Via Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports:
LH targets kicked around by some #Yankees people: [Joe Saunders], [Scott Kazmir], [Wade LeBlanc], [Clayton Richard], [Gio Gonzalez]. Just ideas right now.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been operating for most of this offseason with the belief that Andy Pettitte was not coming back. But now that his retirement is official, there is no doubt that Cashman is going to increase his efforts to add a quality starter to the rotation.
The thing is that these are the Yankees. They want front-of-the-rotation talent, and they’ll do what they have to do to get it. The problem is that there really is no front-end talent available. All of the names listed above are middle-of-the-rotation types at best. Also, teams know that the Yankees are desperate at this point, so they are going to ask for a lot for any of these pitchers.
Cashman has preached patience since the day Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies, and he is very proud of the farm system he has been integral in creating. So if teams are going to be looking to get an arm and a leg for any of these pitchers, he’s just going to pass.
So even though Yankees fans are clamoring for a better option, the truth is that there really may not be one at this time. So at this point, the Yankees are going to go into spring training and will try out Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and a long list of minor league prospects.
At some point during the season, a starter will become available and the Yankees will be aggressive when that time comes. Until then, it’s going to be a rotation by trial and error.
What do you think? Are any of the names above worth a package of good prospects? Or should the Yankees wait for something better to come along?
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