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After being dismissed by the eventual American League champion Blue Jays in the ALDS earlier this month, attention turned towards how the Yankees can improve for 2026, as they look to get back atop the baseball world.
In 2025, one general strength of the team was the rotation. Despite Gerrit Cole going down before the season and Clarke Schmidt during it — both requiring Tommy John surgery — the Yankees’ rotation held pretty strong all things considered, led by Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, with rookie Cam Schlittler coming on late. Fellow youngster Will Warren had an up-and-down campaign, but he still proved remarkably healthy, tying Rodón for the AL lead with 33 starts while pacing all rookies with 171 K’s.
On the other hand, the Yankees’ bullpen was less than stellar. Devin Williams was shaky throughout the season. Luke Weaver couldn’t quite replicate his 2024. Tim Hill did the job, but Fernando Cruz faded in the second half and all of Mark Leiter Jr., Jonathan Loáisiga, and Ian Hamilton were ineffective. Although the Trade Deadline acquisition of David Bednar worked out well, other trades to try and bolster the bullpen didn’t go as well.
For those reasons and others, there’s a line of thinking out there that you could maybe use an asset from the rotation in the bullpen to maybe try and improve the ‘pen. One potential option that could make sense to move is Luis Gil. So, we asked: Should the Yankees move Gil to the bullpen? And you had your say!
On one hand, Gil does have the raw “stuff” that would play up in the bullpen, with a fastball that can average over 95 miles per hour, and a slider that gets a decent amount of swings and misses. On the other hand, the last two seasons — where he’s been a regular rotation member when healthy — he’s had a tendency to walk a number of batters. He walked 12.1 percent of batters he faced in 2024 and 13.5 percent in his abbreviated 2025, both of which were among the worst figures in the lead.
While pitchers with walk issues are hardly rare when it comes to relievers, and it doesn’t preclude one from being successful (see: Dellin Betances, even post-peak), it makes some sense to be a little apprehensive about trying Gil there, considering the dangers that relievers are often forced to encounter.
Also, Gil is just a year removed from winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Now yes, he was a little older than your general rookie tend to be. Not to mention, his ROTY campaign was bolstered by a very hot start and aided by a slightly weak class (apologies to batterymate Austin Wells, who finished third). That being said, you don’t get a Rookie of the Year-winning arm come through your team every year. People may just want to ride it out with Gil as a starter and see what that goes.
With Cole coming off Tommy John and Schmidt likely out for most or all of next year — not to mention Rodón now likely to miss Opening Day — the Yankees probably don’t have the opportunity, let alone the need, to make that choice just yet, but it will probably be one people continue to think about.
