Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees may hold an interest in free agent starters Gio Gonzalez and Ervin Santana.
If one more move could finish off the New York Yankees offseason personnel job, it’d be the addition of another starting pitcher.
Reports have swirled for a couple weeks with no names attached. On Friday, two such names have surfaced.
According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, both Gio Gonzalez and Ervin Santana represent those starting pitchers.
Yankees look very solid on paper but are considering adding a starter for depth. Gio, Ervin, maybe Miley among possibilities.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 31, 2019
“Yankees look very solid on paper but are considering adding a starter for depth. Gio, Ervin, maybe Miley among possibilities.”
In addition to Gonzalez and Santana, veteran Wade Miley is also a possibility, according to the longtime baseball insider.
Gonzalez, 33, is one of two lefties of the trio. After four years in Oakland and another six and change in D.C., Gonzalez was shipped to the Milwaukee Brewers during the 2018 campaign.
He finished the season with a 10-11 record while pitching to a 4.21 ERA. He also struck out 148 batters over 171.1 total innings pitched between the two clubs.
Santana, 36, comes to the free-agent party as a two-time AL All-Star, the latest of which came in 2017. A year ago, he started only five games during an injury-plagued season (finger related).
Miley, 32, is another southpaw veteran looking for a club. Like Gonzalez, he pitched with the Brew Crew in 2018. In 16 starts, Miley finished 5-2 with a 2.57 ERA to go along with 50 strikeouts in 80.2 innings.
With a rotation of Luis Severino (R), James Paxton (L), Masahiro Tanaka (R), J.A. Happ (L), and CC Sabathia (L), New York’s rotation already leans to the left side of the rubber (helping the Yankee Stadium cause). It’s apparent that throw side of the rubber matters very little as it pertains to this extra free-agent rotation snag.
Which one will it ultimately be? Whether it’s Gio Gonzalez, Ervin Santana, Wade Miley, or somebody else, that one extra vet may represent the difference in depth the New York Yankees rotation needs in 2019.
