Stay or Go: Should Yankees bring Domingo German back for 2024?
The Yankees have a number of players who are arbitration-eligible and Domingo German is one of them.
When spring training started, German was looking to fight for the fifth spot in the Yankees rotation behind Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes and Frankie Montas. Of course, Rodon and Montas would not start the year with the team and Cortes’ season would end not long into the 2023 campaign.
The Yankees leaned on German in the early going and he was solid, finding his groove after a rough April. He even tossed a perfect game in June, the 24th in the history of MLB.
But German's off-the-field issues cropped its ugly head again and his season was cut short. Six seasons with the Yankees and there’s been plenty of good and bad, but should the Yankees look to bring German back under arbitration in 2024 or cut him loose?
Why it could make sense to let German Go
The Yanks wound up having a good problem to have when it comes to its starting rotation in that they have a lot of capable arms. While they may not all be the best option, the team has at least four arms for next season including Cole, Rodon, Cortes and even Clarke Schmidt who turned into a solid back-end starter.
New York is also converting Michael King into a promising starter, so if they get him up to speed they’ll have five starters already.
And for German, his tenure in pinstripes has been up and down. He pitched to a 5.57 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP in 2018 when he finally began to make starts -- he appeared in 21 games and started in 14.
His career year then occurred in 2019 when he went 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He missed 2020 for those aforementioned off-the-field issues, which we'll get to. German looked to bounce back after a sub-par 2021 and 2022 where he made a combined 32 starts and had ERAs of 4.58 and 3.61, respectively.
German is projected to have a salary of $4.4 million after arbitration, not too bad, but with a plethora of potential starters on the roster already it may not be worth bringing him back especially after...
German was placed on the restricted list in 2019 after being suspended for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy. The Yankees gave him a second chance, and after staying out of trouble, the 31-year-old would have a clubhouse incident that resulted in the right-hander entering inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse.
While we hope German gets the help he deserves, this is the second time he could not be counted on by his teammates.
Why it could make sense to keep German
While by the end of the season the Yankees had a bevy of starters, that wasn't the case in the beginning.
German was that veteran presence that manager Aaron Boone could plug in. When Rodon and Montas were out and Schmidt struggled to find his way, German was that consistent arm that helped the team through the first couple of months.
The 31-year-old got off to a solid start to the 2023 season, going 3-3 with a 3.98 ERA in the first two months of the year.
While he did struggle a bit after May, his perfect game showed German's potential. Unfortunately, he could not finish strong, ending his season with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP after being placed on the restricted list.
So for 2024, if German is healthy enough to return to the team, could be a depth option in the rotation and potentially in the bullpen. Schmidt, Rodon and Cortes are question marks entering next year and King may still need some time to get acclimated to being a starter.
Verdict
Unfortunately, the off-the-field issues with German should give the Yankees enough to non-tender him.
There have been plenty of ups, some up-and-coming arms should be developed in the rotation while the money that would go to German could be used to add offense and plug some holes in the bullpen.
