Rumors: New York Yankees Will Look into Acquiring Armando Galarraga

Via Bill Madden of the NY Daily News:

"While it is doubtful the Mets would be interested in [Armando] Galarraga at that salary, a Yankee source said the Bombers would at least look into acquiring him. Detroit has 10 days to make a move with Galarraga. If he isn’t traded, he could be sent to the minors."

First thing, what Madden means by that last part is that Armando Galarraga was designated for assignment. That means if nobody claims him, the Tigers can send him to the minors. If somebody claims him, they can either try to work out a trade with that team or simply let them take him for nothing.

Yesterday I took a look at whether or not Galarraga is better than Sergio Mitre (there isn’t much of a question that Ivan Nova at least has a higher ceiling than Galarraga). What I determined was that he really isn’t necessarily worth it. While his career numbers are better than Mitre’s, they don’t seem to be different enough to justify the upgrade, especially considering Mitre has gotten better while Galarraga has gotten worse.

However, the Yankees may want to add Galarraga because, unlike the other pitchers they are interested in, he’s only 29 (younger than 30) and is likely to actually stay healthy next year. He just signed a $2.3 million deal as well, so he’s cheap, and that’s not counting the chunk the Tigers are going to have to pay.

As an upgrade, he isn’t much more than Mitre, but he’s healthy. If the Yankees want insurance, at least he’s more likely to pitch than alternatives Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Justin Duchscherer.

What do you think? Should the Yankees try to make a move for Galarraga? Or should they look at somebody else instead?

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