Maybe those Steven Matz-to-Yankees rumors were premature, after all. Granted, a faction of Mets fans would have told you from the start that their team wasn’t going to trade him across the river to the Bronx.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman admitted on Tuesday that he was not working the phones looking to make one more trade or two before the start of the 2020 regular season.
Working the market would have been an understandable reaction considering the Bronx Bombers have been decimated by injuries yet again this year — and we’re still three weeks away from Opening Day.
Cashman revealed on Tuesday that slugger Aaron Judge, along with Giancarlo Stanton, is doubtful to be ready for Opening Day as he battles a shoulder issue. Stanton is hampered by a calf strain.
Judge’s news was just the latest of a disappointing spring that has seen the Yankees also lose their No. 2 starter, Luis Severino, for the season as he’ll need Tommy John surgery. Veteran southpaw James Paxton will also miss at least two months while he recovers from back surgery.
The loss of their two starters leaves the Yankees’ staff shorthanded behind their record-setting signing in ace Gerrit Cole.
Masahiro Tanaka and JA Happ are the two returning arms that are good to go for 2020, but Jordan Montgomery — fresh off a year missed due to Tommy John surgery — is very much a wild card in the No. 4 spot to fill one of the voids created by the loss of Severino and Paxton.
In 36 career starts, the 27-year-old is 11-7 with a 3.91 ERA with a WHIP of 1.259 and a strikeouts-to-walk ratio of 2.73.
Those numbers are fine for a lower-end starter, especially in the American League, but Montgomery has pitched just 31.1 innings over the past two seasons.
Now the Yankees could be expecting him to go over the 150-inning mark like he did his rookie season in 2017.
For the last open spot in the rotation, it appears as though Jonathan Loaisiga is primed to take over.
The 25-year-old has struggled to find his consistency in his brief stays with the big club over the past two years. He has a 4.79 ERA in 56.1 innings while his WHIP is a 1.509, which would have ranked 62nd in the majors last year had he qualified.
He is, however, showing plenty of promise in spring training. In three appearances (five innings pitched), Loaisiga has not allowed a single hit or run while striking out nine.
It makes him the clear front runner for the No. 5 spot and is the only pitcher within the Yankees’ ranks that is in the mix for a rotational spot that has prior, legitimate MLB experience.
Michael King spent two innings with the big club last season after starting the year in single-A ball.
Deivi Garcia made the jump from single-A to triple-A last season but struggled with a 5.40 ERA in 11 innings with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Nick Nelson didn’t do much better in triple-A, posting a 4.71 ERA in 21 innings.
