The Yankees plan to activate from the 60-day injured list to start against the Cubs on Saturday, Chris Kirschner of the Athletic. The right-hander has made three minor league rehab appearances, reaching 4 2/3 innings on 70 pitches in Double-A yesterday. Schmidt has been out since late May due to a lat strain. That interrupted what looked like a breakout showing for the former first-round pick. Schmidt worked to a 2.52 earned run average while striking out more than 27% of batters faced through 60 2/3 innings. It had started to represent a major step forward from his 2023 work. Schmidt had stayed healthy enough to log 159 frames over 33 appearances last year, though he did so with a pedestrian 4.64 ERA and an average 21.5% strikeout percentage. Through the seasons first couple months, the Yankees had perhaps the best rotation in the American League. They havent maintained that level. Going back to the May 27 retroactive date of Schmidts IL placement, New Yorks starters rank 24th with a 4.74 earned run average. Of their six starters with 20+ innings in that time, only has allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine. Coles 3.65 ERA is itself a disappointment for a defending Cy Young winner. has been inconsistent. and each have an ERA in the high 4.00s over Phil Bickford Jersey the past few months. had a terrible June, though he has been more effective in recent weeks (and had a dominant 11-strikeout performance tonight). Schmidts return could eventually push one of the veterans from the rotation. Cortes is the likeliest candidate to be squeezed out. Skipper Aaron Boone said on Tuesday that the left-hander will pitch in relief behind either Gil or Schmidt in Chicago ( ). Thats not officially a demotion, as Cortes will draw back into the rotation next week. New York is off on Thursday but begins a stretch of 10 consecutive game days with the Cubs series. Theyll go to a six-man rotation to get through that run before making a decision on whether to push someone to relief for the rest of the season. The upcoming relief appearance will be Cortes first in three years. He established himself in the rotation with an All-Star showing in 2022. The southpaw struggled through injury last season. Cortes has been healthy this season, to sing 159 innings while tying for the AL lead with 28 starts. His overall production a 4.08 ERA, 22.1% strikeout percentage and 4.9% walk rate is solid, but he has a 5.17 ERA in 10 appearances since the start of July. New York considered moving Cortes at the deadline but elected to hold him after moving away from their discu sions with the Tigers on (reportedly because of an unspecified i sue with Flahertys medicals). Jeter Downs Jersey