The Yankees are set to leave Florida in good health one year after the spring from hell
TAMPA – And just like that, Camp Snooze is over – at least for the Florida part.
After a year of enduring spring training from hell, plagued by a slew of key injuries, the Yankees left a hot spot at Steinbrenner Field on Sunday following one of their most boring camps in recent years.
“There’s never a dull moment,” Aaron Boone insisted with a grin.
OK, so maybe the imbalance is fair, but still, the Yankees have gone through six weeks without any major injuries, controversies or glaring problems.
They still have two more shows against the Cubs in Arizona on Monday and Tuesday before they get to Wednesday’s opener against the Giants, but they left Florida feeling good about the rest of their spring.
“I think for the most part, I feel like it’s been a really good spring for us health-wise, guys getting the right amount of reps and stuff, some of our guys pushing for roles and real playing time looking the part,” Boone said. “As a place at our depth right now. I feel like we can handle some things and still thrive. But we’ll see now.”
The Yankees will begin the season with four players on the injured list – Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Anthony Volpe – but all four underwent surgery prior to camp and their rehabs have all gone well.
In fact, Cole’s return was arguably the most exciting part of camp, right when top prospect Carlos Lagrange was in charge and showed he was closer to the majors than the Yankees thought heading into the spring.
Good health has put their starting depth and line depth in a strong position.
Heck, the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders should probably be heavy favorites to win the International League at this point, given the other talent the Yankees are sending there because there’s no room on the big league roster, including Jason Domínguez, Spencer Jones, Oswaldo Cabrera, Elmer Rodríguez and possibly Lagrange.
The Yankees will open the season with a four-player rotation due to many days off in the first two weeks, pushing Luis Gil out for now despite his completion of camp, although they are still deciding whether he will be listed as a piggyback pitcher or start the season in the minors until they need a fifth starter.
“As far as the depth we have at pitching, I don’t think we’ve had that in a very long time,” Aaron Judge said. “Even if you count the injured guys coming back – Rodón, Schmidt and Cole, you add those guys, we have 11-12 deep starting pitchers. So it’s going to be good. But we have a lineup tied for the most wins in the AL, the best record in the AL. So you add those pitchers, you get [Cody] Bellinger is back for a few more years, it will equal a better season for us. “
The Yankees even survived when they sent almost half of their Opening Day roster to the World Baseball Classic, and all their participants – most importantly the judge – seem to have avoided any disasters, although the jury is still out if they will affect them during the long season.
As the Yankees break camp, the bullpen is still seen as the club’s biggest question mark heading into the regular season.
They were in the last two spots as of Sunday, and while the Yankees may be able to wrap up some starters in the bullpen if the likes of Rodón and Cole return, they still have to deal with the early weeks of the season until that happens.
“I just want guys to take over and catch and establish bullpen roles,” Boone said. “However, there will be a few guys who don’t have a lot of experience or are in that mix of a lot of tournaments, we can go a lot of different ways.
