The Yankees lead the AL East and they've been playing at an incredibly high level all season despite having lost their ace to an arm injury during spring training. Said ace Gerrit Cole is on the comeback trail, too.
Cole will make a rehab start with Double-A Somerset on Tuesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Sunday (via MLB.com's Bryan Hoch).
Cole, 33, won the AL Cy Young last season when he was 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 222 strikeouts against 48 walks in 209 innings. He led the AL in ERA, WHIP and innings. It was his fourth year of a nine-year, $324 million pact that has so far been worth every penny, including his opt-out after this season.
Though he's been one of the most durable workhorses in baseball the last several years, things finally caught up with Cole's arm this spring. He experienced elbow discomfort and that immediately raises red flags and sends people into a frenzy (rightfully so these days with the arm-injury epidemic).
After remaining shut down from throwing for weeks, Cole has slowly built himself back up. He's gotten to the point that not only has he been throwing bullpen sessions, but he's also faced live hitters. The next step is this rehab assignment and it'll be like his spring training in terms of starting with a low number of innings pitched, ramping up in each successive start until he's ready to go about six in the majors. It'll take a few weeks at minimum.
The Yankees have actually gotten some incredible rotation work in the absence of their ace. Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón have been varying levels of great. The Yankees entered Sunday with a 2.73 rotation ERA, second in baseball only to the Phillies. No one else is below 3.13.
Schmidt hit the injured list last week and CBS Sports' Mike Axisa broke down how the Yankees can deal with that. In all likelihood, though, they just have to piece together a few turns through the rotation before inserting a Cy Young winner into the spot.
