Is Max Scherzer The Right Move For The Yankees?
By Jason Evans
Clearly the Yankees need to make some sort of move. As I said yesterday they have to be patient, but if they lose out on Chase Headley who has all sorts of teams after him, the Yankees can spend some money in order to upgrade what could be a strength of theirs: pitching.
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The guy to look at in this respect might be Max Scherzer. We haven’t heard about the Yankees being involved in Jon Lester talks yet, however, the guy they could go after is the former Cy Young Award winner.
The only pitchers to have won a Cy Young Award and become free agents this millennium are CC Sabathia, Barry Zito and Scherzer. Scherzer has 1,000 less innings right now then when CC got his big deal.
Scherzer is only 30, however, there are a couple of concerning things about Scherzer.
One is the fact that he’s had only one complete game in his career. One. Yes pitchers don’t go the distance they used to anymore, but can he be the guy to get you a big start that can take you deep into games?
Secondly, his velocity is in decline. The Yankees already have a starter who has velocity issues. Per Fangraphs, his fastball velocity is down almost two full ticks the past two years. His changeup is almost down two miles as well.
Scherzer could be a good fit. The Yankees have questions in their rotation and Scherzer can help stabilize it. However, he has questions of his own as well.