Over the past week or so, word has spread around the game that the Yankees are not acting aggressively to add to their starting rotation. They’re not even holding serve by pursuing a return with Masahiro Tanaka.
Are the Yankees really going to start the year with Gerrit Cole followed by the promising but mostly inexperienced group of Domingo German, Deivi Garcia, Jordan Montgomery, Clarke Schmidt, Michael King, Nick Nelson and eventually Luis Severino, once he returns from Tommy John surgery?
There are many months remaining, and plenty of pitchers available. But right now, it’s all about DJ LeMahieu -- and not Tanaka or anyone else.
As SNY has reported, the Yanks are operating on a budget this year because ownership is claiming massive losses due to the pandemic. They are in talks with LeMahieu, hoping to get him but not certain that they will.
The Yanks have already exercised the contract option on Zack Britton that will pay him $13 million next season.
It’s hard to see the Yanks springing for Britton, LeMahieu and Tanaka. That’s our reading of tea leaves after conversations with multiple sources.
Let’s assume for a moment that LeMahieu returns. The Yankees could then look for a bargain among the glut of free agent starters that includes Jose Quintana, Corey Kluber, James Paxton, Rick Porcello, Taijuan Walker and many others. Maybe even Tanaka, if he chooses to pitch in the United States in 2021 and is willing to take a sizable pay cut.
The Yankees are barely engaged in this market right now. The Mets, for example, have been much more aggressive in talking to free agent starters.
If LeMahieu signs elsewhere, the picture changes. With perhaps more than $20 million suddenly free to spread around elsewhere, the Yanks could pursue pitching. They might even circle back to Tanaka, whom they know and like.
But all of that is a long way away.