidt, who hasn’t even pitched in a spring game because of his back soreness, is No. 3. Marcus Stroman, who we all - including Cashman - would have loved to see the Yankees trade away, is No. 4. And Will Warren, who flopped last year when given an opportunity, is No. 5.

If you’re looking for other in-house options, forget promising prospect Chase Hampton because he just had Tommy John surgery. There are two non-roster invitees getting looks - 39-year-old Carlos Carrasco whose cumulative ERA the past six years with the Guardians and Mets is 5.02, and 29-year-old Allan Winans whose MLB career consists of eight starts and a 7.20 ERA with the Braves.

Are there any free agents still out there? Well, Patrick Corbin, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood are still unemployed. Wood is the youngest of that uninspiring group at 34, and even if Cashman were to sign one, there’s two problems: None of them are any good, and they wouldn’t be ready to join the rotation at the start of the year.

“There’s quality people that we know are capable of stepping in and getting it done,” said the always optimistic Aaron Boone of his current staff. “And that will be the expectation.”

Here are a few things that stood out last week

➤ The Yankees’ 2023 first-round draft pick, infielder George Lombard, has been drawing rave reviews, but you have to understand that he’s never played a game above Single-A, so before anyone believes he could be an answer for the Yankees’ black hole at third base, slam the brakes on.

Lombard has gone 5-for-19 with two homers and a .912 OPS and he has played very well in the field, but he’s not even close to being an option for the big club. My guess is that he’ll start at Single-A Hudson Valley with a likely quick recall to Double-A Somerset, and if that goes exceedingly well, maybe he’ll get a look late in the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but even that’s probably a longshot.

Now, if he really lights it up in the minors and does get to Triple-A, then I think he’ll have a legitimate chance to compete for a roster spot in the spring of 2026. He was drafted as a shortstop, and we’ll see where Anthony Volpe is in his progression a year from now, but I would think Volpe’s still going to be holding that position and Lombard can move to third.

➤ With Stanton on the shelf and looking like he may miss not only a few months, but the entire season, there’s a chance that Everson Pereira could make the team out of camp. Pereira was once considered a top-100 prospect in MLB, but he lost some luster when he struggled terribly after he debuted in the Bronx in 2023. He slashed .151/233/.194 with a .427 OPS in 103 plate appearances, and then blew out his elbow in Triple-A early last year and underwent Tommy John surgery.

He hasn’t played the field yet as his elbow is still in recovery, but he’s hitting the shit out of the ball. He’s been the DH in seven games and he’s slashing .375/.474/.750 and has a 1.224 OPS with two solo homers. If he keeps that up, he could come north as a right-hand DH option in place of Stanton, possibly sharing that role with lefty Ben Rice.

“I’ve liked his at-bats,” Boone said Friday of the 23-year-old Venezuelan. “I just think there’s another level of maturity and professionalism that’s come with him – not to say that was an issue for him before. But for whatever reason, sometimes guys in their career, you have a setback, you have an injury, you have some successes and failures – he’s just had a really good look in his eye. Really good intent to how he’s worked. It’s showed up. He’s working with confidence. It’s been encouraging to see that.”

➤ One of the best stories in camp is that of catcher J.C. Escarra who is having a terrific spring at the plate, and behind it. There now seems to be at least a decent chance that he will win the backup catching job behind Austin Wells, with Rice making the team as a DH, backup catcher and backup first baseman.

Escarra, who will be 30 in late April, has never made it to MLB. He spent five years kicking around in the Orioles system, during which they refused to give him a chance to catch and tried to turn him into a first baseman. He eventually was released and bounced around in non-affiliated independent baseball, trying to make ends meet by working all kinds of odd jobs including as an Uber driver.

“I had just gotten married and bought an apartment with my wife,” Escarra told Bryan Hoch of Yankees.com of his status circa 2023. “So now I’ve got a mortgage to pay and a wife to provide for. I had to make money somehow, and no one was going to take away my home from me. I knew I had to make those payments, so I was doing anything it took.”

The Yankees spotted him catching in the Mexican League and later in winter ball and decided to give him a shot and signed him in 2024. Across Double-A and Triple-A, Escarra slashed .261/.355/.434 for an OPS of .789 and had 12 homers and 64 RBI. Oh, and he handled his defensive responsibilities just fine so the Yankees signed him to their 40-man roster for 2025.

There are still key decisions that have to be made, but Escarra is certainly a guy I’m rooting for. As long as he helps the team, of course because hey, this is a results-based business and no matter how cool his story is, he had to produce.