Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Jordan Montgomery To Miss 6-8 Weeks

Just now Aaron Boone, while on the Mike Francesa show "Mike's On", confirmed that Jordan Montgomery could be out up to two months due to a flexor strain. Jordan won't even be able to throw a ball for two or three weeks.

Earlier it sounded like Jordan would only miss a start or two, and therefore I had zero worry about just letting Domingo German start in his place. Now, I don't want to say I'm worried, but instead of a couple of starts for German we're now looking at around ten.

I'm sure German will start on Sunday, and no matter how he looks then will get one more later next week. But if he doesn't pitch well in either start there's a good chance the Yankees will look elsewhere.

So what else is there?

First of all, don't expect a trade for a big-time starter, or any starter, to happen soon. A big trade for a starter may go down eventually (assuming Gumby returns strong, and everyone else stays healthy, who would you remove from the rotation for a new guy?), but that would happen closer to the trade deadline.

If Domingo German isn't the answer while Montgomery is recovering, the Yankees will fill that role from within. But as for who that will be I have no idea.

Luis Cessa suffered an oblique strain a couple of weeks ago, and based on early estimates he could be ready to return in a week or two. But oblique injuries are tricky, and Luis may not be ready to start again for a while.

Before the season began if you told me the Yankees would be in this position I'd say that Chance Adams could be the answer. Unfortunately, here we sit on May 2nd, and Chance's ERA after five starts in AAA sits at 5.11. His strikeout rate is better than last season, but his hit and home run rates are significantly worse.

There's an outside chance that either Dillon Tate or Justus Sheffield could be ready to join the big club soon, but I'm not at all keen on that idea. Their development is more important than a handful of starts this season. The fact of the matter is, the Yankees offense should be good enough to overcome some "so-so" starts while Monty is on the disabled list. They shouldn't have to rush a good prospect due to lack of good starting options.

At this point the best thing for the Yankees would be for Domingo to build off of his strong four innings last night, and put the team in a position to win when he starts. It would also help if Sonny Gray can build off of his last start and give the team some quality starts.

All in all, I'm happy that Montgomery isn't looking at Tommy John surgery.