MLB Rumors: 10 Players Now on the New York Yankees’ Radar Without Cliff Lee
December 20, 2010 · Chris Sbalcio · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Despite it being about a week since it occurred, every Yankee fan still has that bitter taste left in his or her mouth from the jaw-dropping loss of Cliff Lee to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Simply put, the Yankees were counting on Lee to sign with them. They completely invested all of their time and effort into acquiring the dominant left-handed ace to pair with current ace CC Sabathia atop their rotation.
Needless to say, when Lee abandoned them and headed to Philly despite a significantly lesser offer, both in length and monetary values, the Yankees and their fans were baffled.
To make matters worse, Lee took so much time making his decision that most of the possible backup plans for New York have disappeared. Jorge De La Rosa re-signed with the Rockies, Hiroki Kuroda re-signed with the Dodgers, Jon Garland also signed with the Dodgers and Jake Westbrook re-signed with the Cardinals.
Now, the only free agent starter worth a glance is Carl Pavano, and he’ll receive his fair share of looks…none of which will come from the Yankees, and for good reason.
With the exception of one or two free agents, New York is now left to explore the trade market to fill one or both of the spots vacated by Javier Vazquez and possibly Andy Pettitte in their starting rotation. It’s fairly likely that at least one of those rotation spots will fall into the lap of Ivan Nova, who enjoyed a decent share of his success in his stint with the Yankees in 2010, meaning the acquisition of only one pitcher is really necessary to compete.
In the eyes of Yankee fans across the nation, Brian Cashman has flat-out failed this offseason, only accomplishing the mediocre tasks of re-signing Mariano Rivera (to a higher price tag thanks to Theo Epstein) and re-signing Derek Jeter, mortally wounding their relationship in the process.
He did manage to snatch former All-Star catcher Russell Martin, but unless Martin rebounds this year, Cashman will still hear it for not handing over the reins to highly-touted prospect Jesus Montero this year. He did sign lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano to complement Boone Logan in the Yankees’ bullpen, but no Yankees fan will be happy if that is the biggest move of the offseason for them.
Cashman needs to swing a deal for SOMEBODY that can help the Bombers fend off the rejuvenated Red Sox in the AL East this year. Here are 10 possible targets for New York that could help them do just that.
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