Yankees end Domingo German experiment, deny Justus Sheffield

Even without the luxury of hindsight, sending out Domingo German to start the second half of the season was a risk. And after one quality start in his last six appearances, the Yankees demoted German following their 7-5 loss to the Mets.

It’s official; the Yankees have gone as far as they possibly can on unproven, non-major league ready pitching. For the foreseeable future, Domingo German ended his Yankees season when he allowed five hits and four runs in only 3.2 innings to the NL East last-place Mets.

That’s right, the club that refuses to part with the likes of Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard (who earned the win on Friday night) is now 40-55 on the season, two games behind Derek Jeter’s Marlins for fourth-place.

Optimistic Yankee fans will point out German’s six hitless innings against the Indians in his first career start. But that was way back on May 6, when he sported a 2.06 ERA.

Since that sunny day in the Bronx, the 25-year-old German, who in all fairness was prematurely placed in the starting rotation due to the Jordan Montgomery’s Tommy John Surgery, has yet to post an ERA below 5.00 in any one month, while touting an outrageously poor 7.50 ERA in the first inning of 18 starts.

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With a 2-6 record, 5.68 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and saving grace K:BB ratio of 92:32, the Yankees finally demoted German to Triple-A Scranton to work on his mechanics, which includes throwing more strikes, and missing more bats. Sounds like a great plan.

In German’s place, the Yankees promoted Luis Cessa. Cue the marching band!

Cessa, who has won three out of his last four starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, bringing his impressive 2018 minor league record to 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, .172 BAA and 22:6 K:BB ratio across 24.2 innings pitched, will likely hold down the fort until general manager Brian Cashman finally decides which starting pitcher he would like to acquire in a rather uninspiring market.

Having recently tossed six shutout innings against the Orioles, Cessa got the promotion over highly-touted No. 2 prospect Justus Sheffield.

With the Yankees unwilling to part with Sheffield in any trade, including the much talked about Manny Machado possibility, I was surprised not to see the 22-year-old left-hander get his first taste of the big leagues, even if it would have made a 40-man roster move necessary.

After all, since being promoted to Triple-A on May 1, Sheffield has compiled an impressive 2.53 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, .208 BAA and 56:24 K:BB ratio in 57 innings. In his last 18.1 innings alone (three starts), Sheff is 2-0 and has allowed just two runs.

Though the belief is Sheffield has top of the rotation stuff, and could potentially be the difference maker the Yankee staff desperately need, the organization is treading carefully with their prized possession.

Now 5 1/2 games behind the Red Sox for first place in the AL East and Sonny Gray set to take the hill on Saturday; the Yanks may need to turn to Sheffield sooner rather than later if they truly wish to avoid the dreaded one-game Wild Card.

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Sheffield was recently named the 12th best prospect in baseball by Keith Law in his midseason prospects report. As Law writes for ESPN:

“He’s very close to major league-ready, however,” Law writes, “and has all the elements of a future No. 2 starter.”