The Yankees off-season started prematurely after their 3-0 defeat to the Houston Astros this past Wednesday. The Yankees have a lot of decisions to make this winter, including whether to target an ace to stabilize their pitching staff. If the Yankees want, they can go out and throw a ton of money at one of David Price or Zack Greinke to lure them to the Bronx. However, it appears that the Yankees have gone away from their own philosophy of spending big on big name players. In comes Jeff Samardzija. According to Jon Heyman of CBS, the Yankees plan on pursuing the big, right handed starter who pitched for the Chicago White Sox this past season.
Samardzjia had a very rough season posting a 11-13 record to go along with his bloated 4.96 ERA. He led the leagues in hits allowed, but was durable throwing over 200 innings this season. He has a blazing fastball and is only thirty years old. Sound familiar? It should because last off-season the Yankees acquired RHP Nathan Eovaldi, who, despite his blazing fastball, led the NL in hits allowed in 2014. The Yankees, Larry Rothschild in particular, helped turn Eovaldi into a very reliable SP for the Yankees this season. In pursuing Samardzjia, the Yankees hope they can get similar results and sign him at a discount because of his poor 2015 performance.
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