It's becoming clear which Yankees SP should move to the bullpen when Carlos Rodon returns

The New York Yankees have had a logjam brewing in their starting rotation for a long time. However, injuries to Carlos Rodón and Max Fried have pushed off the inevitable. Fried has since returned, and now Rodón has begun a rehab assignment and could be back within the next couple of weeks. That will lead to a key decision involving either Will Warren or Ryan Weathers.

The pair of young starters have been on the bubble, not necessarily because they have pitched poorly, but because the wealth of talent New York's starters possess will push them down the pecking order. That will make whoever the odd man out is a potential boost to the bullpen.

This doesn't excuse the Yankees' decision not to add to the relief corps at the trade deadline, but it might mitigate the impact. Late last month, we got a look at Warren in the 'pen thanks to the lack of depth among the relievers and a scheduling quirk. It was both exciting and discouraging at the same time.

The conventional wisdom might say that between these two hurlers, Weathers is the one who should convert to relief. The 121 innings he's logged so far this season have already shattered his previous career high of 94 2/3 frames, and he has the kind of electric arm that could play up out of the bullpen.

At the same time, Warren is the kind of innings-eating hurler who can at times struggle with consistency but fits perfectly in a fifth starter role.

As logical as that might seem, it's the wrong decision, and some recent updates provide us with the evidence that points to Weathers being the guy who should hold onto his rotation spot.

Ryan Weathers' recent efforts confirm that he should stay in the Yankees' rotation over Will Warren

Both Weathers and Warren have had their ups and downs this season, but overall, both are pitchers most teams in the league would love to add to their staffs. There is a difference between the two when it comes to trying to develop consistency, though.

From Opening Day through July 5, Weathers had posted a 4.29 ERA over 17 starts and 92 1/3 innings. During that time, he had one consistent bugaboo, which was giving up the long ball. Over that span, the southpaw had posted a 1.56 HR/9, which led to some meltdowns.

However, over his last five starts, Weathers has made a change. He's started throwing his four-seamer less and his sinker more. Doing so lowered his barrel rate from 10.7% to just 2.5%. As a result, he's posting a 0.31 HR/9 during this most recent stretch.

Until July 5, he was throwing his four-seamer 28.4% of the time versus 18.2% for his sinker. Since July 10, he's cut the traditional heater down to just 9.6% utilization while marginally increasing the sinker to a 20.6% clip. When asked about the change, Weathers said, "The other pitches stay in the ballpark."

It definitely takes something for a pitcher, especially a lefty who can run his fastball up to nearly 100 miles per hour, to take a step back and swallow his pride. Weathers admitted that the four-seamer wasn't working for him, and now he's added 20% to his groundball rate, while posting a 2.20 ERA over this span.

Adjustments like that on the fly in the season are rare, so you have to tip your cap to him. You can also now have confidence that if he runs into another rut, he'll figure out what the right buttons to press are to get himself out of it.

Contrast that with Warren, and we haven't seen that level of flexibility. His issues have been the same as the day he was called up, and we haven't seen any concrete steps to change what can at times be a wild inconsistency.

Given the need in the bullpen, throwing the more inconsistent arm out there might seem counterintuitive, but starting pitchers have more inherent value than relievers. Whichever man remains in the rotation will have more to say about the Yankees' fortunes than the other one who gets transferred to the bullpen. For that reason, the Yankees would be wise to keep Weathers as a starter and convert Warren to relief when the time comes.

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