Brian Cashman suggests Yankees might wait until trade deadline for starting pitching

Could the Yankees wait until the trade deadline to address the rotation?

While most New York Yankees fans want the team to make a move now — literally, anything, right now, please — you’d be shocked that a little bit of patience could actually be the key to rounding off the roster and making it better suited for a World Series run.

Many fans have been critical about the potential plan of entering the season with Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Domingo German, Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt as the five-man starting rotation. That’s not a lot of help behind Cole — or at least proven help. Could all of those guys exceed expectations? Sure. But you simply can’t bank on that.

It also doesn’t help that Luis Severino’s status is hardly definitive coupled with the fact it’ll take him some time to get back to full strength.

Then again, aside from a trade for Reds star Luis Castillo (if that’s even possible), what are the Yankees to do? Spend money on an arm that won’t move the needle? Overpay in a different trade as the premiums continue to increase?

There’s another option. General manager Brian Cashman suggested perhaps waiting until closer to the trade deadline.

Please don’t kill us … but this might not be the worst idea. Why? The Yankees have a near-unstoppable offense (assuming DJ LeMahieu returns), so the lineup will be able to support a potential lackluster rotation for the first half of the season. That’s what we’d call the worst-case scenario.

The best-case scenario? Everyone behind Cole ends up being serviceable and/or good and they create a legitimate five-man rotation.

The likely scenario? The Yankees get a half-season sample size of everyone behind Cole and determine who will remain in the rotation, who will get demoted to the bullpen or minor leagues, and have a better idea of what they may need ahead of the trade deadline.

Would a blockbuster for Luis Castillo really get us jazzed up? It sure would. But waiting to make the trade could help the Yankees. Perhaps he has a lackluster first half and the asking price goes down a bit? Perhaps another option emerges that’s a bit more cost-effective from a trade package standpoint. You never know.

But we can’t fault the organization for wanting to see what they have in Monty, German, Garcia and Schmidt before making an overarching move that could determine the fate of more than one of those guys. Just be prepared for this to be a scenario, that’s all.

This Yankees-Reds trade package could bring Luis Castillo to New York

If Cincinnati Reds ace Luis Castillo is on the market, the New York Yankees should be inquiring, and maybe this trade package could bring him to the Bronx.