MLB insider drops bold prediction on Yankees' Opening Day starter with Gerrit Cole out
The New York Yankees, for the second year in a row, will have to find a different Opening Day starter. Last year, Gerrit Cole went down in spring training and didn't come back until the summer.
This year, he's not coming back. The right-handed pitcher underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss 2025 and some of 2026, leaving a void in the rotation beginning with Opening Day.
In 2024, Nestor Cortes got the nod because of how the spring pitching lineup played out. This year, MLB insider Bryan Hoch believes the same thing will occur.
With that in mind, the Opening Day starter, in Hoch's mind, could very well be Carlos Rodon. He will pitch again on Mar. 21, six days before the opener.
Max Fried would ordinarily be the starter since he's likely to be their de facto ace with Cole out, but the spring session won't necessarily promote that. There are still two full weeks before the Opening Day game, though.
Now that Cole is out, the Yankees can work with Rodon, Fried and Clarke Schmidt to get them lined up for the regular season. Yankees management probably wants the order to be Fried, Rodon and then Schmidt, and they can tweak days off and switch things up in the coming days to make sure that happens.
Carlos Rodon reflects on loss of Gerrit Cole
Last year, the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole for a while, but the remaining pitchers banded together and pitched excellently to buoy the Yankees without their ace. This year, they'll have to do it all season.
Carlos Rodon will be a big part of that in the third year of a $162 million contract. He said it's their job to be good and addressed the lack of Cole via NJ:
“What do I think? No offense to Gerrit, but we handled it pretty well without him to start the year last year, right?”
He continued expounding on last year's work:
“That was just us starters doing our job. That’s nothing against Gerrit, obviously. Guys were going deep into games, three or less runs, eating innings, winning games. Our first half was pretty good as a collective unit without Gerrit. We plugged Gerrit’s hole and just rolled on."
With Max Fried effectively taking Cole's spot, Rodon feels good.