About Spring Training: Positive Signs

About Spring Training: Positive Signs

By Tim Kabel

March 19, 2026

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Yesterday, the Yankees beat the Red Sox 1-0 in a Spring Training game. There is less than one week to go before Opening Day on March 25th against the Giants in San Francisco.

Yesterday's game was not that important in and of itself. The fact that the Yankees won was not that important. However, there were two things that happened in the game that were very important for the Yankees’ 2026 season.

First, Gerrit Cole pitched in the game. He missed all of the 2025 season, so the fact that he has returned from Tommy John surgery and was able to pitch in a game was extremely encouraging.  Cole pitched the first inning and threw 10 pitches. It was the first time he has pitched in 377 days. His last official outing was in Game Five of the 2024 World Series.

It was wonderful that Cole pitched an inning in a Spring Training game. It was even better that he reached 98.7 miles per hour on one of his six four-seam fastballs. They ranged from 96.1 mph to 98.7 mph. He also threw two sliders and a pair of knuckle curves. That is all wonderful. The most important thing is that he was able to pitch at all. If he emerges pain free, that will be even better.

Cole is beginning his version of what will be a very long and careful Spring Training. Now that he has pitched against actual Major Leaguers who are on another team, he will continue to progress. Apparently, the timetable is for him to return in June. Perhaps he will return a bit sooner. Regardless, he will likely miss the first third of the season. As long as he comes back and is able to pitch effectively, it won't matter that he misses two months. The Yankees will probably nurse him back slowly and keep him on a fairly rigid innings count. It is better to be safe than sorry. The only problem might be that even if Cole pitches very well when he first returns, his games will be at the mercy of Aaron Boone and the bullpen. Unless the bullpen is better than we all think it will be, that could be a problem.

So, Gerrit Cole returned and looked very good. That was one of the two positive signs for this season. What was the other one? Surprisingly, It was not the fact that Angel Chivilli lowered his ERA to 12.91 and his WHIP to 1.70. It was that Carlos Lagrange pitched four more scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk. He struck out four. His ERA is 0.66 (that’s Zero .66).  His WHIP is 0.73. LaGrange is making a tremendous case to be included on the Opening Day roster. Most likely, he will not be. However, if he keeps pitching this well or at least close to it in Scranton, he could very easily find his way to the Bronx. He would probably be part of the bullpen. However, if Luis Gil continues to struggle, the Yankees could move him to the bullpen and put Lagrange in the starting rotation. It really wouldn't matter which role Lagrange filled; the important thing is he would be a live arm with tremendous potential on the Major League roster. I think because the bullpen has a lot of question marks, putting Lagrange out there might be a way of strengthening it because his potential dominance might allow other people to occupy roles where they also could succeed. 

However, as encouraging as the performances of Cole and LaGrange were yesterday, I don't think they will have any effect on the Yankees’ plans or the Yankees’ season at the outset. 

Cole will be continuing to rehab, and it will take quite a while for him to return to the mound in the Major Leagues. I also don't think the Yankees will bring Lagrange north next week.  Well maybe they will, but only as far as Scranton. He did everything he could do to make the team, but I still don't think the Yankees will put him on the roster. Instead, they will have someone else, such as Jake Bird or potentially another less heralded pitcher fill a spot until they determine that LaGrange is ready. I don't know how much more ready he could be than he is now, but that is the way the Yankees do things these days. Remember, the Yankees will very likely bring Randal Grichuk north and send Jasson Dominguez to the minor leagues. Randal Grichuk was 0-3 today and is batting .154 during Spring Training. 

Anyway, all Yankee fans should be very encouraged by the signs they saw yesterday from Gerrit Cole and Carlos Lagrange. We will probably have to be very patient waiting for those signs to lead to something but eventually, they may.