Why the New York Yankees should extend starter James Paxton

New York Yankees, James Paxton

When the New York Yankees signed Gerrit Cole this off-season, their starting pitching rotation had more than enough talent to succeed going into 2020. With Luis Severino and James Paxton as the No. 2-3 options behind Cole, they had a dangerous and intimidating 1-2-3 punch. However, the injury bug hit the unit, as Severino would have missed the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, and Paxton was scheduled to miss the first few weeks after undergoing surgery to remove a cyst from his lower back.

Paxton, though, played well for the New York Yankees in 2019, posting a 3.82 ERA and excelling in the second half of the season leading into the playoffs. This was supposed to be another quality campaign for the lefty arm, but the coronavirus pandemic has thrown everything in the gutter and turned baseball into a revolving door of financial troubles.

With the 2020 season still up in the air, Yankees will have to make some free-agent decisions in 2021. J.A. Happ, Masahiro Tanaka, Paxton, and DJ LeMahieu are all players that will hit the market and be up for new deals.

General manager Brian Cashman will be on the hook to decide on their value. I believe extending Paxton could be beneficial to the team, as prior to his injury, he began to show the stuff that winning teams require. Consistency and strong performances littered the second half of his 2019 year, as his elevated fastball in the upper 90s can be very difficult to hit. He will be 32 next season, meaning he still has plenty of physical prime to dish out at the MLB level.

The argument against would heavily rely on his most recent injury and price tag. He is currently on a $12.5 million deal for this season. If he’s open to negotiating in the $10-12 million range, the Yankees will likely look to retain him moving forward for at least the next two seasons, but his lack of play this year coming off a surgery might not give him much of a choice but to settle for a one year deal. That could massively benefit the Yankees and keep him in pinstripes.

I believe, based on his arsenal of pitches and success last season, the Yankees would be smart to bring him in for one more year. However, if he is asking for too much, Cashman will have no choice but to let him walk and allocate that money toward keeping another free agent that is scheduled to leave the team. Having a strong left a presence in the starting rotation is always a benefit, and losing him would undoubtedly be a significant negative for the Bombers.

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