Carlos Rodón seems to be progressing well from the surgery he had in October to remove loose bodies from his elbow. In an appearance on Foul Territory’s livestream of the New York Baseball Writers’ Gala, Rodón said he was back throwing eight weeks removed from the surgery. He’s been recently doing mound work as well.“It doesn’t really feel like much of a rehab,” Rodón said.
The most recent timeline from the team had Rodón returning in late April or early May. That would put him slightly ahead of Gerrit Cole and well ahead of Clarke Schmidt. Cole and Schmidt are coming back from Tommy John surgery. Rodón stressed the improved mobility he had following the surgery. “I couldn’t really bend my elbow,” he said of his pre-surgery movement.
Rodón set career highs in starts (33) and innings (195 1/3) last season. He finished top 10 in strikeouts. A forearm strain cost him a few months to begin his Yankees tenure in 2023, but he’s been largely healthy since then.
The strong 2025 campaign for Rodón fell apart in the postseason. He was rocked for nine earned runs over 8 1/3 innings between the ALDS and ALCS. Rodón posted an uninspiring 8:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his two starts.
New York will open next season with a rotation consisting of Max Fried, postseason breakout Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil, Will Warren, and trade acquisition Ryan Weathers. It’s a relatively unproven group (outside of Fried) with a lengthy injury history. Veterans Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough are on hand to eat innings. The unit will try to hold down the fort as Rodón, Cole, and Schmidt work toward their returns.
Elsewhere around the division, the Orioles received some positive news on a pair of young left-handed bats. Gunnar Henderson says he’s fully healthy after dealing with a shoulder impingement for much of last season, as relayed by Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. Henderson revealed the injury earlier this month. He reiterated at this week’s fanfest event that the problem is behind him. “Feel great, shoulder feels great, so I feel like I’m in a great spot right now. Swing’s been feeling awesome so far.”
Henderson delivered a solid all-around season in 2025, though his power numbers fell precipitously from the heights he reached the previous year. After slugging 37 home runs in 2024, he hit just 17 this past season. Henderson’s slugging percentage dipped from .529 to .438, and his ISO went from .248 to .165. It’s hard to complain about a 120 wRC+ and a career-best 30 steals, but the final result was a bit of a letdown after Henderson finished fourth in AL MVP voting the prior year. He should be a threat for 35+ homers once again with the shoulder injury cleared up.
Heston Kjerstad is also expected to be good to go heading into 2026. Manager Craig Albernaz told reporters, including Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, that Kjerstad will be a “full participant” in Spring Training. There hasn’t been a clear explanation for the outfielder’s absence to end last season, but it appears to be in the rearview. Kjerstad was shut down in late July while dealing with fatigue. Reports in September were that he was seeing doctors about an unspecified medical condition.
“He’s itching to get back to where he can get back to,” Albernaz told reporters, including Kubatko. “Heston’s pedigree, he had to prove how good he was in the minor leagues, and going to the Fall League (in 2022) and winning MVP, like, that’s not an easy league to do that in.”
Kjerstad was the second overall pick in 2020. He’s struggled to gain a foothold in the majors, slashing .218/.284/.365 in sporadic playing time over the past three seasons. Baltimore trading for Taylor Ward, signing Pete Alonso, and retaining Ryan Mountcastle make it tough to see Kjerstad cracking the roster to open 2026.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
The Yanks have 4 starters under 27. I’m hoping they can ask stay healthy. I’m excited to see what they do this year. I think Warren, Gil and Weathers might shock ppl this year, in a positive fashion.
I hope Gil’s poor performance last year was due to the lingering affects of his oblique strain and not a sign of things to come. He has nasty stuff when he’s on but injuries and inconsistencies could send him to the bullpen
Gil was pretty good last year. 3.32 ERA in his 11 starts. 2 runs or less in 9 of 11 starts. Walks were high, but he got out of jams. To say “poor performance“ is a bit unfair.
ds
“3.32 ERA in his 11 starts. 2 runs or less in 9 of 11 starts. Walks were high, but he got out of jams. To say “poor performance“ is a bit unfair.”
4.64 FIP, 5.64 xfIP
He wasn’t that good last year.
Getting out of jams isn’t nearly as good as not getting in them in the first place. Walking (14%) nearly as many hitters as you strikeout (17%) is a good way to get into jams and not a good way to get out of them.
It’s possible, probably likely, that he’ll be better this year after more time back from injury, but he really was not good last year.
Yeah he was shaky, but obviously hampered by an injury that does linger. I feel like he should be closer to his norm this season. The ability is there, he showed before his TJ and obviously after in his ROY performance. I’m confident at least.
If you watched Gil last year you would have seen he was very mediocre. Constantly getting into high counts and walking too many batters. I said it could have been a result of the oblique injury but he also wasn’t particularly good down the stretch in 2024
HNC
“What matters most in MLB is actual performance”
Do you watch baseball? Or just look at stats?
FIP and xFIP ARE actual performance.
“Saying how it’s supposed to be without fielding makes the nerds feel useful, but baseball teams use 9 fielders and defense matters.”
Agreed
Let’s look at an example
Ground out
Single
Walk
Fly out
Error on the short stop
Home run
Strikeout
How many runs scored? What’s the pitcher’s ERA?
4 runs scored
Pitcher’s ERA is 0.00
Why?
Because the shortstop was SUPPOSED to make the play. The pitcher was SUPPOSED to be out of the inning.
What’s the pitcher’s FIP?
17.10
Which of those is more accurate to how the pitcher pitched?
Was that pitcher perfect? That’s what ERA says. That the honerun was the SS’s fault.
Ridiculous
Or how about this
A pitcher does this
Flyout
Walk
Walk
Walk
Then gets relieved
What does FIP say?
In the first instance 33.10
In the second instance 33.10
The same. Why? Because the pitcher did the same thing.
Makes sense
What does ERA say?
Depends what the reliever does
If the reliever strikes out the next two hitters, the first pitcher’s ERA is 0.00.
If the reliever gives up a homerun, the first pitcher’s ERA is 81.00
How does that make any damn sense?
How does a stat tell you how well a player played when it depends on what another player does when the first pitcher is literally NOT EVEN IN THE GAME?
If you’ve ever watched a game or played baseball, you’d know how dumb ERA is.
A healthy Kjerstad would be huge, even though he faces a very crowded outfield. He still has the potential to be a very impressive power bat (potential being perhaps the operative term here).
Took Bleday a minute to figure it out with similar circumstances. Plus I’m hoping any of the issues aren’t concussive
Still one option left, so he’ll be in AAA further notice.
I wish they would trade him to the White Sox if they’re not gonna play him. They could really use him asap.
He had a concussion. That stuff lingers. I’m guessing the “fatigue” was related. Regardless of his future, I hope the symptoms from that, and his myocarditis are behind him.
Yes. It was directly related to Clay Holmes intentionally throwing at his head.
@Hulk
what would be the motivation of the Yanks closer throwing at his head at the bottom of them 9th of a game with a slim lead? His .533 OPS vs the Yanks didn’t exactly install fear.
The game was in hand 3-1 so no risk. The rookie (#2 pick overall) only had 100 abs at that point but he was the number 5 hitter in baseball then with 171 wrc+. The at-that-time ascendant Orioles won the division the year before and had a 3 game lead on the Yankees after all star break.
So I won’t say that the Yankees intentionally threw at the Roy contender’s head to take him off their main opponent’s roster. But that was the convenient result. Kjerstad was then out twice with recurrent concussion symptoms and hit so badly they had to send him down.
And THE YANKEES WIN. THHEE YANKEEEEs WIN.
Just imagine for a moment if the tables turned. Yanks acquired a top pick prospect hitting 1000 ops in AAA and 170 as a MLB rookie and the main.small market competitor immediately beaned him and drove him off the team. The league just shrug it off when the Yankees do it. If the Orioles did it, what would the fines look like? What price would they pay?
Next CBA : pitcher causes concussion, 1 month suspension for pitcher manager pitching coach. I vestigation of circumstances incl lie detector tests for all 3. If the circumstantial evidence ie competitive situation favors the beanining team as in This case or someone hiding something in lie d test, an appropriate additional suspension is meted out. I say one year. Will never happen again.
Kjerstad probably lost out o. At least $50mm.
@saj
So the Yanks, I’m efforts to slow down the mighty O’s intentionally hot a hiy in the head who was hitting a whopping .533 OPS but didn’t attack Santander and Rutschman who were absolutely destroying them that season? Bro is unfortunate that it happened but it’s more likely the ball got away from the pitcher pitching in the rain. But think what you want.
This was his line July 12 2024
.314/.417/.529/.946
I don’t think he was specifically aiming at his head. But he was certainly aiming high and tight, which he also shouldn’t have been doing in that situation. Just finish the job.
It’d been a contentious game in a contentious series and Yankees pitching had been on the razor’s edge at multiple points in said series.
You picked a dumb irrelevant stat to change the subject.
Late in the season in a right race Bautista throws a 99 mph ball at rices head and ends his career. Just imagine the response for a moment
Just imagine the response
@nosferatu
So what? It was his 21st game and he had been 2 for 8 with zero extra base hits and no RBIS vs the Yanks. Meanwhile, there were other hitters that were actually harming the Yanks. He isn’t exactly the best target to go after.
My thought exactly. Seems like a lot of Major league talent to shove into 3 spots. Maybe I’ve missed it, but I don’t see a lot of infield utility type players on roster.
FYI no NYY pitched in the ALCS. The Jays eliminated them in the ALDS.
Shhh: dont wake up the fan base, many still believe
Not at all if you understand what bone spur surgery is and how much pain it causes. He was shut down for eight weeks afterwards which is the standard timeline.
Yea, generally speaking, spurs can be removed without directly harming surrounding soft tissue. There’s no “damage” from the procedure, so the rehab process is just like a normal strength training progression.
The real danger is spurs seem to be protective of ucl injuries. Some docs suggest you keep the growth until post-career if you can tolerate the pain.
I have one myself for the last 5 years. It hurts but I can tolerate it. If I use the arm a lot the pain can linger as it swells up.
2025 ALCS was Seattle and Toronto, Rodon was on neither. Please edit.
Maybe hes one of the “shall we say”, less informed Yankee beat writers/fans out there. Like the ones on this board recently commenting on Rondon.
Some might say the AZ Fall League is the easiest league in which to win an MVP.
Geez, Charlie, that’s no way to tell the Kjerstad story. The no. 2 overall draft pick was a rookie hitting at a 150 wrc+ clip for his first 100 PAs.
The Yankees hit him in the head.
As a result of the beaning (we must assume), he suffered multiple incidents of concussion symptoms over the next months and an extended period of non-physical issues. So far he has been unable to hit anywhere close to his minors and MLB level.
Thank you. Everyone that writes about it pretends his extended struggles are some kind of mystery.
I think it was why Hyde lost the locker room. Taking the high road.
He definitely did lose them. That is pretty much when it started.
I’ve made this ALDS/ALCS mistake as well, and I think it’s because the playoffs are too long nowadays. Your mind just mixes all of these up. I honestly forgot about the Mariners run.
Indeed: too long playoffs, getting old, too much crank and bourbon. The same way. Why can’t I find my right slipper to fetch the paper, but then find my left slipper when hunting for the remote control
Rondon has really been a good signing for the Yanks thus far. After a bumpy first season he’s been above average the last two years. 3 more to go. Let’s hope he doesn’t fall off a cliff. I really think Warren and Weathers are going to have good years too. I really like Warren’s mix and if he can study the easy Freid mixes his pitches he can be a good pitcher similar to Montgomery when he was at his best.
I hope the White Sox trade for Kjerstad. Their OF options are awful and Baltimore seems intent on letting him go to waste.