Yankees' pitching staff thinning out fast after more spring training injury news

It quite literally does not matter what the New York Yankees do. They can spend an entire offseason eyeing one specific goal, achieve that goal, and then the unthinkable will transpire in order to derail the operation.

In a sense, that's what happened this offseason. When the Yankees lost Juan Soto, they immediately pivoted to pitching and signed Max Fried to a record-breaking deal. Then they acquired closer Devin Williams in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. Those additions were expected to transform the pitching staff because of how the rotation lacked an elite 1-2 punch and how poorly Clay Holmes handled high-leverage situations in 2024.

More additions came, too. Tim Hill was re-signed. Jonathan Loaisiga was re-signed under the assumption he'd be healthy for when it mattered most. Fernando Cruz and Michael Arias were acquired via trade. Tyler Matzek was signed to a minor league contract.

This, of course, was a plan devised with hopes of Luis Gil maintaining his dominance; Clarke Schmidt giving the Bombers a somewhat healthy season; Jake Cousins taking steps forward; Scott Effross coming back; Clayton Beeter emerging as somebody; Ian Hamilton getting back to full strength; and so on and so forth.

The Yankees have since been decimated by injuries, and they got even worse news on Friday as it pertained to Matzek, Beeter and Schmidt. Don't forget, Luis Gil is out until at least June, Hamilton hasn't pitched yet this spring, Loaisiga is starting the season on the 60-day IL most likely, and Effross is injured again.

Yankees Injury Update: Tyler Matzek, Clayton Beeter and Clarke Schmidt

Matzek suffered an oblique injury and Opening Day is in jeopardy for the veteran. He was emerging as an intriguing high-leverage lefty arm who seemingly got some of his velocity back after being hampered by injuries the last few seasons. Now, it's more of the same on that front.

As for Beeter, he was working his way back from a shoulder issue and was believed to be progressing, but he'll now start the season on the IL as his shoulder tightness has persisted. The clock is ticking there as he's heading into his age-26 season.

And finally, there's Schmidt, who was dealing with a "cranky back" (Aaron Boone's words) early on in spring training. Shortly after that news dropped, the Yankees said they weren't concerned about it and that Schmidt would face live hitters soon and appear in a spring game this week. What's happened now? Schmidt won't be heading north with the team on Opening Day and will pitch in a sim game on March 28.

Yeah, we'll see how that goes. He's going to get barely any spring work in and then face the Diamondbacks on April 3? They had already slow-played his return from a back issue they weren't concerned about. The fact he's now essentially delayed by a month gives fans no reason to believe this is a legitimate timeline. Remember last year when he suffered a lat strain in late May and was throwing bullpens in late July, only to not return until Sept. 7?

So there's all the news, with a little bit of pessimism attached ... because please tell us what other teams deal with this insanity year in and year out.