Pitching. Specifically, starting pitching.
It is the most glaring challenge facing the Mets and Yankees as Opening Day has arrived.
The Mets will be at Citi Field this afternoon (1:10 p.m.) to host the Milwaukee Brewers to begin a three-game series and the Yankees will take on the Houston Astros on the road later today (4:10 p.m.) in Game 1 of a four-game set. Jose Quintana is scheduled to be on the mound for the Mets to throw their first pitch of the 2024 campaign while Nestor Cortes gets the nod for the Yankees as he’s moved up one spot in their starting rotation for now with ace Gerrit Cole projected to be out until late May or early June with right elbow nerve inflammation and edema—swelling caused by too much fluid trapped in the body’s tissues.
Cole was the American League Cy Young Award winner last season. On Sunday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced that righty Luis Gil will begin the season as the team’s No. 5 starter to complete their rotation. Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Clarke Schmidt are slotted as the Yankees Nos. 2, 3, and 4 starters respectively. Via MLB.com, the 25-year-old Gil expressed his eagerness to maximize the moment.
“Coming into camp, I mentioned how hard I worked in the offseason to put myself in a really good situation,” said the native of the Dominican Republic who initially was signed as a free-agent by the Minnesota Twins as a teenager in 2015. To me, it’s important to have a good start. It’s exciting. I’m very fortunate and happy to have this opportunity.”
In addition to the lefty Quintana, former Yankee Luis Severino, Tylor Megill, southpaw Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser are slated as the Mets’ first five. Over the course of the long seven-month, 162-game Major League Baseball season, unknown variables will alter both teams’ rotations and plans. Neither is set and stone and will be fluid. And there are rightful concerns among the fan bases that their quality and depth is lagging behind some of their division rivals, such as the potent arms of the Atlanta Braves for the Mets in the National League East and the formidable Toronto Blue Jays staff the Yankees will have to contend with in the AL East.
Boone and Yankees GM Brian Cashman, along with, Mets first-year manager Carlos Mendoza, and president David Stearns, also in his first year with the franchise in his current role (Stearns previously worked in the Mets’ baseball operations department early in his career) will be charged with navigating the unforeseen and inevitable that will reveal itself in the form of injuries and ineffectiveness.