Ace Gerrit Cole is the best arm the Yankees have on staff, so when he’s ready to contribute, they could really use him. Fortunately, though, the pitchers he left behind haven’t exactly been the team’s weak point, so he has had plenty of time to quietly and comfortably recover from the day Dr. ElAttrache gave the all-clear.
On March 14, the Good Doctor recommended rest and rehabilitation instead of Tommy John surgery. Fans didn’t hear much from Cole between Opening Day (when he was placed on the 60-Day IL) and early May (when “catch” turned into “mound work”). His only outbursts were from the dugout, though. And that was all right; no news was really good news, and anyhow, the in-depth updates, if any, were sure to cause further uncertainty and needless frustration.
Despite Cole’s official eligibility to return after 60 days on March 28, this feeling of excessive ambition has been strengthened by his recent light bullpens. On May 4, Cole threw fifteen pitches, never pushing himself above 89 mph. On May 7, he threw twenty, likely attaining comparable velocity levels while relying on the fastball.
It will take him three or four weeks, about equivalent to a standard spring training, when he starts trying with all of his pitches before he decides to think about rejoining the Yankees. As a result, the best-case situation would seem to be late June or early July, which is a very reasonable reality that most fans undoubtedly still prefer not to consider.
Yankees’ star Gerrit Cole is recovering well from his elbow injury, albeit slowly.
Aaron Boone was frank when questioned about Cole’s development on Tuesday. It wasn’t quite as frank as when he addressed Gleyber Torres’ mistake, though. Nothing of the facts was hidden. There was no dancing involved.
It will take some time. And it ought to take some time. Nestor Cortes Jr. leads the rotation with a 3.72 ERA through the weekend’s play. Although “they don’t need Cole” is blatantly false, they have enough motivation to ensure that Cole’s ramp-up is as deliberate as possible because they are managing just fine without him.
As of right now, the Yankees have even more room to maneuver than they may have anticipated thanks to the play of Cole’s rotation companions.
The Yankees don’t need to be coy in this situation. Cole will come back when he’s ready. The Yankees cannot afford to expedite any step of this process because of their commitment in the player and in themselves.
