Why not Jordan Zimmermann mr. Cashman?

Rumours have been swirling around that the Yankees would be interested in Max Scherzer or in Jon Lester. I wouldn’t oppose a deal with Lester, but I am not too fond of a deal with Scherzer. I am not saying that he isn’t a good pitcher, but he is heavily relying on his fastball. What if he gets injured and loses velocity? I think we have seen enough with CC Sabathia. Now his fastball isn’t so fast anymore, he isn’t as effective. If I was Cashman, I would think about that scenario.

Sure there are other free agents. The name of James Shields has been mentioned as well…

But I have not read the name of Jordan Zimmermann, unless I have missed something. I wonder why. He has spent his entire career in the organization of the Nationals. Since he broke into the Majors in 2009 he hasn’t pitched on the strongest squads (except for 2014 and 2013). Especially when you take that into account, his 57 wins in 145 starts isn’t that bad. So is his ERA of 3.24. There is one thing in his pitching stats where there is room for improvement: the opponent’s batting average. In four full and fragments of two seasons in the bigs he has kept his opponents to a BA of .249.

Jordan Zimmermann: 57 wins vs 40 losses

His (four seam) fastball averages 94 MPH and tops 98 MPH. Next to this pitch he masters a slider, a curve and a circle change.

He may not be the best pitcher around but I prefer him over Scherzer. Especially the variety of pitches makes him a valuable pitcher in my opinion. If he cannot rely on his fastball anymore he still can be effective with his other pitches. And… he is relatively young with an age of 28.

Is this worth a thought Brian Cashman? A good reason not to sign him is that he is a righty. Our rotation is full of righties already (except for Sabathia). But so is Max Scherzer. If you want to add a lefty to the rotation, Lester is the only option.