Yankees believe Kuroda is willing to come back

After spending a ton of money to land Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury, the Yankees still need to pick up at least two starting pitchers in order to be a serious contender next season. The Yankees are hoping that Hiroki Kuroda will be one of those two pitchers, but we still don't know his plans for next season.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said today after the press conference introducing McCann that he believes Kuroda will certainly be pitching for a baseball team next season, but he doesn't yet know if it'll be here with the Yankees, or in his homeland of Japan.

Kuroda declined the Yankees' one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer in November, insuring that the Yankees would receive a draft pick if he decided to come back, but signed somewhere else. Kuroda currently does have a one-year offer on the table from the Yankees that is believed to be in the $15-$16 million range.

For the time being, the only sure locks for the Yankees' rotation next season are CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova. Kuroda, and fellow Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka have been the Yanks' top pitching targets this winter, as the Bombers have been hoping to add those two -- but Tanaka still has to be posted by his Japanese club, which we are now hearing might not happen -- with David Phelps, Adam Warren, Vidal Nuno and Michael Pineda fighting for the fifth spot.

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