Breaking news: Yankees Manager “demote” Veteran Lefty Starter following constant….

To put it mildly, the addition of Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt to the New York Yankees’ active roster last weekend was a very good development. On Friday and Saturday, the two right-handers combined to pitch 10.2 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs.

The Yankees had Nestor Cortes follow Schmidt on Saturday in order to accommodate all the returning pieces, and both players won four frames to maintain their arms.

Cortes, who has pitched 163.1 innings with a respectable 3.97 ERA, expressed his displeasure at being placed in the bullpen for the game this coming weekend. He stated clearly that he had to change his routine, that he was “upset,” that he had “been the workhorse here,” and that “now they do this.”

Though he acknowledged that Cortes “clearly wants to be starting, and certainly there’s a case for that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone expressed no problem with Cortes stating his mind. He will now return to the rotation.

What will the Yankees do?

However, one has to question how the Yankees will fit everyone into the rotation. Boone stated that while Cortes will rejoin the club, the team will either use a six-man rotation going forward, or perhaps, bench someone else.

Though the Yankees’ plans are unclear, we do know that Marcus Stroman and Carlos Rodon will start on Monday and Tuesday.

Since Luis Gil would most likely leave on Wednesday, Cortes’ day would fall on Thursday. The left-hander is now playing on the same day as Schmidt, which presents a challenge for the Yankees. How is Boone going to respond?

Even though Cortes ultimately stated he would do what was best for the club, the Yanks run the risk of creating an internal conflict if they take the ball from him again. Cortes was probably alright (well, fine-ish) with the bullpen assignment that day.

How is the team going to proceed? It will be revealed in a few days.