Yankees surprisingly option Domingo German to alternate site after Saturday’s outing

It hasn’t been a good start for the New York Yankees. Things will eventually turn around, but the early boos and groans continue to grow louder.

When you’re supposed to be a World Series contender and start off 3-5, and in those losses you’ve put up a total of 11 runs, it’s not going to be received well. That’s barely two per game. And this offense is supposed to be arguably the most potent in the sport.

For the most part, the pitching staff has exceeded expectations to begin the year. The only true blemishes? Corey Kluber’s outing on Friday and Domingo German’s two starts.

German has given up seven runs in his seven innings of work and both times was chased from the game due to an extremely high pitch count — 68 pitches through three innings against the Blue Jays last week and then 79 through four against the Rays on Saturday.

Look, getting on his back in the early going will do us no favors. He hasn’t pitched since Sept. of 2019 and got limited exposure in the Dominican Winter League and spring training this year.

However, we can’t help but notice that the Yankees’ standing by the embattled pitcher before, during and after his domestic abuse suspension continues to look worse. Typically, top-notch performances out of the gate would make most people temporarily forget about that permanent stain on his career.

However, now, it’s all anybody will remember. “This is the guy the Yankees refused to part ways with after heinous allegations got him suspended for 81 games?”

But it appears the Yankees are moving on. After Saturday’s game, German was optioned to the alternate site.

That’s what happens when your first two outings feature a total of seven innings pitched, 12 hits (four home runs), two walks, seven earned runs and just six strikeouts. After a torrid performance this spring, German looks lost when he really needs to be delivering quality starts to make the other distracting chatter dissipate. And now he’s got a controversial roster move added to his plate.

Fans in opposition of the team sticking with German have certainly done their best in applying the pressure on the Yankees in regards to their decision. It ended up being validated on Saturday, as it’s beginning to trend in the direction that there’s no place for him in the starting rotation with Deivi Garcia ready to make the jump.

The one thing holding back teams from parting with embattled players is talent — not a worthy excuse, but one organizations use to justify their decisions. But when a team holding onto someone who can’t unleash that talent after countless off-the-field issues and a seemingly devoid-of-emotion apology, it starts to reflect poorly on the organization.

That’s one of many factors not going right for the Yankees right now. And they decided to act swiftly after German’s latest flop.

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