Patrick Corbin Talks Pitching Potentially for the Yankees

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place and they are led by an ace starting pitcher and his name is not Zack Greinke, his name is Patrick Corbin. If the name Patrick Corbin rings a bell it is because Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman tried all winter to acquire Corbin along with now current Yankee Brandon Drury from the Diamondbacks in a trade. The Yankees were able to snag Drury away from the desert but Arizona ultimately kept Corbin which has turned out to be a great decision for them thus far, but that has not stopped the Yankees from salivating at the idea of having the young lefty in their starting rotation and it hasn’t stopped the soon-to-be free agent from talking about potentially pitching for the New York Yankees either.

In an interview with the USA Today the Diamondbacks ace was asked about his impending future and he did not have enough positive things to say about potentially pitching here in the Bronx in 2019. Corbin was quoted as saying the following in the interview: 

“It would definitely be great to play there,’’ Corbin says. “I grew up a Yankee fan. My whole family are Yankee fans. My mom, my dad, my grandpa, everybody. Really, every generation of my family has been Yankee fans. Living up in Syracuse, everybody’s a Yankee fan. Not too many Mets fans up there.’’

“I know the Yankees have had some interest in the past, and there were a lot of rumors this winter that got my family excited,’’ Corbin says. “It would have been cool. You just want to go where you’re wanted, and every team will have an opportunity. I would love to be on a contending team for sure, but we’ll see what happens. Right now, I’m just focusing on this season.’’ 

With the Yankees under the luxury tax threshold in 2018 and all their spending penalties reset beginning in 2019, assuming the team can stay under the cap for the entirety of the 2018 season which seems like a foregone conclusion at this point, New York is set up to make a major splash in next winter’s free agent market, a market that Corbin will be entering after his age-29 season. At the time of this writing Corbin has posted a 4-0 record with an anemic 1.89 ERA, and that is before you mention his MLB leading 46 strikeouts and 0.66 WHIP.

Could Corbin be donning pinstripes next winter? If he has his way it certainly seems so, and it seems like Brian Cashman would like to see that as well, so stay tuned. A lot can happen between then and now, but as we stand here today you can pencil in Corbin as the Yankees left-handed replacement for CC Sabathia after this season.