Yankees: If Sabathia Struggles Tonight, Time to Call Up Adams

On Tuesday night, the Yankees No. 2 shooter, CC Sabathia will look to secure his first win since Apr. 15. Should his struggles continue, it may be time to replace him with Chance Adams, who is excelling at Double-A Trenton.

CC Sabathia started the 2017 season like a ball of fire. In his first 18.1 innings pitched for the Yankees, the stout lefty went 2-0 with a 1.47 ERA.

Since then, Sabathia has failed to pitch out of the fifth inning in each of his three starts (14.2 innings), posting a 10.42 ERA and .359 OBP, which includes giving up five long balls.

Luckily, for Sabathia, in each of his last two outings, the Yankees’ bats were able to get him off the hook. Though the clubs’ offense has been on an absolute tear as of late, Sabathia can’t expect to get bailed out every single time he takes the mound.

After falling behind 11 batters in his last start against the Blue Jays, Sabathia must do a better job of hitting the corners. No longer the power pitcher he once was, when CC misses the inside portion of the plate, his high 80s-low 90s fastball gets hit 89.2% of the time. That’s high.

On Monday night, the Yankees pushed their win streak up to six, beating the Reds 10-4. With the best record in the bigs, 21-9, and 12 games over .500 for the first time in two years, Sabathia doesn’t have to be magnificent, he just needs to be better than usual.

He’ll look to right the ship against the 17-15 Reds, who currently sit 0.5 games back of the first-place Cardinals.

Should Sabathia, who is in the final year of his contract, struggle to silence the Cincinnati bats, it could be time to replace him in the rotation with Chance Adams.

Adams, who just moved onto the MLB.com Top 100 Prospects list is arguably the organization’s most ready minor league pitcher. I get that Adams is right-handed and Sabathia left, but Jordan Montgomery (2-1, 3.81 ERA in 28.1 IP) is more than capable of being the only left-handed starter for the Yankees at this time. Dietrich Enns and Justus Sheffield are on their way.

At Double-A Trenton, Adams has begun the season 4-0, giving up just two earned runs for a 0.64 ERA. Allowing a shade under five hits per contest, Adams is fanning an impressive 8.7 batters per nine innings.

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I’m fully aware Adams isn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, but neither was Montgomery. And that’s worked out pretty well so far.

Adams gives the team another electric young arm capable of lessening the load on the bullpen. Right now, that’s paramount.

While I’m not advocating that the club pull an A-Rod and release Sabathia and what’s left of the $25 million he’s making this season, manager Joe Girardi cannot continue to trot him out there every five days if he continues to put the club behind the eight ball — allowing a plethora of early runs to the opposition.

At this point in his career, I’d go outing by outing with Sabathia. Yeah, he was very good last year, but the Yanks weren’t. This season, the roles are reversed, and if this team is serious about staying in contention they need to put their best assets on the field.

For instance, Tommy Layne has been horrendous as the left-handed specialist out of the ‘pen. In 7.2 IP, Layne’s ERA sits at 8.22, while his WHIP is a robust 2.217.

When left-handed hitters are raking to the tune of a .400 BA, and righties .353, it’s time for a change.

Yes, it’s still early, and both Layne and Sabathia could turn it around as early as tonight. But when you’re a first place team, even in the month of May, you need to be proactive and plan ahead.

Sabathia’s been a horse, and I’d love to see him get it together, but every game counts. And right now, he doesn’t give this team the best chance to win.

Next: Yankees show their resiliency

Moving Sabathia to the bullpen — at least until he figures it out, and calling up a prime prospect like Adams, who in my opinion, can skip Triple-A altogether, makes this club better now, and in the future. And isn’t that what we want?