Cole: Yanks to use 2023 ‘disaster’ as motivation

TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees managed to avoid their first losing season since 1992, but Gerrit Cole admitted that “disaster” was an appropriate word to describe missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.

“Certainly there were injuries that were outside the normal realm of injuries that impacted us,” Cole said Thursday as the Yankees opened camp for pitchers and catchers. “With that said, we get injured too much as a group. We need to improve.”

While Cole went 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA to win his first Cy Young Award, first-year starter Clarke Schmidt was the only other pitcher to make at least 20 starts. Carlos Rodon, signed to a $162 million contract, missed time with a forearm strain and back problems and made just 14 starts, posting a 6.85 ERA. Nestor Cortes, an All-Star in 2022, made 12 starts with a 4.97 ERA. Luis Severino, now with the New York Mets, had a 6.65 ERA across 18 starts.

Rodón and Cortes, who was sidelined by a strained left rotator cuff, are throwing to hitters.

“A lot of things have to go right,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Start with health. You know, you’re going to have your health challenges here and there. But hopefully, for the most part, especially a lot of your core guys can go to the post regularly. I mean, that’s an important factor.”

The Yankees finished 18th in the majors with a 4.44 rotation ERA last season, after ranking fourth in 2022.

“Still fresh in our minds, so hopefully we use it as motivation,” Cole said of the team’s 82-80 record.

Cole was proud that the team fought to maintain the streak of winning seasons. The Yankees were four games under .500 at the end of August, but they went 17-11 over the final month to keep the streak intact.

“Being hamstrung for a great part of the year, there was a lot of grit that showed,” Cole said. “We have a 30-some consecutive year run of finishing over .500, so when the greater goals faded away, there was a little bit of a rallying factor around that.

“We’re not going to be the team, regardless of the position we’ve been put it, to cash it in at the end of the year, so we continued to push. So there was an element of pride in that — but obviously ‘disaster’ was an appropriate word.”

The Yankees made a push to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto before he ultimately went to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but New York did sign Marcus Stroman as a free agent, creating a top five of Cole, Rodon, Cortes, Stroman and Schmidt — certainly a rotation that has a chance to be one of the best in the game if it can stay healthy.

“The top four guys are former All-Stars. Clarke Schmidt had a career year last year and is looking to go on a really solid innings buildup and a solid body of work,” Cole said. “… Certainly excited to see what the rest of the rotation and the top five guys can do.

“There are no sleeper games in the AL East. When we come to town, the lights are on and there is a high level of play and you expect things to come up and you have to manage those things. From a personal standpoint, it’s a focus of mind to get out there for as many games as possible.”

Of course, the biggest addition was the trade for outfielder Juan Soto, who hit .275/.410/.519 with 35 home runs for the San Diego Padres — including .307 with 23 home runs on the road. The Yankees also traded for outfielders Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham, two more left-handed hitters to help balance a lineup that swung too much to the right side the past few seasons.

“It seems like it was a really focused plan,” Cole said. “We added three left-handed bats who acquired 500 or more plate appearances in the past three years, which everyone kind of identified as something we should improve on. We also added great defense and great pitching.

“You can never have enough good players and that’s why it’s special to be a Yankee. That’s the M.O. every offseason — to continue to get better.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.