WASHINGTON — A decision made following the 2018 season couldn’t have worked out any better for Patrick Corbin, even after he didn’t land with the Yankees — the team he grew up rooting for.
The Yankees weren’t wild about going more than five years and $100 million for the left-hander who talent evaluators didn’t believe was, or is, capable of being a front-line starter.
So, when the Nationals offered the Syracuse-area native six years and $140 million, he gave up on the idea of pitching in Yankee Stadium and headed to the Nationals who were making plans for life without Bryce Harper.
Not only did the 30-year-old Corbin get more years and dollars from the Nationals, he left the Yankees in the rearview mirror and helped Washington reach the World Series, where he will start Saturday night’s Game 4 against the Astros at Nationals Park. Houston, 4-1 winners in Game 3, will start Jose Urquidy.
“I honestly haven’t thought too much about it,’’ Corbin said of not landing in The Bronx. “No regrets.’’
How could there be?
Had Corbin signed with the Yankees, maybe they wouldn’t have brought J.A. Happ back for two years and $34 million. Or they could have signed Corbin and Happ and used Domingo German to fill the bullpen void left when Dellin Betances went on the injured list in spring training and worked two-thirds of an inning in September.
“Did we make an offer for Patrick Corbin, yes or no?’’ Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday at Yankee Stadium. “You know the answer … We made an offer. The Washington Nationals made a more significant offer for him.’’
Had that not happened, maybe the Yankees would have been in the third-base dugout at Nationals Park for Game 3 on Friday night. Instead the Astros, who lost the first two games at home, were the Nationals’ opponent in what was a must-win for the team that ended the Yankees’ season in the ALCS. Astros manager A.J. Hinch hadn’t announced his Game 4 starter prior to Game 3.
“I obviously loved every second here. I always tell everybody I feel like I have been here longer,’’ Corbin said before Game 3. “Just a great clubhouse, great people to be around every day. Really enjoy it here.’’
What’s not to enjoy?
Corbin went 14-7 with a 3.25 ERA and fanned 238 in 202 innings during the regular season and despite a shaky postseason (6.91 ERA in six outings and two starts), he was stoked about his first World Series assignment.
“These are the games I want to pitch in. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to go out there and help us win a ball game,’’ said Corbin, whose odds of pitching in a World Series game with the Yankees would have been better than with the Nationals at the beginning of the season. “This is what you prepare for all offseason, to pitch in these games and just to have the opportunity to go out there and give it my best.’’
Because four of Corbin’s six postseason outings have been out of the bullpen, Nationals manager Dave Martinez was asked late Friday afternoon if Corbin was a candidate to work in relief during Game 3.
“No, I want him to kind of focus on [Saturday’s] game,’’ Martinez said. “That doesn’t mean you might not see somebody else.’’
Max Scherzer started Game 1 on Tuesday night and Stephen Strasburg followed in Game 2 the next night, so it would have to be a very strange Game 3 circumstance for Martinez to use his top two starters in relief not only in Game 3 but Game 4.
