The New York Yankees appeared to have a golden opportunity to seize control of the AL East this week, traveling to Baltimore for a series with the last-place Orioles a day after sweeping a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays. But they failed to take advantage on Monday: It was New York, not Baltimore, that looked like the team whose rotation was in shambles, as rookie righty Will Warren was soundly outpitched by Tomoyuki Sugano and a late comeback attempt fell short in a frustrating 4-3 loss.
Fair or not — very few players covered themselves in glory on a night in which Sugano nearly doubled his season strikeout total — Warren will bear the brunt of the blame after allowing four runs and eight baserunners in just 3.1 innings of work. In certain moments, he can look untouchable. In others, though, he can look lost, and the same old mistakes reared their head again on Monday night: Warren’s command came and went, and he still doesn’t have a way to reliably get lefties out, as evidenced by Ryan O’Hearn’s three-run homer that busted the game open.
At this point, Yankees fans have no doubt seen enough. Warren has yet to prove that he can consistently get through big-league lineups multiple times every five days, and he too often fails to keep his team competitive. There’s just one problem, though: As frustrated as fans might be, the team’s complete lack of pitching depth means that the cavalry isn’t coming to the rescue anytime soon.
Yankees fans are stuck with Will Warren, whether they like it or not
To be clear, this is no one’s ideal scenario. If Brian Cashman had his way, Warren would still be in Triple-A, getting his feet under him after a bumpy 2024 season. But “ideal” went out the window from pretty much the moment New York opened camp in the spring: first with Luis Gil’s shoulder injury, then with the news that Gerrit Cole would require Tommy John surgery. Heck, even Marcus Stroman — who fans were irate was still around, but who Cashman valued as a backup plan — is on the shelf as he battles mysterious knee discomfort.
Combine that with another elbow injury for former top prospect Chase Hampton, and suddenly the options have run dry. The Yankees’ rotation was supposed to be a strength, with Cole and Max Fried anchoring things and Gil, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt rounding out a top five without an obvious weak point. Now, though, they just need bodies that they can give the ball to every five days; for as rough as Warren has been for much of the first month, New York doesn’t have anything better waiting in Triple-A.
The reality is that these are the five (including journeyman Carlos Carrasco) that Cashman and the Yankees are stuck with. Not many teams could survive the number of injuries that have hit New York’s staff early in the year, and Warren at least brings some modicum of upside if he can lean into his fastball a bit more and develop an offspeed pitch that works against lefties better than his sweeper. That’s not what Yankees fans want to hear, but the sooner they accept it, the sooner they can learn to ride this roller coaster rather than looking to get off at every opportunity.
