Yankees: 3 burning questions NYY haven’t answered yet with spring start

Many of the New York Yankees’ most important players look locked in during limited duty to open the spring — Gleyber Torres, we’re talking to you.

Some intriguing arms have emerged to handle the middle innings out of the ‘pen, a few nobodies have lingered on the fringes of the roster conversation, and Tyler Wade may be playing himself into purgatory … at least, many of us hope so.

So, what haven’t we learned yet? Well, plenty.

For starters, even the “answers” we think we might have aren’t definitive. That said, it would feel unfair for this list to begin with “Gleyber Needs to Prove Himself at Short” — because of course he does, but thus far, no complaints.

What answers are we no closer to attaining than the day camp broke?

What key questions will linger over the Yankees all season long, no matter how many scalded doubles they produce in March, April and May?

So far, so good in terms of early factors we needed to observe to feel at all comfortable with the 2021 Yankees’ trajectory. But plenty of burning questions remain unanswered, and these three top the list as we round the turn towards the portion of the spring where games become, well, boring and repetitive.

The Yankees face several burning questions as spring training marches on.

3. How Will Yankees Manage Their Starters’ Innings?

Both Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber, the Yankees’ question mark offseason additions, passed their first test.

We know, when they’re peaking, they can still look nasty. Both completely commanded the opposition during their first two outings of the spring; Taillon blitzed the Tigers on seven pitches with one whiff, while Kluber rocked the Blue Jays to sleep in two shutout innings.

Right off the bat, we know they’ve still got it.

But how far will the Yankees push them? Where’s the line in the sand?

To be fair, coming off a shortened 2020, this question goes for everyone in the rotation, making it all the more difficult to forecast anyone’s production. Will Domingo German be allowed to go over 150 innings after missing 540 days? Will Deivi Garcia press beyond that same mark after throwing just 34.1 innings last season? Probably not. So how will he be deployed?

The injured Clarke Schmidt won’t lick 100 innings pitched, probably. What will Luis Severino do to manage his load when he returns?

The best way for the Yankees to even approach answering this question in March would be to have six or seven rotation-quality options emerge, making spot starts and skipped outings an easier pill to swallow. So far, so good … but we don’t know the plan here, which will dictate how fresh this roster is in October.

1. Can Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton Survive 162?

This is, unfortunately, the only question that really matters for the 2021 Yankees, and we’ll need six months to get back to you with an answer.

Naturally, the same question goes for the rotation, too, but there’s a lot more leeway there.

Getting through a few weeks unscathed, replete with positive talk of yoga, mindfulness, and glute exercises, is a nice start. But this Yankees team will not hit its championship-level ceiling without as many games played as possible by both behemoths.

The Yankees can’t answer their injury questions yet.

On Oct. 1, presuming they’ve adequately survived the 162-game grind, both men need to be in the lineup. There is no vintage fan’s fantasy where the team is better without Judge and Stanton, trading strikeouts for grit and making the extra pass, even though this isn’t basketball. 

You can’t talk yourself into the Yankees as a contender without exemplary seasons from both men. That’s why every day of the spring, as well as every early-season game, is really just a stress test in which fans have to constantly grit their teeth and hope their heroes escape all nine innings intact.

For the fringe members of this roster, there’s plenty still to be proven. For Judge and Stanton? They can only go backwards.

As locked in as Judge currently is, we almost wish he could sit in a cryo chamber for the next several weeks. The answer to this question is only in its first paragraph, and no amount of spring dingers and pliability will change that, unfortunately.

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