With the Yankees in need of adding some pitching depth, the club has reportedly reached out to veteran Kenta Maeda.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees are “talking to” the right-hander about a possible deal.
Maeda, 37, was designated for assignment and later released by the Detroit Tigers in early May and had been pitching in the Chicago Cubs organization before being released on Saturday.
In seven games this season with the Tigers, Maeda pitched to a 7.88 ERA over 8.0 innings.
Maeda has had mixed success during his major league career, finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016 and then finishing as the AL runner-up for Cy Young in the shortened 2020 season, when he pitched to a 2.70 ERA.
If Maeda were to sign and make the big-league roster, it’s unclear if the Yankees would use him as a starter or a reliever. He hasn’t started a game this season, but does have 172 career big-league starts.
The Yankees saw Luis Gil make his season debut on Sunday in Miami, but the right-hander looked rusty in his first start following a lat injury. The Yankees also recently released Marcus Stroman, leaving them with a current five-man rotation of Carlos Rodon, Max Fried, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler, and Gil.
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