Road Trip Remains Bumpy

By Sal Maiorana

May 11, 2026

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Sal Maiorana shares his thoughts on the Yankees.

Here is an edited version of Sal's latest article.

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We all knew the Yankees’ uncommon good fortune with injuries was going to crash to a halt at some point, and now it has.

It was a shockingly quiet spring training and first month of the regular season in the trainers’ room in which the only notable player to go down was, to the surprise of no one, Giancarlo Stanton, who punched his annual ticket to the injured list in late April. God knows how long this IL stint will be because he just had a setback so there’s no sign that he’s close to returning.

But once the calendar flipped to May, the old Yankee injury misfortune we’ve all come to expect began in earnest.

Ben Rice missed three games with a bruised hand, but at least he was able to return quickly. Jasson Dominguez crashed into a wall and wrecked his head and shoulder so he’s done for some time. Jose Caballero sprained a finger and he went on the IL Tuesday. And now the biggest one of all, Max Fried left Wednesday’s miserable loss to the Orioles after three ineffective innings with left elbow soreness and when you hear that, the chances of that not being a major problem are slim to none.

“Just felt like early on he was having a hard time getting loose and it was taking him several pitches to get to his point,” Aaron Boone said. “He was feeling a little something in between starts, not all that abnormal that he feels that during the season. Threw his pen, felt good about that, but he was having a hard time to get to where he normally gets (Wednesday).

“I knew he was a little off when I talked to him after the third so I just said let’s pull it here. In talking to him, not that concerned, and where (the discomfort in the elbow) is. We’ll do the testing and whatnot tomorrow. He doesn’t seem too concerned about it, but we’ll see.”

They always say they aren’t overly concerned, and then the hammer hits the nail. If his imaging Thursday shows something, that could mean two or three months, or it could be a catastrophe and his season is over depending on what it is.

Fried didn’t send up any red flags when he spoke to the media, but again, that’s what athletes do when they talk about their injuries. We’ll see what the tests show because this is three straight starts where he hasn’t been very good and you wonder how much this has been bothering him.

“Just a little uncomfortable and tight, especially in between innings, it was hard to loosen up,” Fried said. “First hitter was like 88, 90, 91 (mph) and by the end, 20 pitches in, I was able to get things loosened up. Just wasn’t sharp and I wasn’t helping the team so at a certain point we just said hey, let’s make sure we can calm this thing down and get ahead of it. I’m not too worried about a super long-term thing.”

So, now we wait anxiously, and it seems that all the consternation about what the Yankees were going to do in their crowded rotation once Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole returned was wasted breath because, as is so often the case, circumstances usually come before decisions.

Assuming Fried is going to miss time, perhaps significant time, Ryan Weathers and Will Warren are no long competing to be the No. 5 starter; they’ll be staying in the rotation with Rodon and Cam Schlittler, and the Yankees will actually need someone to fill the Fried void until Cole is ready.

The good news is Weathers and Warren have been terrific and hopefully that will continue.

The bad news is one of them - probably Weathers - was likely headed to the bullpen to upgrade what is without a doubt the biggest weakness on the team, and now if Fried is out that won’t happen.

The Yankees are really slow-playing Cole’s rehab, but it might be time to hit fast forward on that. In his last start Sunday at Double-A he threw 77 pitches, struck out eight and reached 99 mph on his fastball. Give him one more start this weekend, then bring him back and stop wasting pitches in the minor leagues.

He doesn’t need to be a seven- or eight-inning horse right away. Work him in slowly as if he was still pitching in the minors and back him up with one of the long relievers like Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough if need be.

That’s my thought, but I know the super conservative Yankees won’t do that, so someone else will have to step up. The last time they needed a fifth starter was when they sent ineffective Luis Gil out the door and brought up highly-rated prospect Elmer Rodriguez so maybe that happens again, but he proved in his two starts that he wasn’t quite ready.

It has been a pretty bad week for the Yankees in so many ways, so lets hope a day off before they start the first half of the Subway Series Friday at Citi Field helps them take a breath and regroup. And lets also hope the news on Fried isn’t as bad as I fear it might be.