Sonny Gray To Make Yankees Debut Thursday In Cleveland
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Sonny Gray is slated to make his New York Yankees debut on Thursday at Cleveland, and Jaime Garcia will start against the Indians the following night.
Both pitchers joined the AL East leaders Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Traded from Oakland a day earlier, Gray got up at 4 a.m. for a flight from California to New York. Three hours after landing, he threw a bullpen session.
After tweeting his thanks to the city of Oakland, Gray took to Twitter Tuesday to express his excitement about joining the American League East leading Yankees.
"I can not wait to get started," Gray tweeted. "Has always been a dream of mine to put on the pin stripes and soon that dream will come a reality."
Yankees' Cashman On WFAN: 6-Man Rotation Unlikely
Garcia arrived after a longer odyssey. He left Atlanta on July 19 for the start of a trip in Los Angeles and was in Phoenix with the Braves when he was traded to Minnesota on July 24. He made his Twins debut last Friday at Oakland and the following night took a red-eye flight to Atlanta to get some of his belongings, already knowing a trade to the Yankees was falling into place.
Look who arrived at the Stadium! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/wU7Sq6yXaO
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 1, 2017
Now that the Yankees have added two starting pitchers, manager Joe Girardi has a big decision to make about his rotation.
General manager Brian Cashman wasn't sure what the answer was Tuesday, but he made it clear he's not comfortable with a six-man rotation.
Talking to WFAN's Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, Cashman said they might use six pitchers for the next round through the rotation, but probably not beyond that.
"I'd say it would be difficult to do that, especially with the one-inning relievers that we've got," Cashman said. " ... I'd rather it not go that route. But again, I'll rely more on (pitching coach) Larry (Rothschild) and Joe to map out what the best strategy is, and they'll sell me on it."
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)