Regardless of what happens in Thursday’s Game 4 of the ALDS, the Yankees will need to bolster their rotation going into next season.
Trevor Bauer is no doubt aware of that as he approaches free agency and he made his first pitch to the Yankees after their 8-4 loss to the Rays in Game 3 at Petco Park in San Diego.
“Kinda looks like the @yankees could use some more starting pitching. Interesting,’’ Bauer wrote on Twitter.
It came after Masahiro Tanaka had his second straight poor start in the postseason, allowing five runs in four-plus innings- and a day after the Yankees botched Game 2 by using Deivi Garcia for an inning before bringing in J.A. Happ in the second.
Bauer will be among a free agent class that figures to also include Happ and James Paxton, as well as Tanaka.
The Yankees’ rotation heading into 2021 has plenty of question marks behind Gerrit Cole, with Luis Severino coming off Tommy John surgery, Game 4 starter Jordan Montgomery and inexperienced right-handers like Garcia, Clarke Schmidt and possibly Jonathan Loaisiga and Mike King.
Bauer is coming off an excellent bounceback season. After struggling with the Reds following a midseason trade from Cleveland in 2019, the 29-year-old went 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA in 11 starts in the abbreviated regular season and is in the conversation for the NL Cy Young Award.
