Brewers' injury news should help Yankees fans calm down about Clarke Schmidt

Clarke Schmidt put up a dud on Monday night in Cleveland against the Guardians. The New York Yankees' right-hander got knocked around in the third inning and was gone by the fourth in his second start of 2025.

The Yanks went on to lose the series opener 6-4 after starter Gavin Williams handled them through the first six innings. You simply can't win them all. Not to mention, Schmidt is still working his way to full strength after suffering back and shoulder injuries this spring.

While it's not exactly encouraging that Schmidt has a 7.45 ERA so far this season against the No. 29- and 13-ranked offenses in terms of OPS, that's to be expected after his late start to 2025. It'll be a little while before he's able to reach his peak abilities with how behind he is.

Then again, it's not like Schmidt is otherworldly. He's a solid starter with injury issues. At best, he's a No. 3 arm, but it's more appropriate to label him a No. 5. Nonetheless, he's definitely an asset, and hopefully will be a more valuable one when he's fully comfortable after a few more outings.

Yankees fans haven't exactly been pleased with Schmidt in the early going, which is perhaps a bit of an overreaction (though it's at least rooted in some truth with what's plagued him over the last couple years).

Clarke Schmidt's early struggles are the least of Yankees fans' worries

But it's important to remember it could always be worse, as it is for many other teams out there. And though the Yankees have many injury woes this year that fans are sick of hearing about, the team rid itself of one that would've really put everyone over the edge.

In Milwaukee, the Brewers just placed Nestor Cortes on the 60-day injured list with a flexor strain — the same ailment that knocked him out of action for over a month at the end of 2024 with New York. Luckily, the Yankees were somehow able to get value for the left-hander by acquiring Devin Williams in their offseason deal with the Brew Crew.

Losing another starter until June would've been a killer for the Yankees. Their situation isn't perfect, but the fact Schmidt was able to get over his ailments and Will Warren is at least an active body in the rotation is a lot more helpful at the moment with Gerrit Cole out for the year and Luis Gil likely out until July.

Max Fried is the only reliable starter at the moment, but the rotation will hopefully normalize in time. Carlos Rodón shouldn't be a liability the rest of the way. Carlos Carrasco won't be here in a month or so. Warren could emerge as a worthwhile starter. Gil will be back in time for the second half. Schmidt should be himself in 2-3 weeks.

Had Nestor been here, he would've upended the status quo in a different way at an inconvenient time. Better to absorb the short-term speed bumps over more long-term anguish.