The NY Yankees may be looking at a trade for a pitcher coming up this summer, as Cliff Lee, Jeff Samardzija, David Price, Justin Masterson, Bronson Arroyo, AJ Burnett and Max Scherzer all could be available and the team may need some extra help after Ivan Nova went down with Tommy John surgery and after Michael Pineda was hit again for using pine tar while pitching.
The Yankees came into the season knowing that their rotation had the potential to be a strength for the team and with CC Sabathia at the top along with Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova, Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda, the Yanks were set with their top five starters. Now that Nova is injured, the team has to find another arm to replace him and while he was not yet the second coming of Cy Young, Nova has been a very solid started for the team over the past couple years and he has shown that he can win and now the team also has to replace those near 200 innings he would have thrown.
Brian Cashman can pull off moves when he needs to and right now it isn't totally necessary, as the team has Vidal Nuno and David Phelps as short-term options, but with Michael Pineda's pine tar problem and now Nova gone for a year at least, the team may have to pull off one of their old moves and trade for a top of the line pitcher. Sabathia is still a top starter, but he is not quite the ace he once was and with Kuroda getting older and Tanaka in his first season, the Yankees may have no choice but to add some depth up front.
Nuno comes into the season with a career record of 1-2 and a 3.68 ERA and while Nova was not an All-Star yet, he had a great record a couple years ago and the Yankees were expecting a big jump in development from him this season and now that all will be set back. According to the NY Post, the Yankees have some options out there on the market, but it will depend on how much they are willing to give up and how much they are willing to pay for names like Lee, Masterson and Price.
It's only 19 games into the season and the Yankees are in first place, so there isn't a reason to panic yet, but things could get dicey if Pineda is suspended and then with the injury to Nova, as any other injury could be devastating. Tanaka has been as good as advertised and that is very important for the Yankees and they need Kuroda and Sabathia to be the pitchers they are expected to be, or the rotation could turn into a weakness after being such a strength coming into the year.
Cliff Lee has been mentioned in trade rumors over the past two seasons and that could be an option for the Yankees after they missed out back when he was traded from the Mariners, while Justin Masterson is another option after he didn't work out an extension with the Indians. The Post mentioned that Lee is getting paid $25 million with a $27.5 million vesting option for 2016 and that is a ton of money, while Price is on a one year deal and other last ditch options could be Arroyo or former Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett, who the team traded to the Pirates.
