Yankees Listed as Potential Candidate for Former Phillies Starting Pitcher

The New York Yankees are off to a solid start this year, but one area of the team is still a big concern. 

To begin the season, the Yankees have been carried by one of the best offenses in baseball. New York has absolutely been mashing, with multiple players looking like top sluggers in the game. 

While the offense has been raking, the pitching staff has been a concern. Due to a plethora of injuries to begin the year, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. 

New York has been using Will Warren, Marcus Stroman, and Carlos Carrasco in the rotation, none of whom were penciled in to be starters to begin the year. 

As expected, the performances of these three have been inconsistent and lackluster for the most part. 

Fortunately, the Yankees will be getting Clarke Schmidt back soon. However, he has had a hard time staying healthy. 

With that being said, based on the current injuries in the rotation and the ineffective performances so far, New York might be wise to look to an external option to, at the very least, provide some depth. 

Recently, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report named the Yankees as a potential candidate for free agent pitcher Spencer Turnbull. 

“By this point, just about every team — either due to a litany of injuries or not doing enough in the offseason — could use a back-of-the-rotation starter who can semi-regularly go five innings without completely imploding," he wrote.

It is a bit surprising that Turnbull wasn’t signed this winter after the campaign that he had with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2024, but that could be because of multiple factors. 

In 2024, the right-hander totaled a 3-0 record and 2.54 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched. The 32-year-old started in seven games and was used in relief in 10 others. 

That type of flexibility could be appealing to New York. If they were to pursue him, they could use him as a starter until some of their pitchers, like Luis Gil, came back from injury, and then move him into the bullpen in a long-relief or swingman role. 

With struggles from most of the rotation this year, the Yankees have to try and be proactive in this area. Besides Max Fried, there isn’t much confidence in the rest of the rotation.

Furthermore, Gil isn’t expected back until the summer, meaning that these pitchers are still going to have to start for quite some time. At the current rate, that could end up being problematic based on performance so far.

Even though he wouldn’t be an impact add, Turnbull is coming off a good year in 2024 and could at worst provide another option, with proven ability out of the bullpen.