Yankees drop Luis Gil on injured list at brutal time (unless Clarke Schmidt can help)

If the New York Yankees had a competent manager and general manager, they wouldn't have spiraled out of control for what is now the fifth straight season. Instead, they would know how to properly mitigate the expected hits every roster in MLB is bound to take.

On Tuesday night, starting pitcher Luis Gil left his outing early with an apparent injury and was placed on the injured list Wednesday afternoon with a lower back strain. Yeah, sure.

The fact of the matter is Gil needed a phantom IL stint or some sort of break from everyday action. He's at a career high in innings pitched with 124 2/3 frames and leads the league in walks with 66. He hasn't exactly been bad lately, but his control and effectiveness have been greatly put into question.

Gil's having a tremendous rookie season, and he's coming off Tommy John surgery, which makes it all the more impressive. He was never expected to accomplish what he has in 2024. But it's clear he's running out of gas — he has just three quality starts since the beginning of June.

The Yankees could have managed this situation more effectively over the last two months. Gil needed a break long before Aug. 20, but the team waited until they reached the point of no return as the rest of the roster is either banged up or underperforming terribly.

Yankees place Luis Gil on injured list in what couldn't be worse timing

Welcome back Will Warren, a Yankees top pitching prospect who has been treated like roster fodder rather than an ascending young pitcher. How many more prospects are the Yankees going to treat like this, all the while scoffing at any and all Anthony Volpe questions?

Warren will ostensibly get the start against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, and hopefully he can build off of his recent solid outing against the White Sox.

But this is bad for the Yankees. Though Gil wasn't exactly a rotation stalwart over the last two months, he was a competent body filling out the unit. All of Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón and Marcus Stroman have been inconsistent. Gerrit Cole has been good, but still needs time to get back to his ace-like self. Warren is an unknown commodity who will now be pitching in very important games.

After completely burning the bullpen on Tuesday night thanks to the offense's futility, the Yankees are more desperate than ever to get length from their rotation, which has failed to provide that for some time now. The offense doesn't score. The pitching isn't consistent.

Remember, this team started 50-22. They are now 73-53 and have insisted everything's fine despite a 23-31 slide that has shown no end in sight. Gil's injury is par for the course for what's been going on, but the Yankees will probably look back on this moment and pretend like it was something unavoidable when it could've been solved weeks ago.

What do the Yankees need now more than ever? Clarke Schmidt, who's beginning a rehab assignment this week -- finally -- with a 50-pitch outing. As soon as he can provide 75-80 pitches, he should be elevated.