Maybe the Yankees should have traded for Jack Flaherty. These starters are struggling

NEW YORK — Nearly 3,000 miles away, Jack Flaherty will make his second start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. After reviewing his medical records, the New York Yankees backed out of a preliminary trade agreement for Flaherty with the Detroit Tigers.

When asked after the trade deadline, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did not specifically comment on Flaherty’s medicals, stating only that he could not match the ask of what the Tigers wanted.

“At the end of the day, I would’ve brought Jack Flaherty in if I could’ve matched up,” Cashman said. “I had difficulty matching up, and that was the reason I don’t have him.”

An argument could be made that trading for Flaherty, who has the seventh-best ERA in MLB, would have been worth the risk for the Yankees. It’s impossible to make direct comparisons between what the Dodgers traded and what the Yankees might have offered after they backed off their agreement, but let’s do so for analysis purposes.

The Dodgers traded catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo, an offensive-minded prospect in A ball, and Trey Sweeney, a former Yankees infield prospect. Roderick Arias and Jorbit Vivas seem like the safest equivalents. Arias has struggled this season with the Low-A Tampa Tarpons, carrying a 32.4 percent strikeout rate, but he could develop into a strong major leaguer in a few years if he reaches his potential. Vivas might be on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster in 2025 as the starting second baseman.

The American League is wide open this year. Getting a top-of-the-rotation starter in Flaherty could have cemented the Yankees as the overwhelming favorite heading into October. Instead, the Yankees’ starting rotation is filled with question marks. Since June 1, only the Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies have a worse starting pitching ERA. After Nestor Cortes’ Thursday night dud in which he gave up six runs to the Los Angeles Angels, the Yankees’ starters have combined for a 5.48 ERA since June 1.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone says he’s unconcerned with how poorly his rotation has pitched in the last two months.

“Our guys are more than capable,” Boone said. “More help is on the way with guys coming back from injury. We have everything we need.”

Even with the Yankees removing themselves from the Flaherty sweepstakes, not adding another starter feels like a miss. Cortes has allowed 24 runs over his last five starts, the most for any pitcher since July 11. Marcus Stroman’s 6.32 is the fourth-worst ERA since June 1. Carlos Rodón’s 5.83 ERA is the 11th worst since the start of June. That doesn’t even get into Luis Gil’s career-high workload coming off Tommy John surgery and Gerrit Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, not looking sharp just yet.

But outside of Flaherty, there weren’t many appealing starting pitchers traded. The Houston Astros overpaid for Yusei Kikuchi, the second-best starter who got moved. James Paxton, Frankie Montas, Martín Pérez, Michael Lorenzen, Erick Fedde and Zach Eflin were other notable starters traded, but each profiles as a depth option rather than an impactful acquisition.

Once the Yankees didn’t get Flaherty, it made sense for them to not pursue any of the second-tier options because Clarke Schmidt, who was pitching like one of MLB’s best starters before his lat injury, could be back in the rotation by the end of the month. Schmidt threw his first live batting practice Tuesday and is expected to throw another Saturday. If that goes well, the Yankees could send him on a rehab assignment beginning next week. If everyone stays healthy from now until Schmidt’s return, the Yankees may have to make a decision on whom he should replace in the rotation. Cortes and Stroman are the two likeliest candidates to get bounced.

“I don’t feel like Nestor is that far off,” Boone said. “It just comes down to finishing off execution. Stro, we have to get rolling a little bit.

“We have the guys to go out there. It’s just getting a few guys going and getting to that next level of execution.”

Stroman had his start date pushed back from Thursday to Sunday as he works on his mechanics, which he felt were out of sync in his last outing. Stroman said Thursday afternoon that he believes he’s “figured some things out,” but he wouldn’t specify what he may have tweaked. Stroman has a career-worst walk percentage, strikeout percentage and ground-ball percentage. Since Stuff+ and Location+ debuted in 2021, Stroman is running career lows in both categories, too.

With how they’ve performed lately, it’s possible both Stroman and Cortes could find themselves out of the Yankees’ playoff rotation. Their best four starters right now are Cole, Rodón, Gil and Schmidt, if he bounces back fine from his lat injury. The Yankees could use Cortes out of the bullpen as another left-hander because the only other lefty option is ground-ball specialist Tim Hill. But thinking about the playoff starting rotation configuration seems like a moot point if Cole can’t return to being a legitimate ace.

“Anytime we give the ball to Gerrit, we expect good things,” Boone said. “He’s spoiled us with that.”

The Yankees need Cole to return to the form he showed in 2023, or at least come close to it. If he can’t be that pitcher this season, the starting rotation won’t be strong enough to carry them through October. That’s why taking a risk on Flaherty, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, would have felt worthwhile in a year with high stakes, especially with Juan Soto in pinstripes for only one guaranteed season.

(Photo of Nestor Cortes handing the ball to manager Aaron Boone after getting pulled Thursday: Wendell Cruz / USA Today)