Yankees' Clarke Schmidt: Could see early starts

Schmidt is a candidate to spend the first month of the season as the Yankees' fifth starter, with Frankie Montas out until at least May due to shoulder inflammation, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reports.

The Yankees have yet to announce their plans and could still bring in another arm from outside the organization, but unless that happens, the competition would appear to be between Schmidt and Domingo German. Schmidt outpitched German in terms of ERA (3.12 vs. 3.61) and FIP (3.59 vs. 4.43) last season, though all but three of the former's appearances came as a reliever. German, by contrast, started 14 games while appearing just once in relief.