After several losing postseasons for the New York Yankees, the Yankee brass is left to make several decisions to improve the team and get to another World Championship. Many Yankees fans and the Yankee front office agree that the Yankees need pitching help. Beyond ace Gerrit Cole, looking down the pitching rotation is like looking down a grocery shelf just before a natural disaster. The Yankees basically have no pitchers to follow Cole with Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ, all becoming free agents in this 2020-2021 offseason.
The Yankees realize that although it may not be the main reason for failure, the sub-par pitching rotation has certainly contributed to not getting out of the postseason and on to a World Series appearance. In helping to correct that, the Yankees face another difficult situation. That is that after a season where the Yankees are projected to lose almost $700 million without making a dime, they will be cash-short in trying to solve the club’s issues. Also, in the shadows is not knowing whether fans will be allowed in the stands next year either as the coronavirus is escalating to its highest infection rate so far.
Trevor Bauer:
The best pitcher on the free-agent market is Trevor Bauer. In the 2020 shortened season, Bauer was with the Cincinnati Reds he went 5-4 with an ERA of 1.73 and WHIP of 0.79; Cole went 7-3 with an ERA of 2.84 and a WHIP of 0.96. Bauer’s 1.73 ERA was the best in baseball, making him a great compliment to Gerrit Cole. Bauer’s problem is that he will come with a high price, one that the Yankees may not be willing to take on. There is also the issue of the supposed feud between Cole and Bauer that started back in college. Cole doesn’t talk of it, and Bauer says it’s a thing of the past.
For Cole’s part, he knows that if the New York Yankees acquire Bauer, he knows that the one-two punch of he and Bauer will put the Yankees in a unique situation to get a 28th World Championship, and maybe, just maybe they can show off their Championship rings together. But the biggest issue is if the Yankees are willing to commit to another high paid player.
Lance Lynn:
Why does Lance Lynn fit for the Yankees? One big thing is that Lynn is a workhorse like CC Sabathia in his prime. He can eat innings and keep the bullpen pitchers in the bullpen. Even at 33 years old, Lynn pitched 84 innings this past season, the most in all of baseball. Think for a moment about Masahiro Tanaka, who can eat innings; he pitched only 48 innings.
Lynn is not an ace type pitcher but a solid middle of the rotation guy. With Cole leading the rotation and a returning Luis Severino and possible return of Domingo German, Lynn would be a firm number four in the rotation. If the Yankees decide to negotiate with Masahiro Tanaka and bring him back at a discount, that will produce a solid starting rotation, leaving Montgomery, Garcia, and Schmidt to fight for a place in the rotation and give the Yankees an excellent backup of pitchers should someone become injured.
Lynn is a veteran pitcher with an uncanny ability to adapt to any situation. With the Texas Rangers in 2020, Lynn got off to a slow start, made adjustments, and came out of the season fifth in the Cy Young Award voting. The bottom line is that the is a near-perfect fit for Yankee Stadium. He pitches over six innings per game and a 6-3 record close to Cole’s performance of 7-3.
There are ups and downs to this trade. As good as a pitcher as he is, Lynn will be less costly than either Paxton or Happ, last year he earned only $8 million. In a year that the New York Yankees will want to save money, acquiring Lynn to solve the pitching situation is very economical. Lynn in 2018 with the Yankees when 3-2 in 9 starts, so we know the bright lights of Yankee Stadium are not a factor with Lynn. The downside to that trade is that the Yankees will most likely have to give up prospects that they may not want to give up, which will hurt. But the Yankees may have to take on some hurt to bolster the pitching rotation.
Marcus Stroman:
He is ranked above some other starters because of his age and overall track record. But Stroman suffered a calf tear and then elected not to play in 2020. At least it wasn’t an arm injury, and Stroman is still on the right side of 30. The performance downside is that Stroman’s not a high-strikeout arm at a time when such flash is highly prized, so he needs a strong defensive cast behind him.
Stroman, in the past, has said he would like to play for the New York Yankees, but last year coming from the Blue Jays he ended up being traded to the crosstown New York Mets. In summer camp this year, he suffered an injury and elected to opt-out of the 2020 baseball season. Stroman is a good mid-rotation pitching option that will probably not end up in the Bronx.
Charlie Morton:
The main alure for the Yankees with Charlie Morton is that the 37 year old is a successful postseason veteran. He would come to the Yankees at half the price of going after Bauer. Because of his age he may look for a short contract of a year or two, which could be attractive to the Yankees. Morton is a solid pitcher that showed his worth this year for the Tampa Bay Rays. He also pitched successfully for the Houston Astros against the Yankees. What may make Morton attractive to the Yankees is that he is a postseason veteran. Since 2013 in the postseason, Morton is 9-4 with an ERA of 3.38. Many believe that Morton would be good fit for the Yankees.
Taijuan Walker:
Walker has been kicking around for a while now; he debuted with the Seattle Mariners and played five average years with them before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. His time with the Arizona Diamondbacks took a detour following Tommy John Surgery. Walker was 9-9 with a 3.47 ERA in his 32 starts for them. He was then traded to the Toronto Blue Jays. Even better, Walker finished strong with the Toronto Blue Jays this past season. He made six starts for them—going 2-1 with a magnificent 1.37 ERA proving that his health issues are behind him.
With an ERA of 1.37 over six starts will certainly garner a look from New York Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman. A question could be, would he hold up over a 162 game season? Nevertheless he will be considered by the Yankees.
Tomoyuki Sugano:
Tomoyuki Sugano, arguably the best pitcher in Japan and will most likely be posted in the coming weeks and become available to the New York Yankees and other major league teams.
The New York Yankees since the 1990s have had interest in players that played well for Japanese teams. Hideki Irabu, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, kei Igawa, Hiroki Kuroda, Ryokta Igarashi, and of course Masahiro Tanaka. Now they could be looking at Tomoyuki Sugano to solve their pitching rotation.
This season so far (the season is still going on) he is 13-1 with an ERA of 2.05. For his career he is 100-50 with an ERA of 2.35. The 31 year old righty is 6′ 1″ and weighs 210 pounds. He a three-quarters delivery, Sugano throws two fastballs (four-seam and sinker sitting at 90-93 mph, a solid slider, a curveball and a forkball. He is known for his excellent command, posting a BB/9 of 1.8 in his Japanese career.
Sugano has a solid ability to generate weak contact, holding opposing hitters to a 55% ground ball rate. To top it off, he is quite able to help himself out with the glove once the pitch is released. His pitching style makes him a good fit for the Yankee Stadium short porch. Major League scouts have said that Sugano would make a solid number three starter in the Major Leagues.
MLB has pushed back by one week the period in which a player from Nippon Professional Baseball can be posted, to Nov. 8-Dec. 12. That acknowledges that the Japanese season was delayed at the outset by the COVID-19 pandemic and extended about a month longer than normal, with its version of the World Series scheduled for Nov. 21-29.
A posted player has a month-long window to reach an agreement with an MLB team from the date of posting and his Japanese team receives a fee at a percentage of his contract if he signs with a major league team.
There is a clitge in the situation, considering that the free agent season will be penny-pinched by most teams, Sugano could wait until next season to make his move to the Major Leagues.