Yankees: 3 players that cannot be relied upon in 2021

2. Domingo German

Unlike the Loaisiga situation, we KNOW the Yankees will be expecting more from Domingo German.

The Yankees’ biggest problem the last four years has been the starting rotation. Outside of Gerrit Cole, they’ve largely failed to address the unit that always seems to be withering, whether it be thanks to injuries or declining play.

Or domestic abuse scandals.

Yup, that was the case with Domingo German, who hasn’t pitched since Sept. of 2019 thanks to a worrisome off-the-field situation that landed him in hot water with MLB. On top of that, we had a fake retirement and a bizarre picture posted to Instagram that we thought was him, but was actually his brother. And for some reason there’s belief this guy is going to fortify the middle/back end of the rotation.

The Yankees seem very high on German’s breakout 2019 campaign, which featured 27 games (24 starts) with a 4.03 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 153 strikeouts across 143 innings. His 18-4 record was also promising, and that winning percentage led the AL. But, like we said, 19 months without pitching in a big league game is problematic … regardless if he got reps in the Dominican Winter League this offseason.

German, not only troubling from a character standpoint, but also unproven from a performance one, simply shouldn’t be held in high regard until we’re shown otherwise. Some would argue he shouldn’t even be on the roster. To think you’re going to attempt to strengthen your biggest weakness with such a wild card feels like oversight at its finest, but in Brian Cashman we trust, and we just have to go with it.

That doesn’t mean we have to feel good about it. At the very least, German better have a fairly short leash.