The Yankees placed Carlos Rodón on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation, retroactive to Tuesday, as New York prepares to open a three-game series with Minnesota amid a seven-game skid.
NEW YORK — Carlos Rodón’s comeback hit another wall before the Yankees even reached their next opponent.
On Friday, New York placed the starting pitcher on the 15-day injured list due to left elbow inflammation. The move was retroactive to Tuesday, and it arrived nearly two months after he returned from off-season elbow surgery.
The timing is brutal for a team already unraveling. The Yankees are on a seven-game skid, their worst since losing nine straight in August 2023. On Sunday, Rodón allowed two runs and one hit in five innings in a 5-4, 10-inning loss at Boston. Even in the outings that followed his recent return. his fastball. changeup. slider and sinker averaged slightly down velocity against the Red Sox. and he needed 96 pitches to get 55 strikes.
Rodón’s time away now extends far beyond one rough start. Since returning from the injured list on May 10, he is 4-2 with a 3.30 ERA in nine starts. His command has been a swing factor: he struggled with command in his first three starts. then posted a turnaround stretch in which he is 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA in his last six outings.
Before any of this latest setback, Rodón’s health history had already been packed into one season. He had surgery Oct. 15 to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur. In late March. while throwing at the Yankees’ Florida complex. he felt tightness in his right hamstring. a development that complicated the road back.
Last season, Rodón still delivered even with an ailing arm. He went 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA, and his four-seam fastball velocity moved from 95.3 m.p.h. in his first season with the Yankees to 94.4 m.p.h. in the first half last year, before dropping to 93.8 m.p.h. in the second half.
The Yankees are also still searching for stability in the same rotation that has rarely been healthy all at once. New York has yet to have Rodón, Gerrit Cole and Max Fried healthy at the same time. Cole missed last season after elbow reconstructive surgery and returned 10 days after Fried exited a start in Baltimore with a bone bruise in his left elbow. Fried faced hitters for the first time Tuesday and is expected to do so again on Sunday.
While Rodón’s IL placement changes the picture on the mound. the Yankees made three other roster moves ahead of a three-game series with Minnesota. They activated third baseman Ryan McMahon and center fielder Trent Grisham from the injured list. while optioning utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera to triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
McMahon returned after missing 11 games with a throat infection. In his first full season with the Yankees after being acquired from Colorado in July, he is hitting .210 with eight homers and 23 RBIs.
Grisham came back after missing 18 games with a strained right hamstring sustained running to second in Toronto on June 12. He is hitting .232 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 66 games, and he had hit safely in 10 straight games before the injury.
Cabrera’s trip through the system did not come with a longer pause. He went hitless in nine at-bats in his return to the Yankees after fracturing his left ankle on a slide at home in Seattle in May 2025.
Rodón, for his part, has still been a major piece whenever healthy. Over 12 major league seasons, he is 97-74 with a 3.72 ERA, and his Yankees tenure was secured with a $162-million, six-year contract signed in December 2023.
Now, with Rodón sidelined again for left elbow inflammation, the Yankees face a familiar question: how long can the roster hold together while the rotation keeps getting interrupted?
MISRYOUM Sports News New York Yankees Carlos Rodón 15-day injured list left elbow inflammation Ryan McMahon Trent Grisham Oswaldo Cabrera Minnesota series