Yankees Rumors: Why they don’t need to sign another starting pitcher

The Yankees have had a very productive offseason up to this point, putting themselves in a great position to contend for a championship in 2019. There’s still a chance they could sign another starter to add depth to their rotation, but that might not be necessary. Here’s why.

Entering this offseason the Yankees number one goal was to upgrade their starting rotation They’ve done just that by trading for James Paxton and re-signing both J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia. We’ll have to wait and see how this staff performs once the regular season starts but on paper, it has a shot to be one of the best in all of baseball.

However, if there’s one main concern about this group of five it’s the potential for injury. Outside of Happ and staff ace Luis Severino, every other member of the projected rotation has a history of injuries, especially the newly acquired Paxton and the veteran Sabathia. There’s also always some concern about Masahiro Tanaka pitching with that slight tear in his elbow (suffered back in 2014) but the good news is he made it through last season without any issues.

As for Paxton, he’s been on the DL six times over the course of his five big league seasons and last year he landed on the DL twice. CC also spent some time on the DL in 2018 and he’ll enter his final spring training coming off of serious heart surgery he underwent back in early December. Thankfully CC is on track to make a full recovery, but it’s no certainty that he’ll make it through camp 100% healthy and ready for the season.

That’s part of the reason why the Yanks have been linked to free agent veterans Gio Gonzalez and Ervin Santana. They’re both reliable and durable options they could sign for a low price who can slide right into the fifth spot of the rotation if CC or somebody else gets hurt.

I don’t think signing one of them is a terrible idea, but both of those guys are innings eaters who expect to take the ball every fifth day and on this Yankee team that’s no guarantee. They’ve been starters for basically their entire careers but the five starters the Yanks already have in place are all better options.

If they’re all healthy than Santana or Gonzalez would have to pitch out of the pen where they wouldn’t really provide much value. That’s why I think the Yankees are much better off looking internally for a sixth starter that can step in and fill a spot in the rotation in the case of an injury.

The two names that come to mind as the best options are Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga. Chance Adams and Luis Cessa are two other options to consider but Cessa has been unimpressive in 19 career big league starts and Adams might project more as a reliever long term.

The 26-year-old German appeared in 21 games and made 14 starts for the Yankees a season ago filling in for an injured Jordan Montgomery and later Masahiro Tanaka. He finished the year with a robust 5.57 ERA, but he did strike out 102 batters in only 85.2 IP.

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German’s a guy who the Yankees might rather use as a long man out of the pen, but I think he deserves another shot to pitch out of the rotation (should someone get injured). I say that because he has power stuff and throughout his minor league career, he’s had a ton of success pitching as a starter.

Obviously, there’s a massive gap in talent between minor league hitters and big league hitters but power stuff plays well at all levels which should benefit German. Especially in today’s launch angle era where hitters are striking out more than ever.

Loaisiga is the Yankees top pitching prospect and last season he showed flashes of serious potential in the first four starts of his big league career (3.00 ERA, 21 K’s). The 24-year-old from Nicaragua took a while to earn top prospect recognition due to injuries that forced him to miss the 2014 and 2015 seasons. But in 2018 he finally showed why he projects to be a future staple in the Yankee rotation.

The young right-hander has all the tools to be a successful big league starter and this spring he’ll get plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills. The odds of Loaisiga making the Opening Day roster are slim unless a starter gets injured but that doesn’t mean this camp will be any less important for him. If he can continue to progress with his development and impress the coaching staff it could go a long way.

We might not see Loaisiga early in the season because he’ll probably start the year at Triple-A, but there’s no doubt he’ll have a chance to make a serious impact for the Yanks at some point. If and when one of the starters inevitably goes on the DL he should be the first guy called upon to step into the rotation and fill in.