The bad news for the New York Yankees got worse regarding right-handed pitcher and reigning American League Rookie of the Year award winner Luis Gil.
Gil, who suffered a high-grade lat strain, will miss at least three months, general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Thursday. Cashman said the hope is Gil is able to return “sometime in the summer.”
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“The Gil news was difficult, as any of them are,” Cashman said Thursday. “He’s certainly important to us, but thankfully, as long as we handle it right, we’ll get him back sometime in the summer. But he’s going to be down for a long time, obviously. Being a starter, he’s got six weeks minimum of no throw, and obviously it could be longer if it takes longer.”
Cashman detailed the load road ahead of Gil.
“Is it six, is it gonna be seven weeks, is it eight weeks, whatever? Then we’ll get him going. And then he’s got to go through flat ground throwing program and then obviously bullpens and then rehab games, so you’re talking three months we’re not gonna see him.”
After making just seven starts in 2021 and ’22 — and missing most of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery recovery — Gil had a breakout rookie year in 2024, going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA and 171 strikeouts across 151.2 innings pitched.
Gil was the Yankees’ de facto ace while Gerrit Cole was sidelined for the first half of the season, and ended up winning the AL Rookie of the Year award by five votes over Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser.
Gil was looking for another big year in a suddenly dominant rotation with Cole and free agent acquisition Max Fried. However, he’ll now be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a lat strain.
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“It’s definitely not the best feeling when they tell you something like that,” Gil said Monday through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “You’re not waiting for news like that. It’s a tough moment right there to digest. You’ve got to start thinking of how to move forward, whatever the journey might be.”
He added: “You end the season with that desire to keep on going out there and competing. When you get news like this, it’s definitely not easy to swallow.”
Even without Gil, manager Aaron Boone still feels good about the team’s depth in the rotation.
“We still feel like we have good depth,” Boone said. “You know these things are unfortunately going to come and pop up at different times of the year.”
Alongside Cole and Fried, the Yankees have right-handers Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman, as well as left-hander Carlos Rodon.
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