Gerrit Cole Follows the Trend by Corey Sobel

Here we are again. What an incredible year it is to be a New York Yankee fan. The grass is turning green, the sky is blue, and the Yankees are back. Or so you thought until the news broke that Gerrit Cole would need to take a break from baseball for one to two months. 

It was initially considered a devastating (season-ending) blow to the Yankees' season. However, it may be better than we initially thought. He will rest his elbow and see if it can heal without surgery.

One must wonder how smart of an idea it is to rest him and see how his elbow feels in two months. I understand why they are trying this, though. In an off-season, where the Yankees traded many prospects and major league talent for Juan Soto, they signed professional ball players in Marcus Stroman and traded for guys like Alex Verdugo; it is a do-or-die situation. They want to win it all in 2024. They can either sit back and wait or make moves while pitchers are still available.

My thoughts are that Cole desperately wants to pitch this year. He surely does not want to miss the magical 2024 Yankee season – his only chance to potentially win a World Series with them. We shall see how Cole recovers. The issue is whether he should wait until May. The advantage to having surgery now is that he might only miss this year. If he waits until May and needs surgery, he might miss not only 2024 but also all of 2025. 

Cole told reporters that they ramped up too quickly for spring training. Time will tell if he is right or if this could be a knockout punch for the New York Yankees’ 2024 chances at achieving greatness. 

It’s not just Cole that has got hurt. Some other starters have also been sidelined heading into the start of this year. Sonny Gray, Jacob DeGrom, and Max Scherzer are just a few examples.

It, for sure, is an epidemic that is ruining the game of baseball. Nobody has an answer, though, as to how to fix this ever-growing problem. The league has ideas like taking the starter out of the game after throwing 100 pitches. Does that account for all the pitches he throws before the game to warm up? And now those in charge are even starting to have aces go only six innings. This is not the baseball I grew up with. We are living in a sad time where pitching six innings is an accomplishment.

 I once heard Andy Pettitte talk about his son and throwing pitches. He said he doesn’t want his son Jared (also a pitcher) to throw anything but fastballs. He has a valid point to put less torque on his arm. If you think about it, pitchers in the minor leagues only started to throw pitches other than fastballs in more recent times. They do this to gain an advantage over the hitters, of course. They also help themselves break into the major leagues sooner. It could also be a significant reason why so many pitchers need Tommy John surgery now more than ever. In the ‘80s and prior, I’m not sure minor league pitchers were throwing all these different pitches. That is a massive reason why starting pitchers who can throw for seven innings are becoming like the dinosaurs and will become extinct forever. I do not know the answers, nor can I affect change. We can only hope this problem can be resolved, but it looks like it won’t happen soon.