Blue Jays, Orioles have shown interest in Domingo German

The Orioles and Blue Jays are among six teams that have shown interest in free-agent starter Domingo Germán, reports Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. Sanchez adds that the Mets have also checked in but casts doubt on the chance of the right-hander heading to Queens.

Germán has spent his entire MLB career with the Yankees, who acquired him as a prospect in a 2014 trade with the Marlins. At times, he looked like a key mid-rotation arm in the Bronx, yet his tenure was marred by off-field issues. After working as a depth arm between 2017-18, he tallied a career-high 143 innings over 27 appearances (24 starts) in 2019. Germán was having a productive season, working to a 4.03 ERA with a near-26% strikeout rate.

That September, MLB placed Germán on administrative leave after he reportedly assaulted his girlfriend at a charity event. MLB finished its investigation that offseason and suspended him for the first 81 games of the 2020 season. That year wound up being shortened by the pandemic, so MLB reinstated him after he missed the entire 60-game schedule.

Germán returned to the Yankees in 2021. He missed parts of the next two seasons battling shoulder issues, combining for a 4.17 ERA over 170 2/3 innings. He held a spot in the New York rotation for the early portion of last year. Germán’s start to the year was middling and he was suspended for 10 games in mid-May after failing a foreign substance inspection.

He carried a 5.10 ERA through his first 14 appearances into a late-June start in Oakland. Germán turned in a legendary performance at the Coliseum that night, throwing MLB’s 24th perfect game, the first since Félix Hernández’s outing in 2012. Germán followed that up with a 4.61 ERA over five starts in July.

On August 2, the Yankees announced they were placing Germán on the restricted list so he could report to an inpatient treatment facility for alcohol abuse. Lindsey Adler of the Wall Street Journal subsequently reported that an apparently intoxicated Germán had argued with teammates and coaches in the New York clubhouse and flipped a couch amidst those confrontations.

That ended Germán’s tenure with the Yankees. He spent the rest of the season on the restricted list. At year’s end, New York placed him on outright waivers. Once he went unclaimed, he elected free agency.

Sanchez writes that Germán has completed the requirements of his inpatient treatment and is seeking a return to the majors in 2024. According to Sanchez, his camp has received two formal contract offers (although it isn’t clear if those proposals have come from Baltimore and Toronto specifically). If he lands a major league deal, it’d surely be a cheap one-year pact.

Of the two AL East teams known to have shown interest, Baltimore has the greater need for rotation help. Aside from depth righty Jonathan Heasley, the O’s have yet to add a starting pitcher this offseason. They’re slated to begin the year with Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, John Means and likely Dean Kremer in the top four spots. Cole Irvin and Tyler Wells (each of whom worked out of the bullpen at points last year) would be the best options for the No. 5 job at present. The starting staff is the weakest point on an otherwise loaded roster coming off a 101-win season.

It’s unlikely Baltimore will come away from the offseason completely empty-handed. Yet they’ve thus far resisted dealing from the top of their vaunted farm system to add starting pitching via trade. While they seemed a candidate to at least play in the middle tiers of the free agent rotation market, the organization again hasn’t shown that kind of appetite for spending.

The O’s signed Craig Kimbrel to a $13M guarantee to take the ninth inning after losing Félix Bautista to Tommy John surgery. They’ve otherwise sat out MLB free agency this winter. Roster Resource projects their 2024 spending around $81M. That’s well above last year’s approximate $61M Opening Day figure but puts them in the league’s bottom five in terms of estimated payroll.

Toronto took some early swings at the top of the free agent market. They’ve pivoted to the middle tiers in recent weeks, including a rotation acquisition. The Jays agreed to terms with Cuban right-hander Yariel Rodríguez on a four-year, $32M deal last week. He’ll likely compete for the final spot with Alek Manoah, who is trying to bounce back from a dismal 2023 season. With Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi occupying the top four positions, it’s unlikely they’d give Germán a look in the season-opening rotation. If Rodríguez doesn’t take them out of the market for Germán entirely, they’d probably view him as a long relief option.