The New York Yankees need pitching after CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova went down for NY and names like Jeff Samardzija, Cliff Lee, Justin Masterson, David Price, Kyle Kendrick, Jake Odorizzi and AJ Burnett could be options for the team if they get desperate for pitching before the MLB trading deadline this summer and they could move Ichiro Suzuki.
The Yankees are dealing with some major injuries in the rotation and apart from Masahiro Tanaka, nobody has pitched up to expectations and now with Nova, Sabathia and Michael Pineda on the DL, it could be getting to panic time for Brian Cashman and the Yanks. The team may have no choice but to go after a name on the market, as Vidal Nuno, David Phelps and Alfredo Aceves have not yet shown they can handle taking over. The Yankees came into the season with high expectations for their pitching staff and they thought they were very deep, but injuries have depleted things and now Tanaka is the ace for now until Sabathia can come back.
The scary thing for the Yankees is that Pineda is out with an injury for at least a month, Nova is done for the year with Tommy John and while Sabathia had no structural damage in his knee, he doesn't even have a return date yet and that is why some panic may be setting in. Hardball Talk reports that the Yankees could start to look for pitching now rather than wait, as it could be too late for the team by the time they get some of those names back.
Sabathia was not pitching like himself for the season before he went down and with Hiroki Kuroda also struggling early, the Yankees may have to make some major moves just to hold tight in the AL east and wild card race this season. The team finally won a game against the Mets and Tanaka pitched a complete game shutout and now he is 5-0 and hasn't lost since before last season in Japan and the Yankees snapped a six game losing streak against the Mets, their worst ever.
The team has a number of avenues they could look down for a trade and one name that has come up many times is Samardzija, who is with the Cubs and is one of their best pitchers. He has been frustrated that the team has not been able to give him run support or a long term contract and now the team could look to make a move if the Yankees are willing to give up a prospect or two in the deal. Last season he went 8-13 with a 4.34 ERA and while he is 0-3 this season, that is more on the Cubs, as he has a 1.45 Era.
The Yankees could go for bigger names, including Lee, Price and Masterson, as the last two have been dealing with contract issues, while Lee has long been coveted by the Yankees,. The team has some major decision to make, as they have pressure to win this season but with a minor league system already barren, they may not be able to afford to give up their best prospects again.