Each month in the Rotation Depth Inventory, we take stock of the Yankees’ options to step in and start in the event of an opening in the rotation. With just about two weeks left in the season, the Yankees’ rotation of Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil, Will Warren, and Cam Schlittler looks fairly locked in. Still, in the event of an injury or a weather-induced doubleheader, it’s possible another pitcher could be called upon to step in to start a critical game as the Yankees work to secure their playoff
positioning. Let’s take a look at the the team’s top options should they need someone to fill in.
Allan Winans
A Quadruple-A player is defined as too good to stay at Triple-A but not quite good enough to excel at the major-league level. Allan Winans is rounding out a season that serves as the platonic ideal of Quadruple-A. After taking his first loss at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in his 20th appearance, he has an 11-1 record and 1.64 ERA at that level. In nine innings with the Yankees, though, he gave up 11 runs (nine earned), torpedoing his chances of sticking in “The Show.” The journeyman, who turned 30 last month, remains the Yankees’ most viable option should they need a spot starter down the stretch, both due to his success at Scranton and the fact that he’s already on the team’s 40-man roster. In all likelihood, though, he’ll enter the offseason still stuck in the state of limbo that’s characterized his season.
Kenta Maeda
At this point in the year, it’s difficult to see the Yankees burning a 40-man spot to call up a young starter at Triple-A, complicating their ability to retain the player during the offseason for one spot start. That’s why, despite some pretty gnarly numbers at Scranton, they would be more likely to turn to 37-year-old Kenta Maeda, who will be a free agent this offseason regardless of his roster status in the next two weeks. After posting a 6.21 ERA in 120.1 innings with Detroit between 2024 and 2025, the Tigers cut the veteran in May. He then latched on with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate, where he was similarly unspectacular, before landing in Scranton last month. He’s posted a 5.12 ERA in 31.2 innings with the RailRiders, hardly inspiring confidence that he has anything left in the tank. He has looked better his last couple of times out, including a 7.2-inning outing in which he held the Red Sox’s Triple-A squad to one hit and one walk while punching out nine. He’s stretched out to handle a traditional starter’s workload (he tossed 100 pitches in that outing against the Worcester Red Sox) and could therefore at a minimum eat some innings in a pinch.
Ryan Yarbrough & Paul Blackburn
While I usually focus this series on Triple-A pitchers, at this point of the year it’s hard to envision a scenario where anyone on Scranton’s roster other than Winans or Maeda is in play. For that reason, should the Yankees need to turn to another option to start, it’s likely they would stick with what they already have at the major-league level. Ryan Yarbrough, who excelled in eight starts earlier this year before landing in the IL, would appear to be the top choice. He tossed 5.1 innings and 73 pitches in his first relief appearance since being activated earlier this month, indicating that he is stretched out enough to serve as more than simply an opener.
The same is likely true for Paul Blackburn, the longtime starter who joined the Yankees in August after being designated for assignment by the Mets. He threw 71 pitches in his Yankees debut last month and, while he hasn’t topped 36 in three appearances since, the veteran should still be able to pitch at least three or four innings if called upon.
As the Yankees prepare to close out their season, they have several viable options to fill in and make a spot start should injury or scheduling necessitate it. Of these four pitchers, only Yarbrough has a chance to be a significant part of their playoff plans (Maeda is not eligible for their postseason roster while Winans and Blackburn would likely only serve in mop-up duty if either cracks the roster).
