While the New York Yankees continue to battle it out with the Boston Red Sox at the top of the American League East standings, the need for more starting pitching support continues to grow.
With a 46-21 record, the Bronx Bombers are tied for the divisional lead with Boston, a team with six more games played this season and much stronger starting pitching. While the Red Sox can roll out the likes of Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez and the suddenly strong Steven Wright, all of whom have ERA’s under 3.59, the Yankees don’t have much to offer behind staff ace Luis Severino.
CC Sabathia has struggled since starting the 2018 season hot while Sonny Gray’s inability to pitch well in the Bronx has his ERA toeing the 5.00 mark. Injuries to Jordan Montgomery and Masahiro Tanaka have forced the Yankees to roll out the unproven Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga.
With the state their rotation is in right now, it would be difficult for the Yankees to advance far into the postseason should they run across a well-rounded team like the Houston Astros.
It makes next month’s trade deadline an all-too-important one as New York is already looking for upgrades in the starting staff.
According to Jon Heyman on MLB Network’s telecast, the Yankees are interested in Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ in an attempt to bolster the rotation.
Near the bottom of the AL East, there is no way the Blue Jays are catching either the Red Sox or Yankees and it might be time to start dealing upcoming free agents now.
Happ will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and has become an attractive trade asset the Blue Jays could flip for some prospects. On a team that is five games under .500, Happ is 8-3 with a 3.48 ERA with 94 strikeouts in 82.2 innings of work.
Those numbers would put Happ near the top of the Yankees rotation while adding a left-handed arm that would take plenty of pressure off the veteran Sabathia, the lone southpaw remaining after Montgomery went down for the season.
