MLB rumors: Why Yankees could sign Patrick Corbin AND J.A. Happ

by Felix Pantaleón

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is shopping for starting pitching. Two of the best pitchers available are Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin and left-hander J.A. Happ, who the Yankees acquired before the non-waiver trade deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is wasting no time overhauling the starting rotation for 2019.

On Monday, he traded for Seattle Mariners left-hander James Paxton.

But several quality arms remain available on the free agent market, including Patrick Corbin, J.A. Happ, Dallas Keuchel and Nathan Eovaldi.

MLB Network Radio’s Steve Phillips thinks Cashman could sign at least two more pitchers:

“Paxton is somewhat unpredictable with his health. In fact he is predictable, in that he’s never made more than 28 starts in a season. So you have to think he’s gonna have some time that he needs to be backed off. And Sabathia, too. He’s probably in that 25-to-28-start range as well. We saw Severino run out of gas late, right? Some questions about whether he in August was dinged up a bit. Tanaka, another year of wear and tear on that elbow. I could see them getting Happ AND Corbin. That they could get both of those guys and try to make that fit and make it work. And they could manage it like the Dodgers have done, using that 10-day DL to their advantage.”

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The 29-year-old Corbin went 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA in 2018 and finished fifth in voting for the National League Cy Young Award.

The Yankees acquired Happ from the Blue Jays before the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline.

The 36-year-old Happ made 11 regular season starts for the Yankees in 2018, going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA.

Here is the audio of Phillips’ interview:

Only one pitcher made 30 starts for the #Yankees last season, that’s why @StevePhillipsGM thinks they could still add two more starters: pic.twitter.com/mdktBlxiXT

— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) November 21, 2018