Although he did not appear in the game, Nathan Eovaldi was in the bullpen yesterday afternoon and available in relief in needed. It was Eovaldi’s normal throw day between starts and the bullpen was short-handed after being worked hard over the weekend, so to the bullpen he went. Teams do stuff like this all the time.
Prior to yesterday’s game Joe Girardi said the Yankees plan to keep Eovaldi in the bullpen through Sunday, the end of the first half. Chad Green, who pitched so well Sunday, is going to make Eovaldi’s next start Friday. That’s pretty cool. The Yankees will reevaluate their rotation situation during the All-Star break next week.
“I envision Nathan as a starter. This is not something we are saying is long-term,” said Girardi to George King yesterday. “We kind of have a need right now … Right now the plans are for him to help us in the bullpen. I know he wants to start and he will start again. If I had (Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances today), he probably would have started (Friday).”
In the short-term, moving Eovaldi to the bullpen makes total sense. Not only is there a need right now, but he’s also been historically awful recently, allowing 31 runs and 57 baserunners — including 12 (!) home runs — in his last seven starts and 30.1 innings. You can’t keep running that guy out there. You just can’t. Eovaldi had a 3.71 ERA (3.58 FIP) through his ten first starts and now has a 5.54 ERA (5.14 FIP) through 16 starts.
What about the long-term? Well that’s a little more up in the air. Girardi said he still views Eovaldi as starter and I do too. At some point the performance needs to improve though. He’s been so bad of late that I kinda sorta expected him to land on the DL following his start Friday. This seems like something that goes beyond a mechanical flaw or general suckiness. An injury would have not surprised me at all. So, where do the Yankees and Eovaldi from here?
It’s not Eovaldi or Green. It’s Eovaldi or Nova.
Green is going to make Eovaldi’s start Friday, but this shouldn’t be an “Eovaldi or Green” situation. This should be an “Eovaldi or Ivan Nova” situation. Nova, despite his fine start Saturday, has been pretty bad of late too, pitching to a 5.06 ERA (4.81 FIP) in 74.2 innings. That’s after he put up a 5.07 ERA (4.87 FIP) in 94 innings last year. His performance has not improved as he’s gotten further away from Tommy John surgery.
Remember, Nova is a goner after the season. He’s going to be a free agent this winter, and while we can’t completely rule out the Yankees re-signing him, I think it would be surprise. Eovaldi has another year of team control remaining before free agency. The guy who is going to be around longer should be the priority here. Eovaldi has a chance to help the Yankees win next season. Nova doesn’t. Whenever Eovaldi is ready to rejoin the rotation, be it after the break or later in the season, Nova should not stand in his way.
What if Eovaldi dominates in relief?
Good question, me. Most pitchers see their stuff tick up in the bullpen because they’re able to cut it loose for an inning. Pitchers have to pace themselves as a starter and hold a little something back for the second and third time through the lineup. Eovaldi is averaging a career high 98.0 mph with his fastball this season. Averaging. What’s he going to throw as a reliever? 106? Golly.
Should Eovaldi dominate in the bullpen, it would create something of a Catch-22. There would be the temptation to put him back in the rotation because he’s pitching well and would be more valuable there. At the same time, when a guy dominates in the bullpen, it’s really easy to just keep him there and stick with what works. What’s the right move? We can’t answer that without seeing Eovaldi in action in relief first.
In the short-term, reliever Eovaldi could shore up the middle innings hole that has hampered the Yankees all season. In the long-term, reliever Eovaldi could step into the end-game mix with Miller a trade candidate and Aroldis Chapman coming up on free agency (if he isn’t traded first). There is always room for another good reliever. Always always always.
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Like I said, I still see Eovaldi as a starting pitcher, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested to see what he does in relief. He could very well end up throwing the fastest pitch in baseball history. That’s not hyperbole. This guy threw a pitch 102.5 mph last season while working as a starter. Eovaldi could be another Betances as a reliever.
For now let’s just worry about getting through the rest of the week. The Yankees have six games to go before the All-Star break, then everyone can catch their breath and figure out where things stand. Girardi made it sound like the team wants to get Eovaldi back into the rotation at some point, and these things usually have a way of working themselves out. Hopefully we see him in relief a few times before that just to see what he can do.
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