Yankees finally get encouraging Luis Gil news after months of silence

The New York Yankees have proven they have no intention of rushing reigning Rookie of the Year Luis Gil back from his high-grade lat strain, and have no reason to pull the trigger on his return until he's 100% ready to go, thanks to the incredible work of the rotation mates he left in his wake.

That makes this week's news that Gil is returning to the mound all the more encouraging, and makes the Yankees' measured approach seem all the wiser (and ready to bear fruit).

While Carlos Carrasco wasn't the finest stopgap solution and Marcus Stroman didn't quite last, Ryan Yarbrough has been exceptional and Will Warren is now living up to his preseason hype and incredible metrics. But that doesn't mean the Yankees couldn't use a top-tier talent burst to reinforce their rotation and guard against regression.

The fact that the Yankees have barely missed Gil at all is a testament to their incredible infrastructure. But, rest assured, they'll need him when he's ready to return, and that moment finally has a loose timeline.

"The All-Star break" has always felt like a hopeful, yet fair, assumption, and the Yankees seem to agree; Gil is throwing off a mound for the first time on Friday, May 30, and will need something approximating a "normal spring training" once that process begins.

Yankees' Luis Gil to resume mound work for first time since March lat injury on Friday

It now seems plausible that Gil will return ahead of the trade deadline with a little runway to get right, ideally keeping him fresher for the second half of the season (after he fell apart a bit as the summer dragged on last year). Now, Yankee fans must hope that Brian Cashman doesn't rest on his laurels at the deadline and count Gil as his "big addition," something he's certainly been guilty of in the recent past.

The Yankees are well-documented already to be after both rotation help and right-handed batters this summer, and while both buckets had better be filled by the time August rolls around, figuring out third base and the bench suddenly feels more paramount after Yarbrough/Warren have stepped up and Gil's stepped back onto the mound.

The Yankees can't get cocky here, but we all would've signed up for this level of rotation output through late May, even with Clarke Schmidt struggling to find his rhythm. Gil's measured return represents a pretty big piece to the puzzle, which might allow them to ride this improbable wave even deeper into the season.