TAMPA — Paul Blackburn could be a bargain.
Blackburn, who was re-signed to a one-year, $2 million contract after joining the Yankees in August, looked the part of a former All-Star while starting and throwing four shutout innings in Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Blackburn, 32, hasn’t allowed a run in six innings of spring work.
“We feel like he’s in a really good place,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We were hoping to get two or three innings out of him probably and he was so efficient he ends up going four … [He] was excellent, really from the jump. Really crisp. Command was excellent. I was really pleased. I thought his stuff looked real sharp.
“He’s been an All-Star. This guy’s been a good starting pitcher. And he’s not old. You see him go out there and watch that, he’s carving out there. He’s in complete control of things, commanding the ball well. We brought him back for a reason.”
Blackburn provided reasons for optimism last season, but also provided plenty of evidence that a reunion could be a mistake.
Before the Mets released him last year, the right-hander posted a 6.85 ERA in seven appearances (four starts).
Blackburn then took a beating in his Yankees debut — allowing seven runs in mop-up duty — but quickly found his footing in the bullpen, posting a 1.50 ERA with 14 strikeouts in his next 12 innings (seven appearances), which he credits to lowering his arm slot.
“I felt like I was fighting myself a lot,” Blackburn said Saturday. “I didn’t feel like I was myself at all. In August, I kind of said, ‘Screw it,’ and went back to how I was — more over the top, more trying to drive the ball down. When I came here, I talked to the pitching guys and that’s where they want me. When I showed up here, [I was] just getting a little more comfortable back in that arm slot I’ve always been in, just being able to get my pitches back to where they were in previous years, being able to move the ball around and roll good outings together.
“I’m not gonna throw gas by people, so I just gotta locate and change speeds.”
Boone envisions using Blackburn “potentially [in] a lot of roles,” with the option to use him as a starter until his rotation is back at full strength.
But Blackburn’s greatest value likely lies in the bullpen, filling that role in every appearance with the Yankees last year. In his first eight seasons, Blackburn only worked in relief in four of 86 appearances.
“I think my time here last year definitely got me really familiar with it,” Blackburn said. “You had guys down there like Luke [Weaver] — I know he made that transition — and he helped a bunch, picking his brain about what he did. … The more I did it, the more comfortable I felt doing it.”
