Yankees looking at Seattle lefty Washburn

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

The Yankees are not expected to make a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline, but they are seeking ways to upgrade their rotation and are taking a serious look at Seattle lefty Jarrod Washburn.

The overall numbers for the 33-year-old are not good -- 4-9, 4.75 ERA -- but Washburn has been throwing better the past two months, posting a 2.93 ERA in June and a 3.16 ERA in July.

The Yankees could pencil Washburn into the rotation for next year, when they move to the new Yankee Stadium, whose dimensions (like the current Yankee Stadium) generally serve left-handers better than right-handers. Washburn has a 2.82 ERA in six starts in Yankee Stadium over the course of his career.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

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