The New York Yankees opened the year with Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, Jhony Brito, Domingo German, and Nestor Cortes Jr. in the rotation. That’s because Frankie Montas, Carlos Rodon, and Luis Severino all went down with injuries during spring training.
Montas needed shoulder surgery and, in a crushing blow to the Yankees, will miss the vast majority of the year. Then, Rodon went down with a mild left forearm strain that will keep him out of action until later this month or perhaps into May; and Severino suffered a lat strain.
The Cole, Schmidt, Brito, German, and Cortes unit has managed to win six out of 10 games in the early going, good enough for third place in the AL East.