The New York Yankees have been hit hard by injuries this year, especially with the starting rotation. Gerrit Cole is out for the year and Luis Gil is also currently on the shelf.
Fortunately, Clarke Schmidt is close to making his return, but that doesn’t mean New York doesn’t have a glaring need for more rotation help.
Ideally, the Yankees could trade for a frontline starter, but this early in the game, that is unlikely.
Instead, New York may have to aim a little lower. Jake Elman of Athlon Sports proposed the idea of the Yankees trading for Colorado Rockies starter German Marquez.
“Unfortunately for Yankees fans, it’s not about getting their hopes up so much as about accepting reality. Simply put, Márquez checks every box that the front office likely desires. Márquez is a league-average pitcher in the final year of his contract, meaning he could realistically come at a reduced price,” Elman writes.
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Marquez has struggled through his first three starts, going 0-2 with a 4.60 ERA, though that could be a product of pitching at Coors Field, where the ball tends to fly due to the altitude.
While Yankee Stadium is a hitter-friendly ballpark, it might help Marquez to pitch at a different ballpark, as well as for a contending team rather than one scraping the bottom of the barrel.
He could eat innings for the Bronx Bombers and help them get through the rest of the season.
His best season came in 2018 when he went 14-11 with a 3.77 ERA with the Rockies. He earned his first All-Star nod back in 2021.
It will be interesting to see what the Yankees decide to do.
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