Yankees Pitching Woes a Major Concern

The New York Yankees are in Big Trouble!

Wait? What? It's only April 14!?!?!

Correct, it's only April 14; approximately 9.3 percent of the season is in the books. But as it stands right now, the Yankees are ranked 25th in all of Major League Baseball in team ERA at 4.67. The Yankees starting staff ERA is a whopping 5.40, the worst in Major League Baseball.

Want to see the state of baseball in New York? While the Yankees have the worst starting staff in baseball with regards to ERA, the Mets have the best right now at 2.55. The Amazins also own baseball's best team ERA at the moment at 2.30.

Want some karma?

Remember when the Milwaukee Brewers surrendered 15 home runs to the Yankees throughout a three-game series two weeks ago? The Brewers have yielded only four homers since.

As it stands Max Fried is the Yankees' best starter. In three starts, the former Atlanta Braves starter is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA. It's really no surprise that Fried is at the top of the charts here. He's a two-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover Award winner, and a World Series champion with Atlanta.

Once Gerrit Cole was lost for the year after undergoing Tommy John Surgery to repair a torn UCL in his right elbow, Fried moved up to the ace role in the Yankees rotation. The problem is there is no clear number 2 starter.

Luis Gill is still out, recovering from a lat strain he suffered in Spring Training. Clarke Schmidt was impressive in his rehab outing at Double-A Somerset and will make his season debut on Wednesday against Kansas City. Can he settle things down? We'll see.

The problem is the rest of the rotation. Carlos Rodon was supposed to be that No. 2 starter when the Yankees brought him in three seasons ago, and it just hasn't worked out. In four starts in 2025, Rodon is 1-3 with a 5.48 ERA. He even served up a meatball to San Francisco's Juan Hoo Lee that turned the game around for the Giants.

Marcus Stroman is now on the 15-day IL after taking a cortisone shot in his inflamed left knee. Stroman couldn't get out of the first inning against San Francisco on Friday in a 9-1 loss. Stroman's ERA has ballooned to 11.57.

Will Warren might be 1-0, but his ERA sits at 5.14; Carlos Carrasco enters Monday's start against Kansas City with an ERA of 7.71.

It's not a great look. The only thing the Yankees have going for them is that the American League is pretty lackluster. Entering play on Monday, only the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels share the best record in the A.L. at 9-6.

The Yankees can turn this around, but they need help. They need Schmidt to be brilliant. They need Gill to return healthy. They need someone (i.e. Rodon, Stroman, Carrasco to turn back the clock to say 2019 or 2021).

The problem is the Yankees will need to hit the trade market to find a quality arm to slot behind Fried this season. Perhaps Fried's old Atlanta teammate Chris Sale becomes available if the Braves continue their nosedive in the National League East? That's a possibility, but generally speaking, it's way too early to determine which teams are indeed out of it at this point.