March 17, 2024
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The Yankees received less than encouraging injury news this past week about Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge. That news will be the theme for this week's Readers' Thread.
Are you concerned about the Yankees' ability to compete for a championship in 2024 based on the news regarding Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge?
Please share your thoughts below.
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Exactly. ALL 30 MLB teams have to deal with injuries and the loss of key players who they were counting on during the previous off season, for an extended period of time. This is not something unique to the Yankees, so every team the Yankees play will be weakened to some extent by players who they were counting on, either not in the starting lineup or not in the starting rotation.
I'm not worried, because the great equalizer is the fact that ALL 30 TEAMS are going to experience the loss of key players, both from their starting lineup and from their pitching staff. The loss of KEY PLAYERS is not, and over the course of the season, WILL NOT be, unique to only the Yankees. The Astros, Red Sox, and Cardinals also lost their aces, Justin Verlander, Lucas Giolito, and Sonny Gray respectively. The Orioles had to trade for a new ace because their ace from last year, Kyle Bradish, is hurt and unable to start the season. Every team in baseball, it is, or will be, SOMEONE who they were counting on, who won't be answering the bell, …
On a related subject, Will Warren vs. Red Sox today: 2.2 IP, 6 R, 2 ER, 6 H. Maybe "War Horse" isn't the best choice to replace Cole. (However, all but one hit came in the first inning. Maybe spend five more minutes in the bullpen before the game.)
Of course I'm worried. There's a reasonable possibility, that both Judge and Cole will miss the entire season. THis would take the Yanks from finishing first to finishing last, and Soto will leave. Typical Yankee conditioning screwup.
I continue to be worried about injuries and the apparent incompetence of the training/medical staff. With the Spring Training injuries to Judge and Cole (though in fairness they seem to be handling the latter appropriately), I will now spend the 2024 season waiting for more injury shoes to drop, just like in the second half of '22 and all of '23.