The New York Yankees played their 117th season last year. Their record was 100-62 and they lost the Boston Red Sox in the American League division series.
When Giancarlo Stanton was traded for, the expectations were world series or bust. The Yankees started their season on March 29th. After a mediocre start, The Yankees would win 17 of their next 18 games. On May 9th, they defeated the Red Soxs’; 9-6, which got them in first place at the American League East. On June 21st, after the Yankees’ beat the Mariners, getting their 50th win of the season. They sent Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Luis Severino, and Aroldis Chapman to the All star game.
Although winning 100 games and setting the all time home run record is great, the expectations were a world series championship, which they unfortunately, failed to do. The Red Sox were an extremely tough first round match up. The Red Sox were able to take advantage of the Yankees mediocre starting pitching where the Red Sox had top tier pitching, which shut down the majority of the Yankee’s bats. Personally, I think the Yankees should improve the starting rotation, so they can shut down other teams bats. The Yankees made a small effort by trading for James Paxton, but that’s not enough.
The rotation right now in no particular order is, Luis Severino (3.39 ERA), JA Happ (3.65 ERA), Masahiro Tanaka, (3.75 ERA), James Paxton (3.76 ERA) and CC Sabathia (3.65 ERA). These guys had their moments last year, but overall this is a pretty mediocre. Happ (5.48 career playoff ERA) and Severino (6.26 career playoff ERA) have been very inconsistent in the playoffs. Sabathia is 38 years old, so it’s questionable if he can even pitch an entire season. Tanaka has a playoff ERA of 1.50 but he isn’t a regular season ace due to his inconsistency.
The other side of this argument, the rotation is good enough as is. This argument is reliant on Luis Severino returning to his 1st half form (2.31 ERA). Many people feel like the lineup was missing someone who makes a lot of contact, and these want to sign Manny Machado.
This argument is flawed because, you can’t rely on something that probably won’t happen. Like Severino pitching like he did in the 1st half for an entire season If you want to win a world series. Although I am not opposed of Manny Machado, he’s a want, not a need unlike what the other side says.
I have a pretty simple solution to this problem, trade for Indian’s starting pitcher Corey Kluber. He pitched to a 2.89 ERA in 2018 and a 3.97 career playoff ERA. One trade idea I have thought about is Clint Frazier, Greg Bird, Sonny Gray and Domingo German for Kluber. This allows the Yankees to get a true number 1 starter and the Indians to cut costs. His contract is extremely flexible, as they have a team option on him for 2020 and 2021. So they chose if he comes back. He becomes a free agent at 35, so the Yankees will have him for the rest of his prime.
