The Yankees are in the home stretch of their Spring Training schedule, this means Opening Day is closer than close.
Closer than close is less than four days until the games count for real. That’s right, it’s almost time for baseball.
When the Yankees open their season against the Toronto Blue Jays, Gerrit Cole will take the mound. It will be the second straight season Cole gets the call to start on Opening Day.
Following the ace of the pitching staff, manager Aaron Boone has his rotation lined up and ready to go:
- April 1: Gerrit Cole vs Blue Jays
- April 3: Corey Kluber vs Blue Jays
- April 4: Domingo German vs Blue Jays
- April 5: Jordan Montgomery vs Blue Jays
- April 6: Gerrit Cole vs Orioles
- April 7: Jameson Taillon vs Orioles
Cole will get two starts before Taillon because Boone wants his ace to remain on regular five days rest. Taillon is also coming off second Tommy John surgery, it makes sense to ease him into the regular season. The encouraging news is “Jame-O” has had a strong spring.
“That’s just kinda the order I wanted to do it in, frankly. And with Jame-O, it gives us an opportunity to kinda slow play Jame-0 a little bit,” Boone explained. “We feel like he’s in such a good spot physically, but with the off days we have in April, we just want to be mindful of building these guys up properly.
The Yankees have a rotation with a plethora of questions this season.
After Cole, there’s legitimate reason for concern.
Corey Kluber is a two-time Cy Young award winner, he also pitched just one inning last year for the Texas Rangers due to a teres major muscle tear. In 2019, while with the Cleveland Indians, he suffered a fractured forearm after being hit by a line drive.
Domingo German pitched to an 18-4 record with a 4.03 ERA for the Yankees in 2019. In September of that year, MLB placed him on administrative leave while investigating an alleged domestic violence incident involving his girlfriend. Germán missed the final nine games of the regular season and all nine of New York’s playoff games. On Jan. 2, 2020, he was suspended for 63 games — he was out for the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season and playoffs.
Kluber and German have both performed strongly this spring. If this carries over into the regular season, along with Cole, the Yankees have a formidable 1-2-3 in their rotation.
That’s a big IF.
Image: Gerrit Cole – Getty
Image: Domingo German – AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
