Shortly after rookie pitcher Chad Green won his first major league game on Sunday, Yankees manager Joe Girardi made a surprising adjustment to his pitching staff, relieving the erratic Nathan Eovaldi of his rotation duties with a demotion to the bullpen.
While the decision doesn’t appear to be permanent, tinkering around with the starting five could be a future occurrence, that is of course if the Yankees are seemingly out of the playoff picture by late July.
But if the tides do change in July, and New York elects to put on its favored buying shoes, general manager Brian Cashman would like to target a starting pitcher, one being Tampa Bay Rays lefty Matt Moore, according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe:
His outstanding performance against the Red Sox Wednesday was witnessed by a lot of scouts. He’s become a name on the top of the list of many teams if the Rays decide to part with him. The Red Sox, Rangers, Dodgers, Yankees, Orioles, Astros, and Royals are all interested in Moore. The Rays may consider this as they get closer to seeing Alex Cobb come back from Tommy John surgery.
While Cobb is the latest arm to undergo the dreaded Tommy John surgery in St. Petersburg, Moore has already worked his way back from it. The 27-year-old underwent the procedure in the spring of 2014, but has missed roughly two years of action, tossing only 43 innings between 2014 and 2015.
As a 24-year-old All-Star in 2013, Moore was one of the best pitchers in baseball, finishing with a 17-4 record and 3.29 ERA. But his latest numbers haven’t come close to the past, as his 4.67 ERA and 4-5 record in 16 starts this season suggests that Moore isn’t entirely in the swing of things.
Despite ineffectiveness, part of the Yankees’ appeal to Moore is his contract. According to Baseball Reference, 2017-19 consist of team options ($7M, $9M, $10M), and if injuries or inconsistencies return, the team would have cheap and affordable buyouts ($2.5M, $1M, $750K), making Moore a low-risk and high reward arm in a scarce market of pitchers.
