Breathlessly aiming to fan the flames of the off-season Major League Baseball Hot Stove, and stoke the passions of the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry, our friends at SB Nation’s Baseball Nation proclaimed ‘Red Sox, Yankees In On Hiroki Kuroda’ in a headline earlier today.
That based on a tweet from baseball writer Jerry Crasnick.
To which I say, big deal. And why is that newsworthy? The Red Sox and Yankees have been ‘expressing interest’ in the right-hander, who will turn 37 in February, since before the 2011 MLB Trade Deadline.
The Yankees, for their part, have scoured the market and expressed some form of interest in just about every quality veteran pitcher available either via free agency or trade.
Does Kuroda to the Yankees really make sense. He has an ERA of 3.45 in five big-league seasons. Pitching in the NL West, though, is not pitching in the AL East. Is he really any better than Freddy Garcia? Or even A.J. Burnett?
As they are currently constructed, Kuroda doesn’t really seem like an upgrade. Had they not signed Garcia, or if they are somehow able to dump Burnett on someone, then possibly Kuroda could fill a spot at the back end of the rotation. Otherwise, there simply isn’t a spot.
There seem to be any number of potential landing spots for Kuroda. I can’t see the Yankees making a huge bid here.