The Tuesday Discussion: Starting Pitching

December 3, 2024

***

This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:

Is there a free agent starting pitcher the Yankees should acquire?  If so, who?

Here are their replies...

***

Ed Botti - Starting pitching wise?  No. Either injury prone or seeking too many years and too much money.  I'd go the old school method, do my homework and look for a trade partner.

***

Andrew Hefner - Of course, Corbin Burnes would seem to be the go-to answer to this question, but with the ongoing pursuit of Soto that appears to be getting more costly by the day, the reality may be that the Yankees may not have the capital in the end to sign Burnes. I first really started paying attention to Yankees baseball in 2015-2016 and one of the main pitchers who I fell in love with was Nathan Eovaldi. He would later become a Ray, then a Red Sox, and most recently a Ranger, but his time in pinstripes, to me, was memorable. Although the Yankees don't seem to have Eovaldi at the top of their list, I have faith that a deal could be made. He will be more cost-effective in many ways and add a bit more depth to an already pretty good Yankees rotation.

***

James Vlietstra - Trevor Bauer

***

Cary Greene - My answer comes at 2:00 p.m.

***

Paul Semendinger - When an ace is out there, you get the ace. Corbin Burnes. No fooling around. Get the best available starting pitcher. Period.

***

Ethan Semendinger - Roki Sasaki. The Yankees have not been a factor in the Japanese market since when they signed Masahiro Tanaka, which was back in January of 2014. (That's coming up on 10 years ago!) Since then they've missed out on guys like Kenta Maeda, Shohei Ohtani, Yusei Kikuchi, Seiya Suzuki, Masataka Yoshida, Kodai Senga, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I'm not saying all those guys are superstars, but the fact that the Yankees haven't been able to sign any of these players is a concern. It's showing that the Yankees brand alone isn't as large of a sell as it used to be.

In addition, Roki Sasaki will be cheap and controllable, which opens up plenty of room for the Yankees to sign and/or trade for other great (and expensive) players.

***

Andy Singer - From the top end of the market, I actually prefer Max Fried to Corbin Burnes.  Burnes remains excellent, but a lot of his peripherals have continually backed up over the last 3 seasons, so I worry that at some point in the near future, Burnes could become solid as opposed to excellent.  Fried's stuff and peripherals have remained static for the last 4 seasons, and he is an excellent left-handed starter.  Fried isn't necessarily an innings-eater like pitchers of a bygone era, but he's generally healthy and good for 168-175 innings.  The best part about Fried is that he brings the kitchen sink with him to the mound, so he is capable of finding things that work when hitters are on his curveball.

From the semi-bargain bin, I really like the idea of grabbing Shane Bieber on a 2-year deal knowing that he likely won't be available to pitch until the 2nd half or later in 2025.  Matt Blake knows Bieber well from their time together in Cleveland, so New York might well be a great fit.  Bieber was one of MLB's best prior to tearing his UCL, and that's a guy that's worth having in the fold, even in a somewhat diminished state.  He'll certainly be cheaper than the top of the market, but has the potential to impact a playoff rotation in 2025.

***

Mike Whiteman - He almost flies under the the radar, but I’d love see the Yankees sign Max Fried. I can always find room in my rotation for a lefty with a .670 lifetime winning percentage and 140 ERA+.