The Yankees say Gerrit Cole's MRI is just "precautionary." Nothing to worry about. Yeah, right.

Yesterday, the Gulf Coast breezes halted, Tampa bridge traffic ceased to flow, and the pasty snowbirds of spring break momentarily stopped slathering, as time suspended itself across the Yankiverse.

Tonight, by sunset, the 2024 Yankee season could be effectively neutered, though the promotional home fires of YES will surely continue to flare with hope. 

By tomorrow, all the happy "maybes" that the Yankees collected this winter - maybe Rodon would come back, maybe Giancarlo would hit - will be replaced by a tall, dark Stygian shadow.  

Gerrit Cole is having his elbow scanned. If the high resolution imagery shows a tear, an inflammation, a strain - anything - Cole will miss weeks, maybe months - maybe even a year, and maybe, at 33 - well, fukkit, maybe he's never the same. The Yankees say they're just being cautious. They regularly lie about such things. On the matter of injuries, they exhale pure drivel. There is no way to downplay a trip to NYC by their ace in the middle of March. This is bad. This is really bad.

Without Cole, the Yankees would instantly tumble from divisional contender to wild card hopeful - and maybe even to a trade deadline selloff in advance of the 2025 Tankathon. (Was it coincidence that yesterday, they unveiled SS Roderick Arias, who is two years away?)

Without Cole, the team must find a way to fill 200 starter innings, and their main lug nut, for now, would be 30-year-old journeyman Luke Weaver. 

Damn. This is a potentially catastrophic loss, the kind that could kill multiple seasons. 

Yesterday, as if Fate were providing a tease, three semi-young RH pitchers emerged in split-squad outings. For now, this may be what constitutes hope.

Will Warren, 24, streaked through Double A Somerset last year - a 2.45 ERA over 6 starts - then got banged up in Scranton (19 starts, ERA of 3.61.) He's been on the radar for two years, after soaring through Single A in 2022. Yesterday, Warren went three innings, gave up a run, walked three.  

Clayton Beeter, 25, came over in the 2022 Joey Gallo trade dump, signifying an end to the worst trade of Brian Cashman's storied career. Last year, Beeter threw well at Somerset (2.25 ERA), then got spanked in Triple A (4.94.) Yesterday, he went 4 scoreless innings, probably moving to the front of the conga line.

Luis Gil, 25, obtained in a trade for Jake Cage (who is still around), streaked through the system in 2018-19, looked like a keeper, then cemented his status as the Second Coming of Luis Severino by having Tommy John surgery in 2022. Last year was basically his rehab. Yesterday, he went three and two thirds, no runs, and struck out eight. Not bad. 

Three nice outings. Together, they might replace Jhony Brito and Randy Velasquez. Nobody will replace Cole. Hold your breath, everybody. This could hurt.