Carlos Rodon's return to Yankees' rotation likely to force Ryan Weathers or Will Warren to bullpen
Yankees' Ryan Weathers, right, pitches against the Cardinals on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Will Warren followed him on Wednesday night. Credit: Jim McIsaac
With lefthander Carlos Rodon due to come back at some point this month – that, according to general manager Brian Cashman – the Yankees will have a decision to make with their rotation, a group that collectively has stood out despite the number of injuries its dealt with this season.
It has generally thrived, even with Gerrit Cole missing almost two months to start the season as he recovered from the Tommy John surgery that cost him all of the 2025 season and lefthander Max Fried missing time from May 14-July 22 with a left elbow bone bruise (Rodon, who started the season on the IL recovering from off-season surgery, has been on the IL since July 3 with left elbow inflammation).
Rodon’s rehab has continued to go well and, as Cashman indicated, the veteran should be back before the end of August.
And when Rodon does return, that means either Ryan Weathers or Will Warren, slated to start Wednesday night’s game against the Cardinals, will be bullpen-bound.
Both pitchers seem intent on making that decision as difficult as possible.
Weathers, a lefthander brought aboard in the offseason, is just 5-7 but with a 3.79 ERA in 22 starts. He earned the victory in Tuesday night’s 2-0 victory over the Cardinals after allowing four hits and one walk over six scoreless innings in which he struck out six. Weathers is 2-0 with a 0.48 ERA in his last three starts and he’s 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA in his last nine outings.
“We’re all in the same ballpark of like, if that’s what my job is and that helps us win ballgames, I mean, we all have the same end goal,” Weathers said after Tuesday’s game of a possible switch to the bullpen. “So if that happens, then it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Weathers, primarily a starter in what has been a career pockmarked by injuries, has more bullpen experience than Warren, among the reasons the Yankees dealt for the 26-year-old in January. The thought was Weathers, 15-27 with a 4.66 in 77 career starts compared to 2-3 with a 2.77 ERA in 15 relief outings, would start the season in the rotation while Cole and Rodon continued their respective rehabs. He then, likely, would shift at some point to the bullpen as the rotation got healthy.
The 27-year-old Warren, meanwhile, has made all of two relief appearances in his career – the first coming in Game 2 of last October’s ALDS against the Blue Jays in Toronto and the second coming on July 22 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Pirates when he came on in the ninth inning of a 2-0 victory. Looking for his first save since his junior season at Southeastern Louisiana University in 2020, Warren allowed a hit and a walk in two-thirds of an inning (lefty Tim Hill replaced Warren and retired the final batter for the save).
That outing was part of a rough stretch for Warren, who started the season on fire, looking like a top-of-the-rotation piece after his first seven outings in which he went 4-0 with a 2.39 ERA.
A roller-coaster ride soon commenced – starting in start No. 8 against the Rangers on May 6 when Warren allowed six runs and seven hits over four innings of a 6-1 loss – with the pitcher 0-3 with a 7.61 ERA in his previous six games (five starts) before last Friday’s outing at Wrigley Field.
Against one of the National League’s top lineups, Warren recaptured his form from early in the season, allowing four hits and striking out seven over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, his second-longest outing of the season (behind the seven innings he threw against the Royals on April 18.
He improved to 8-5 with a 4.14 ERA in 22 outings (21 starts).
“Execution,” manager Aaron Boone said of the key for Warren before Wednesday night’s start. “Execution. When he does that, he’s very capable…When he does that, he has all the weapons to go out there and pitch the way he did in Chicago.”
And continue to make whatever decision the Yankees make with their rotation a tough one.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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