Carlos Rodon’s First Season With the Yankees Has Been an Abject Disaster

The New York Yankees placed Carlos Rodon on the injured list Monday due to a left hamstring injury. He’ll likely be out a few weeks. It’s just another chapter in an absolutely disastrous season for Rodon, who was New York’s big offseason addition.

In December, the Yankees gave Rodon a six-year, $162 million contract. It looked like a big risk at the time, considering the lefty’s lengthy injury history. But he was coming off a 2022 campaign with the San Francisco Giants where he went 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP and 237 strikeouts in 178 innings. That said, he had only topped 30 starts once in his career and had only thrown more than 140 innings twice (in 2016 and 2022). So it wasn’t a big surprise when he started the season on the injured list.

Rodon struggled with back and elbow issues, and didn’t make his season debut until July 7. He’s made six starts since then and, well, it hasn’t been pretty.

Rodon is currently 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. He has 25 strikeouts against 18 walks in 27 innings, and has allowed eight home runs. He allowed 12 homers in 178 innings last season. He hasn’t thrown six innings yet and allowed more than four runs in four of his starts.

On top of his on-field struggles, Rodon has not handled heckling from Yankees fans well. This is a guy who was supposed to come in and be an ace-level No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole. Instead he’s been a carnival sideshow act.

Now he’s injured again and who knows if he’ll make it back on to an MLB mound this season. The whole marriage has been a mess from the start.