The Yankees plan to have Will Warren piggyback off Max Fried's scheduled Friday start against the Padres in San Diego, per manager Aaron Boone.
"We'll have Max go Friday, [and] we'll probably have Will go behind him," Boone said ahead of Tuesday's game against the Angels. "We'll probably keep Max in a similar spot. [Warren] could slide back in. We'll see. We'll see how it all shakes out."
Fried returned from a 15-day stint on the injured list due to ongoing issues with a bone bruise in his pitching elbow on Saturday, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox. Warren is coming off one of his best starts of the season on Sunday in which he threw seven innings of one-run ball vs. Boston.
Fried's return to the rotation effectively put both pitchers on turn to pitch Friday. As the Yankees are still in the process of building Fried's pitch count back up -- he threw just 63 in his first start off the IL -- Warren would offer some relief to the club's overtaxed bullpen.
While Warren could slot back into the rotation after his planned relief outing, the Yankees' turn toward the piggyback strategy may also shed a bit more light on the decision to keep a sixth starter, rookie right-hander Elmer Rodríguez, on the roster.
"We'll probably have some piggyback scenarios coming up," said Boone of the club's short-term plans for Rodríguez. "There [are] some iterations with dates and another double header coming at the end of the month."