The New York Yankees have one of the best rotations in baseball even though James Paxton isn’t at his best, Luis Severino is injured, and Domingo German is suspended. However, the desire to be even better should always exist. And the presence of J.A. Happ in the rotation is the perfect example of that.
Should the Yankees look for avenues to make the rotation even stronger? Well, they should. Now, the other question would be: is one of the avenues to improve the group already in the organization? Well, they might as well try to find out.
Clarke Schmidt, the New York Yankees’ first-round selection in 2017, is a talented prospect who not only impressed last season in the minor leagues (3.84 ERA in 63.1 Double-A innings and 2.37 ERA in 19.0 Triple-A frames, always with more than 9.00 K/9) but also raised many eyebrows in spring training and summer camp.
Should the Yankees boot Happ from the rotation?
Happ, meanwhile, was plain bad last season (4.91 ERA and an even worse 5.22 FIP in 161.1 frames) and started off 2020 with the wrong foot (10.29 ERA, 11.13 FIP, 3.86 K/9 and 10.29 BB/9 in seven innings.)
Happ was very good for an extended period of time, including some starts with the 2018 Yankees and the entire month of September in 2019. But at nearly 38 years old, there are a lot of miles in his left arm and he looks terrible. It may be time to move on for the Bombers, and in Clarke Schmidt, they have an exciting prospect who has a great chance of performing better.
Even if the Yankees decide to stick with Happ, another path to the rotation could open up for Schmidt. Paxton, who has showed diminished velocity in his first two starts, doesn’t look healthy. It wouldn’t shock anyone if he hits the injured list soon and the team calls up Schmidt.
Only time will tell, but Schmidt’s debut looks closer each day. But look at this stuff and tell me it wouldn’t be better than Happ.