SNY’s Andy Martino will be responding to and breaking down answers to Yankees questions from readers. Here’s the latest…
What’s your best guess Starting 5 for the Yankees to start the season? — @h20gony
Ya know, for all the questions about the Yankees’ offense–they still need to figure out shortstop, first base, and maybe center field, no big deal — they’re in sneaky good shape with the rotation and pitching staff as a whole.
How many Yankee offseasons have seen the need for rotation upgrades as the primary goal? That’s not the conversation this year.
While a team can always use more pitching, blah, blah, blah, the Yanks have: Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes, Domingo German, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt all expected to be ready for the start of the season.
Additionally, Jameson Taillon recently told The Athletic that he’s about a month behind in his throwing program after undergoing ankle surgery, but he should be back before long.
If there is a knock on this group, it’s the lack of a reliable, established number two behind Cole. Severino and Taillon certainly have the talent and experience to qualify, but have lost so much time to injuries.
Other questions persist, like: Is Nasty Nestor for real? Is Gil? Will Schmidt be healthy and continue to develop? Will most of these guys run out of innings at a certain point? Will Deivi Garcia re-enter the mix? What is German, anyway?
Overall, though, the Yankees have a glut of pitchers with good stuff ready to fill their innings.
And remember, this is an organization unafraid of bullpen games that involve several of these guys at once. The entire concept of “starting rotation” is so 1876-2019 anyway.