Yankees: Call ups will hopefully squeeze Garcia out of the rotation

The Yankees took a chance on a rental starting pitcher at the trade deadline. It’s not working out. But with the upcoming call ups, the team has a chance to move him aside with an eye to next season.

When Yankees General Manager, Brian Cashman, made the deal to bring in Jaime Garcia for two prospects (Zack Littell and Dietrich Enns), it was a different time, and the team was in a different place. Garcia is not making the grade, and the Yankees should give some thought to removing him from the rotation in favor of their rotation of the future.

We’ll see on Thursday when rosters expand, but the team is likely to add (at least) Chance Adams to their roster. Joe Girardi will want and need to get a look-see at Adams, who has performed at all levels in the minor leagues (31-6, 2.23).

Garcia gets another chance tonight against the Indians, but so far he’s been the lone crack in the rotation, failing to keep the line moving with starts that are mediocre at best. He hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t been good either.

The main thing lacking in Garcia’s five starts with the Yankees is any length. He’s averaged only five innings in those starts, and it took him 103 pitches to make it through 5.2 innings against Boston on August 11.

With the way Girardi has his bullpen set up, this has meant using four relievers to cover the four or five innings Garcia doesn’t complete.

Meanwhile, the rest of the staff is pitching into the seventh inning on a regular basis, with CC Sabathia, Sonny Gray, Masahiro Tanaka, and Luis Severino all contributing on the last turn of the rotation.

The Yankees can still get their monies worth out of Garcia, though, and he would be useful as a long reliever in the event one of the starters does falter.

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As a rental, he will be a free agent at the end of the season, and it is unlikely the organization will want or need to sign him for next year.

For Adams, this will be his chance to show he can pitch effectively at this level. With his eye-opening season at Triple-A Scranton, some have wondered why he wasn’t called up sooner. The Yankees have said numerous times that Adams needs to develop more command of his pitches.

But if that’s the case, Adams must be thinking to himself why his numbers don’t tell the Yankees all they need to know. Then again, there must be something in the team’s thinking, and there is no reason to doubt them being cautious with Adams in wanting to give him the best chance to succeed at this level.

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Obviously, Garcia’s start tonight is a big one for the team. Following last night’s loss to the Indians, the Yankees need this middle game which will allow Sabathia a chance to notch a series win tomorrow afternoon before the Red Sox come in on Thursday.

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