4 buy-low trade candidates Yankees should target for rotation

3. Josh Lindblom

The Brewers might want to dump this moderate contract on the Yankees.

The Milwaukee Brewers took a chance on signing KBO standout and MLB reclamation project Josh Lindblom last offseason to a three-year deal. Year 1 of that deal? Not great!

So does the middling Brew Crew really want to tough it out and hope for a Year 2 bounce-back? Or would they rather rid themselves of Lindblom’s contract (only $9.13 million over three years, but not nothin’ if you’re Milwaukee!)?

In 10 starts, Lindblom put up some solid peripherals — 42 hits in 45.1 innings pitched, and an impressive 52 whiffs. Also, only six homers and a 3.87 FIP! Pretty encouraging stuff! Somehow, though, his ERA was 5.16, which is relatively gross.

Hoping for a Merrill Kelly-like redemptive breakout, the Brewers instead got someone who underperformed his margins in a shortened, strange year, and the team only climbed to the eighth seed, about the most depressing spot you can be (just ask a Knicks fan).

Lindblom was much better than the numbers would suggest in 2020, and he’s the kind of a risk a team like the Yankees can afford to take, whereas the Brewers might prefer to focus his $3 million per year on their arbitration raises.