The Yankees have received a handful of positive reports regarding their injured starting pitchers, most notably for ace Gerrit Cole. The 35-year-old missed all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery he underwent in March. Cole is scheduled to face hitters “in a couple weeks,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Greg Joyce of the New York Post. Boone added that Cole could be back in time to pitch in Spring Training games.
Cole is less than a year removed from surgery, so Opening Day was never in play for him. The notion that he could appear in spring action is encouraging and could put him on track to only miss the first month of the season. The 60-day IL remains an option, but if there’s even a small chance Cole could be back within a couple of months, New York will likely avoid that route.
After winning the AL Cy Young in 2023, Cole missed the first half of 2024 with elbow inflammation. He returned for 17 starts to close the season. Elbow concerns popped back up heading into last year, and Cole ended up going under the knife. The veteran has three seasons left on the nine-year, $324MM deal he signed with the Yankees in 2019.
Carlos Rodon was seen playing catch with Cole at today’s spring session. The left-hander had loose bodies removed from his elbow shortly after the 2025 campaign ended. The expectation is that Rodon could return before the end of April. Boone told reporters the lefty is “probably not far behind from the start of the season.”
Rodon recently said he was back throwing eight weeks after his surgery, adding that his mobility is much improved following the procedure. The 33-year-old made a career-high 33 starts this past season. He earned an All-Star bid and finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting, though a rough postseason brought a sour end to his year. Rodon was knocked around for nine earned runs in his two playoff outings.
The lone negative revelation from Thursday was that right-hander Cam Schlittler was managing what was initially described as mid-back inflammation. The young righty took to social media to clarify that it’s a left lat issue. “It’s early, so I just want to make sure I’m on top of it,” Schlittler told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Schlittler took a July callup and ran with the opportunity, providing a sub-3.00 ERA across his first 14 big-league starts. He garnered national attention in the postseason. Schlittler delivered eight scoreless innings in a win over Boston in the ALDS. He came through with a quality start against Toronto in the ALCS, though New York lost the game (and the series).
On the hitting side, shortstop Anthony Volpe is scheduled to begin his hitting progression before the end of February. The infielder is recovering from torn labrum surgery. “He is doing well,” Boone told reporters. “Strength is all there in the weight room and stuff like that. He’s got all that back. That’s the thing that took a little while. His range of motion is tremendous.”
Volpe had surgery in early October. Early reports were that he wouldn’t be able to hit for four months. The club has said Volpe will open the season on the IL. Jose Caballero is expected to handle shortstop until Volpe is ready to return.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel and Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Good news for the Yankees! They have a championship caliber team with Cole and Rodon healthy. Max Fried. Great 1-2-3 combo. Schittler, Weathers, Gil, Warren are options. David Bednar is a solid closer, Camilo Doval is good and they have a good bullpen. Anything that stops them is the bullpen. Their offense is good led by Judge.
Lead and end by judge
You’re misremembering five other players who produced 3.0 bWAR and better. Nice try though.
I said it’s led by Judge. Obviously the Yankees have other good batters like Bellinger, Chislom, etc. but Judge is the best (obviously).
That was a response to @Dustyslambchops23’s troll post.
You included Austin wells in your 3+ war comment with his 94 wrc+ and I’m the troll ? lol
Since we’re discussing wRC+, sub in Stanton for Wells.
Stanton hasnt provided 3 WAR play in almost 5 years. To pivot and sub out value provided by a C to that of a pure DH based of one singular stat is cherry picking to say the least.
Yankees pitching looks great depending on how healthy overall they are. Their lineup leaves alot to be desired. Having Judge strengthens that lineup a ton. The downside to that is if he misses any time that lineup is exponentially worse . Not only isbthe catalyst not producing but the missing protection in lineup hits supporting bats Jazz, Beli, and Grisham pretty significantly. Judge has missed at least 9 games in every season of his career. They can minimize the impact on days hes missing by doing so when Fried or Cole SP.
Ultimately Yankees lineup is heavily relied on Judge. Without a 2nd impact bat coupled with Judge being one of best bats, Id say NYY lineup is the one most reliant on a single bat across all of MLB.
@Tigers
Nobody’s arguing the Yankees wouldn’t take a hit if Judge went down—but the “too Judge-dependent” narrative ignores how solid this lineup actually is.
Fangraphs’ offensive WAR projections show elite production at four positions: 1st at DH and RF (Judge), 2nd at C, and 3rd in CF. Add in 4th at 2B, 5th in LF, and 8th at 1B, and you’ve got seven above-average spots.
The concerns? 18th at SS and 23rd at 3B. But those rankings don’t account for what 2025 actually looks like. Give Ryan McMahon a full season at third instead of the 2024 revolving door, and that number climbs. At short, even modest Volpe improvement or steady Amed Rosario production pushes toward league-average.
And if Stanton delivers 125 games at a .900+ OPS? That’s top-25 production league-wide taking pressure off the entire lineup.
Would losing Judge hurt? Absolutely. Would it cripple them? Not with this much talent around him.
@Knicks Firat of those are projections 2nd off those projections are with Judge in lineup. The Yankees are absolutely dependent on him. I don’t think there is a lineup in baseball as dependent on a player.
Yes it would by all means cripple them. FYI elite production is considered on low end at least a 5 WAR. Judge and RF is only position or player that Fangraphs has projected for elite production.
The Dodgers will pay $60 million AAV for 4.5 WAR, so Wells and his 3.0 WAR carry a $45 million to $50 million AAV.
Yes, Judge is irreplaceable as a talent – he’s a generational superstar. But the idea that they collapse without him doesn’t survive contact with actual data.
FanGraphs had the Yankees’ offense at +137 offWAR compared to the Blue Jays at +85. That’s a +52 gap. The Jays have a legitimately good lineup built on bat-to-ball skills, but the Yankees’ depth is in a different tier. They had SEVEN players with a wRC+ over 100 (minimum 100 PA) not including Judge. Toronto had five when you remove Vlad. Lose one, and the Jays still have four. Lose Judge, and the Yankees still have seven above-average bats.
If you want to talk about real one-man teams among contenders, let’s be honest: The Guardians without Ramírez lose their entire power structure. The Astros without Peña, Royals without Witt, Rangers without Seager – these teams have one legitimate threat and a bunch of replacement-level production around them.
Here’s the real test: If you replaced Judge with a replacement-level player (literally a zero in the lineup), the Yankees would STILL rank top 5 in homers, walks, runs, and most major offensive categories. That’s not dependency – that’s what happens when you build an actual roster instead of praying one guy carries you every night.
Judge makes them a juggernaut. Losing him would be devastating. But there’s a difference between losing your best player and watching your season end. The Yankees built infrastructure. That matters.
Of all the active players that could be better than Judge offensively is… pretty much nobody. Maybe Ohtani, Soto, or Gurrero Jr. in his prime.
Id agree Guardians are up there. However there offense does not produce like Yankees does. Witt same as prior. So while it would collapse the lineup just the same I think the impact to the Yankees would b more significant.
As for the projected data you keep referencing, its just that projected. On top of that even if you take away Judge’s projection, it does not quantify the impact on the others in lineup it would have. Hence they are contingent on him.
You came up with 2 teams here to compare and you still are going to projected stats yet either ignore or are oblivious to the fact we are discussing the lineup without Judge. The projections are with him as I stated above.
@Astros the discussion is not who is best, but which player who missing from lineup would have biggest impact.
Why is it you dont want to use the Fangraphs projections with Stanton? The ones that have him profected to play 96 games and 764 OPS+
Last season which Stanton missed over half of was first he was over 900 since 2017. So Id label that as something beyond wishful thinking for the 36 yr old Stanton.
Oh yeah that’s Judge easy.
@tigers
No I didn’t use projections. I used 2025 stats. Judge offers protection to the hitter in front of him but the effect he had 1 thru 9 is minimal. Again, it would be foolish of me to secure they’re would be no loss without him but to say that a lineup that minus his starts WITH ZERO REPLACEMENT VALUE IN HIS PLACE, meaning if we don’t factor in another guy picking up his at bats (Dominguez, Spencer Jones, etc) the lineup would still rank top 5 in many important offensive categories. From a sun predictive that could mean 88 or 89 wins versus 94 but that’s not as apocalyptic as subtracting 20 other teams best player.
@tigers
Because no formula can tell you for sure how many games sometime is going to play or how they’ll preform? it’s amazing how much faith is put into projections.
I CANT BELIEVE VOLPE IS STILL ON THE TEAM. THR ENTIRE LEFT SIDE OF THE INFIELD IS A ZERO.
“Fangraphs offensive WAR projections” those are your words not mine….
@Knicks You have zero clue how pitching protection works. When a batter such as judge is in lineup teams are much more conservative when it comes to taking chances as they want to attempt to minimize runners on base when Judge is AB. This results in many more pitches over the plate and less attempts at locating as lat thing they want to do is walk a player.
If Dominguez or Spencer replaces Judge in lineup they are by no means a top 5 lineup. Thats an absolute asinine claim. You are flat out embellishing whatever sounds good to the narrative u are trying to paint.
So you’re saying Judge is good?
3rd place seems about right
that could still be enough to make the postseason. I have them pegged for 3rd, myself. Not a shame in this division, though hoping for better.
@sdubs
I like us being underrated but I don’t get it. They won 94 games without Cole, Gil, Schmidt and Schlittler in the rotation. They didn’t have Stanton in the lineup for half the year. They dealt with the struggles of Williams and Weaver They wasted 400 AB of Cabrera, Peraza, and Orbit at 3B and DJ at 2b when Jazz shifted to 3b. No add Freid, Gil, Warren, Schlittler and Weathers to start the season with Cole and Rondon to join. A gold glove 3B who in YS should hit 25 to 30hrs. Add in a revamped 8th and 9th inning combo with Bednar and Doval for a full year. Health is the main issue. I see the Red Sox as our main competition. The Jays brought in Cease and his 4.55 ERA (5.88 away from PETCO), Cody Ponce and Okamato have to print they can produce at the mlb level. They lost Bassitt and Bichette and who knows if their going to get the 2025 version of 36yo Springer or the 2022-2024 version? Shane Beiber is already on the DL? Why do ppl gloss over other teams issues? O’s and Rays haven’t done enough to be 85 win teams yet.
Every season the haters give their third place projections and every year this team makes the playoffs. I’ll take the over on your third place projection based on 30 years of data. Also, the roster in October and the roster in april are always very different. Again, 30 years of data. Sounds like you are hoping more than analyising.
I expect a mgnificant season by volpe
And all the Volpe haters will have to admits they don’t know jack about anything
So if he sucks this year will you admit to the same?
I think you mean “when” he sucks.
Hey look, a Volpe hater! Also Yankee fans, don’t worry if Volpe doesn’t pan out, you have Lombard Jr.
Compare the stats between Volpe and Tucker and he just signed for 60 mil a year
facebook.com/nypostsports/posts/kyle-tucker-had-3-…
When Lombard is ready Volpe will move to second base
The kid already had a 20/20 season his rookie year, stole a bit more when he homered less in year 2, and almost had a another 20/20 despite playing through a torn labrum. But instead of supporting the kid a large swath of the fanbase ignores the very encouraging stuff and boos the crap out of him and begs for his replacement. Yes I get he needs improvement, but man there’s a lot to latch onto most especially that the kid has heart.
Most of the negative comments are from either unintelligent new Yankee fans or from fans of other teams. There’s not one Yankee fan I know that’s not pulling hard for Anthony and sees his potential. There’s knock is Will the Yankees screw this kid up further by changing his swing for better exit velocity and lift?
You forget that Yankee fans booed Aaron Judge at Yankee stadium when he had a bad week
sure, I’m rooting for him too. Would drive by his HS to and from work sometimes. But he was pretty much just handed the starting job w/o having proven he could handle AAA yet let alone getting a starting MLB gig.. There’s some hope for him but I’ll believe it when I see it.. If Lombard starts to hit high level minor league pitching and/ or Volpe is not off to a good start this coming season, I think his days could be numbered.
facebook.com/nypostsports/posts/kyle-tucker-had-3-…
Compare the stats between Volpe and Tucker
And Tucker just signed for 60 mil a year
bro, just don’t… Not yet, not for awhile anyways, and probably not ever.
Not expecting anything magnificent from Volpe, but don’t think he’ll suck either. I expect a solid, if unspectacular season.
Cole is 36 and Rodon , Judge 34 this year Jesus window closing fast
Judge is going to be peak for 10 more years.
Eh maybe 4-5.
I’m joking.
2
don’t you mean 1/2?
If Volpe bats .270, hits 20 homers and steals 20 bases. I definitely think we’ll be happy.
If Volpe doesn’t cause me to throw a bottle of Fiji water across my room this season I’ll be somewhat happy.
I’d take .270 with 1 homer and 20 steals
I’d take Caballero all season at shortstop with Volpe watching him not consistently botch routine grounders and throws
So you’re memory only allows you to remember 2025 and not 2024 when he was a 4.5 WAR guy.
Of course you would be happy. That is probably his 90th percentile projection if everything goes swimmingly.
In AAA barring a drug test
he’s likely not on drugs. He might be, but I think not. Reasonable ppl can disagree.. And you seem a pretty reasonable fellow talking about Yankee baseball so you just MIGHT be right!
Sorry not sold on this team being able to win their division. Maybe a wildcard but even that is dicey with injuries
The AL East as a whole is going to be very VERY competitive this year. Baltimore made some solid additions and so did Boston. The Rays are always sneaky and every several years go on a tear, and of course there’s the Jays. No team is running away with that division and I wouldn’t be surprised if the AL East champion is crowned on the last day or 2 of the season.
I don’t think the Rays have a good team but there is a legitimate case that there are 4 division winner possibilities at this point which is sort of nuts
It’s probably between the Yanks and Jays, but with the unknown of injuries and surprises, the Sox might slip in. I just don’t see either of the O’s or Rays.
I’m a jays fan but I actually have the opposite feeling, I think the Os can take off this year, their offense could be really scary and it feels like they did just enough to run prevention to let their offense lead.
Sox rotation could click and carry them.
Should be a fun year
How many in the AL East get Wild Cards? The problem with that is they beat up on each other so much, pushing down win totals. You could get a 90-win division winner and nobody else making a Wild Card because the competition is so fierce between the five clubs.
The last time only one AL east team made the playoffs was 12 years ago.
Fierce is also the catwalk
“Sox rotation could click and carry them.”
Agree, which is why I said I thought they could slip in if things break right for them. I think who goes to the PS is mostly about pitching which is why I like Yanks and Jays.
And the pitching is why I don’t see the O’s getting there. They were tied for the 3rd worse in ERA+ last season. The SPs were 19th in bWAR, and the RPs were 20th. I don’t think adding Bassitt is nearly enough. I don’t think adding Gallen, if they were to do that, would be enough to put them in the PS either.
yeah, I think the floor is lower than some fans care to admit.
Haven’t been this unexcited about the Yankees since the 1991.
If I were a Yankee fan, and I’m about as far from one as possible, I’d be excited. PECOTA has them winning the ALE, though only by a 0,3 win margin. But still.
’89 for me. I think Tom Brookens opened as the 3b guy.. Ricky gone mid-year with Luis Polonia as the headliner in the trade back. Things were starting to stir in the minors by ’91 and I was a bit more hopeful by then.
Bam Bam Meulens say hi
Volpe “wouldn’t be able to hit for four months”. Man, the Yank would love it if Volpe’s inability to hit wasnt limited to 4 months.
Coming from Tommy John, it always feels like pitchers need a little more time even when they’re activated, to get their mechanics in order. If Cole and Rodon can adjust sooner rather than later, than that rotation will carry that team to be competitive the rest of the way.
Loose bodies also a characteristic of Florida groupies
I have never understood the obsession with Anthony Volpe. Decent, not great defense and sub .300 obp in his career and the 19 HR he hit would have been way less in a different ballpark. Only thing he is above average is base running.
He was top 5 in defensive value his first two season. Don’t do that. Even with his defensive issues this year he still ranked league average according to Fangraphs defWAR