They said it with different words, but the sentiment seemed to be the same, as was the sense of relief with which they said it.
For Gerrit Cole, it came last March in spring training. For Carlos Rodon, it came on Sunday.
The common theme? Settling into their pinstripes.
“It seems like things are more familiar,” Cole said on March 3, 2023, during his fourth spring training as a Yankee but the first normal one (non-COVID impacted, non-lockout shortened). “I find myself being more curious about the game and spending more brain power on the game, as opposed to making sure I’m not showing up late or calling somebody by the wrong name and I’m not looking like I’m assimilating here because people are always looking at me. I want to do things right. I got that kind of boxed up.”
Cole’s admission gave way to his best season in The Bronx and an AL Cy Young award.
That doesn’t mean that is the bar for Rodon to reach this year, but after another quality start on Sunday against his former team, the left-hander was asked about feeling more settled in his second year with the team. He sounded a lot like Cole roughly 14 months earlier.
“I sit down in the dugout now and I look around and I feel pretty comfortable sitting in this stadium,” Rodon said. “It’s funny you ask that because I thought about that the first month here in April.
“I feel comfortable sitting down and looking around, I’m like, ‘This doesn’t feel overwhelming anymore. This feels like home, which is nice.’”
Rodon is just two months into the season, but his first 10 starts have gone a long way toward distancing him from his nightmare first year with the Yankees after signing a six-year, $162 million contract.
Rodon’s brutal introduction to The Bronx doesn’t need much rehashing at this point, but it seemed fitting Sunday when he walked off the mound after the sixth inning and blew a kiss to his wife behind the dugout.
Last year, one of Rodon’s tougher moments was walking off the mound in Anaheim after not making it out of the fifth inning and mockingly blowing a kiss to a heckling fan behind the dugout. Same gesture, totally different meanings and situations.
In addition to all the regular challenges that come with assimilating into a new organization — not to mention doing so with a big contract and the expectation of being a 1A behind the ace in Cole — Rodon was playing from behind all year because of injuries and not debuting until July. Then came the struggles as he was trying to make up for lost time, and everything compounded as the Yankees finished off their worst season since 1992.
“Last year just snowballed,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Came in, had a forearm setback, a back setback, then now you’re playing catchup and you’re the guy we brought in to help anchor the rotation. It’s just one of those seasons that snowballed. But also one of those that, how do you respond to it?
“Some guys don’t respond. He has. Credit to him for saying, ‘That’s not me or my expectation.’ He’s put in the work to put himself in a position. Doesn’t mean you’re always successful. But do everything you can to put yourself in a position to get the most out of your talent. I feel really good about what Carlos has done there.”
It was critical that Rodon put in the work over the offseason — during which he was in close communication with the Yankees’ strength and conditioning staff and pitching group — to better position himself for success in Year 2. He arrived at camp in noticeably better shape, but that alone wasn’t going to be enough.
From the start of spring training, Boone repeatedly talked about Rodon just needing to “stack good days” and that if Rodon did that, his talent would come through. It sounded trite the more Boone said it, but he seemed to have a reason behind it as Rodon went through camp with all eyes on him.
“There was going to be so much noise around Carlos, just because of his contract, coming off a tough season,” Boone said. “So his first start in spring training was noisy. And you knew it was going to be. His first start in the regular season was going to be noisy, his first start back here in The Bronx. So the message was just, ‘You’ve been a great pitcher in this league. You’ve got the ability to be an outstanding pitcher. You’ve laid the foundation this winter and this spring. Keep checking those boxes. Keep chopping wood every day,’ if you will. And he’s done that.
“The result has been a nice consistent body of work to start the season because he’s just been in a good place from a frame of mind and work ethic. It’s been exciting to see him respond to an adverse season.”
Being healthy certainly has a lot to do with Rodon carrying a 3.27 ERA across 55 innings heading into Friday’s start against the Padres at Petco Park. But what can’t be discounted is feeling more settled into his environment, which allows that talent to come out more naturally.
“That makes a huge difference,” Rodon said.
It did for Cole, too, last season. His first three seasons as a Yankee were by no means as rough as Rodon’s, at least from a results standpoint. He had a combined 3.28 ERA, made 75 starts and finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting each year — including a second-place finish in 2021.
But throughout last season, Cole was also noticeably more at ease and comfortable, both on the mound and in the clubhouse. The result was one of the best seasons of his career.
Rodon still has some things to prove over the course of a full season, but for now, he has put himself in a good position to do so. He has shown the flexibility and ability to add to his repertoire, no longer being just a fastball-slider pitcher.
There are still outings when his stuff is electric and allows him to lean on those two pitches, but there are also others when he mixes in a decent amount of changeups and/or cutters to give teams a different look.
“Just his consistency so far, I think he embodies what our rotation’s been,” Boone said. “It’s about continuing to put in the work and allow your body to go cash the checks.”
Rodon wasn’t ready to give himself flowers just yet, but sounded much more confident about where he currently stands.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I think there’s room to improve. I’m always looking to get better. Look, man, my goal is just to go out there and think about getting 18 outs. Every time I come to the field on the day I pitch, the goal is just to start with 18 outs and we’ll go from there. I just want to give my team a chance to win, that’s it. If I can go out there and our team wins on the day I pitch, that’s all I can do. I don’t necessarily need to get the win, I just want the team to win. That’s it.”
Welcome back, Juan
There will be plenty of words devoted to the Juan Soto trade this weekend as the Yankees visit the Padres for the first time since the blockbuster went down in December.
As much as it pained them to give up Michael King, plus Drew Thorpe, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito and Kyle Higashioka for Soto and Trent Grisham, there is no way the deal can be seen as anything other than a smashing success for the Yankees so far.
Yes, they are still guaranteed only one year of Soto, and while Hal Steinbrenner wants to start negotiations for a deal in-season, it still seems overwhelmingly likely the 25-year-old outfielder will reach free agency.
But adding Soto has been a breath of fresh air for the Yankees, especially coming off such a brutal season in 2023. Soto’s generational talent is obvious, but there is also a joy with which he plays the game that emanates around the team. So too do his tough at-bats, which Boone recently described as theatrical.
And with Aaron Judge getting hot this month, the one-two punch of Soto and Judge back-to-back in the lineup is as dangerous as the Yankees could have hoped for.
Grisham, on the other hand, has struggled in limited playing time (.056 average, .366 OPS in 45 plate appearances), though Boone continues to say Grisham will play a big role over the course of the year.
King has had flashes of dominant stuff and other outings where he’s gotten hit around, resulting in a 4.28 ERA through 10 starts with the Padres. He started Wednesday, so he will miss facing the Yankees this weekend. The Yankees’ strong starting pitching has helped alleviate the sting of losing King.
Higashioka has served as a backup to starting catcher Luis Campusano, batting just 6-for-40 with two doubles and a home run, though his framing has still been above-average.
Brito owns a 3.96 ERA in 16 relief appearances. Vasquez, currently back in Triple-A, has a 5.82 ERA in five starts. Their true value will take a few more years to judge.
The Padres also turned Thorpe into the headliner of their deal to land Dylan Cease, which is working out quite nicely for them. Thorpe, though, has been strong with a 1.50 ERA across eight starts for the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate.
Of course, as long as Soto was Soto, the Yankees were always going “win” the trade in the short term. It will take much longer to evaluate it in full.
Want to catch a game? The Yankees schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Life without Wandy
The Soto trade will dominate the discourse this weekend, but the Yankees will also be catching up with Wandy Peralta.
Despite Peralta’s reliability, the Yankees let the left-hander walk in free agency and sign with the Padres on a four-year, $16.5 million contract that includes player options over the next three offseasons. They essentially replaced him by trading for lefties Caleb Ferguson and Victor Gonzalez in separate deals with the Dodgers.
Peralta has a 3.05 ERA in 23 appearances. Ferguson has a 5.29 ERA in 21 games — inflated by a few especially tough outings — and Gonzalez, whom the Yankees use as more of a lefty specialist, has a 2.30 ERA in 18 games.
“They complement each other,” Boone said of his lefties. “Victor’s a little more of that classic really tough on lefties where as Fergie’s a little more of that neutral guy with that fastball playing up to both sides. Both those guys are going to and need to play a big role for us.”
Read more
