The rotation is one of the few areas of the roster in which the New York Yankees can say they have quality depth. In Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Clarke Schmidt, Marcus Stroman, Luis Gil, and Carlos Rodon they have six solid pitchers, with Cody Poteet around, Will Warren, and Yoendrys Gomez (among others) waiting for a chance.
The Yankees are expressing interest in top free-agent pitchers
The Yankees, apparently, are exploring the possibility of adding another starter or at least scanning around the market in search of potential opportunities.
Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Yankees “have checked on” Max Fried, Corbin Burnes, and Blake Snell. It would certainly be shocking for the Yankees to allocate relevant resources to the rotation in free agency, unless they try to trade Cortes on their quest for relief pitching or infield help.
The Yankees are exploring all options to improve the roster
It’s probably more of a normal off-season practice by all teams, including the Yankees, to check each player’s aspirations, requests, and willingness to pitch in the Bronx. The Yankees’ No. 1 priority remains retaining outfielder Juan Soto, and it will take them somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million to do so.
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Additionally, they have no second baseman because Gleyber Torres is now a free agent, and they also declined their option for first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Evidently, the roster still needs a lot of work and it’s unlikely they spend most of their limited budget on a starter.
If they fail to land Soto, which is very much a possibility, we might see the Yankees get more creative in building their roster and looking for outside-the-box ideas to spend the money destined for Soto, including possibly adding a top starter and using some of their depth on the trade market to fortify the other positions.
