Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake joined the Foul Territory show on Tuesday to talk about Luis Gil, and how the Yanks might handle the electric righty’s rising innings workload as he continues to be the ace of the staff.
Blake mentioned a move to the bullpen or an innings limit as potential avenues for Gil, but he added that it will be monitored as the season goes along, and if Gil isn’t showing signs of fatigue, then there is no need to put a cap on what he can do.
But the mere mentioning of a bullpen role for a pitcher that could be starting the All-Star Game is not inspiring to Gio.
“It always crops up when someone has a special thing going on, it feels like,” Gio said. “I feel like right after Tommy John surgery, that’s when you’re at your strongest, because you just had the surgery. Why not just let the guy pitch unless something happens?
“You’re gonna tell me you’re gonna stick this guy in the bullpen for a little bit? What??”
Boomer believes, sadly, it could very well wind up being the case, given how young, recently injured pitchers are handled by teams in modern baseball.
“Baseball in general is just so wary of having these guys get injured again,” Boomer said. “You know it’s happening.”