Could the Yankees Pursue Paul Maholm?

Right now, things look great for our favorite baseball team. Everything is clicking right now and they're winning baseball games. The starting pitching in particular has looked good since they started the second half. However, their is danger on the horizon for the staff. The Yankees vaunted pitching depth from the start of the year has been diffused by injuries, ineffectiveness, and moves to the bullpen. Joba is approaching his innings limit, Sergio Mitre's position isn't exactly secure, and theirs always the threat of injury. Of the names of possibly available pitchers, the most interesting (not named Lee or Halladay) is Paul Maholm.

Maholm has always been a highly touted player. The Pirates picked the college lefty with the eighth overall player in 2003 draft. He did not disappoint Pittsburgh either. He put up good numbers throughout the minors. The Pirates promoted him up level by level fairly aggressively and, other than a twelve inning hiccup in A ball, he rose to each challenge. In 2005 he made his ML debut and got off to a very promising start. In 41.1 innings he had an ERA of only 2.18. His K/BB was only 1.53 but he benefited from a relatively high GB% and kept the ball in the ballpark. So, his FIP was much higher than his ERA but still a solid 3.84.

After the promising start, Maholm came back down to earth. Both 2006 and 2007 were bad years for Maholm. His ERA's were high and at 4.76 and 5.02, however, the Pirates stuck with him and were rewarded last year. Maholm emerged as the Pirates' ace in 2008 and had people thinking that he'd finally figured things out. Much like his rookie year though, he'd pitched much better than his FIP would indicate and the roller coaster ride would continue in 2009. This year his ERA has shot back up to 4.63 and he's been most reduced to mediocrity, allowing to many baserunners. However, ironically his DIPS numbers are the best of his career. His FIP is down to 3.57 and he's been victimized by a high BABIP of .326. The lowering FIP has actually been a trend for Maholm. Here's his FIP's since his first full year in 2006:

2006- 4.81

2007- 4.60

2008- 4.15

2009- 3.57

Notice the pattern? Maholm has been steadily improving under the radar for years. Now he's a 27 year old lefty with a fabulous FIP. Not only that but his value can't be all that high when you consider his traditional stats and the idiocy of the Pirates front office. We've heard a couple times recently that the Pirates would be willing to move anybody and for the right package of prospects he could be had without the Yankees giving up any of their A list guys. If they could buy low on Maholm they'd have a young, front of the rotation lefty for the next few years on the cheap. I think if the news on Wang over the next few days is bad, the Yanks are suddenly going to be linked to a lot of pitchers, Maholm included. Its possible that Littlefield knows what he is doing and wouldn't trade Maholm for less than some of the Yankees top prospects. However, its also possible that Cash could take advantage of Maholm's high BABIP and steal him away from the Pirates.