New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is undergoing Tommy John surgery today, and guess what?
The Bronx Bombers are going to be just fine.
Don’t tell that to the armchair baseball experts on social media. As far as they’re concerned, this is the end of the New York Yankees as we know it and both Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone should lose their jobs. Aaron Judge’s career has been wasted and he has no protection in the lineup. Forget organizational depth, the Yankees don’t have it.
Now, for the only appropriate response:
Seriously, was nobody else paying attention during the offseason? You’d think the Yankees lost Juan Soto to the Mets and then sat on their hands for the rest of the offseason. Forget adding to the team, let’s just run it back and plug the holes as needed!
Does that sound like the Yankees’ offseason to you? I don’t think so.
Who’s Max Fried, the big lefty and former Brave who Cashman arguably overpaid to be Cole’s secondary ace? Is Cody Bellinger chopped liver? What about All-Star closer Devin Williams??
Per usual, Yankees X/Twitter lets the immediate bad news consume them. And, to be fair, that’s okay! Gerrit Cole is a big loss for any amount of time, let alone an entire season. He’s posted a 17.2 WAR as a Yankee.
Moreover, how quickly we forget that Cole had a bum elbow last year too and didn’t make his season debut until June 19. The Yankees went 51-24 in his absence.
None of this is to say the Yankees shouldn’t worry at least a little bit. For one, the man who stepped up in Cole’s place last season—reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil—is currently out three months with a shoulder injury. That leaves New York’s current rotation as follows:
- Max Fried
- Carlos Rodon
- Clarke Schmidt
- Marcus Stroman
- Will Warren
A talented five, but not exactly a stable group. The Yankees’ bats have their work cut out for them if the pitching staff proves unpredictable.
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Which, at the core, is why the Yankees are probably fine without Gerrit Cole in 2025. Looking at the team compared to the rest of the American League, no other squad stands out as an odds-on favorite. You can check more odds here on New York Sports betting apps because, in theory, the AL is the Yankees’ to lose.
That leaves the onus entirely on the bats regardless of the pitching staff’s health. Baseball is a hitting game at her core and it’s very often the team who hits the most home runs that wins the game. Arguably, New York does have a strong enough lineup to compete even without Giancarlo Stanton’s balky elbows.
In reality, it won’t be Gerrit Cole’s Tommy John surgery that undoes the Yankees’ World Series hope in 2025. New York’s only real concern should be their entire lineup besides Judge underperforming, a la 2023.
In turn, for the Yankees to be truly in trouble, one or both of Boston or Baltimore will have to overachieve early. That’s certainly a tall task for either team. Baltimore has the bats, but nowhere near enough pitching to keep up with New York.
Boston, on the other hand, acquired lefty Garrett Crochet from the White Sox and is counting on him to lead the rotation. However, despite an impressive 209 strikeouts in 146 innings, 2024 was Crochet’s first year as a full-time starter. How can anyone know if that’s what can be expected of him regularly or if he overachieved?
It’s that simple. The Yankees need to underachieve for a month and two more teams in their division need to overachieve for the Bronx Bombers to enter panic mode.
Gerrit Cole needing Tommy John surgery, even with the bad timing of it, is just wildly inconvenient.
Just another stormy day at the office.
