If the Yankees don’t make any more moves, they’ll enter the season with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt in their starting staff.AP
Spring training may be underway, but as general manager Brian Cashman put it on Thursday, the Yankees are not “pencils down” yet when it comes to upgrading their roster.
“If there are ways to improve the club, we can be open-minded to that,” Cashman said during his first presser of the spring at Yankees camp in Tampa. “We know what the goal is: to be the last team standing. The more talent you have, the better chances you’re going to have and the better chance you’ll have to withstand injuries, too.”
Attention immediately turns to the Yankees’ starting rotation when discussing injury concerns.
Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes were both All-Stars as recently as two years ago, but they couldn’t stay on the field in 2023, pitching poorly when healthy. Marcus Stroman signed a two-year deal with the Yankees this winter — he missed nearly two months during the second half of last season due to a hip injury with the Cubs. Clarke Schmidt rounds out that group, a former top prospect that’s coming off his first full season in the rotation.
“I don’t have ‘blocked’ on my call sheet for any agents,” Cashman added. “If they want to call, they certainly have the avenue to do so. I’m always open-minded to listen to what’s available as well as continue our dialogues with opposing general managers. We do like what we have here, but it’s a long season. We’re certainly not going to assume that what we have now is going to be enough. That’s why the job is always to be open.”
Other contenders are also on the hunt for pitching upgrades, including Baltimore.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Padres, Twins, Angels and Pirates are also considering a move to add pitching this spring.
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