NEW YORK — Ryan Weathers arrived in January as an afterthought. The Yankees acquired the left-hander from the Miami Marlins for four minor leaguers.
Cashman bet that a former first-round pick with a long medical file might finally stay healthy. For most of six months, the gamble looked brilliant.
His recent form only sharpened the stakes. Weathers entered Saturday with a 0.69 ERA across his previous four starts, allowing only two earned runs in 26 innings. The offseason acquisition had become one of the Yankees’ hottest starters just as the postseason race tightened.
That run changed his status from rotation filler to a genuine October option for the Yankees. Boone had a pleasant problem brewing over how to fit everyone in once the staff got healthy.
Then, in the fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, that progress stopped abruptly.
Weathers’ forearm issue comes with history
With one out and two runners on, Weathers threw a 78.4 mph sweeper outside to Myles Straw, circled the mound and called Wells toward him. Manager Aaron Boone and a trainer followed. Weathers exited after his 72nd pitch of the day with left forearm discomfort, replaced by Yerry De los Santos.
The Yankees announced left forearm discomfort and said Weathers underwent imaging, with results expected on Sunday. He allowed two runs on eight hits in three and one-third innings, striking out three without a walk, in a 4-3 loss.
The Yankees had not announced the results as of Sunday morning.
Boone offered little reassurance because there was little information to offer.
“We’ll see,” Boone said. “You don’t love (it) when a pitcher leaves the game, obviously. So we’ll see what we have.”
The location carries history. Weathers opened the 2025 season on Miami’s injured list because of a left flexor muscle strain. His official injury record shows that stint ran from March 24 through May 14.
At the time, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said imaging showed the ulnar collateral ligament was intact.
“It’s a mild flexor strain,” McCullough said in March 2025.
Weathers returned, but Miami placed him on the 60-day injured list June 9 with a left lat strain. He did not return until Sept. 11 and finished 2025 with only eight MLB starts and 38 1/3 innings.
There is no evidence that Saturday’s discomfort is connected to the 2025 flexor strain. The repeat location is still part of the medical history the Yankees must evaluate.
Career-high workload adds another layer
Weathers has thrown 137 1/3 innings in 25 starts for the Yankees this season. His previous MLB career high was 86 2/3 innings for Miami in 2024.
He is already 50 2/3 innings beyond that mark, an increase of about 58.5%. He has also thrown 99 more major league innings than he did last season.
That does not establish that workload caused the forearm problem, and the Yankees have not suggested a connection. It does show that Weathers has moved into territory he had never reached in the majors.
The January trade had been paying off. Weathers is 5-8 with a 3.60 ERA and 143 strikeouts. His ERA is slightly better than the 3.63 mark he posted in 2024, his best full MLB season before joining New York.
His four starts before Saturday included scoreless outings against the White Sox and Cardinals and one-run starts against Seattle and Toronto.
Yankees’ rotation was finally moving toward whole
Austin Wells noticed something was wrong before the medical staff reached the mound. The Yankees catcher said Weathers’ pace and movement looked unusual and that the pitcher told him he did not feel right.
The timing makes the uncertainty more costly for the Yankees.
Rodon returned Tuesday after left elbow inflammation. Fried, back on the injured list with another bone bruise in his left elbow, threw a 26-pitch bullpen session Saturday and could progress to live batting practice.
The Yankees could see a path toward a deep September rotation built around Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Rodón and Fried. Weathers’ recent run had also pushed him from depth starter into the postseason conversation.
He took the loss Saturday after allowing two runs on eight hits over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Yerry De Los Santos replaced him before Nathan Lukes’ eighth-inning homer supplied Toronto’s decisive run.
Boone said the Yankees have repeatedly found answers when injuries created openings and expects another pitcher to get an opportunity if Weathers misses time.
For now, the Yankees do not know whether they need a temporary replacement or something more substantial. The imaging result will determine the next step. The troubling part is that Weathers’ left forearm has already interrupted one season, and this scare arrived after the heaviest workload of his major league career.
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