Yankees: Carlos Rodon Returns, Max Fried Placed on the Injured List

Despite injuries to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Cody Bellinger, the starting rotation has held the fort. That's the main reason the New York Yankees are still comfortably in playoff contention (for now).

The only downside: this rotation has never been fully healthy this season. And yesterday (Monday) was the closest it's come so far, as Carlos Rodon was set to return to action today (Tuesday) after a strong performance in his most recent rehab start in Double-A.

But then came the news that Max Fried was back on the 15-day injured list with a bone contusion in his elbow. It's the same injury that kept the left-hander sidelined from mid-May through July.

For now, it's unclear whether this is a recurrence of the old injury or a new one, but the result is that the Bombers will slot Rodon into Fried's spot in the rotation, which is still not complete.

Unless this placement on the injured list is purely precautionary—or intended to avoid having to sacrifice a pitcher from the bullpen, such as Yerry de los Santos, for example—it's hard to imagine Fried returning to the mound before October, given his previous injury.

The ordeal of enduring Will Warren on the mound will therefore continue in the Bronx—he who was supposed to be in the bullpen, where he belongs, once Rodon returned.

Remember that the Yankees' strategy—if you can call it that—at the trade deadline regarding the bullpen was to rely on the return of certain pitchers to the rotation in order to send others to the bullpen.

We certainly don't want another starter to go down, because that would be a disaster in the Big Apple.

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