THE YANKEES PITCHING DILEMMA

THE YANKEES PITCHING DILEMMA 

By: Matthew Blittner


What to do? What to do?

After acquiring Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia before the MLB non-waiver trade deadline, the Yankees now find themselves in an interesting situation.

With six starters for five slots, there appears to be a logjam in the starting rotation.

Assuming that, because of their contracts, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia are locks to remain in the rotation, that leaves four starters for three slots.

Luis Severino has been the ace of the staff this season, and finally looks to be fulfilling the promise that scouts have seen in him since he was a teenager. As such, even with the team brass closely monitoring his innings, Severino should be remain in the rotation.

That now leaves us with three starters for two slots. Sonny Gray, Jordan Montgomery, and Jaime Garcia are left to duke it out for just two spots.

After giving up three of their top-12 prospects, coupled with his standing as an ace throughout the league, Gray is a lock to hold down a spot in the rotation.

That leaves Garcia and Montgomery for one spot.

JORDAN MONTGOMERY

A Rookie-of-the-Year candidate, Montgomery came out of nowhere during Spring Training to force the hands of the Bombers' high-command, thus landing a spot in the rotation. Aside from the standard, few rough outings, Monty has been a solid presence in the Yanks' rotation. 

He is approaching a soft innings cap and has minor-league options remaining, and could conceivably serve as the long-man out of the 'pen in order to keep his innings in check. 

JAIME GARCIA

A longtime innings-eater, and impending free agent, Garcia chose a bad time to have a career-worst season. Doing this in the weak NL East for the hapless Atlanta Braves does not mitigate the fact that Garcia is on the back-nine of his career. 

On top of that, Garcia was traded from the Braves to the Minnesota Twins, and after making just one start in the Twin Cities, was traded again, this time to the Yankees. The Twins received two low- to mid-level prospects for Garcia, so they couldn't have been to enamored with him. This can't possibly be a good sign.

VERDICT: JORDAN MONTGOMERY

General Manager Brian Cashman has gone on the record saying that both Garcia and Gray were brought in to be starters, and that Manager Joe Girardi does not want a six-man rotation. However, it would be a major disappointment if the Yanks ignored the strong season that Montgomery is having, by either sending him to the minors or to the bullpen.

Inserting Garcia into the rotation does not strengthen it, and taking Montgomery out does not strengthen it. So, the only logical thing to do is to keep Monty in the rotation and trade Garcia, or at least, see if he will accept an assignment to the minors first.

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