CLEVELAND — The Yankees were among the teams to check in on Anibal Sanchez for his bullpen session on Friday, The Post confirmed.
The right-hander is still looking for a place to land after an ugly 2020 season. Sanchez suffered a finger laceration during a bullpen session earlier in the month after just 13 pitches.
Sanchez, 37, was solid as recently as two years ago, when he had a 3.85 ERA in 166 innings with the Nationals. But he followed that up with a 6.62 ERA in 53 innings with Washington last season, when he gave up the most earned runs in the National League.
He then opted not to sign with any teams during the offseason while waiting to see how COVID-19 protocols impacted this season.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman was first to report the Yankees’ attendance at Sanchez’s Florida showcase. The Phillies, Marlins, Tigers, Diamondbacks and Blue Jays are also showing interest.
After expressing confidence in their rotational depth heading into the season, the Yankees’ starting pitching has been underwhelming outside of Gerrit Cole.
Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon and Domingo German are all coming off seasons in which they either didn’t pitch (with Taillon coming back from Tommy John surgery and German serving an MLB suspension) or hardly got on the mound (as Kluber lasted just one inning before being sidelined with a shoulder strain).
Their innings will need to be monitored throughout the season. The Yankees could call on Deivi Garcia soon, with the team in the midst of a 13-day stretch without a day off and in need of a sixth starter. He’s on the taxi squad during the current road trip and manager Aaron Boone hinted at the possible use of another starter in the coming days.
Their depth also took a hit when Clarke Schmidt suffered a strained elbow tendon that has been slow to heal.