Gerrit Cole was named American League Pitcher of the Month for April, and the Yankees — even while inviting doomsday talk on their fragile way to last place and a 17-15 record — have won all seven of their ace’s starts.
Justin Verlander, after being sidelined since spring training due to a teres major strain near his right armpit, is set to make his debut as a Met in Detroit on Thursday.
The former Astros teammates were expected to have different co-aces this season in New York, but then again, not very much has gone according to plan.
In Cole and the Yankees’ case, it was Carlos Rodon, who has yet to be healthy enough to pitch for a team that has been decimated by injuries.
On Wednesday, hours after general manager Brian Cashman responded to the wave of injuries by saying, “Don’t count us out. Don’t give up on us,” the Yankees saw Harrison Bader and Oswald Peraza exit early from an eventual 4-3 10-inning win over the Guardians.
For the Mets, Verlander pairs with fellow $43.33 million right-hander Max Scherzer, who returned Wednesday from a 10-game ban for using a foreign substance and was battered for six runs in less than four innings by the lowly Tigers as part of a doubleheader sweep.
Cole and Verlander excelled with the Astros. They each won at least 20 games, threw more than 200 innings and had a WHIP of lower than 0.900 in their one full year as teammates in 2019.
But both were allowed to leave in free agency when their contracts ended, Cole after the team’s 2019 World Series loss and Verlander following the team’s World Series title in his AL Cy Young Award-winning campaign last year.
Well, the Astros sure could use either of their former pitchers now. The team’s rotation is a mess with three key starters on the IL.
Luis Garcia became the latest Astros pitcher to suffer an injury, leaving his outing Tuesday because of elbow discomfort. That came a day after fellow starter Jose Urquidy was sidelined due to a shoulder issue.
The timing led Astros manager and future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker to wonder whether the injuries were tied to the World Baseball Classic.
Both pitchers participated in the spring tournament. (Astros second baseman Jose Altuve also suffered a fractured thumb when he was hit by a pitch during the WBC, which has sidelined him for several months.)
“I just hate to think that some of our guys, especially the Latin guys, went to the WBC, are coming up lame, and I’m just hoping that wasn’t part of the cause and the problem,” Baker told reporters on Monday.
But the Astros’ issues extend beyond any potential tie to the WBC.
Lance McCullers Jr. has yet to pitch during the regular season after suffering a strained forearm in February. That has left the Astros with just Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and rookie Hunter Brown in the rotation (which has put up a 3.43 ERA, sixth-best in baseball).
And it all comes after an offseason in which they let Verlander go to the Mets and didn’t replace him or the 175 innings he threw last year.
That decision was part of an unusual period during which the Astros didn’t have a general manager after James Click was let go and before Dana Brown was hired.
With owner Jim Crane running the show, the Astros all but ignored their rotation needs following a season in which they had the good fortune — and talent — to win a World Series while using just eight starting pitchers.
If the Yankees get their act together and reach the postseason again, will the Astros be waiting for them, or will these pitching issues persist?
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Gary Sanchez made his first start as a Yankee in May 2016. Almost exactly seven years later, he requested his release from his minor league deal with the Giants following an unsuccessful stint with Triple-A Sacramento, where he hit just .164 and had an OPS of .501 in 16 games.
That came after the Twins opted not to offer him a contract last offseason.
It’s been a stunning fall for the 30-year-old two-time All-Star who once appeared headed for greatness in The Bronx, but ended up being dumped on the Twins prior to the 2022 season.
Back in that 2016 season, when the Yankees traded away veteran stars such as Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller with an eye on the future, they brought up Sanchez for good to play alongside Brian McCann.
Sanchez went on to hit 20 homers in just 53 games.
“My hope is that the expectations aren’t so large that no matter what he does, he can’t reach [them],” Joe Girardi said after the season.
Sanchez followed that up with 33 home runs in his first full season in 2017, but Girardi’s worries proved to have merit.
Sanchez slumped badly in 2018, had a brief resurgence in ‘19 and has been entirely unproductive since then.
Now he is left to look for another home — The Post’s Jon Heyman reported the Angels are among the teams with interest — which is not ideal for an aging backstop.
The last time the Rangers got rid of a coach after as little time as Gerard Gallant has spent in New York — outside of Glen Sather handing over the reins to assistant Tom Renney in 2004— it was Ron Low getting canned following the 2001-02 season.
The Rangers missed the playoffs in each of Low’s two seasons; Gallant guided a deep playoff run a year ago and got the Rangers over the 100-point threshold in each of his two years.
Perhaps that’s among the reasons Gallant fought back at the idea his job might be in jeopardy at his season-ending press conference on Wednesday.
“I’m coming in here [off of] what I think was two excellent years,’’ Gallant said. “We had one bad week, and it cost us. If I can’t stand by my record and what I’ve done, I think there’s something wrong.”
Still, with the midseason additions of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, expectations were enormous heading into this postseason before the Rangers’ offense went mostly silent against the Devils after consecutive 5-1 wins to open the series. The season ended with a shutout 4-0 Game 7 loss in New Jersey.
“Did I have a tough two weeks? Did we have a tough two weeks? Yeah,’’ Gallant said. “But besides that, I can’t believe I have to answer some of these questions about me getting let go or getting fired brought up by the media. Disappointing.”