Yankees news: Fried to IL, but worst-case scenario avoided

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: Prior to yesterday’s game, the Yankees placed ace Max Fried on the 15-day injured list with a bone bruise in his left elbow. While, obviously, this isn’t great news, as Fried will not throw for a few weeks before being reevaluated, early indications seem to suggest that he has avoided ligament damage (although we’ll get confirmation on that in a couple of days). The start of the Gerrit Cole/Max Fried tandem atop the rotation will almost certainly be delayed once again, but at least we can cross our fingers and hope to see them both on the active roster at some point this season. Elmer Rodríguez is expected to take Fried’s next turn in the rotation, though until then, his roster spot will soon likely be occupied by a reliever.

Yahoo! Sports | Scott Walsh: In an article originally published our pal Scott in The Times-Tribune in Scranton, PA, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders announce that Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will be making his sixth rehab start with them on Saturday, as they face the Syracuse Mets. Even with Fried down, the Yankees do not appear inclined to rush Cole’s rehab, and expect him to make at least two more starts before returning to the Bronx.

The Athletic | Jayson Stark: (subscription required) Now that we’re about a quarter of the way through the season, we have finally reached the point where we can begin to draw some preliminary conclusions about the game this season. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest new thing this season is how the ABS challenges have changed the game, with batters swinging less and walking more — perhaps the result of the fact that the ABS strike zone is, at its edges, a touch smaller than the “traditional” zone called by most umps.