The Pitching is Too Good Not to Buy Big at the Deadline

By EJ Fagan

July 26, 2026

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The following post comes from EJ Fagan's Substack, Baseball Is Life. It is shared with permission.

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The Yankees lead the major leagues in ERA by a healthy margin. That fact is surprising because Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon have all missed big chunks of the season so far. Now that two of the three have returned and Rodon is getting closer, we can start to dream about the Super Rotation once again.

When we were peering in on the potential Super Rotation at the beginning of the season, I don’t think that any Yankee fans penciled in Cam Schlittler as the best starting pitcher in the American League. The likely Cy Young Award winner was recently rated by Fangraphs as having the 14th best trade value in baseball, not far behind Paul Skenes himself.* He’s your #1 starter in the playoffs.

*The Yankees should try to extend him pronto. But that’s another post.

Behind him are Gerrit Cole and Max Fried. Cole is rounding into form after his quick return from Tommy John. Fried looked every bit as nasty as he did before the injury. Either would be a perfectly fine #1 starter for playoff teams.

Rounding out the playoff rotation is Carlos Rodon. It’s been a bit of a weird season for Rodon, but he’s been effective when on the mound. More importantly, don’t forget that he was truly excellent last year.

Not bad for a #4 starter, even if you split the difference between his 2025 and 2026 rates.

It’s the best starting rotation that the Yankees have fielded since at least the dynasty. It’s way better than what the Dodgers, Braves, Mariners, White Sox and Rangers are putting out. The only team that can go toe-to-toe with their top three is the Phillies, and they drop off hard after Jesus Luzardo.

That’s why it would be a shame to let a lackluster offense hold this team back from a playoff run. Even if Aaron Judge returns healthy, the team is not going to reliably score runs against playoff teams. They aren’t a better team than the any of the top National League clubs because those teams score runs.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to mortgage your future to slightly bolster a playoff run. But this time it does. Judge, Fried, Cole and Rodon are old.

The Yankees should go all in this week.