Yankees Can't Rely on James Paxton When They'll Need Him Most

This wasn't how Yankees fans envisioned their big offseason trade panning out.

New York acquired James Paxton and sent a couple of top prospects to the Seattle Mariners with hopes that the veteran left-hander would vie for the staff ace job or at the very least solidify himself as the team's No. 2 starter.

While he's shown flashes of that, he's been far from consistent, which could be due to a multitude of factors. For starters, this is his first year pitching in the bright lights of New York on a bonafide contender. He's never had that opportunity before. Secondly, he has a balky knee and we can assume that's affecting him in some way, whether significant or not.

The bottom line is, even with the Yankees owning the best record in the MLB when trailing after the first inning, Aaron Boone can't afford to have one of his starters put the team in a hole when they're trying to pull away with the AL East in late September or win a playoff game in October.

Nobody is saying this is a bad trade by any means, but when push comes to shove, Paxton just can't be the guy you trot out there down the stretch or in the postseason when you're in need of a win. At least not with the way he's pitching now.

Sadly, that's life in New York. You have expectations placed upon you, and if you don't deliver, you're viewed as a lame duck.

But Paxton is certainly somewhere in between. We simply cannot discredit his impressive outings this year, one of which featured eight shutout innings and 12 strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox to introduce himself to the rivalry. The guy clearly has the ability to mow down the top hitters in the game, but as we've seen so far this season, he just hasn't been able to harness it on a consistent basis.

He came into Sunday with a 3.94 ERA and dismal 1.43 WHIP (numbers that improved after he tossed three straight quality starts), and after giving up four earned runs in just 3.1 innings against the Rockies, they're probably going to go right back to where they were.

Paxton has a chance to right himself before the pressure builds later in the season, but if he doesn't, he shouldn't be playing when it matters most because he can't be trusted, especially early in games.