If James Paxton takes a spot at or near the top of the Yankees starting rotation, they’ll have Lance Painter to thank.
Paxton, who the Yankees acquired from Seattle on Monday, was 27 and had spent parts of three seasons in the majors when he showed up to spring training with the Mariners in 2016 and posted a 10.80 ERA in five spring training starts.
Instead of becoming an important part of Seattle’s rotation, the left-hander instead found himself back with Triple-A Tacoma, with Painter, the team’s pitching coach. The two tried to resurrect Paxton’s career after the former first-round pick had shown glimpses of the potential the Mariners knew he had.