What Are the Yankees Greatest Areas of Need this Offseason?

A Mid-Rotation Starter

Given their recent approach to team-building, it seems unlikely that the Yankees will empty the farm system to acquire a big-name ace like Chris Sale, Chris Archer, or Sonny Gray this winter. They do have the chips to get it done, after the talent haul they brought in at the deadline, but the front office seems to be about patience and incremental upgrades these days.

Something similar to the Justin Wilson for Chad Green and Luis Cessa swap might be the most likely move to address the rotation. General manager Brian Cashman is all about the under-the-radar trade these days, so it’s hard to predict which team’s unknown and undervalued arms he might target.

The Yankees are swimming in back-of-the-rotation type guys at this point. What they really need is a proven veteran arm to provide some quality innings every fifth day given all the other question marks among the incumbent starters.

The free agent pitching market is pretty bleak, but there are a few guys who stand out as clear upgrades for the rotation. Rich Hill, Jeremy Hellickson, and Doug Fister would all be solid number twos for New York behind Masahiro Tanaka, but they are likely to be incredibly overpaid because of the lack of other options.

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