The Yankees have been slow to act on the free agent market when it's come to their rotation so far this offseason. They were able to bring Hiroki Kuroda back for another year, but he's just one piece to a puzzle that's still far from complete. A new report earlier today makes it seem like one of those pieces might already be on the roster.
According to Bob Klapisch, the Yankees are not big fans of either Matt Garza or Ubaldo Jimenez and would lean towards filling one of their open rotation spots internally before signing either of those 2 top free agents. This comes as a bit of a surprise after Brian Cashman's earlier "we need 400 innings" comment, which made it sound pretty clear that the Yankees were pursuing multiple starters.
Klapisch did add that the Yankees would still be quick to pounce on Masahiro Tanaka if and when he is posted. But with no clear time table for that in place, they don't seem to be fond of stepping down to that next level of FA starters should Tanaka not be posted. We already knew there was going to be a fatal 4-way for the final rotation spot, but if one of those competitors gets slotted into the 4th spot in the rotation, that leaves the back end incredibly weak. While Garza and Jimenez are no sure things themselves, I have to think they would be better full-time rotation options than David Phelps or Adam Warren. We'll see how real this plan is if the Yanks don't end up with Tanaka.
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