CASHMAN FEELS CONFIDENT ABOUT 2024 & SO DOES HIS NEW MOUTHPIECE

Never fear, fans. The Yankees have "one of the best starting rotations in the league" and that's the high praise of Marcus Stroman. Stroman has two jobs with the Yankees this year. He will be part time starting pitcher and part time personal Public Relations coordinator for Brian Cashman.

The Yankees needed to add another reliable starter this winter, and I wouldn't say Stroman git that bill. I don't think he makes the Yankees rotation significantly stronger, and I don't think we should count on Carlos Rodon or Nestor Cortes having amazing bounce back seasons. Stroman is trying to sell this cool story about the Yankees strong rotation, you can check it out HERE.

He got one part of his story right though, Gerrit Cole is one of the "greats in the game" but he can't do it all himself. It's okay though because when Rodon and Cortes are "right" they perform incredibly well and then the Yankees have Clarke Schmidt and he's "got a ton of upside" with "incredible stuff." He's gonna be even better than what he is now when he makes some adjustments and then he is going to be dominating the league for a long time. Book it because Stroman said it.

I have no doubt Schmidt can make adjustments and be effective for the Yankees. He's got some work to do because his 4.64 ERA isn't inspiring, but his 159 innings pitched is better than Stroman's for the last two seasons. So, there is a positive for me. I can work with potential, especially when that curveball of his is on point. The Yankees just cant rely on "potential" especially not after the disaster of last season.

Meanwhile, Brian Cashman is also singing Schmidt's praises and about his future. "He was keeping us in the game every five days, providing innings and an opportunity for us to win, despite the shortcomings on offense. I was really proud of the season he had last year and I'm looking forward to running him back out there in '24." So we can count on seeing Schmidt as our number five and our rotation is possibly set.

So Cashman and Stroman are singing the same tune. It's nauseating for me. Nothing Cashman says surprises me these days. I think we are all used to his insanity. I just wish Stroman didn't sound like such a suck up and just kept his mouth shut for now. He's got a lot to prove.

Meanwhile, Cashman will continue to sell that "last year was a coming out party for him [Schmidt] and we're counting on him to be a fixture in that rotation." In the back of my mind, I don't share all of Cashman's confidence and hope that we get to plan our own party at the end of the season.....Cashman's going away party. 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj