By Miguel Rapetti
Feb 21, 2024, 9:39 PM EST
The New York Yankees are on the right track in their planning for the upcoming 2024 Major League season and as the debut in training camps is just around the corner, Aaron Boone, manager of the Mules, has decided on his pitchers for what will be their first three games.
During the day this Tuesday Boone spoke with the media about the team’s main doubt, the starting pitching. The Yankees’ rotation in 2023 was one of the keys to an early elimination and the strategist wanted to address that, assuring that the problem is a thing of the past and that they now have new pieces to face the semester without problems.
For that reason he wanted to announce the training camp starters in a decision that surprised many.
For Boone, the first starter to take the ball will be the 25-year-old Dominican Luis Gil, next Saturday, February 24, against the Detroit Tigers.
Gil, who debuted in 2021 and although he has only seven games in the Majors, has an acceptable earned run percentage of 3.78 in 33.1 innings, leaving a 1-1 record with 43 strikeouts.
The intention for Gil to see action early in Spring Training is so that he can serve in the regular season both as a starter and as an emergency long reliever, in case a New York Yankees pitcher fails in his job.
Next on Sunday the 25th and with a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays, the intention is for Carlos Rodón and Marcus Stroman to be the ones to take the mound to take on the starting responsibility; Boone did not specify who will be the starter for which game.
However, it will be Rodón’s responsibility to start the preseason on the right foot taking into account the poor performance he had with the Yankees in 2023, when after signing a contract for six years and $162 million dollars, he finished with a record of 3-8 and 6.85 of effectiveness, in 33.1 innings.
The negative news for Rodón was having missed almost half of the season due to various injuries, which generated a series of criticisms from fans who considered that the amount paid per contract did not justify it in 2023.
Stroman, who arrived weeks ago from free agency to sign a two-year deal with the Bronx, will be part of the Yankees’ third meeting in Spring Training looking to earn a spot in Boone’s regular rotation for 2024.
Despite having revealed the decision of Gil, Rodón and Stroman in the Yankees’ first games, Boone did not give a date for the current American League Cy Young, Gerrit Cole, or other pitchers such as the Cuban Néstor Cortés or the American Clarke Schmidt have participation in the Spring Training games.
Likewise, the entire Yankees team is waiting for one last addition before the start of the campaign, with the National League Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, being one of the main aspirations of the board led by the general manager Brian Cashman and president of operations Hal Steinbrenner.
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