The New York Yankees & Their 2016 Starting Pitching

Earlier today we discussed my presumption that the window may be closing with “this” team to win it all and/or go deep into the postseason. A ton of free agents are hitting the free agency market before the winter of 2018 and potentially 4/5 of the Yankees starting rotation may be joining them. I went as far this morning to say it’s put up or shut up time for these pitchers and the organization and I meant it so I decided to take the time, because that post felt a bit incomplete to be honest after reading it live, to go over what these Yankees starters will and can potentially bring to the club during the 2016 season. This is all opinion based obviously as I have limited to zero access to the team and players so remember that while reading, oh and enjoy.

There are technically seven candidates fighting it out for presumably five spots with Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Bryan Mitchell all fighting it out this spring. Tanaka, if healthy and he should be, seems like an obvious nod for Opening Day honors while Sabathia, due to his contract, Eovaldi and Pineda seem like virtual locks for the rotation. Severino looks to possibly be the best of the bunch but innings pitched concerns may send him back to Scranton while one or both of Nova and Mitchell may have to settle for a bullpen slot to start the season.

Out of the three pitchers vying for a spot none of them had much success in 2016 aside from Severino in a small sample size. Severino had a 2.89 ERA in just 62.1 innings while Sabathia, Nova and Mitchell struggled for various reasons including a degenerative knee condition, a recent Tommy John surgery and because one took a line drive to the face and never seemed to be the same afterwards. Sabathia had a 4.73 ERA last season while Nova finished with an ugly 5.07 ERA leaving much to be desired for New York. While the ERA’s and peripheral stats aren’t pretty neither is the injury and injury question mark list we could all put together. The tommy John surgeries, former, and the Tommy John surgery potential, future, and the degenerative knee condition, the cortisone shots, the forearm inflammation’s, the shoulder issues and the innings cap.

Things could go really wrong or they could go really well for New York this season. That is why we play the games, nobody knows for sure. Especially me. There are a lot of “ifs” and a lot of scenarios that could either doom the Yankees or rise them up back into power in the American League. Stay tuned as we take this ride together called the 2016 MLB season.