Scott Effross timeline, Yankees' latest move give no help to ailing bullpen

Two weeks ago, the 2024 New York Yankees were riding high in almost every capacity. Sure, Clay Holmes' arm had suddenly gone iffy and a few injury scares had put a damper on things, but Alex Verdugo and the offense's rage at Fenway Park had earned the team their 50th win against just 22 losses. It was difficult to complain about much of anything.

Since that 8-1 victory in the opener at the Fens was cemented, you can count the things that have gone right for the Yankees on one finger: Aaron Judge.

Alright, fine. Juan Soto's been acceptable, Anthony Volpe's been excusable, and Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes Jr. have looked representative. In all, though, the bottom six members of the lineup have been disastrous, while the rotation and bullpen have allowed nine or more runs in a game five times since June 8 after doing so zero times from Opening Day up to June 8. They've also allowed eight runs exactly on two occasions. It's been ... a bummer!

After rookie Yoendrys Gomez became the latest semi-promising option to get pasted in long relief Wednesday night, Yankee fans looking for answers were left begging the Baseball Gods to deliver a successful rehab to sidewinding Scott Effross, who's been absent since he disappeared from the 2022 playoff roster on account of a little thing called Secret Tommy John Surgery.

So far, so good for Effross, who's spun a couple of shutout outings after battling a back issue during the offseason. That doesn't mean you can expect him soon, though. Think "weeks," per Aaron Boone.

Yankees call on April throwback Jake Cousins to relieve beleaguered bullpen while Scott Effross slowly rehabs

Instead of Effross being around the bend, the Yankees will be forced to turn to a less familiar option for immediate relief: Jake Cousins, who was part of the team's big-league 'pen in April, and has been at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for a while since then.

Cousins, a high-strikeout arm with Milwaukee back in 2021 (44 Ks in 30 innings), received a pair of appearances during a forgettable stretch of windswept Yankees baseball earlier this season. He allowed three runs (one earned) across two games/three frames, and doesn't exactly represent the positive beacon of light most fans seem desperate for these days.

His Scranton numbers? He returned from injury in mid-June with 3 1/3 additional innings, allowing two runs (one earned) in his previous two outings.

Maybe, someday soon, the Yankees will regain that air of infallibility they possessed for most of May and the first half of June. For now, like an NFL team in a similar state of purgatory, we're stuck with Cousins.