Predicting big Yankees decisions on horizon for Luis Gil, Jasson Dominguez, etc.
Luis Gil is the Yankees’ starter with the lowest ERA and Nestor Cortes has the highest.
What happens when Gerrit Cole is back in June or July? Who loses his spot if nobody gets hurt?
What do the Yankees do with Alex Verdugo next month when Jasson Dominguez is done rehabbing?
How will the Yankees handle second base, third base and their utility infielders when DJ LeMahieu finally starts his season?
Here is some of what the Yankees could be forced to address fairly soon with predictions:
Cole threw a third bullpen in eight days before Saturday’s game and is getting close to live BPs. After that he’ll work his way into rehab games, and then sometime from the middle of June or perhaps early July he could be off the IL and making his first start.
If Cole returns with the five starters that the Yankees have been using healthy, then someone will lose his spot.
Who?
Gil no longer is the obvious choice just because he’s been Cole’s fill in, he’s the least experienced, he can be wild and he can be optioned.
Gil throws the hardest and he might have the best stuff of the Yankees’ current five-man rotation. He’s also sporting a 2.58 ERA after his latest masterpiece, six shutout innings in Sunday’s 10-6 win over the Rays.
So keeping Gil in the rotation has to be a consideration if he keeps pitching like he has, right?
Maybe not even though you can argue that Gil might be more deserving than Cortes, who is 1-4 record and 4.02 ERA.
Gil is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery after pitching four innings last year and not topping 50 since 2019 when he pitched a career-high 96. He’s already at 43. Averaging five innings for 30 starts adds up to 150.
There’s no way the Yankees will let Gil do that.
