An unusually quiet Yankees’ offseason blew up over the weekend with the additions of starting pitchers Hiroki Kuroda and Michael Pineda. With those two added to the pot, the Yankees have assembled quite a surplus of quality starting arms—seven of them to be exact.
Along with staff-ace C.C. Sabathia, the Yankees already had A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, and the recently re-signed Freddy Garcia in the mix for one of their five spots in the starting rotation. Plus, Joba Chamberlain may return from injury at some point in 2012. In the meantime, they gave up future star catcher/DH Jesus Montero, which creates a pretty big hole at DH heading into the season.
With an abundance of starters and no discernible answer at DH, clearly another move needs to be made. Here are some possible ones, beginning with the most probable:
1. Trade a starting pitcher for a hitter: This is probably what GM Brian Cashman would like to explore first—especially if someone will bite on an A.J. Burnett deal. But Burnett, whose ERA has been above 5.00 each of the past two seasons, is still owed roughly $33 million over the next two years. Any deal involving him would require eating a lot of salary or taking back a similarly bad contract.
The other two candidates for a trade, Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova, would probably be easier to deal, given their lack of salary commitments and decent futures, though who to target at DH is another question in and of itself.
Pros: Dealing from a position of power that few teams have should give the Yanks plenty of options to sift through.
Cons: Spring Training starts next month and some teams may be reluctant to give up an impact bat at this point.
2. Sign a free agent DH, wait to trade a starter: There are still a few good hitters out there that can be signed to replace Montero such as Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero, Hideki Matsui, or Carlos Pena.
That’s assuming they’re not going after the best hitter on the market, Prince Fielder, which there have been no whispers that they are.
Pros: Waiting until spring training to trade a starter might be the best move as unexpected injuries to both their own or other teams’ starters will give them a clearer idea of what they need to acquire.
Cons: Signing a veteran free agent impact-hitter will most likely cost them a fair amount of money, which they clearly have tried to avoid this offseason. Though they gave Kuroda $10 million, former catcher Jorge Posada’s deal finally comes off the books (made $13.1 million last year) to be able to afford it.
3. Go to a six-man starting rotation: Easily the least-likely scenario here, the six man rotation has been rarely tried because few teams have actually had six quality starters, let alone seven. If New York has everyone healthy they have at least seven, plus future-rotation candidates Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances in the minor leagues waiting in the wings. And that’s in addition to the unknown status of Joba’s arm.
Pros: With Joe Girardi’s squad having veteran starters like Freddy Garcia (35 years old), Hiroki Kuroda (turns 37 before spring training), A.J. Burnett (35), and Sabathia (31), plus the oft-injured Phil Hughes, who made just 14 starts last year, an extra day can be a real benefit. Plus with seven available starters, the Yankees can still deal one for a hitter to DH.
Cons: Something else has to give. There are only 25 spots on the roster and having another starter either takes a spot away from the bullpen or the bench. Plus, some starters are so used to the five-man that it might not be met with open arms.
