One of the New York Yankees’ key offseason acquisitions will have to wait a little longer than expected to make his debut in pinstripes.
Left-hander Carlos Rodon will be shut down for 7-10 days with a forearm strain and will begin the regular season on the injured list.
Rodon, 30, signed a six-year, $162 million contract with the Yankees over the winter with the expectation that he would serve as the team’s No. 2 starter behind ace Gerrit Cole. Instead, he could be out for the first month of the regular season as he recovers from the time he’ll miss in spring training.
Rodon was knocked around in his first spring training start on Sunday, giving up five runs and six hits in two-plus innings. In that game, manager Aaron Boone asked the lefty to dial back the velocity of his fastball after the first inning.
“I don’t want him to feel like he’s got to impress us on March 5 and overdo it and get in a bad spot mechanically or start to do something,” Boone said afterwards, according to the New York Post.
Revised Yankees rotation
Cole is still in line to start the season opener on March 30 at home against the San Francisco Giants. However, injuries have now impacted two of their top five projected starters with Rodon and Frankie Montas sidelined by injuries.
Montas had arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder last month and is expected to be out until the All-Star break.
Left-hander Nestor Cortes has been dealing with a hamstring strain this offseason, but is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season.
As it stands now, the Yankees rotation should line up this way (2022 stats in parentheses):
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RHP Gerrit Cole (13-8, 3.50 ERA)
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RHP Luis Severino (7-3, 3.18 ERA)
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RHP Domingo German (2-5, 3.61 ERA)
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RHP Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 3.12 ERA)
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LHP Nestor Cortes (12-4, 2.44 ERA)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carlos Rodon injury will keep Yankees’ $162M signing out to start 2023