3 forgotten pitchers New York Yankees should sign for 2022

2. Alex Cobb

It’s worth noting that … Alex Cobb … was actually very good in Los Angeles in 2021? He battled injury and only made 18 starts, but they were quite effective; essentially, Cobb was on the Corey Kluber diet last season.

If you’re looking primarily for durability, perhaps Cobb shouldn’t be your top target. But at this point, he can fill innings midseason in the Domingo German/Kluber role with far lower expectations, and he was significantly better than both of them last year.

In 93.1 innings, Cobb posted a 119 ERA+ and remarkable 2.92 FIP (belied by a 3.76 ERA). If you don’t expect to get a workhorse, Cobb won’t let you down, and should actually serve as an impressive bedeviling force in a rotation full of power arms. Cole-Verlander-Montgomery-Severino-Cobb-Taillon? Yeah, that’s something. That’ll work.

We’ve been arguing that the Yankees should employ enough valuable starters to be able to test out a six-man rotation for years now, and there’s no better time than the present with an expanding budget. Pitch Gerrit Cole every fifth day, then give rest days to the remainder of the rotation’s tenants. Sevy’s gonna need it. Jamo’s gonna need it. Just be reasonable.

For ~$5 million in 2022, you’re not going to do any better than the 34-year-old Cobb to lengthen things out.