The Yankees cannot catch a break, and almost every day they run into a new roadblock. Barely 24 hours ago, their hard-throwing prospect Carlos Lagrange landed on the injured list. Their captain, Aaron Judge, has already been sidelined for about a month, and if that wasn’t enough trouble, another starting pitcher, Carlos Rodón, has now joined the injured list as the Yankees take on the Minnesota Twins.

“Carlos Rodón said he’s dealing with ‘heavy inflammation,’ but nothing more than that. He hopes to be back soon and mentioned a possible no-throw period of only one week, but nothing is set in stone,” Yankees beat writer Gary Phillips wrote on X.

Reportedly, the starting pitcher had been feeling some discomfort during his starts, and an MRI that was conducted later showed that he had inflammation, according to Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network.

As per the clubhouse’s update, Rodón was placed on the 15-day injured list before their series opener against the Twins, which was retroactive to June 30 with left elbow inflammation. This brings us to the next question: When will he return? Well, there is no fixed timeline yet, and his case will mostly be treated on a day-to-day basis. The course of treatment is likely to involve getting PRP and Orthovisc injections. However, the 33-year-old is hopeful to be back soon.

“It could be one of those things where it’s up to a week of no-throw, but it might not be that long,” he said. “It’s based on how I feel. I want to be back as soon as I can whenever I’m ready.”

With the way things are unfolding for the Yankees, things are not looking particularly bright for the team at the moment. Just this Friday, they had Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon return, only for the starting pitcher, Rodon, to land on the IL. And much like Rodon himself, even manager Aaron Boone is hopeful for a speedy return.

“Hopefully this is something that gets cleaned up and gets him in a better place so that he can return for the stretch drive and be even more of a factor for us,” Aaron Boone remarked.

Given Rodon’s injury history, Yankees fans can only hope that he makes his return as soon as possible. The left-hander has missed the beginning of the ongoing season owing to left elbow surgery, which he underwent on October 15 last year to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone. He made his first start on May 10.

So, what happens in Rodon’s absence? Second-round draft pick in 2021, Brendan Beck is expected to join the team off the taxi squad, and depending on the bullpen requirements, his role will be decided accordingly. Now, along with Rodon, the Yankees also have two more starters out in Max Fried and Clarke Schmidt. But then again, they are not the only ones there.

With the key players out due to injury concerns, the Yankees have surely suffered on the mound. They have been swept by their archrivals, the Boston Red Sox, and then the Detroit Tigers back-to-back, which makes it a seven-game skid. Not only that, just under 10 days ago, they were leading the AL East, but now they have slid to second place with a 48-38 win-loss record and 4 games behind the leader, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Even their offense hasn’t clicked for a while, as they were 27th in the league with a .222 batting average in June. To top that, their pitching is struggling as well. Although they have a 3.19 ERA, the relievers have blown a save multiple times in the last 14 games. With that, one can only hope that their ongoing series against the Minnesota Twins delivers better results.