Yankees: Brian Cashman says Domingo German won’t have an innings limit

There won’t be an innings limit on Domingo German for the rest of the season according to Yankees GM Brian Cashman and that includes the playoffs come October. German was likely going to have his workload limited a couple of months ago but after a left hip flexor strain kept him on the IL from June 9th to July 3rd Cashman now says “all safeties are off.”

This is great news for the Yankees because for weeks now there had been rumblings about how they were going to handle German’s workload down the stretch. He’s already surpassed his career-high in innings at the major league level of 85.2 with 116 so far and he’s well on his way to passing the high he set at the minor league level with 123.1 IP back in 2014.

German has been the Yankees best starter this season and it’s really not even close. If Luis Severino and CC Sabathia didn’t get injured during Spring Training he wouldn’t have even been in the rotation to start the season, so he’s certainly made the most of his opportunities.

In 21 games and 20 starts the 27-year-old right-hander is now 16-2 with a 3.96 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and 124 K’s. Since returning off the IL German has gone 7-0 with a 4.11 ERA in eight starts and over his last three, he’s gone 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA in 19 IP. He’s got a chance to be the first Yankee to win 20 games since CC did back in 2010 and should be in the AL Cy Young conversation even though he probably won’t win it.

Despite the Yankees incredible record their starting staff still has a lot of question marks but German isn’t one of them, especially now that we know he’ll be an option for them this postseason. We’ll have to wait and see which game management decides to start him in the ALDS because at this point there’s no doubt he should be apart of their playoff rotation.

It turns out the hip injury German suffered back in June was a huge blessing in disguise. The IL stint kept him sidelined for three weeks and since it wasn’t an injury to his arm Cashman says he already got his timeout so there’s no need to restrict him from here on out.

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He was also really struggling at the time of the injury because he pitched through it for three starts without telling anyone before it forced him to the IL. Him keeping quiet actually might’ve played a small role in the Yankees missing out on signing free agent Dallas Keuchel because they believed German was healthy so they didn’t feel it was necessary to overpay and the left-hander.

The decision to not match or beat the Braves offer to try and land Keuchel could still be one they end up regretting considering they didn’t add another starter before the trade deadline. Although, now that German isn’t on an innings limit and Luis Severino is nearing his return from the IL it’s an easier pill to swallow.

Now the Yanks just have to hope that Sevy actually makes it back and can return as a starter and also hope that James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka continue their recent turnarounds. If that happens a playoff rotation featuring them and German is pretty solid on paper and with the Yankees offense and bullpen backing it they’ll still have a good chance to win in October.