The Yankees have had their fair share of bad luck so far this season but we thankfully didn't see any of that this weekend. We got a series sweep and on Sunday we almost had a no-hitter. Domingo German has two strong starts to open the season, and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He's earned his spot and been effective, so his job should be safe....right?
This is the tough part. German earned a starting role on this team but not just because he earned it, injuries are another reason why he is here. The same could be said for Jonathan Loaisiga. The story would probably be different if CC Sabathia and Luis Severino didn't start the season on the injured list. Things are about to get interesting with CC Sabathia getting closer to a return.
On Sunday, CC Sabathia got through his final rehab game in Tampa just fine and is set to return to the Yankees rotation at some point at the end of this week. Domingo German on Sunday did all he could to make sure it’s not his spot Sabathia takes, but was it enough?
In the past, German has pitched himself into trouble by relying on his fastball and curveball. He has a third pitch but has never felt confident in his change up. That pitch was a priority in spring training and now we see that he finally has that confidence and can be successful using it.
Severino won't be back until May at the earliest, but with Sabathia coming back soon the Yankees will have to make their first cut to the rotation soon to make room for him. Even with a decision coming soon Aaron Boone would not give any hints on who would be bumped from the rotation and said that no matter what happened going forward German would still play a big role on the team no matter what.
Even as guys get healthy, how should the Yankees handle this decision if J.A. Happ continues to struggle? He was very important last season when he came in and stabilized the rotation but is this the beginning of the inevitable decline? If Happ continues to struggle even after Sabathia returns maybe the Yankees should consider keeping German as the starter instead. There's a lot to think about here.
The Yankees will have some tough decisions to make pretty soon. It will be nice to see the Yankees start to get some key guys back like Sabathia, but it would be hard to see them cut German from a starting role with all of his improvements and recent success.
Let's hope German keeps this up and he makes it very hard for the Yankees to remove him from the rotation. You can't say "no" to the kid that almost gave us a NO-NO, right?
--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @Nyprincessj
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