Yankees' Clarke Schmidt delivers positive quote after bullpen session, but questions remain

The New York Yankees were dealt a predictable injury fear on Sunday when it was announced that right-hander Clarke Schmidt would forego his scheduled start Monday after feeling shoulder discomfort.

Schmidt, already late in recovering from a "cranky" back, was initially supposed to start one of Sunday's split squad games before being bumped to the start of the new week in Dunedin. After Sunday's win (and loss), Aaron Boone announced Schmidt was "not getting all the way back to how he normally would," and would be throwing a bullpen session instead.

It felt perfectly fair to be skeptical that everything was alright. Reliever Mark Leiter Jr. had also been scheduled to throw a live BP on Sunday as he worked his way back from discomfort, which did not happen; he tossed a bullpen instead, and claims to be fine for Opening Day. Struggling to recover, which is what seemed to be happening to Schmidt, can be a hallmark of more serious injury; that's a variation on what both Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole recently reported. To assume a bullpen session would go off without a hitch was one thing. To not even have any testing scheduled was quite another.

And yet ... Schmidt threw 24 pitches Monday, under the watchful eye of the Yankees' entire pitching coaching staff, advisor Andy Pettitte, and close friend Marcus Stroman. It appeared to have gone well, as Schmidt decreed that it never would've happened if there'd been real concern.

Yankees get positive injury update from Clarke Schmidt, but will likely keep Carlos Carrasco too

That's ... I mean ... yes, that's true. But "shoulder soreness"/"inability to recover" is typically a serious enough signifier to warrant further caution. For whatever reason, the Yankees felt differently, and hopefully Schmidt's recovery will now continue unabated.

It's still fair to wonder what, exactly, led to this mysterious sequence of events, and whether those events have concluded. Schmidt was already supposed to skip his first turn through the rotation to continue working his way back to full strength in Florida, returning for Game No. 6.

That means Carlos Carrasco, who has a March 22 opt-out, is essential to the Yankees regardless of how many starts he has to make. Expect that relationship to continue, and for Carrasco to be used as a swingman when Schmidt recovers.

Ideally, after Monday's well-watched session, that return is around the corner, and Carrasco can bump Allan Winans back down the depth ladder soon enough.

Still, the Yankees being cautious signals that we should be, too, as their rotation — and this fandom — cannot afford another mid-March loss.