New Yankee Carlos Rodon already knows what the stakes are

Outdoors, it was each bit the primary full day of winter, the sky a slate grey, spitting chilly, indignant rain. Baseball season by no means appears as distant because it does on the primary day of winter even when there have been a number of seconds extra daylight on Thursday than there’d been on Wednesday.

Inside, you can simply think about July, 90 levels and humid as a sauna.

Higher, you can conjure October as a result of, look, this was Yankee Stadium and the mission by no means modifications right here. Every part at all times factors to October. Every part is without end targeted on including a twenty eighth banner to the crew assortment. And so it was, about six minutes after wrapping himself in his new pinstriped vestments, that Carlos Rodon formally fielded his first query about restoring the Yankees to the mountaintop.

Some consider gamers obtain their first signature “Yankee moments” on the sphere, in uniform, in the midst of the spring. In reality that normally occurs on a podium, in a swimsuit and tie, typically on the primary full day of winter.

“I had a short expertise within the postseason,” Rodon mentioned, referencing the 2 appearances he made within the Octobers of 2020 and ’21 with the Chicago White Sox. “I’ve at all times wished extra. Profitable is at high of my checklist as a participant.”

After which, the cash shot:

“As you already know,” Rodon mentioned, “it’s the Yankee Manner.”

New Yankee Carlos Rodon addresses the media throughout his introductory press convention.

Corey Sipkin

So he understands from the soar what the stakes are right here. The Yankees have gone 13 years with out a championship. It isn’t fairly the melancholy of 1979-’95, or the recession of 1963-76, however it’s getting there, and so the Yankees’ three main selections up to now this offseason have all introduced that they intend to search out an exit ramp from the World Sequence desert. They introduced again Anthony Rizzo, a pleasant retention. They each signed Aaron Choose and promised him the metaphorical “C” on his chest. That was important.

And now they've Rodon, which implies that within the best-case blueprint of their 2023 season they may have one thing that few groups ever have: what ought to be a losing-streak-proof beginning rotation. Rodon joins Gerrit Cole on the high, with Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes and Frankie Montas feathering in behind.

If the Yankees are blessed with good well being with every member of that employees resembling the again of their baseball playing cards, they may keep away from the roller-coaster rides that plagued all of them throughout a 99-win common season final 12 months and, even higher, shall be fortified to tackle all comers — sure, even the pitching-rich Astros — in any quick collection of any size you select.

“Carlos,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman mentioned, “is likely one of the excessive opponents within the sport.”

Carlos Rodon’s son, Bo, performs together with his dad’s Yankees cap throughout his introductory press convention.

Corey Sipkin

That can assist, sure, particularly within the stress cooker that's life in New York Metropolis. He's left-handed, which implies that the rotation is as balanced as mathematically doable for a five-man crew and which has at all times been a powerful asset to have at Yankee Stadium, Herb Pennock to Lefty Gomez, Eddie Lopat to Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry to Andy Pettitte.

And he has already proven nice proficiency at Yankee Stadium; in 4 profession begins, all with the ChiSox, he's 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA, with 24 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched. These are the sorts of numbers that make a six-year, $162 million contract a no brainer, particularly for the reason that Yankees already tried to pry Rodon away from the Giants final July.

“I at all times admire everybody’s journey in Main League Baseball,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned. “You by no means know the highway it’s going to take. Carlos has was what lots of people anticipated: a dominant ace pitcher we will’t wait so as to add to a really particular rotation.”

We all know how simple it's to win press conferences in December, and the way far more tough it's to win big-money video games in October. We’ve seen it again and again, each side of city, all sports activities, all groups. All you are able to do in December is give your self an opportunity to maximise October. The Yankees have finished that with Rizzo, with Choose, with Rodon.

“I hope to win lots of video games at Yankee Stadium,” Rodon mentioned.

It was a well-liked Christmas want inside that constructing Thursday morning, the ugly menace of winter yielding ever so briefly to the everlasting promise of summer time, even for simply an hour.