ARE THE YANKEES DOOMED? GERRIT COLE’S INJURY IS THE SAME OLD REMINDER
They haven’t won a World Series since 2009, and if finding Juan Soto was an answer, another question remains about a franchise that always has a problem — meaning, prepare for the Baltimore Orioles
So let’s just skyrocket with the Baltimore Orioles, who aren’t bothered by a $91 million payroll that ranks among baseball’s bottom third. They play in a throwback park that has become the Wrigley Field of the early ‘90s. You might not know their stars — Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and a fresh decoration, Jackson Holliday — who accompany super starter Corbin Burnes and five prospects on scouting lists.
They won 101 games last year. They should win the American League this year, which will excite new owner David Rubenstein, who paid a paltry $1.7 billion for the franchise last month when an NFL team in Washington went for $6 billion. Nervous are the Boston Red Sox, who have stopped spending, and the Tampa Bay Rays, who can’t keep winning via smoke and mirrors, and the Toronto Blue Jays, who still think Shohei Ohtani is arriving when the man at the private airport actually was Robert Herjavec, who is 61 and appears on “Shark Tank.”
And the New York Yankees? They’re scared, as usual, because they haven’t won a World Series since 2009 and might stop heralding their record as 27-time champions with a sudden news flash. If orthopedists cite pitching injuries as the sport’s latest menace, the Yankees were buried Wednesday by the loss of Gerrit Cole, who won the Cy Young Award in 2023 and should sigh with a problematic right elbow. The ugliest three words in medical science — Dr. Neal ElAttrache — took notice at his surgical office in Los Angeles, where Cole was spotted at the airport and offered little as someone took his photo.
“A little space,” he said.
No updates? “I feel like I answered that question already,” he said, knowing he could be out for two months, if not longer.
Before this year, Cole was a durable cornerstone worth his $324 million contract, thanks to 108 starts and 664 innings with a 3.08 ERA and 816 strikeouts. His fifth season might prove what Ohtani realizes with the Dodgers — where he can’t pitch this season after his second Tommy John surgery — and the dangers that threaten hurlers regardless of achievements. Cole turns 34 soon and hasn’t been hurt since an elbow injury in 2016 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, after a dye-contrast MRI and CT scans, he no longer is reliable as the game’s premier starter. He’ll seek the guidance of ElAttrache, who operated on Ohtani and wants to know about the inflammation in Cole’s elbow. It’s March 13.
Want to guess where he’ll be in early October? Cole won’t have anywhere near a 15-4 record with a 2.63 ERA and 222 strikeouts, his digits last year, and the Yankees might move on by finally firing general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone. With the backtracking salaries of the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, the Yankees are atop the Major League Baseball payroll race at $291 million. They acquired Juan Soto and placed him beside Aaron Judge in a brute compilation. They signed Marcus Stroman and landed Alex Verdugo from Boston. This finally would be their year.
Hah, say the Camden Yards folks. It’s Baltimore’s year. Have the pit beef at Boog’s BBQ. The AL East standings shall be backwards.
“I’ve lived this game all my life,” Boone said. “So you try, as much as it sounds crazy, not to get ahead of yourself too much with things. Obviously, you’ve got to be ready to bounce, ready to pivot, and as I like to say, stay in the athletic position all the time so that you’re nimble and able to adjust as things come in.”
Whatever that means, this part he got right: “I understand it’s Gerrit Cole and a big story.” And if the Yankees are in the $300 million range, they might phone agent Scott Boras and see if a free-agent bonanza would command Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. The Padres won the Dylan Cease buyout. Hell, Trevor Bauer is willing to sign for the major-league minimum of $740,000. Some fans won’t care about his past, knowing he wasn’t arrested for crimes that Major League Baseball saw worthy of a reduced 194-game suspension. Shouldn’t Cashman take a look?
“I should have the opportunity to sign with a big-league team,” Bauer said after mowing down Dodgers’ minor-leaguers last weekend. “I think it was obvious that I was still elite. I just wanted to come out and have some fun playing baseball. That’s it. I don’t think anyone doubts that I’m still really good.”
Where can Cashman find him? Try YouTube. “I’ll probably throw live at-bats and make a video out of it,” Bauer said.
As it is, teams are dealing with alarming departures of pitchers. Lucas Giolito is out for the season. Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah have shoulder problems. The defending Series champions, the Texas Rangers, are hoping Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom are ready in the second half. At this point, in the Bronx, you can’t worry about a rising payroll or a faux suspension. The Yankees are still run by a Steinbrenner, named Hal. Somewhere his father knows this is Year 15 and wants to splurge.
George never would have waited for Dr. ElAttrache. He wouldn’t have known how to pronounce it. Whatever, the season is about to start, and if the Yankees lose again to damned Baltimore, the pinstripes might fade away.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.