TIME TO TAKE UP ARMS
Yankees can’t get by with fringe starters this often, need to make move
SEATTLE — Enough with the fringe arms. The Yankees have been working hard to land a starter, and they need to accelerate those efforts, because sending out the likes of Luis Cessa or Caleb Smith every fifth day continues to backfire.
It doesn’t have to be Sonny Gray or Yu Darvish — although either of those high-octane righties would certainly be a massive addition to this young and hungry club. It just needs to be someone with more of a track record of success at the MLB level who can get deeper into games and give the team a better chance to win.
Cessa was 0-3 with a 6.23 ERA in four starts in 2017, which is partly why Joe Girardi decided to go with Smith on Sunday. The 25-year-old lefty had been pitching well in the minors and was solid in his MLB debut out of the bullpen last Monday in Minnesota. But in his first career start, Smith couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, giving up four runs on four hits in the frame.
The Yankees’ revamped bullpen ultimately carried them home in a 6-4 come-from-behind victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field. Chad Green, Dellin Betances, David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman combined to pitch 5.1 scoreless innings and strike out six. Chapman, who has been shaky for a while now, gave up the only two hits they allowed as a group.
On the team’s 6-5 road trip — aided by the additions of flamethrowers Tommy Kahnle and Robertson from the White Sox — the bullpen allowed six earned runs in 41 innings with 53 strikeouts (1.31 ERA).
“We did what we had to do today to get through it, and we’ll continue to do that,” said Joe Girardi, whose team won its first series since June 9-11 (0-82). “That’s our job, to continue to figure out how to get through it. We’ll keep batting through it. That’s all we can do.”
A’s assistant GM Billy Owens was apparently at Class-A Charleston on Sunday, scouting more players in the Yankees’ farm system. Owens has already been to Double-A Trenton as well. Gray is young and under team control, but he also has an injury history. Plus, he’d cost significant prospects, and the Yankees have been reluctant to want to part with Gleyber Torres, hothitting Clint Frazier, Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield, among others. Darvish, meanwhile, can be a free agent at season’s end. The Yankees might be bestserved adding a lesser-tier starter at a lesser-tier prospect cost like Braves lefty Jaime Garcia. Adams, 22, has posted a 2.37 ERA in 13 starts at Triple-A Scranton. On Friday, he gave up a run on five hits in six innings. “That decision (to bring him up) is not in my hands,” Girardi said. “I don’t really get to see him on a daily basis. And they still feel he needs work (on his command and developing his third pitch).” Fair enough. But these games are simply too valuable down the stretch to allow these fringe arms to start.
And it’s partly an indictment on Masahiro Tanaka that this is such an issue. If Tanaka were pitching like a No. 1 or No. 2, this wouldn’t be as big a deal. But because the 28-year-old righty has given up a career-high 26 homers and owns a 5.37 ERA, it is one. Michael Pineda is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery and Green is simply too valuable a weapon in the bullpen to try and stretch him out at this juncture of the season. So the Yankees need to get another arm — whether that’s Gray, Darvish, Garcia, Adams or someone else.