Yankees: Michael King’s postgame presser proves he should no longer be starting

Not too long ago, the New York Yankees had one of the most fearsome starting rotations in all of Major League Baseball.

But we knew that wouldn’t last, didn’t we?

Corey Kluber got injured. Jameson Taillon isn’t putting it together. Domingo German is as inconsistent as it gets. Jordan Montgomery is solid, but that’s it. And Michael King? Well…

King has been bad as a starter. There’s no way around it. Is it his fault he was jerked around between the bullpen and rotation (and MLB roster and Triple-A)? Nope. But at some point, there needs to be some progress.

He’s had six chances to show he can put forth an above average performance. He hasn’t. Honestly, not even close.

And after his postgame interview on Monday in which he described his “strategy” on a start-to-start basis, it’s clear he no longer belongs in the rotation.

It’s time for the Yankees to remove Michael King from the starting rotation.

Fast forward to 1:40 for The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler’s question. King says he gets “cute” in the first inning and tries to finesse the best hitters on the opposing team the first time around as opposed to attacking them. He said he likes to “set guys up” for their second and third at-bats.

Anybody see a problem here?

King has allowed 10 earned runs in the first inning of his six starts in 2021. TEN! He’s pitched beyond 4.2 innings just once. He’s not facing a lineup three times! He’s hardly pitching half of the game! Where is pitching coach Matt Blake to be like, “Dude, absolutely not. Throw this plan in the garbage. You are attacking hitters until we remove you from the game.”

After his third bad outing (and that’s being generous!) his strategy of “finessing” hitters should have been abandoned, especially since he’s been taken to the woodshed against inferior offenses like the Tigers, Twins and Royals.

Is this King’s fault? Not entirely. An inexperienced pitcher like him should be more heavily monitored and guided by the coaching staff. Why in the WORLD is he throwing an 80 MPH curveball for a strike to Shohei Ohtani on a 3-2 count? Predictably, Ohtani deposited that meatball into the right field seats.

His approach is wrong. It’s been wrong. It hasn’t been corrected. For some reason he thought this was a good idea and the coaching staff seemed to just say “whatever”? Honestly, we have no idea, but it’s clear many fans have seen enough. The Yankees are 2-4 in his starts and those wins were a result of late-inning magical comebacks.

At this point, we’d rather experiment with a top prospect. Send King to the bullpen to eat innings. He doesn’t have the length or the approach to be a starter unfortunately, but he could still have a role on this pitching staff.

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