The Yankees Season May Very Well Be Over Before It Even Begins As Gerrit Cole Is Feared To Have a Significant Elbow Injury

New York Yankees. Getty Images.

Let's talk Yankees doomsday stuff because I'm currently staring at my balcony wondering when it'll be a good time to jump. A little before 7:00PM last night just as I was having a cocktail in my apartment and getting ready for a nice dinner out on the town, I got this text from a source who has not steered me wrong all offseason when it comes to my beloved New York Yankees. 

Having no interest in breaking devastating Yankees news, specifically player injuries like that, I sat on that text and sent out a few feelers to people in the media. No one had heard a peep. That gave me a little bit of comfort that maybe my guy was just off here and this wasn't a thing. Unfortunately, he was dead on. A few hours later Morosi broke the news that something was wrong. 

Bad. Really bad. Now last year Cole went through this song and dance during spring training as he dodged a massive bullet. He went onto miss the 1st half of the season, but returned in June where he would pitch unbothered the rest of the way. He actually finished strong and looked very good throughout the postseason (ignore the 5th inning of Game 5). 

This feels different, especially when you hear from Cole today. 

Seems they all know what the initial MRI said and based on everyone's reactions and what I heard, we're talking a worst case scenario. 

I don't see how the Yankees recover from losing Gerrit Cole. Sure signing Max Fried in the offseason helps a ton, but this rotation was supposed to be the strength of the team. Now you're losing Luis Gil for at least three months and Cole potentially for the entire season. With a lineup that will likely go through its ups and downs all year, you had to lean on the pitching to be great. Now you're taking out the work horse and leaving the rest to fend for themselves. Will Warren will have a huge opportunity to step up here. He's looked improved in spring and has a confidence to him, but that will have to translate to the regular season. 

Marcus Stroman (gulp) all of a sudden becomes a solidified piece of this rotation, where as a week ago he was all but out. 

The starting 5 looks like…

Max Fried

Carlos Rodon

Clarke Schmidt

Marcus Stroman

Will Warren

Yeah not exactly a rotation that makes you feel it's the strength of the team. Losing top pitching prospect Chase Hampton for the year earlier in spring really fucking hurts now. You pair that with a lineup filled with young blood and MVPs past their prime days, I'm not sure how this team is supposed to be successful even in a very weak American League. 

The Cole news is a massive bummer. Maybe he gets lucky and the MRI shows something that he's not feeling, but I'm not as hopeful as I was last year around this time. Just think back to his weird opt out situation this past offseason. Scott Boras thought it was going to be a foregone conclusion that the team would tack on the extra year, meanwhile Hal and Cashman were flabbergasted by the move given the state of Cole's elbow. It was in fact a ticking time bomb and now it's gone off. Panic alarms are all I hear right now and they're just getting louder. March 8th and I can't be excited about my baseball team. Awesome stuff. Someone pass the bleach.