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The Blue Jays absolutely shouldn’t be interested in signing former Yankee Domingo Germán
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Dec 3, 2023, 14:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 3, 2023, 14:39 EST
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Oh man, this one’s a doozy.
On Sunday morning, Mike Rodriguez of ESPN Deportes reported that the Blue Jays are among the teams interested in former Yankee Domingo Germán.
There are so many reasons why this doesn’t appear to be something that’ll happen, but let’s start with the baseball-related reasons why the Blue Jays should avoid Germán. 
To begin with, the 31-year-old right-handed pitcher just isn’t very good. In 2023, he pitched to a 4.56 ERA and 4.65 FIP in 108.2 innings pitched, along with the most recent and arguably the most forgettable perfect game in history against the Oakland A’s. For his career, he has a 4.41 ERA and 4.50 FIP in 522.1 innings pitched, along with a 24.9 K% and a 7.4 BB%. The 31-year-old was non-tendered by the Yankees, thus becoming a free agent.
While Toronto may very well be looking for starter depth, there are much better options around the league. These include Hyun Jin Ryu, Carlos Carrasco, Lucas Giolito, Sean Manaea, and literally anyone other than Germán.
However, it’s just not the on-field performance that’ll make the Blue Jays steer clear. In mid-September 2019, Germán was placed on administrative lead and suspended for 81 games due to violating the MLB’s domestic violence policy. He missed the entirety of the 2020 COVID-shortened season.
In early August 2023, Germán once again was in hot waters as he was placed on the Restricted List by the Yankees. This stemmed from an altercation he had with his teammates, where he allegedly “got into confrontations with members of the Yankees when intoxicated, flipping a couch and smashing a TV,” according to the New York Post. He later agreed to rehab but never pitched again for the Yankees.
Although it pales in comparison to the other two events, Germán was also suspended by the league for ten games (two starts) after he was thrown out of the game for using sticky stuff against the Jays. He said it was just rosin, but I mean…
The current front office has only had to deal with one situation similar to Germán’s. In May 2018, Osuna was arrested and charged with assault on the suspicion that he assaulted his former partner. Charges were later dropped as the woman returned to Mexico and refused to testify, but the league deemed it fitting to suspend Osuna for 75 games for violating the domestic violence policy.
The closer never pitched for the Jays again, as he was traded to the Houston Astros (who are also apparently interested in Germán, colour me shocked) shortly before his suspension ended. Osuna, who was 23 years old at the time, was hoping to become the greatest closer in the Blue Jays’ history.
So yeah, with how the Jays have dealt with this type of situation before, as well as the fact that Germán just isn’t that good, I don’t see this being correct at all.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO

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