Panic ensues as Yankees casually reveal starting pitcher scratch vs Rays

UPDATE, 10:40 AM EST: Schmidt has been suffering from side soreness since his last start (Sunday against Toronto). He believes he'll be fine for an outing on Tuesday against San Diego, and initially intended to pitch today. But, as Bryan Hoch noted ... it's that dreaded flank.

The New York Yankees rotation was doomed, to an extent, the second Gerrit Cole went down in spring training. Sure, they could hope for a Max Fried miracle - and so far, they've actually received one. But, no matter what Fried did, or the rest of his cohorts, they'd always be down Cole. They'd always be worse than they projected to be. With that in mind, they aimed to make it through the rest of the season with the fewest interruptions possible.

Whoops.

Luis Gil went down before Cole. Clarke Schmidt started behind, building up back in Tampa while his team traveled north. Cole isn't returning, but at the very least, you could squint and convince yourself that, someday, Schmidt and Gil would complement Fried and Carlos Rodon, while some as-yet-unknown trade addition would fill the fifth spot.

Unfortunately, the best-laid plans never quite work out. Schmidt built himself up and returned a few starts back (while Gil intends to begin a throwing program soon). He made it three starts before being scratched three hours before the first pitch on Saturday. Lefty reliever Ryan Yarbrough will start instead.

New York Yankees will start Ryan Yarbrough against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday instead of Clarke Schmidt

When the notification popped up, we all hoped the Yankees were getting crafty with an opener, and that Schmidt would follow behind the lanky left-hander. Nope.

The Yankees underwent such a drastic injury makeover in spring training that it almost felt as if they'd avoid their annual mid-year trip to the hospital because of it. Double nope. On consecutive days to start May, Jazz Chisholm has been diagnosed with a high-grade oblique strain on a swing he claimed wouldn't hold him out long, and Schmidt has disappeared hours before a scheduled start.

Stay tuned for any additional updates as the day progresses. Without Gil and Marcus Stroman, and with Carlos Carrasco and Will Warren in need of replacing, this perilously thin rotation might be falling one notch further down. Allan Winans will likely be up soon, though he won't be slotting in where we'd hoped he would.