Yankees' pre-Opening Day injured list drop reveals 2 odd timeline choices

We'll forgive you, Yankees fans, if you expected some sort of massive, pre-Opening Day roster injury surprise. It seems that the Yankees have avoided that mess — at least until Game 1 formally begins.

With less than 12 hours to go before the curtain rises on Netflix's attempts to carry the Yankees-Giants Opening Night clash, New York pushed out their final IL adjustments, and it featured only the names we were expecting to see. The timelines, though? That's where they provided some unexpected clarity.

Though 60-Day IL placements can be helpful in clearing up 40-man space and giving teams more wiggle room to work with, the Yankees deemed that none of their currently injured starters belong on the shelf through the end of May. Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón will both sit on the 15-Day IL instead, while recovering shortstop Anthony Volpe will be placed on the 10-Day for position players.

That means the Yankees intend to retain flexibility with all their injured assets, and could theoretically welcome Cole back before they originally hinted they planned to. His 1 2/3 innings against the Cubs in the Yankees' spring training finale featured his first Ks of camp. As for Volpe, while he could technically now return ahead of schedule, that still doesn't seem too feasible.

Yankees being optimistic with Anthony Volpe and Gerrit Cole IL placements ahead of Opening Day

These choices represent a bizarre amount of optimism on both counts. The famously conservative Yankees built up enough pitching depth to withstand Cole's absence in the early going; it would be surprising to see them force him into the spotlight before it's necessary and burn potential October innings in April/reduce his freshness. That said, we have already seen Cole while Rodón's been in the shadows, learning how to use his new arm. Something remains fishy here.

We'll see what happens once the Yankees fill the 40-man roster, though. They are at 39 right now and can't make further 60-day additions until then, if we are to believe this reporting.

As for Volpe, we know he's feeling better than he expected, and is plotting a minor-league rehab assignment in mid-April. That said, there's a vast difference between hitting off a Trajekt machine and being able to field full-force, sprawling and diving. As far as we know, he's nowhere close to being cleared for that, and needs a full spring training by all accounts. That would leave him with a mid-May target date at the most optimistic. Couldn't the Yankees just stretch that to the end of the month to give him a little buffer on the 60-day, freeing up a roster spot in the process?

Both timelines are tinged with optimism, but only one of them seems feasible, based on the way camp concluded.