The Yankees rotation has long been a source of worry for fans of the club. While the concerns haven’t stopped the Yanks from dominating the AL East, the staff isn’t without question marks. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch is among the reporters to pass along the latest from the team (in this report and these tweets).
Of most immediate concern was the news that veteran southpaw CC Sabathia will return to the active roster on Sunday. He’ll return following a brief respite for his problematic knee and look to improve upon his 4.78 ERA.
Even if Sabathia is able to get some positive momentum going, he doesn’t seem like an optimal postseason starter. The same holds for the club’s other aging lefty rotation piece, J.A. Happ, whose season-long struggles are well-documented. He’ll be looking for a turnaround outing today.
It’s interesting to think about the possible ways the Yankees could best utilize these veteran southpaws. Perhaps the most intriguing concept is some kind of piggyback arrangement involving a pair of high-octane young righties who may not quite be capable of handling full starter’s duties this season. Jonathan Loaisiga is just returning from injury and hasn’t yet established himself in the bigs, while Luis Severino is still working back. There’s optimism Severino will be a factor next month, though even a minor setback could end his season and he may not be able to ramp up fully so late in the year.
There are also at least some questions involving the late-season handling of the emergent Domingo German. As Hoch explains, German did not reach 100 frames last year and has never thrown more than 123 1/3 in a professional season (a high-water mark he reached in 2014). The club is not going to let him throw an unrestrained volume of innings this year, but also has decided not to publicize the limits.
Indeed, skipper Aaron Boone says that the organization has not “even honestly gotten deep into those conversations yet” as to when and how to pull back on German’s usage. Boone suggests that the return of other hurlers will help the club manage the 27-year-old’s workload. Fortunately, with a big division lead to work with, it seems the Yanks aren’t worried that they’ll miss out on any key innings. “[W]e feel like he’s strong right now and still has a lot left in the tank,” says Boone.
There is still one other intriguing possibility to keep an eye on as well. Tommy John rehabber Jordan Montgomery has thrown a two-inning sim game. Could he be an option late in the year and into the postseason? “We’ll see,” says Boone.
Chasefor28
IMO, if they were really concerned about his workload they would’ve taken him out with such a big lead yesterday and a few other times. Makes me feel like he isn’t even close to the number they are looking at
zpgreen
They’ll probably burn him out this year knowing it won’t matter if he gets hurt since they are most likely going after significant additions for the rotation in the offseason.
He’s already at 116 innings. I think a reasonable cap (if they even have one) would be 150-160 regular season innings and burn him out in the playoffs if needed and they make a deep run. Given that there is still 41 games to play and if he pitches every 5th game, that likely means 8 starts and 40+ innings the rest of the regular season. The math can make sense, but plans always change late in the season with a potential deep playoff run.
Badfinger
So you’re saying they don’t care if their best SP gets hurt? Especially a SP who is under team control through 2023? Hoo boy.
robluca21
Lol…you must be joking right? Hes a young effective starting pitcher with 4 more years of team control and you think the Yankees would intentionally damage one of their most prized assets?
Might be one of the dumbest posts I’ve seen on here
jbigz12
Are they going to intentionally harm German? No. Are they going to coddle him like he was Stephen Strasburg? No shot. They’ll let him go for 160 frames at least. He’s 27 years old I don’t think the innings limit is going to come into play. You have to start getting up there eventually
fits65
Zpgreen must be a mets fan reflecting on what they did to their top starters in 2015.
zpgreen
Are you all ignorant? If you think sports teams don’t run their players into the ground for the potential to win a championship, you have no idea how professional sports teams are run.
Yes, they protect investments (players) if they know they don’t have a realistic chance at a championship. However, if a team has a legit title shot like the Yankees do this year, of course they will ride their best horses into the ground as the investment (player) usually pays off with the championship.
What a bunch of ignorant fools on here thinking that teams care more about protecting a players health than taking their best shot at a title…
youngTank15
It should be a pitches thrown limit not a innings limit, not all innings are created equal.
BartoloHRball
Agreed. It’s high-stress/extended innings v. a more traditional pitch/inning count. If he did what Wheeler did last night 25+ one inning and then 3 pitches later in the start….that’s 28-30 pitches, but in two very difference scenarios. Not all innings are created equal.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Agreed. He was 81 pitches after six innings. I questioned why Boone didn’t pull him. I also have noticed that Boone doesn’t like to sub in guys with a big lead as much as Girardi had in years prior.
Bocephus
Yea, and look where that got Girardi.
ajw
Girardi is a top 5 manager. never managed a club under .500. i never understood why some people didn’t like him. he was one of the best hires. the Yankees made in years.
ajw
Girardi is a top 5 manager in the league. He never managed a club under .500. I never understood why some people didn’t like him? He was one of the best hires the Yankees made in years.
fits65
And Joe was totally out of touch his last season as young ballplayers didn’t respond to his brand of baseball.
robluca21
The team he managed in his last year was 1 game away from playing in the world series. Lol. I guess those darn youngsters just didnt respond enough to old man Joe
Darn kids with their rock music and Nintendo video games
InvalidUserID 2
I’m only really aware of the Yankees since that’s who I follow the closest but it seems like sometimes when they try to restrict young guys, it hurts them. See Joba as the best example.
robluca21
Well the Cubs didn’t restrict mark prior almost 20 years ago..they let him throw around 200 innings his rookie year and he blew his arm put and his career was pretty much over after that
BartoloHRball
Jerking Joba around between starting and the bullpen seemed to really screw him up. He had a ton of potential, but he flamed out quickly….likely due to mismanagement by the Yankees. I really hope they learned from that bc Severino has top-notch stuff, but he needs to be brought back conservatively to protect him for ’20, ’21, etc.
fits65
Truth be told, Joba was an out of shape kid that could bring heat. It was his signature that got him to the Bronx however he could have been wearing his shoulder out in the minors.
Every inning for Joba was a high stress inning.
Allknowingone
I think most likely you will see him moved to the pen in September. I think it is way to early to think about his innings limit and much will have to do with winning the division. The Yankees losing 4 straight and the Rays winning for in a row is not out of the realm of possibility. Things look over now but there can be a pennant race by Sunday. Cashman had a great year with his pickups- people forget he also claimed Hanser Alberto back in November but then lost him. However- would anyone be surprised if Urshela and Tauchman stopped hitting or had a bad September? I think his innings limit comes into play when they know they have the division wrapped up.
costergaard2
TB is 11 games back in the column and duking it out for the road slot in the wild card.
4 games ?!? As my man Napoleon says, what the heck are you even talking about ?
BartoloHRball
Agreed. TB is zero threat for the AL East….the Yankees are playing for their matchup with presumably Houston. They need to eat a ton of innings to keep their frail starters healthy and well rested. I’m surprised they haven’t brought up another AAA guy as a 5th/6th to spread out the workload. It’ll be interesting to see how CC does. He obviously won’t be the beast he was for MIL down the stretch in 2008, but I’m hopefully he pitches well bc he is a wiley veteran who has battled injuries and off the field stuff to still be a contributor. I still hope the Yankees lose in the playoffs, but he is one of the guys I hope does well.
fits65
Allknowing has an identity completely opposite of what he posts. An obvious Yankee hater, he’s probably an experienced Mets fan anticipating the great slide after their wiling streak against soft teams.
brandons-3
Inning caps haven’t been proven to avoid injury. Skip a few starts, build in an extra day of rest are better approaches than a hard innings cap imo. All innings aren’t even created equally. At the end of the day, if a pitcher is feeling healthy and doesn’t show up in any Mark Prior workload comps let him pitch.
brandons-3
Once more, there’s a communication and cultural aspect to it that deeps need to develop. Present the data you have and form the relationship where pitchers can be comfortable telling a team that they can’t pitch anymore.
YankeesBleacherCreature
Well I hope every team has instilled in their players to be honest with them regarding fatigue and injuries. It hurts the team if they’re not.
brandons-3
Hahahaha fair point. Just saying it can be overlooked in the conversation. Not out of the realm of possibility for a competitor to downplay the injury. Your best ability is availability.
bobtillman
Big Sexy is on his way to the Bronx as we speak……
costergaard2
That would be awesome !
BartoloHRball
I’d be SO TORN if Bartolo joined them for the stretch run. It’d be must see TV bc he is 90%+ fastballs…but he throws like 8 different versions with some pretty good movement, with none of them breaking 88-89. Bartolo completely reinvented himself and I’ll never not root for Big Sexy!!
ThisIsTheYear
Cashman would never have it… Colon had a PRP injection overseas without the team’s consent (before PRPs were more common over here). Cashman won’t work with players who take matters into their own hands like that.
I’m not saying it’s right, just what I understand of the situation.
Bocephus
No they already have one Roidhead on the roster.
Polish Hammer
Bartolo headed to the Bronx only to visit one of his side families or to hit up the Wednesday buffet at Lung Fung…
yanksallday
We should put Happ in the pen, see if he is capable of being more effective knowing he only has to manage one inning.
Given his 3rd year option vests based on starts/innings, I would hope we are not dumb enough to allow that option to vest next year.
robluca21
There is no way happ meets the criteria to trigger that option next year. Not unless he comes out of the gates 10-0 with a sub 3 ERA
yanksallday
Hoping you’re right…
BartoloHRball
Happ is probably better off as a piggyback. Pairing him with Loisanga (sp?) could be interesting.