The New York Yankees are in need of reinforcements in the rotation. Gerrit Cole is the unquestioned ace, but Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, and James Paxton are all hitting the free agent market. The team will have to rely on Jordan Montgomery, Deivi Garcia, and one forgotten pitcher in the 2021 season and beyond.
Domingo German, who missed the whole 2020 campaign while serving a suspension for a domestic violence incident in September 2019, is still under contract and the Yankees, barring a huge surprise, will have some sort of role for him.
And given the fact that he hasn’t pitched in a competitive match for more than a year, any game action that the Yankees’ hurler can get is huge. German, thankfully, will get just that this weekend in the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) with Toros del Este.
German will be the Opening Day starter for Toros on Sunday, Nov. 15. The team announced the news via its Instagram account. The pitcher, according to NJ Advance Media, commented three fire emojis under a photo of him wearing the orange and black jersey of the La Romana squad.
Major League Baseball put German on administrative leave on September 19, 2019, when the domestic violence allegations against him came out. The Yankees’ righty served 81 games in his suspension in the end.
A trio of Yankees’ will represent Toros
Besides German, Toros del Este will have Gary Sanchez and Miguel Andujar playing winter ball. All three need playing time badly.
New York Yankees’ owner Hal Steinbrenner still needs to see progress from German on a personal level. “Well, look, I have to absolutely feel comfortable that he deeply, deeply regrets and is sorry for what he what he did,†Steinbrenner said Oct. 13 on “The Michael Kay Show†on ESPN Radio. “And I absolutely have to be comfortable with the fact that he’s turned his life around. Those two things are for sure. As far as where we go with him, I don’t know. That’s another discussion that I have to have with not just (general manager) Brian Cashman and all, but my family and we will see. But there’s no doubt he needs to prove that he’s turned his life around and that he absolutely realizes how horrific that was.â€