AL Notes: Pitching Injuries And Concerns For Yankees, Rangers Early In Spring Training

Pitchers and catchers reported to various training camps in Florida and Arizona this past week, and while most clubs are slowly ramping up their arms for the 2023 Major League Baseball season, some have already encountered setbacks to key members to their starting rotation.

Arguably the biggest signing of the off-season was two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom leaving the New York Mets for a five-year, $185 million deal with the Texas Rangers. The oft-injured righty pitched only 224 innings over the last three seasons, and in one of the first workouts of the spring pulled a muscle on his left side, forcing the Rangers to shut down the 34-year-old for a couple of days.

In Boston, starter Nick Pivetta left on Friday with fatigue after returning from a recent bout of COVID, while hard-throwing White Sox righty Michael Kopech is slowly ramping up after off-season knee surgery.

All these instances seem minor in comparison to the early woes of the New York Yankees, who received bad news on starter Frankie Montas and have concerns about lefty Nestor Cortes.

Montas was acquired from Oakland last July to bolster the Bombers rotation after putting up excellent numbers (3.18 ERA, 91 hits, 109 K’s in 104 IP) with the A’s, but the 29-year-old posted a 6.35 ERA in eight starts before being shut down in mid-September with shoulder soreness. After attempting to bid up strength over the winter, Yankees manager Arron Boone announced on Wednesday that Montas will undergo arthroscopic surgery next week and could be lost for the entire season.

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Cortes, who was a steady mainstay for New York (28 starts, 12-4 record, 2.44 ERA), was forced to drop out of the World Baseball Classic with a hamstring injury but threw a bullpen session at the Yankees facility in Tampa on Friday and could be on track to be available when the season starts in April.

GM Brian Cashman is coming under criticism for opting for Montas over higher-priced starters Luis Castillo (traded by Cincinnati to Seattle at the deadline) or Pablo Lopez (traded over the winter from Miami to Minnesota), and even after adding big lefty Carlos Rodon in free agency, the Yankees rotation depth is questionable after Gerrit Cole, with Rodon, Cortes, talented but oft-injured Luis Severino, Domingo German, and Clarke Schmidt.

New York may have to hope that promising prospect Luis Gil (who underwent Tommy John surgery early last season) could be back at some point, or 23-year-old righty Deivi Garcia rebounds after two lost years in the minors.