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Sign Up NowThe injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt produced two structural problems for the Yankees rotation.
One at the back end, where Carlos Carrasco, Marcus Stroman and Will Warren were forced into the starting five, exposing an organizational lack of rotation depth.
And one on the front end, where the season-long loss of Cole, in particular, has increased the importance of Carlos Rodón.
Carlos Rodon, who gave up four runs over six innings, looks down at the ball during the third inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Diamondbacks. Bill Kostroun for New York PostThat was not what the Yankees envisioned in December, when they pivoted after the exit of Juan Soto to sign Max Fried. They saw the benefits of creating a dynamic 1-2 atop the rotation, which in conjunction with the burgeoning Gil and Schmidt, would de-emphasize Rodón. The hope was that by asking less of Rodón, they would get more — that unencumbered with a front-of-the-rotation designation his front-of-the-rotation stuff would flourish.
