The New York Yankees have taken control of the AL East, leading the division by 6.5 games before their game on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels. While they've played well, the Tampa Bay Rays, winners of seven of their last 10, have pulled into second place with a 28-27 record. Now, they've signed a player the Yankees have historically owned, Kyle Gibson, to give them more pitching depth.
It's unclear as to whether this is a Minor League deal or a Major League deal, but regardless, with how many starting pitchers teams need to get through a full 162-game season, there's a good chance Gibson will pitch in a Rays uniform.
Yankees fans only hope that at least one of his starts for the Rays comes against their favorite team.
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Rays depth addition can't be trusted against the team they're chasing
Yankees fans can't help but smile. Gibson signed a one-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles just before the regular season began, hoping to give them much-needed rotation depth. That experiment went so poorly that the O's DFA'd him after just four starts. Gibson allowed a whopping 23 runs on 29 hits in 12.1 innings in his four starts with Baltimore.
The first of those four starts came against the Yankees, who made sure to embarrass him in record time. New York clocked three straight home runs to begin the game, and then once Gibson was able to record an out, he immediately surrendered a home run to the next hitter. Overall, he went 3.2 innings that day, allowing nine runs and 11 hits, five of which left the yard. It was one of the worst starts of Gibson's career, and just added to the Yankees' dominance against him.
Gibson has made 14 appearances (all starts) against the Yankees in his career, and has a 6.30 ERA in 74.1 innings of work. Obviously, his last start against them inflated that ERA quite a bit, and he's had some good starts in his career against the Yankees, but for the most part they've been his kryptonite.
For the Rays to catch up to the Yankees in the AL East, they're going to have to play extremely well, especially against the team they're chasing. Signing a pitcher with those numbers against that team can't be a great omen.
It's hard to fault the Rays for adding depth, and the Rays do have a knack for getting the most out of many pitchers, but Rays fans might wish they found someone who has had a bit more luck against the AL East leaders.