It was announced a few days ago that New York Yankees 18-win pitcher Domingo German will serve an 81 game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.
It’s no question that this is a huge loss for the New York Yankees. The 63 remaining games that German will have to serve this season will roughly be about 12 missed starts for him. Since German will be out for significant time, the Yankees will have to find a replacement in the rotation. I think the best option would to place Jordan Montgomery as the fifth starter in the rotation.
Montgomery missed a ton of time due to Tommy John surgery but made his comeback last season where he appeared in two games, throwing a total of four innings and allowing three earned runs. His last full year came during the 2017 season where he started 29 games and was credited to a 3.88 ERA and a 9-7 record.
I think having Monty fill the fifth day of the rotation is perfect. He’s a quality left-hander who pitches backward, flashing a sharp curveball and a sinker while mixing in a changeup and a fourseam fastball.
With J.A. Happ potentially on the move, he’s essentially the same kind of pitcher but with a significantly cheaper price tag. He’s shown, when healthy, he has the ability to give quality starts at the major league level.
With Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, and James Paxton leading the rotation, having Tanaka and Monty at the back end to finish off series is a great rotation.