The New York Yankees suffered some more devastating injury news on Monday night, and it further exemplified just how much of a disaster their trade deadline actually was.
The New York Yankees finally appeared to be getting healthy. Carlos Rodon is now slated to start on Tuesday evening, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger are both making progress, and Aaron Judge seems primed to return at some point.
When everyone is right, the Yankees are undoubtedly a World Series contender.
But just when things started to trend in the right direction for New York, another devastating injury struck, as Max Fried has now landed on the injured list due to an elbow bruise for the second time this season.
The first instance happened in mid-May, and it kept him sidelined for over two months. If this injury is just as severe as the first, then Fried will probably miss the remainder of the year, including the playoffs.
It's great that Rodon is back, but Fried is the superior pitcher, and the Yankees now may be without the left-hander come October.
And you know what? That means both Ryan Weathers and Will Warren will remain in the starting rotation instead of heading to the bullpen, which puts an even bigger spotlight on New York's refusal to acquire a reliever at the MLB trade deadline.
The Yankees didn't add a relief arm because they felt that one of Weathers or Warren would help solidify the pen along with Clarke Schmidt, who was supposed to return from Tommy John surgery this month. But guess what? Schmidt had a setback.
New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried. Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images.Now, New York seems to be up a creek when it comes to its taxed bullpen. David Bednar has been brilliant the last two months, but the bridge to him has been questionable, to say the least, especially with the recent struggles of Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill. Brent Headrick has suddenly looked mortal, as well.
And not that Camilo Doval was going to provide anything of value to the Yanks this year, but they dumped him before the deadline likely because they anticipated that the bullpen would become crowded within the succeeding several weeks.
Clearly, that isn't happening now.
The Yankees' rotation will now consist of Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Rodon, Weathers and Warren. Still really good? Sure. Invincible? Absolutely not, especially considering Rodon has barely pitched all season.
We know the story of the bullpen. It's been a shaky area all year long, and while the numbers as a whole look good, there really isn't anyone outside of Bednar — and perhaps Paul Blackburn, amazingly enough — with whom fans can honestly feel comfortable.
New York had an opportunity to fortify its pen with a key addition or two prior to Aug. 3. Instead, the Yankees decided to land Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos instead, two players who don't even really fit on the roster.
Brian Cashman typically does well at trade deadlines. This time around, however, Cashman's decisions were as puzzling as it can get, and now, we are seeing the disastrous results of them.
