MLB exec: Yankees still looking for another arm
Tasked with the chore of filling the bullpen role Justin Wilson did very well last year, the Yankees aren’t ignoring a rotation that has as many question marks as arms.
“They are looking for a starter,’’ a baseball executive said Monday.
That means the Yankees are seeking to acquire a starter through a trade or signing a free agent who will accept a minorleague deal with a major league spring training invite. The Yankees have made it clear they aren’t in the freeagent market at any position.
Even though the Yankees have six starters, not counting Bryan Mitchell, there are questions attached to all of them.
Ace Masahiro Tanaka had a bone spur in his right el bow removed after last season and is pitching with a small tear in that elbow suffered in 2014. Luis Severino has made just 11 big league starts. CC Sabathia has a right knee problem and spent most of October in an alcohol rehab facility. Nathan Eovaldi didn’t pitch after Sept. 5 due to an inflamed right elbow.
And since Ivan Nova, who’ll turn 29 next month, will likely command in the area of $4.5 million for this upcoming season, his last before free agency, the Yankees have let teams know he is available after a woeful 2015.
“They are offering him out there, but I don’t know if there’s any takers,’’ the executive said of the righthander, who was shopped at the July’s trading deadline and whose name surfaced in talks with the Reds when they were looking to deal Johnny Cueto.
Nova, whose 2015 season didn’t start until late June because of Tommy John surgery in 2014, went 611 with a 5.07 ERA in 17 starts. He ended the season with four straight losses and a 7.20 ERA during that stretch.
While the Yankees insist Severino, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and Jorge Mateo aren’t available, it will be difficult to land a young, controllable pitcher via a trade since a team isn’t inclined to take lesser prospects for a commodity that is hard to find.
Of course, the Yankees could move closer Andrew Miller or left fielder Brett Gardner. They would likely bring back a young starter ready to pitch in the big leagues and trim the payroll. Gardner is entering the second leg of a fouryear deal worth $52 million. Miller has three years and $27 million remaining.