Blue Jay’s right hander Marco Estrada has been placed on revocable waivers and the New York Yankees may have an interest in his services.

It’s very well established that the New York Yankees are in some need of help in the form of a starting pitcher.

Sure, the recently-acquired Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia were brought in for just that, but things don’t always remain the same over the course of a baseball season.



Masahiro Tanaka hit the disabled list with shoulder inflammation, CC Sabathia will also miss time with knee issued and Luis Cessa is the latest to hit the shelf thanks to a back issue. The rotation has Jordan Montgomery and either Bryan Micthell or Caleb Smith to turn to as the pennant race heats up.

With that considered, Blue Jays’ right-handed starter Marco Estrada has been claimed on revocable waivers and that team is “implied heavily” to be the Yankees, according to Gideon Turk of BP Toronto.

Estrada turned 34 on July 5 and is 5-7 this season with a 4.85 ERA in 24 starts. Over his last three starts against the Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros and Yankees, he has surrendered four earned runs in 21 innings (1.71) while holding opposing hitters to a slash line of .184/.241/.316.

If the mystery team is, in fact, the Yankees, Toronto can simply pull Estrada back and keep him, negotiate a trade with the Yankees or simply let him go. The latter is clearly the far-fetched option, as is any trade involving Estrada, who’s a free agent at season’s end to New York.

General manager Brian Cashman could always just be claiming the 2016 All-Star to block him from going to another team — perhaps a contender.

In waiver claims, the teams who get first priority in order are chosen from the worst-to-best record on the day of the claim — similar to that of the MLB Draft order. The claiming team can simply “negotiate” a deal with no intention of making a deal just to avoid having to face that arm during the stretch run or even October.



Estrada sure will help the Yankees round out the bottom of the rotation amidst a bite from the injury bug, but it looks like they’ll wait for the returns of their pitchers and key components to the lineup before making another move.

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