Matt Blake's non-answer on Yankees' management of Luis Gil says it all

Everybody knew this time was coming. And while it's not here yet, the preliminary conversations have begun, whether fans believe it to be a reality or not. But New York Yankees star Luis Gil will more than likely not be hurling 28+ starts this season given his history.

Do we agree with that? Not necessarily. Is there a greater argument to be had about "innings limits" and "load mangement"? Absolutely. But with the Yankees' situation, this is hard to ignore.

Gil is already at 75 innings across 13 starts this year. He is an All-Star. He might even start the Midsummer Classic. However, he's never thrown more than 108 2/3 innings in a single season, and that came back in 2021. Before that, he hit 96 in 2019. For his career, he's thrown 426 innings.

The man is coming off Tommy John surgery. It wouldn't be shocking to see him get a phantom IL stint. Most fans would disagree with sending him to the bullpen, too, but that can't be ruled out.

This was always a bit of an elephant in the room, but Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake elaborated on the topic on "Foul Territory" this week.

Yankees are already toying with the idea of adjusting Luis Gil's innings

Former Yankee Erik Kratz asked if there was going to be an innings limit for Gil, and here's what Blake said:

"Obviously you've got the general rule of thumb of the 25% incremental growth on the innings, but for me it's just so arbitrary of how did we get to these innings. How many pitches were you throwing? How many high-stress pitches? How many times on five days vs six days [of rest]? All of those things are important to look at. Like, how is the guy responding from these outings? There are a lot of other pieces to the puzzle that go into it without saying '125 or 150 is the right number.' We really don't know. We're just guessing. So why would we put a limit on it if we don't know the exact answer?"

He then commented on the potential options if the Yankees got to the point where they felt Gil was getting taxed:

“Is it in the bullpen? Is it a timeout at some point? I don’t know if we have those answers but taking as many steps going forward and getting as much information as possible is our best bet.”

Of course there's no exact answer. And if Gil is looking like this 140 innings into the year, it wouldn't make much sense for the Yankees to randomly pull the plug. But there's no telling when the downtown/regression to the mean will come, and if/when it does, expect the team to act accordingly.

Blake did his job, though. He painted the picture. Didn't provide specifics. Didn't reveal anything outside of the obvious next steps the Yankees might need to take. Either way, just know it's probably coming, especially after Gerrit Cole returns.