Aaron Boone seemingly holding auditions for Yankees bullpen spots in postseason

When the New York Yankees activated Clarke Schmidt off of the IL, they made the curious decision to have Schmidt start a game against the Chicago Cubs and have Nestor Cortes Jr., a pitcher who hadn't been used out of the bullpen since 2021, in relief.

As much as Cortes was not a fan of that experiment it went well, as Schmidt began the game with 4.2 shutout innings and Cortes followed suit with 4.1 scoreless frames of his own in a 2-0 Yankees win.

Despite the positive results, New York went ahead and threw Cortes right back into the rotation. The left-hander started Thursday's series opener against the Boston Red Sox and pitched very well, allowing just one run in five innings and striking out nine.

With six starters in the mix, Boone is mixing and matching again, this time with Marcus Stroman. Aaron Boone is choosing to have Stroman, a pitcher who has just two relief appearances since his rookie year a decade ago, work out of the bullpen. He'll be made available in relief for Sunday's series finale against the Red Sox.

With the postseason just weeks away, Boone appears to be seeing what he has in terms of how his starting pitchers operate in relief. If we're being honest, it's hard to blame him.

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Yankees seemingly holding bullpen competition with postseason rapidly approaching

In the postseason, starting rotations shrink from five or six starters down to three or four, depending on the round. For a Yankees team with six established starting pitchers, they're going to have to trim their rotation down in the postseason to get their best options more work.

The one true lock in the rotation is Gerrit Cole, the team's ace and one of the best pitchers in the game. Behind Cole will presumably be Luis Gil who, despite some innings of concern, looks like he could be the AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner. Carlos Rodon will almost certainly get a spot not only because of the massive contract he's on, but because he has the most upside in this staff outside of Cole. When he's on, he can shut the opposition completely down. What's behind those three starters is where things get a bit clunky.

Clarke Schmidt has performed the best of the other three options, posting a 2.34 ERA this season. His problem is that he has only made 12 starts, missing a substantial amount of time due to injury. He's pitched well enough to start a potential Game 4 for New York, but will Aaron Boone choose him over Cortes and Stroman who are both experienced options, especially when Schmidt has more recent experience working in relief?

What this could come down to is matchups. For example, with Cortes, he has been brilliant pitching at Yankee Stadium, posting a 3.11 ERA in 15 starts. On the road, it has been another story, as evidenced by his 4.81 ERA in 15 appearances (14 starts). Stroman has been the opposite, posting a 4.87 ERA in 15 starts at home, but a 3.09 ERA in 13 starts on the road.

Arguments can be made for all three of these starters to take the ball to begin a postseason game, depending on the situation. It'll be interesting to see how Boone chooses to handle it. Stroman's role and even potentially if he makes the postseason roster, could hedge on how he looks in the bullpen.