New York Yankees' Back End of Starting Rotation Is Predictably a Complete Mess

The New York Yankees to this point have been able to manage despite their pitching staff being ravaged by injuries in the spring.

Still tied for the best record in the American League even coming off a Monday night loss against the Cleveland Guardians, the doom and gloom cast upon the Yankees' season before it even began has proven to be a bit dramatic to this point.

With that being said however, they do have some major issues within the pitching staff, and they are issues which could end up burying them down the line.

It's hard to fault the team too much for not making additional major moves outside of a mammoth contract for Max Fried.

Had New York entered the year healthy, they would have a case for best starting rotation in all of baseball, but that is not the nature of the sport.

No team can adequately prepare for losing two of their most important starters less than a month before the season.

The injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil were going to test the depth of the staff, and to this point that test has been failed miserably.

Someone the Yankees desperately need to emerge after a brief stint on the injured list is right-hander Clarke Schmidt, though the first two starts have not produced that.

On Monday night, Schmidt struggled through four innings with seven hits and five runs allowed including three walks and two home runs.

The outing brought his ERA over the two outings to 7.45.

Schmidt may figure it out and the seven strikeouts he added through the struggles are encouraging, but unfortunately he is not the only problem.

New York has found themselves in a situation where they are having to rely on a clearly washed up Carlos Carrasco and a potentially not yet ready Will Warren simply to eat innings because there is not enough arms.

For Warren, there's something to be said about learning on the job, and there has been some encouraging signs to believe that 5.17 ERA will correct itself.

Carrasco, however, has been exactly what fans and pundits thought he would be, which is not a good thing for the Yankees.

After pitching to a 6.18 ERA in the past two seasons in 41 starts with the Guardians and New York Mets, Carrasco is right on pace with a 6.53 ERA in five appearances and 20.2 innings in the Bronx.

None of this even accounts for veteran Marcus Stroman, who was off to a brutal start himself before landing on the injured list for what sounds like a lengthy stay.

Fried has been unbelievable and Carlos Rodón has been dependable, but beyond the two at the top New York simply does not have anyone they can really count on, at least not right now.

While the Yankees have been able to keep their head afloat so far, the disastrous back half of the rotation very well could be their undoing if they don't get some surprising production or make some major moves.

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