Aaron Judge is doing everything he possibly can. He is launching those home runs and keeping the team together. But the New York Yankees’ biggest problem right now isn’t at the plate. It’s on the mound, where things are looking super wobbly.

On paper, this was supposed to be the year for the Yanks. They lost Juan Soto but added stars to make a strong team. While their offense got a tremendous boost, their pitching was a question mark. As if the nightmares were waiting to come true, the pitching took a colossal hit. Gerrit Cole is out for this season, and Luis Gill is still shelved. And Clarke Schmidt is not back either.

The Yankees have Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, and Will Warren. But they do not strike fear among the others. Joel Sherman, in his podcast with Jon Heyman, pointed out, “They feel one starting pitching injury away from real trouble, regardless of how good the offense is.” And one cannot disagree. Together, the starting rotation has produced -0.9 WAR!

Aaron Judge and the rest of the hitters simply have to keep slugging until the reinforcements come through. This does put plenty of pressure on the Yankees captain. And right now, the one person who has done any positive production. He had a 2.61 ERA heading into the matchup with the Tigers on April 9. Now Rodon hasn’t been great, but his last outing with the Detroit Tigers started off well. But a missed call and a misplaced change-up later, it all fell apart.

But still, Heyman tried to find the silver lining, saying, “Rodón was better than he looked… I think he’ll be OK.” He even noted Rodón’s WHIP is better than Max Fried’s. This is true, but only if you simply choose to ignore the ERA. Plus, the Yankees’ bottom three starters have a combined ERA of 7.00. And you don’t need to be a genius to know this is bad. But the offense, even Heyman appreciated saying, is not just Judge but even the rest of the players have shown up. For now, though, the plan seems to be to simply hit and survive and hope that Rodon finds his groove. As far as good news goes, reinforcements are on the way.

Yankees reinforcements are coming

Now for a bit of sunshine, quite literally, too. Clark Schmidt is almost back. And the New York Yankees are crossing their fingers that the weather plays nice. Schmidt is set to make his final rehab start this Thursday. Either at Double-A Somerset or Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Whichever ballpark isn’t drowning in rain.

Once Schmidt’s done with it, he can be expected to rejoin the big league around April 15-16 in Kansas City. And this is huge news for the Yankees, given that he posted a 2.85 ERA over 85.1 innings last year. He is no Cole, but he is not a Carrasco, either. And when it comes to returns, even Luis Gil’s return is creeping into the picture.

Aaron Boone has said that Gill will start his throwing program soon. It will be a slow way forward, but at least he is on the path. The Yankees need their arms, and Gil can throw nearly 100mph, so he must get on the right path. Other names are also coming closer to a comeback, like Ian Hamilton. Remember him? He just made his second rehab outing and could be in the bullpen by Monday. For DJ Malhieu, though, things might take a little longer. Boone wants him to get the full spring training feel before letting him loose.

So, for now, the reinforcements are on the way. Hopefully, the offense can hold the team together till then. Do you think they can? Let us know!