Five Ways the Yankees Can Shore Up the 2017 Pitching Staff

Sign an Elite Closer

Cashman specifically cited middle relief as one of the team’s major weaknesses, and it is hard to argue with that assessment. Outside of No-Runs DMC (with a late season cameo by Tyler Clippard) the team’s bullpen was a mess. For the second consecutive season, the “Scranton Shuttle” failed to produce a single quality arm that stuck at the major league level.

Similar to his approach with addressing the rotation, Cashman preached the value of depth recently regarding the bullpen:

"My job is to get as much as we can find. In the front end of the season last year 7-8-9 was special … So my job is just to find as much quality arms, whether they’re fireballers or sidewinders or soft-tossers. The only important thing is getting outs and we had trouble getting outs in the middle (innings) there and that’s unacceptable. Continue to try to fortify. The more the merrier.”"

The Yankees GM was notably silent on the subject of adding a closer, presumably because of the presence of incumbent Dellin Betances on the roster. However, with three of the top closers in baseball all hitting the free agent market simultaneously this winter, it is hard to believe adding one of those guys isn’t on Cashman’s agenda.

Many pundits consider it a sure thing that New York shells out to bring back Aroldis Chapman as closer. With Mark Teixeira‘s $25 million coming off the books, the team could presumably reinvest some of that back into the Cuban Missile while still cutting payroll for next season.