Yankees: Improve starting pitching now, not later

The Yankees can financially afford to acquire outstanding starting pitchers in trades this year and pursue top free agent starting pitchers next season.

Due to the deep pockets and strong business position of the Yankees, the team will be in an excellent place to aggressively acquire outstanding players in trades this year and pursue top free agents next year, thereby maintaining the team’s culture of excellence in the long run.

Among the most attractive free agents available next year include position players Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. Each is relatively young (26-years-old), have consistently performed exceptionally well during their major league careers and are genuine MLB superstars.

Much has been written about the likelihood that one of them will be signed by the Yankees during the offseason. This past year most free agents were quite disappointed to receive less money compared to the recent past. However, Harper and Machado should both be able to attract offers of $25 to $35 million per year and receive eight-to-ten-year contracts.

Without a doubt, the Yankees could afford to sign one (or even both of them) without breaking the bank. However, neither Harper nor Machado will provide an acceptable return on investment, especially in the playoffs, for the team in the long run given their exceptionally high cost. The same holds true for acquiring a solid position player or two in trades during this baseball season.

The Yanks already have a superb cadre of position players who have definite chemistry and are performing extremely well. This is also true at the minor league level.

Given the club’s present breadth and depth of talent at both the major and minor league levels, adding either Harper or Machado at a very high price will only incrementally improve the team’s chances to reach the playoffs in the future. The team overall is already playing outstanding baseball, and it is likely to play better baseball even without adding either player.

Instead, the Yankees are much better off increasing the horsepower of the team’s pitching staff. While Luis Severino is a staff ace and Masahiro Tanaka has been effective most of the time, C.C. Sabathia is very likely in his final year, Sonny Gray has been inconsistent and Jordan Montgomery has yet to prove himself.

Furthermore, the club’s candidate pool to replace any one of these five pitchers who goes on the DL is presently quite shallow at the major and minor league levels. Losing Severino, in particular, would be devastating for the Yanks.

The Yankees will not reach the World Series unless they have a dominant starting pitcher group that is four or five deep. Right now, opposing teams only need facing Severino in a three or four-game series once, if that. Similarly, they also must acquire lights-out starting pitchers who can get them through the grueling playoffs.

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The relief core is undoubtedly deep and outstanding and, in sharp contrast, does not require change. Instead, the focus must be on significantly enhancing the quality of the starting rotation.

In order to accomplish this Brian Cashman needs to trade for relatively young and effective starting pitchers, such as Madison Bumgarner (Giants), Jacob deGrom (Mets), Kyle Hendricks (Cubs), Marcus Stroman (Blue Jays) and Noah Syndergaard (Mets), during the 2018 season to establish the club’s overall dominance.

The team’s starting pitching can also be improved considerably by adding either Patrick Corbin (Diamondbacks) or Dallas Keuchel (Astros), both of whom are young, accomplished and will be free agents in 2019.

As I have argued elsewhere, the Yankees have the payroll and stable financial foundation to acquire one or even both of these players, or one of these players and another high-quality pitcher via trade.

There is also an excellent chance that at least one of the present young pitchers in the Yankees organization will surprise us and become another Severino-type pitcher within the next year or two.

In addition to the organization being financially solid, the team is about $28 million under the luxury salary tax cap. Given this situation, the team can afford to dramatically improve its starting pitching and at the same time increase the salaries of terrific current players, such as Didi Gregorius, in order to retain them longterm.

Admittedly, this strategy will probably result in a smaller profit for the Steinbrenners, at least in the short term.

Picking up any two of the starting pitchers mentioned will effectively add to an already potent offensive attack and almost guarantee the Yankees continued success into the playoffs and World Series in future years.

Furthermore, elite starting pitchers, that can consistently get deeper into the game and garner a low ERA will allow manager Aaron Boone to rest his bullpen aces more frequently and, therefore, make the present world-class relief pitching that much better; imagine that!

Failure to land at least two high quality arms, however, will greatly diminish the club’s chances of progressing deep into the playoffs, let alone winning a World Series.

Next: Yankees and Mets should make a blockbuster trade

In the long run, acquiring two (or more) relatively young superstar pitchers will allow the Yankees to maintain their culture of excellence for many years. This will enable the team to earn even more profit on a cumulative basis over a period than if the club blindly and stubbornly adheres to its luxury tax cutoff amount for next year (and beyond).