Good News: Yankees Agree Deal to Acquire 5 Star at the Trade Deadline

Few players in baseball have a stronger sense of ownership of the Yankees than Yusei Kikuchi. With a 4.69 ERA and a 4.64 FIP that are below average, Kikuchi is in his sixth season in the major leagues. His ERA against the Yankees is just 3.38. His ERA jumps to 4.82 if you only count his 15 career games against the Bombers. Even though just over a tenth of a run doesn’t seem like much, it adds up when you consider that you have played almost 750 innings throughout your career.

Kikuchi was mediocre in 2023, but he hasn’t been great this season either. The former Seibu Lions ace could be one of the pitchers on the move because his contract expires at the end of this season and the Blue Jays aren’t doing well overall this year.

As previously stated, Kikuchi hasn’t exactly had great success this season. His 10.1 K/9 is higher than his career mean and the second-best record of his career, indicating that he has several swings and misses. His 16 home runs allowed are among the highest in the MLB, so when he makes contact, it can be loud. Both the 10.1 barrel% and the average exit velocity of 90.6 mph rank among the lowest.

Besides that, the hard-hit data hasn’t fluctuated too much over the course of his career. This is generally how he has been with both the Mariners and Blue Jays.

Having said that, I find the swing and miss portion to be really interesting. His 5.9% BB% is now the best percentage of his career, while his 26.4 K% is very close to his best mark. The Yankee pitching staff is obviously lacking in strikeouts, especially in the bullpen compared to the rotation.

The problem with acquiring someone like Kikuchi is that there isn’t really a space in a rotation for him at the moment. Sure, when it comes to pitchers, injuries can occur quickly. Though I really hope not, it’s feasible that there will be a void in the rotation at some point, even with Clarke Schmidt hopefully returning eventually.

Another way to put it is that almost every player in the rotation has had some bad weeks recently. It’s difficult to conclude that Yusei Kikuchi should start above any of the Yankees’ existing starters, even if you have serious feelings for one or more of them. Although Kikuchi doesn’t appear to be one of those pitchers, the Yankees should and would make changes if they had the opportunity to acquire one. It’s true that “you can never have too much pitching,” but it’s difficult to determine if he would be worth acquiring given the five (plus Schmidt’s sixth) pitchers that are ahead of him.

However, there might be something there if you purchase him with the intention of using him as a swingman, long reliever, or depth piece, something Matt Blake might be able to accomplish. Having said that, the Yankees have been able to accomplish that by acquiring pitchers for less money than what it would cost to get an arm from a division opponent.

In light of his raw “stuff,” Yusei Kikuchi might have something there to work with, but the Yankees have far more important spots to target this deadline season. It would be okay if the Yankees wanted to sign him simply to get rid of his strange ownership of them.