The Yankees have been without one of their top offseason signees all season. Carlos Rodón started the year on the injured list with a forearm strain, and while he’s put that issue behind him, back soreness has kept him out of action. There’s still plenty of uncertainty around the two-time All-Star’s timetable, as Rodón provided a concerning update this evening.
Rodón told the Yankees’ beat doctors informed him that his back issue is “chronic” (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). He didn’t provide much more clarity, although he’ll receive a cortisone injection early next week. There’s no present target date for a return to the mound, as Rodón noted “whenever my body tells me I can throw and everyone agrees that I can throw, then I’ll start throwing” (link via Brendan Kuty of the Athletic).
It’s obviously a worrisome situation for the Yankees due both to its short and long-term implications. New York envisioned Rodón slotting in as co-ace alongside Gerrit Cole when signing him to a six-year, $162MM free agent deal. It was the second-largest pitching contract of the offseason, a reflection of the southpaw’s 2.67 ERA and 33.9% strikeout rate over the past two seasons.
Injuries have instead taken out the bulk of what the Yankees had planned as their season-opening starting staff. Frankie Montas is going to miss the majority of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Luis Severino has yet to make his debut because of a lat strain. Those issues have pushed Jhony Brito, Clarke Schmidt and Domingo Germán into the rotation behind Cole and Nestor Cortes.
New York’s rotation has still been solid overall. They rank 11th in ERA (4.07) and third in strikeout percentage (26%). That’s almost all attributable to Cole, though. He’s off to a Cy Young caliber start, allowing only 1.35 earned runs per nine while fanning 29.4% of opposing hitters. Cortes, Germán and Schmidt are all missing bats at above-average rates but have been victimized by the home run ball, resulting in ERAs pushing or north of 5.00. Brito has had an up-and-down rookie season.
The Yankees have started the year 17-15. That’s a respectable showing given the number of injuries they’ve faced but has them at the bottom of an ultra-competitive AL East. Rotation help figures to be among the priorities for general manager Brian Cashman and his front office once the summer trade market begins to heat up. That’d be particularly true if Rodón’s health outlook is still uncertain as the deadline gets closer.
Seems more and more that Rodon really put everything he had into last season to secure that bag and now he’s back to his injury prone self.
He’s putting in the Albert Haynesworth effort.
Him and Michael Thomas of Saints must have the same agent
I’m not even a Yanks fan but knew they shouldn’t have signed this fool. It was only a matter of time. They are gonna be lucky to get 2 good seasons out of him
Same. I mean, come on with his injury history- – – and for 6 years. Sometimes you deserve what you get.
I have nothing against the Yankees, but I hope they keep Cashman around for a few more years.
Yankees contracts are guaranteed whether the players show up to work hard or not. At some point, Brian Cashman needs to stop ignoring the medical history of the team he builds.
Chronic back issues always end well.
Rizzo needed an epidural in order to finish the season last year.
beat doctors? I guess that’s a thing now.
Wait til Rodon’s come back!
I almost beat my new dentist when he told me recently I had to have two molars extracted. Then I drove 4 hours each way to go see my old dentist who had moved away. She ended up perfectly restoring both teeth.
A few years ago I moved to a new state. The first dentist I went to told me I had 7 cavities. I went to a different dentist for a second opinion and that said I had none. It’s been 5 years and still no cavities. Dentists…
Bunch of anti-dentites.
I sure do love Chinese food
They mostly hang out in used book stores smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. Kind of pretentious.
And for some odd reason, anti dentists never seem to have to work, they just seem perpetually rich.
They’re in last place. By the time Rodon comes back, they’ll be completely buried.
“Fleeceman” track record on pitching is atrocious
Carl Povano 2.0
OMG, Carl Pavano, had forgotten about that debacle!!!
As long as we’re in the way-back machine-Kei Igawa
This was not a wise signing from the start. Rodon has had two good seasons to his name and was just starting to stay good until he got injured. I think the Yankees were asking too much when they signed him.
got injured?
Rodon was never healthy. Even with the White Sox.
Rodon should go on the 160 day active list.
They should have given him a contract like SF gave him, based on innings pitched. Bad signing by the yanks.
Rodon injured. I’m shocked! Shocked I tell you!!
There were posters on here that slammed the Orioles for not spending 30% of their payroll on Rodon……and for 5 years.
Then again, how many of the Yankee fans on here complaining about the FO signing Rodon were ecstatic for weeks after they signed him.
I don’t think it was an overpay but they spent a lot for a guy with two seasons of success, both under 200 innings I believe.
To be fair, no one knew he was injured. Personally I wanted DeGrom…and look how that turned out!
See ya in spring training next year (MAYBE) 🙂
Don’t know how he managed two consecutive years without an injury. Sox fans who were critical of letting him go should be apologizing to the front office on this one.
As should Giants “fans”
Actually claude Giants fans are the best fans on earth.
No. The White Sox absolutely should’ve given him the QO instead of non-tendering him. But I agree that they should not feel too bad about not signing him to his current contract. Desperate move by the Yankees.
Giants have the most insane luck with oft-injured guys staying healthy while they’re in SF. Dunno how they do it, but I’ve been observing this for years and years from another NL West city.
Bonds had a nack for staying healthy in SF too. 🙂
just talking junk don’t take it serious
@knuck2. It’s because in the first year he was playing for a new contract. And in the second year he was motivated to stay healthy by his opt-out clause. Now in the third year he has no motivation because he signed a multi-year deal with no opt-outs.
I remember last off season a ton of people liked Rodon for 2 years/$60M or 3 years/$100m, etc and his insistence on a 6+ year deal scared a lot of people, seemed ridiculous.
A year or two of a lost cause or money burned etc? Sucks, but not an embarrassment and he still makes money that secures his future.
This? This was highway robbery from a guy who talked his way into the being handed the loot and the Yankees fell for it.
So glad the Orioles stayed away from him despite a lot of people here and elsewhere saying that they should go after him during the offseason. The dude’s a total glass cannon, he just can’t stay healthy enough.
it would have been a season of wasted money, I think end of this and next season is when they will really starting showing their potential. people also wanted them to do some other signings , but thats how teams fail, they jimp the gun during the final rebuilding stage.
If Rodon could only pitch to Giancarlo Stanton, they’d never be any baseball! 🙂
Cue Yankees fans: Alcantara for our 12th and 13th prospects.
Who are they? We have too many to keep track of rankings!
12. Joey “Boogie Down” Baggadonuts
13. Sleve McDichael
Ok, Dr. deGrom Texas Ranger.
You’re an idiot, and so was that guy. Move along, chump.
Alcantara for Clint Frazier, Andujar, and Greg Bird.
Yeah, that joke from last decade is still funny.
Throw the Kraken into that mix to beef up the package. Marlins won’t know the Yankees signed him to the league min. Wait! That might diminish the return.
Great pitcher, seemed like a nice guy… but unfortunately, this is how it is with him. If you’re the Sox, let someone else roll the dice and pay him.
Rodon listens to his body, and it’s telling him all systems will be go by his walk year. Just a coincidence
If the Cortisone shot doesn’t work, then what?
The glue farm.
Duct tape then.
Great signing! Yankees wouldn’t be where they are without him taking the ball every 5th day. Lol.
Well, Brian Cashman leads the league in money down the toilet. This is what happens when he doesn’t put up quite enough for Luis Castillo. Sorry Yankee fans !!
lol
They would have had to start the trade with Volpe and Domínguez.
I’m sure you would have been supportive about that.
Most Yankees fans today have the most entitled attitude of any MLB fans, and are easily the most unknowledgeable about the sport of baseball…..how it’s played and run.
Samuel, you’re the biggest D bag on the site. Sorry we’re all not as knowledgeable and cool as you.
Good Points!
I’ve been reading Yankee fans on here for 5-7 years.
Anyone is sensational when the Yankees first get him….
Volpe has played a month and finally got his BA up to .220. Posters on here have been calling him a “future HOF’er” for 3 weeks now. Joey Gallo was going to hit 50 HR’s playing in Yankee Stadium. Stanton and Hicks were brilliant trades when they were made. Gleyber was a future star, then a failure, now he’s OK batting clean-up…sort of. I could go on and on.
Then when they revert to their norm (which includes getting injured) here come the posts condemning the player, the owner and the GM – all of which get double digit likes. Classless. Front running. Who in their right mind ever believed those players were going to be superstars?
MLB is a humbling sport. Even the stars will tell you that. Yankee fans have no clue. Just entitled people that think their team is going to the WS each year (they haven’t been in for for 13-14 years now).
As for the post I’m responding to: “This is what happens when he (Cashman) doesn’t put up quite enough for Luis Castill” – do you people realize the haul the Reds got from the Mariners got for Castillo? Obviously not.
@Samuel Moore is likely never to see Majors, Stoudt looks like his career will have a few brief call ups. Arroyo and Marte do look like 2 intriguing young position players. Neither has done much above rookie or A ball yet though. Would not consider the return for Castillo a “haul”…
Tigers3232;
You want to play?
If Arroyo and Marte are not 2 top prospects, what are they? Then you add in the other 2 players.
He’s what I’d like to know….
Where did you watch those 4 players perform and what did you see in their games to come to the conclusions you came to?
Another question – Have you ever heard the phrase “ankle biter” that’s used on chatrooms?
For what it’s worth….
Marte is ranked 25 on MLB’s Top Prospect list and Arroyo 37th. While I don’t believe those lists always pan out, it’s a place to start. Those 2 are also ranked just below Elly De La Cruz as Reds top prospects. Additionally. those were the Mariners 2 most highly regarded prospects at the time of the trade.
Exactly what would you consider a “haul” when trading a star player for prospects?
Nothing you post is worth much.
Did I not say Marte and Arroyo are both intriguing position players? The fact is many of these prospects even the top ones fade out. The 2 arms acquired in the deal are already doing so.
And as far as what I’d consider constitutes a haul, it would b getting multiple top prospects from an organization that have already had success at AA or AAA. Not that Marte or Arroyo won’t. With any prospects the further down they re playing the riskier it is they ll progress.
Foolish signing. One of many like it from Cashman
He’ll probably milk that “chronic” back problem for at least a couple of months. It’s too early but it has the potential stink of Pavano all over it.
I wonder what my Yankees fan friend, who told me with a straight face three years ago Brian Cashman has never made a wrong move as GM, thinks of the Rodón contract.
Why don’t you ask him instead of questioning a website, seeing as he’s your friend and all.
Got him!
You sign Gerrit Cole, one of the best pitchers in baseball to a gigantic contract to anchor your rotation during the majority of his prime and you fail to to capitalize on that investment.
You choose to construct junk pieces around him with the ideology that you don’t need more than one ace. You avoid drafting and signing international prospects that are starting pitchers, but instead choose to draft or sign injury risk pitchers hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.
You invest money in players like Stanton who has never been healthy and avoid developing positions that will be open after current players are phased out. The fans themselves scratch their heads at the moronic moves, yet the owner resigns the GM time and time again after these failures.
You’re all being played for fools. Hal Steinbrenner is the problem and it trickles downhill from him. Hal is the Jerry Jones of MLB. The Yankees are a world renown team with bandwagon fans and fanboys who derive their identity from thinking this is “their team”. You are nothing more than a ticket sale and until you the fan wakes up and stops watching and buying Hal has no incentive to do squat. Any move he makes is smoke and mirrors, bread and circus because ultimately the average fan is nothing but a peasant who can’t say no.
Stanton was traded for not much prospects since they took on most of his contract. But again they don’t operate as a “small market” team. The analytics is what ruining them. But they don’t want to dfa guys with money on their names since it shows it’s a loss and pay them out. They did it for arod, then judge came up. Yanks really need to trust their system. Get off the sinker ball approach or cutter like it doesn’t work for everyone. Even if you don’t have command for it. If they could traded some of these guys for some lower lvl prospects or like how the Red Sox did with dodgers many times getting major payroll off the books and trust the system.
“Yanks really need to trust their system.”
Like the Jays and others, their “system” changes every year or two…..whatever’s fashionable at the time.
Rays just keep on winning. When will they play teams other than last place teams? Seems like that’s all they play.
That and broken down, injured teams. At least, if you’re referring to the current series.
Last place Yankees
This was obviously the worst off season signing and maybe might end up being the bad contract of the decade. Was never healthy with the White Sox and even in his last season there (2021) by July he was on the shelf with a tired arm. Came back a month later throwing 10 mph less and barely able to go five. Rested up over the winter and was able to play himself into this contract brokered by his agent -Boras. It’s robbery and blame the Yankees FO for not doing any homework. Hal needs to clean the office out.
With Montas it’s a two-fer.
At least they signed Judge.
We need a poll on the worst 6 or 8 GM’s. Time to find out definitively where Cashman falls.
Shouldn’t this have shown up in the physical I’m assuming he underwent
Yet another albatross on Cashman’s ledger
They should have signed Verlander
If this is a serious long term injury, it should be the final nail in the coffin for Cashman. How do commit $162MM to a guy with chronic back issues?
Great last season for the Giants! Good move not signing him..
Yes, the Giants should of signed Arson Judge instead!
Yanks aren’t getting anyone from the trade market. Hal will not let them cross the next luxury tax threshold. He cares about that far more than winning.
“whenever my body tells me I can throw and everyone agrees that I can throw, then I’ll start throwing”
(Translation)
“Look at me. I am Captain now.”
Translation: I don’t want to start throwing.
@bronxmac77- Yes, that’s definitely the way it seems.
Rodone*
Old Cash been reeling off the busts.
This affords him much more time to frequent houses of ill repute.
6 year / $162,000,000 has got to hurt one’s back to carry that load
At this point it’s almost as if the Yankees now only exist so that the best of all the perennial injury prone baseball players can make more money than everybody else. It’s like they are a charity organization for rich athletes. I’d bet there are NFL and NBA players who could extend their careers and financial portfolios just by showing interest in changing sports and playing for the Yankees. I bet they have the best training and rehab facilities in the world!!
Steinbrenner must have nailed this guys mom
Your the Dr. U tell us.
You’re *
His arm is going to be so fresh!
Why is this so predictable?
R u high ? So glad Dodgers stayed away from that albatross, rodon is definition of a ‘red flag
So was Trevor Bauer.
I heard the Blue Jays called.
a deal that even casual fans knew was a disaster
generally a cashman defender but this one is indefensible
How the Yankees could put all that money into a guy with the durability of a Jeep Compass is beyond me.
I always felt the Rondon signing was Hal fueled. It was out of character for cashman.
Out of character? Cashman has at least 10 starting pitching acquisition mistakes on his record. If he was a GM of any other team, he would’ve been fired a long time ago with his resume.
Good news….Cashman has figured out how to make a fort out of discarded paper footballs. Him, Hal and their friends got tired of kicking field goals with their fingers so they really don’t have much use for them anymore.
Starting to feel like Jed Lowrie.
Mets legend.
Forever Giant! Thanks Farhan.
Get what you pay for. You bought a car that breaks down all the time and thought by putting it into a new driveway it would be just fine. GM’s should be fired for really bad decisions with other peoples money
They are up against the Cohen tax tier for the first time. They won’t be trading for anything this season. They won’t cross it and frankly, why should they?
Everyone loved Rodin and pleading with the yanks to sign him. I didn’t understand it. He isn’t going to make the difference in beating Houston. He’s going to be like Ellsbury, Pavano, etc.
Great sculptor that Rodin…
What was the Yankees biggest need this past offseason? A primary hitter. Specifically a corner OF, left hitting, has at least adequate power, draws walks, hits around .300, and seldom Ks. Such a hitter was available. Instead, the Yankees wasted their resources on Rodon. I live in Mass and have been listening to two sports radio stations whine and berate the GM for over a year. Truthfully, I would trade Cashman for Bloom straight up and throw in some money if needed.
Overpay. Underplay
Carl Pavano, Jacoby Ellsberry, 2.0.