One Pitcher the Yankees Should Monitor

In my previous article, I mentioned how the offense has struggled and that they were the reason why the Yankees have gotten off to such a slow start. That narrative has slowly changed. The offense as a team, has now cracked into the top-15 in terms of wRC+ (100), and the pitching has slowly regressed. From Opening Day to May 31st, the Yankees pitching staff had a 3.56 FIP, 3.63 SIERA, and a 31.7% hard contact rate. In the month of June alone, the pitching staff had a 4.86 FIP, 4.53 SIERA, and a 33.2% hard contact rate. Yes, the latter is during a shorter sample size, but you can't dispute the facts that the pitching has regressed with Corey Kluber going down, Domingo German declining, Jameson Taillon falling off a cliff, and Michael King not being anything more than a number 5 starter. Gerrit Cole is Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery is looking like a nice, middle-of-the-rotation starter, he has a 3.55 FIP which ranks 31st in the MLB among starting pitchers. Montgomery also has a 2.89 FIP in 10 starts since May 5th, which is 8th in the MLB. So it's not all that bad, but they definitely need some help. 

 We addressed that the Yankees need help, now let us look at in my opinion, the most intriguing potential trade fit. The Philadelphia Phillies are only 4.5 games behind the first place New York Mets, but they have definitely underachieved. Their bullpen has a lot to blame for that with 21 blown saves. The Phillies have over $92 million tied to Bryce Harper, J.T Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Didi Gregorius. I named those four players because they are either untouchable or untradeable due to the fact that they are making a boatload of money, (Didi would make $15 million next year, I doubt they are able to trade him without eating some money). Under Dave Dombrowski and with several all-star caliber players, you are expected to compete. The Phillies have a short amount of time to prove to Dombrowski that they are a playoff team. The Phillies may very well become sellers and get money off the books just so they can build around their core to compete next year. As crazy as this sounds, I wouldn't be shocked to hear Aaron Nola's name thrown around in trade talks this month. He's going to be making $15 million a year with a $16 million club option the following year. That of course is just a rumour, I wouldn't necessarily put the house on it. One pitcher who I think might become available to free up some space and net a pretty decent return is Zach Eflin. He will enter his final year of salary arbitration in his age 28 season. In my opinion, I believe the Yankees will look to add a starter whose contract will expire at the end of the year, but Eflin's situation is just interesting to look at. 

Eflin is having a pretty solid year to say the least. Coming into today, he has a 3.54 FIP, a 8.7 K/9, and a 28.6 CSW%. Those numbers itself would be a nice addition to the rotation. In fact, right before Eflin's worst start of the year on June 15th, he had a 3.11 FIP, 3.58 SIERA, and those numbers ranked him 15th and 19th in the MLB among starters respectively. He rebounded after his worst start of the year by pitching 6 innings and only allowing 1 run. It is difficult to judge how much trade value Eflin has, especially if the Phillies are still hovering around that .500 mark by the trade deadline and if he continues to pitch well. I would expect the return package to be similar to the Jameson Taillon deal that netted the Pirates, Miguel Yajure, Roansy Contreras, Maikol Escotto, and Canaan Smith. Would Cashman and the Yankees be anxious to pull the trigger on another trade that includes a mediocre starter for three, maybe even four prospects? If Eflin can fill in and be the Yankees number 2 or number 3 starter it definitely is worth it for how bad the Yankees starters have been this month. The offense has shown signs of life and now the pitching needs to back it up. Although a trade for Eflin would hurt the depth of the Yankees farm system, I doubt it would take two top 10 prospects in your farm system to get a deal like this done. It also wouldn't handicap the Yankees prospect-wise to make an additional trade for an offensive star, such as Joey Gallo.