Yankees enter 2015 with a completely different outlook

It's nearly a complete 180 from where we were starting a year ago.

The Yankees were heading into Spring Training with a starting rotation that, on paper, was fit enough to compete with the best of the best in Major League Baseball. Fresh off of signing the prized free-agent Masahiro Tanaka, with Michael Pineda finally ready to return to the big leagues, the Bombers looked like a real playoff contender.

They had their question marks, of course. CC Sabathia had been declining at a 90 degree angle, Pineda hadn't pitched in the big leagues since 2012, no one knew what Tanaka was going to bring, and Hiroki Kuroda completely fell off the final month and a half of 2013.

The talent was there, it was all a matter of it coming through.

Then the season got here, and things got ugly. Sabathia, who finished out the spring strong, delivered a dub on Opening Day, eventually hurting his knee in May, which led to season-ending, and possibly career-threatening, micro-fracture surgery in July. Pineda got suspended in two weeks into the season for hiding (not very well, I might add) pine tar on his neck. Shockingly enough, he got hurt while throwing during his suspension, and we didn't see him again until later in the season. Ivan Nova: he got hurt in May, needed Tommy John surgery, and we'll be welcoming him back at some point this summer.

Just before the All-Star Break, Tanaka got hurt and even though Tommy John wasn't needed, it was on the table and will be something worth watching this season as he takes his second lap around the MLB circuit.

13 different people started games for the Yankees last season, and many of them aren't here anymore. Kuroda, David Phelps, Shane Greene, Brandon McCarthy: gone (to Japan), gone, gone, and gone.

That brings us to where we are today. Derek Jeter is gone, Alex Rodriguez is coming back, and yet the biggest problem facing the Yankees might be the prospect of another year in which they're leaning on the bullpen to do the heavy lifting, with a lineup that, based on 2014 numbers, still doesn't pose a challenge to opposing starters.

That leaves me to believe the Yankees can't possibly be content on where they are now as a baseball team. Nathan Eovaldi was a nice get for the club -- a 24-year-old with a great fastball and plenty of upside; we haven't seen many of those come through the system lately. But after that, you can't count on anyone but Tanaka.

It looks like Sabathia will be ready by opening day, but at this point there aren't many people out there will to bet on a bounce-back season by the big lefty. It's just not likely. Nobody knows how any games Pineda will start this season, and Nova will be a wild card, like he always is, when he returns (not doubting his potential, though).

The battle for the fifth spot in any rotation isn't like to include No. 1 potential starters -- unless you're the Nationals, of course. Playing that game for the Yanks this year will be Chris Capuano, Adam Warren, and Chase Whitley. The latter two more likely served for the bullpen.

Does that mean get James Shields on the phone? Well, the best available starter is likely looking at a much lowering price now than he was three months ago. At this point, he's either going to get paid by a team desperate for an arm, or he's going to have to settle with the best offer on the table. $100 million is not in the Yankees' price range, but something around the four-year, $55 million that Ervin Santana got and Big Game James could be Bronx-bound and back in the familiar AL East.

Shields wouldn't solve all of the Yankees' problems, but he would help beef up the starting rotation by a four or five extra wins, which could make or break their entire season.

February 3, 2015. Nine days before Jeter announced his retirement, the Yankees were going into the season with a real hope of getting back into the playoffs after missing out in 2013. Oh, how simple those times were.

Is it too late to go back?

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Yankees are in the playoff race because of their starting rotation

It's truly amazing what the Yankees have been able to accomplish so far in 2014 given the circumstances they have been playing under.

Coming into the season having spent near half a billion dollars in free-agency, the Yankees quickly fell victim to the the infectious injury bug, losing four of their five Opening Day starters before the All-Star break, coupling with an offense that never got going.

Starting pitcher Ivan Nova went down for the entire season in April because of Tommy John surgery. CC Sabathia got hurt in May, and was never seen again after eventually deciding on knee surgery. Michael Pineda missed nearly four months because of back issues. And Masahiro Tanaka has been out since July because of a partial tear of the UCL ligament -- he's on the comeback trail, and hopes to return in mid-September. Even David Phelps is out for a few more weeks because of an arm injury.

But somehow, with the Yankees' offense putting up some of it's worth offensive numbers in years -- showing just as lame as last year's offense -- it's been that same fill-in pitching staff that has kept this team just 2.5 games out of a wild card spot with nearly five weeks left to go in the regular season.

As the Yankees go into Detroit tonight to open up a three-game series with the Tigers, who the Yankees took three of four games from in the bronx three weeks ago, they boast a 3.81 starters' ERA, good enough for 6th in the American League -- thats even better than the Tigers, who hold the last three AL Cy Young award winners in their rotation; the only teams with a better starters' ERA than the Yankees are all current playoff spot holders.

And like I mentioned, most of the work has been put in by fill-in starts. Guys like Brandon McCarthy, who has posted a 1.90 ERA with just seven walks in 52 innings in eight starts since joining the team in early July (probably the best of the trades that Brian Cashman has made this season). And Shane Greene, who looked good in his eight starts, going 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA. Chase Whitley had his moments at the beginning before falling apart, for the most part. Chris Capuano, too, and even Vidal Nuno had one decent start -- you'll have to do some research to find it, though.

The Yankees enter tonight's game on a five-game winning streak, their longest of the season. In those five games, their starter has not given up more than three runs in at least five innings of work. That streak, in all, goes to six games, and seven of their last eight.

It's one of those things that I'll never understand, really: how could the Yankees still be in the position to hunt for a playoff spot when their offense ranks 19th in Major League Baseball in run scored, and the pitching staff has seen 12 different players start a game for them this season?

I don't care how they're doing it, honestly, just as long as this trend continues.

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David Phelps' injury means the Yankees now need to add another starter

With David Phelps going on the 15-day disabled list on Monday, the Yankees now have the best injured starting five in all of baseball.

Phelps -- sidelined for at least two weeks, possibly up to a month, with tendinitis in his right elbow -- joined the growing list of Yankees pitchers to hit the shelf this season, alongside CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Masahiro Tanaka, and Ivan Nova. The team just can't catch a break.

The Yankees called up Matt Daley from Triple-A Scranton to take his place on the active roster, rather than bringing up one of their last remaining starting options in the minors, Bryan Mitchell. So it appears that Esmil Rogers, who tossed three scoreless innings on Sunday night, will get the ball on Friday night against the Indians with Pineda still a couple weeks away from returning.

Pineda pitched in his first rehab game on Sunday, and is probably looking at making two more starts to get stretched out before he's ready to pitch in the big leagues again. Assuming he makes it through those last two or three starts -- and you really have to go out on a limb to assume that -- the Yankees will be getting a big boost their rotation.

The second big arm they're waiting on next is Tanaka, who played catch on Monday for the first time since being shut down nearly a month ago. Tanaka said he felt great afterwards and that he'll throw again on today, as he's in the early stages of a long road back.

My guess is that Tanaka, if all goes well, will be back sometime in mid-to-late September, which would slot him back into the rotation just in time for the final stretch run at the playoffs.

But while getting Pineda and Tanaka back in time for a playoff run would be a much needed jolt for the rotation, it's not going to be enough to not only get in the playoffs, but probably not enough to take down a team like Detroit or Oakland, who built their pitching staff just for October.

It's easy to believe that the Yankees are a batter team with Phelps, who has held down a rotation stop pretty nicely since taking over for Pineda earlier this season. With him in the rotation with Brandon McCarthy, who has been everything the Yankees needed since coming over from Arizona, and Hiroki Kuroda, it sure looks a lot better than Rodgers in there with Shane Greene and Chris Capuano.

They might not have needed to get one at the trading deadline, but the Yankees now need to add a starter this month. Brian Cashman has done a great job so far this season making trades without giving up his biggest prospects, and we're going to need him work his magic one last time.

There are several quality starters that I expect to be place on waivers this month. Cole Hamels and Ian Kennedy are going be the biggest names, but probably too expensive for the Yankees to get. AJ Burnett and Bartolo Colon will probably be thrown out there, too, but I don't see any reunions happening here.

Really the two names that I'm looking for for a possible waiver deal are John Danks of the Chicago White Sox and the Astros' Scott Feldman. Both pitchers are owed a lot of money over the next few seasons, but if their teams are willing to eat some it, a deal might be worth making. And going on that same note, the Yankees are going to need starters for next season, and like I mentioned, both are signed for at least two years beyond 2014.

The Yankees' playoff hopes are far from over, just five games out in the AL East. But without another starter, their chances are very grim.

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Other pitchers the Yankees could target before the trade deadline

The July 31 trade deadline is fast approaching, and the Yankees aren't waiting until the very last minute to start making moves. On Sunday, they acquired right-hander Brandon McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks for only Vidal Nuno in return.

McCarthy, who was 3-10 with a 5.01 ERA is 18 starts with Arizona this season, might not end up being much of a difference-maker for the Yankees, but it's a step in the right direction to make sure that Derek Jeter's final season doesn't end with a three-game series in Boston at the end of September.

With CC Sabathia likely done for the year, joining Ivan Nova, and Michael Pineda' return probably anther month away, at least, I still think the Yankees need to add another starter to have any real chance of winning this very winnable AL East, or even claiming one of the two Wild Card spots.

Because of the second wild card spot, there are now less teams willing to be sellers at the deadline, thinking they still have a chance at October, but that doesn't mean there won't be pitchers for the Yankees to target.

The Oakland Athletics took a pair of top choice candidates off of the Yankees' list last week, acquiring both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs. A few MLB insiders have said that the Yankees were in on acquiring both of those pitchers -- maybe not both, but at least one -- until the very end. Brian Cashman and the Cubs exchanged a few trade proposals, but in the end, Oakland had the prospect that trumped anything the Yankees could offer -- MLB.com's 11th ranked prospect, shortstop Addison Russell.

As for those still on the list, Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee has been connected to the Yankees for several years, and I wouldn't expect those rumors to go away during the deadline season this year. There are a couple of concerns over getting Lee, though. He's been on the DL for a while with an elbow issue and isn't expected back until shortly before the deadline. He's owed $25 million in 2015 with a $27.5 million vesting option for 2016. The Yankees don't have a left-hander in their rotation at the moment, and maybe eating up most or all of Lee's contract would keep them from having to give up a ton of prospects to get him. The injury concerns are there, but if given the chance to get him, I doubt Cashman will balk at the idea.

Lee's teammate, Cole Hammels, could also be on the market over the next couple of weeks, but it is yet to be seen if the Phillies have any real interest in moving him, given that he is one of the most valuable assets on their team. The 30-year-old Hammels is owed $90 million over four years with a vesting/team option for 2019. Again, Philly might not be willing to deal him, but if they decide to go into a full rebuilding mode, unloaded his contract off the books could be a way to go. The Yankees might not have the prospects to get him, unless they want to take a ton of that money off of the Phillies' hands.

Ian Kennedy, of the San Diego Padres, is an interesting name that has been brought to my attention a few times on Twitter. Kennedy, as many of you remember, is a former Yankee farmhand that I would assume will be available at the deadline if teams come calling. Kennedy has a 3.71 ERA, 2.93 FIP, and 9.7 K/9 in 116.1 innings this season out in San Diego. Kennedy hasn't been as good as his 21-4 year in 2011, but maybe coming back to the Bronx will be something that helps both him and the Yankees.

I think Justin Masterson is somebody you could look at if Cleveland decides to start selling -- they're 6 1/2 games out of the AL Central, and even though things aren't completely out of reach, I don't think they'll hang around much longer. Masterson only lasted 2+ innings against the Yankees on Monday night, giving up five runs on six hits. His 5.51 ERA is nothing to get excited about, but like McCarthy, he has a good groundball rate, which would play well in Yankee Stadium -- not necessarily with the Yankees' terrible infield defense, though. Masterson is a free-agent after the season and there is always a chance that the Indians hang on to him and give him a qualifying offer after the season, but if he's available, I wouldn't say no right away.

The Yankees have already taken one starting pitcher away from the D-Backs, so why not back after another? I'm talking, of course, about left-hander Wade Miley, who I think could be another great option beyond just this season. Miley has a 4.49 ERA in 19 starts for the D-Backs this season with 114 strikeouts and 35 walks in 120 innings. Arizona appears to be in a selling mode right now, so it wouldn't surprise me to see Miley be on the market, and if the Yankees can't land one of the Phillies' left-handers, then Miley could be the only one. Miley is under team control for several more years; he won't be eligible for arbitration until 2015.

There are several move options beyond the ones I listed above, and we'll get into those as we get even closer to the trade deadline. The Yankees have holes to fill on their roster, and there isn't really a shortage of candidates to fill those needs.

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CC Sabathia likely headed for an MRI for fluids in his knee

CC Sabathia is heading for an MRI on his knee after waking up to some fluids and swelling in his knee this morning following a rehab start with Double-A Trenton last night, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters before the game.

He'll be shut down for a bit, and now his expected return date will be pushed back even further than what nobody already knew what it was going to be. The Yankees are awaiting results of the MRI before figuring out how they should move forward with this.

Sabathia will down on the DL back in May and it was revealed that he has a degenerative issue in his knee, which could be a major problem in the future. The Yankees were hoping to get him back sometime around the all-star break, but that was eventually pushed back to at least August.

With both Sabathia and Michael Pineda on the DL until who knows when, the Yankees' rotation has been in need of a boost, relying on Vidal Nuno, whose last two starts have actually been decent, David Phelps and Chase Whitley, a career minor league reliever that got off to a hot start in the big leagues before struggling in his last two starts, to carry this rotation behind an on again, off again Hiroki Kuroda and staff ace Masahiro Tanaka.

Getting him back just after the all-star break could have been like adding a pitcher through a trade, in that there was a chance Sabathia comes back to be a steady pitcher in the rotation, giving the quality innings and good starts that he's paid to produce.

Instead, the unknown timetable becomes even more of an unknown.

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Vidal Nuno's struggles showing the Yankees' need for another starter

The Baltimore Orioles slung another beating to Vidal Nuno on Saturday, knocking in five runs (four earned) on three homeruns against Nuno to beat the Yankees 6-1. After the game, manager Joe Girardi told reporters after the game that Nuno's next start, against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, will not be skipped, and even though he didn't say it, it's probably not because Girardi believes that Nuno actually the best man for the job -- the Yankees flat out don't really anybody to replace him.

CC Sabathia isn't coming back until August, likely. He threw a 38-pitch bullpen before the game and is heading down to Tampa this week. Girardi also announced afterwards that there is still a trace of inflammation in Michael Pineda's shoulder muscles, meaning he'll be shutout for another week. I don't think we'll be seeing him against until at least either.

Down on the farm, Manny Banuelos is still throwing three innings a start down in Double-A Trenton. If he comes to the big leagues at all this season -- which seemed like a possibility during spring training -- it would likely be as a reliever during September call-ups. Shane Green isn't ready, I don't think, and the closest thing to a ready starter at Triple-A is a guy hardly anybody would risk giving a chance to -- Alfredo Aceves.

A lot of people have been bringing it up lately that the Yankees could always move Adam Warren to the rotation. I think that would be a very silly mistake on Girardi's part. Warren is in the bullpen because he wasn't one of the team's best starters, but he was still good enough to help the team. He's helping in the bullpen, with 2.04 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 39.2 innings this season. Not to mention, he hasn't started since spring training, so you'd have to stretch him out first.

So it's pretty evident that the Yankees need to deal for another starting pitcher before the trading deadline is they want to stay in this playoff race -- and the way things look, which ever teams makes the biggest move at the deadline could very well win the AL East.

General Manager Brian Cashman said earlier in the week that the Yankees are looking to make a couple of moves before the July 31 trade deadline, and ESPN's Jayson Stark wrote this week that the Yankees have been asking teams about almost only pitchers in their preliminary trade talks.

At this point in the season, it's tough to tell which teams might actually be willing to deal one of their best starters thanks to the second wild card spot keeping more teams in the playoff race far past July 31, meaning more teams are now waiting to see if they're actually a contender or a pretender.

There are a few notable pitchers on the trade market that the Yankees could look into, and a few more that will figure to be on the market depending on where their team is in the standings that the Yankees have been linked to, too.

Let's get the obvious names out of the way: the Yankees, for some reason, were one of the many teams to have a scout at David Price's start against the Houston Astros on Friday night. The Yankees don't have enough in their farm system to piece together a respectable offer for the Rays, and even if they did, it would be hard to see Tampa dealing Price within their own division.

Jeff Samardzija is a more realistic possibility for the Yankees, but even then, I still think his price tag will be too high for them to match. If you're looking for a reasonable name to watch, it would be Samardzija's teammate with the Cubs, right-hander Jason Hammel, who would be a very quality middle of the rotation start for the Yankees, slotting in behind Masahiro Tanaka and Hiroki Kuroda.

Hammel is currently 6-2 with a 3.02 ERA in 14 starts for Chicago this season, with 85 strikeouts, 19 walks, and a 1.019 WHIP in 89.1 innings. I think of all the pitchers on the market, Hammel might be the best fit and most safe pick, in terms of them not having to give up a ton, compared to the king's ransom they're throw at teams for Price or Samardzija.

One last name getting a lot of thought -- from me, at least -- would be the Phillies' Cliff Lee, who has been on the DL for the past month but hopes to return before the All-Star break. The Yankees have had an eye on Lee for quite some time, and given then opportunity to get him, Cashman might not pass up on it.

Right now, the Yankees' rotation is being carried by the leading AL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young candidate Masahiro Tanaka, who has been everything and more then the Yankees hoped, and Chase Whitley, who is 3-0 with a 2.56 ERA in seven starts -- but we really don't know how long he can keep it up -- so until the Yankees get their reinforcements in Sabathia and Pineda -- again, don't know when or even what you'll get from them -- they have to make moves to avoid sitting through more troubling starts from Vidal Nuno.

Like I said, the AL East can easily be won by the team that makes the best mid-season move to improve their club. It's time for the Yankees to make that move.

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Ace Whitley: Rookie right-hander stepping up when the Yankees needed another arm

So far this season, there have been very few players worth watching on this Yankees team.

Yangervis Solarte has always been an interesting watch -- just when you think he's going to cool off, he goes on a spurt that makes you believe in him again. Jacoby Ellsbury was awful in May, but is riding a 16-game hitting streak into Friday. Dellin Betances strikes out everybody in his path. And the most watchable player, Masahiro Tanaka, might just win the MVP award this season.

Chase Whitley has only been in the big leagues long enough to make six career starts, but he's quickly becoming another one of those players worth watching.

Coming off of his first career victory, against the Kansas City Royals, when he tossed seven innings of two-run ball -- also the longest outing of his short career -- the rookie right-hander struck out six Seattle Mariners over 7.2 innings, permitting just two runs on five hits.

He didn't walk a single batter in either one of those starts, and has only issued three free passes in 33.2 innings.

It's not very often that the Yankees bring up a starter from the minor leagues and he has immediate success, but Whitley has done a swell job of holding his own so far, and has done a lot to help pick up a rotation that was only being supported by Tanaka while CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova sit on the disabled list.

If you want to compare the numbers, Whitley has actually been pitching about the same, if not better, than Pineda was before his pine tar suspension and injury happened.

Through his only four starts, Pineda had a 6.86 K/9, 1.36 BB/9, 24.6 GB%, while Whitley has a 6.42 K/9, 0.80 BB/9, 43.7 GB%. I think the biggest thing is that he gets a lot more ground balls, which, obviously, plays well in Yankee Stadium.

Those groundball numbers play to the fact that Whitley throws a good changeup, and also mixes in a quality sinker with his slider and fastball.

According to BrooksBaseball.net, Whitley threw 18 sinkers last, 17 for strikes, and 8 of 12 swings put the ball in play, and only one of those eight balls in play was a non-out.

Whitley still has a little way to go before I can be on board with the idea that he's going to be the real deal and a possibly third starter down the road behind Tanaka and Nova. As we saw last night, building up his pitch count is still an issue.

His career high for pitches was 91 a couple weeks ago against the St. Louis Cardinals, and up until the end of the 2013 season, he was a reliever not use to throwing a whole lot of pitches. He’s thrown more than 60 pitches in an outing just 13 times in his entire pro-ball career. But if the last two starts indicate anything, it's that he'll be able to work deep into games against teams that don't work counts well -- like the Royals and Mariners.

The Yankees really needed somebody to step up in the rotation when all of the injuries struck, and if it wasn't for Tanaka, Whitley would probably be the best rookie to take the field for the Yankees this season.

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Fifth starter to be named this week: who will it be?

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

As spring training continues to wind down, we're going to start seeing a little more how the roles of players on the Yankees' roster will play out. By the end of the week, we should know who will be the Yankees' fifth starter this season.

From the NY Daily News, manager Joe Girardi plans to announce who the fifth starter will be at the end of the week so he can start ironing out the rest of the bullpen.

With that said, I'd be pretty shocked if Michael Pineda doesn't win the job with the impressive pitching he has done this spring as he continues to work back from shoulder surgery. He's going to beat out David Phelps, Adam Warren and Vidal Nuno, who have all had good springs as well.

Pineda has made two appearances, in start, so far this spring and hasn't given up a run in the 4.2 innings he's pitched, while striking out nine. Even better than that, he's only walked one, which shows good control early on.

While Masahiro Tanaka was been getting a lot of praise for the way he's looked this spring, Pineda has been highly talked about, too.

His velocity continues to build up -- he's been sitting in the 91-93 range -- which is expected. And his offspeed pitches, especially the slider, have looked very good.

A lot of the decision to have Pineda as the fifth starter would likely come down to who can pitch out of the bullpen, and who can't.

The Yankees had both Phelps and Warren in the bullpen last season, Warren more then Phelps, and both were very solid.

Phelps has had a good spring, with an ERA of 2.63 in four starts. His stuff has also looked good, and the Yankees know that he can pitch out of the bullpen, and even though he would be a good fifth starter, we don't know who well Pineda would pitch out of the bullpen.

Warren has really made himself know this spring with the way he has pitched. A lot like Phelps, he can be a pretty good back-end of the rotation starter in the big leagues, but on this Yankees squad, his stuff is best suited for the bullpen, where he can have a lot of success this season.

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Tanaka could start fourth or fifth game of the season

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

A lot of the talk surrounding Masahiro Tanaka this spring has been about what he'll game start for the Yankees to open the season. While many believe that it'll be the third game, in Houston, that might not be the case.

Though indirectly, Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild may have hinted that Tanaka is currently being set up to start the fourth or fifth game of the season.

If that were the case, Tanaka would make his first Major League start against AL East rivals the Toronto Blue Jays.

The reason being that if Tanaka were to start in the fourth or fifth game, it would allow him to get some extra rest early in the season because of how the Yankees' schedule is set up to begin the year.

“I think we weigh the schedule a little bit, where he can get extra rest in the season to try to keep him strong through the year,” Rothschild said. “We've got the 13 games in a row to start. That’s going to impact when we decide to pitch him.”

In Japan, Tanaka would only pitch once a week, compared to the every five days he'll pitch in America. Giving him some early rest would help in stretching him out so pitching every five days won't be a big issue as the season goes on.

So right now, it would be CC Sabathia as the Opening Day starter, with Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova pitching the other two games in Houston. Tanaka starts in Toronto and pitches five days later in the Bronx. He'll then be able to make his third start of the season on an extra day worth of rest.

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Yankees' rotation might not be as bad as you once thought

If there was one thing that killed the Yankees more than injuries last season, it was their starting rotation.

The Yankees never had more then two starters pitching well at the same time.

CC Sabathia was terrible for pretty much the entire season. He would give a decent start every now and then, but nothing more than that. Ivan Nova was on and off for the first half of the season until be found his magic touch in the second half, and when Nova started the find his groove, Hiroki Kuroda seemed to lose his.

Nothing was going their way in terms of starting pitching, even when a very sub-par roster was fighting extremely hard just to stay in the AL Wild Card race until the final week of the season.

The Yankees came into spring training with rotation questions that they refused to answer during the offseason, but now those questions appear to be answering themselves with every passing day of spring training.

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images

For starters, we all knew what we wanted to see from Masahiro Tanaka, probably the Yankees most prized offseason pick-up. But we weren't completely sure of what we are getting with him.

So far, so good. He's been as good as advertised, as Yankees catcher Brian McCann would put it.

Tanaka, in just two appearances this spring, has been very impressive. His splitter is everything people said it would be, and the way he has carried his business with the hundreds of media members following him around has made me believe that the extra attention from fans and media this season will have absolutely no effect on the way he pitches.

We've only seen Sabathia in one start so far this spring, and other than his velocity, there was nothing to bring you down.

Obviously you all know about his 2013, and the fact that he was coming off of offseason elbow surgery, and his velocity dropped, but Sabathia dropped a ton of weight in the offseason, he's been able to throw all winter unlike last year, and the lost velocity is nothing new to him anymore.

I get it, Sabathia is not going to be the ace of this staff anymore, but he's not going to let you think that. Sabathia likes to pitch and be competitive, and he's going to give you everything he's got this season to prove that last year was just a down year, now the beginning of a downward spiral.

Kuroda, he's 39 and heading into was is possibly his final big league season. Like I said, he was great for all but the final six weeks of the season, when his body began to break down from all of the work he was doing to carry the Yankees into the position they were in.

Kuroda has made two starts this spring, and they were both good. While he might tell you that things are where he wants them to be, he's right, but he's not far from what we'll see this year.

Nova has been an on and off pitcher for most of his big league career. His second half surge last season is what penciled him into the rotation in the first place.

The Yankees are banking on him to pitch better than any other 4th starter in the league, because he has the talent to do so.

Then you come to the fifth starter competition, which might not be a competition anymore if Michael Pineda builds off of his very impressive outing against the Detroit Tigers Friday night.

They say you can't judge much from a spring training game, but four strikeouts -- including one of Miguel Cabrera -- in two scoreless inning, showing off a nasty slider in the process was enough to make me tell you not to worry about the rotation this season.

Pineda was an all-star in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners before undergoing shoulder surgery, and I'm not saying he has to be an all-star this season, but anything near half as good as what he did in 2011 would be than any free-agent signing or trade the Yankees can make.

Like I said, everything you see in spring training must be taken in with a grain of salt, but I can tell you in all honesty that unlike last season, the Yankees' rotation will be anything to worry about.

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Things worth noting from the first week of spring training games

Yes, obviously it's tough the judge a player or team by what they do in spring training, especially the very first week of games. But there was a few things that caught my eye, and figured I would use this also as an update on how things are going for the club.

* Yankees catchers have been very impressive at the plate so far. The Yankees got almost not production from the catcher position last season, with just eight homeruns coming from the backstop. Brian McCann has been swinging the bat well, and not that he's getting hits in every at-bat -- he is 4-for-8, though -- but he's making hard contact on everything, which is only going to help with the short-porch in right field at Yankee Stadium.

The backup catcher race has been looking pretty competitive. Francisco Cervelli and John Ryan Murphy have both been swinging the bat well, too. Cervelli has four hits in seven at-bats and is also hitting balls hard. Murphy has four RBIs, three coming on a three-run homerun the other day, and has been showing off the potential that many underrate.

At this point, I still think that Cervelli is still the front-runner to win the backup job behind McCann. Cervy, as Joe Girardi calls him, is practically built to be a backup catcher in the big leagues. He gives you some very good defense behind the dish, and is a better hitter than, say, Austin Romine, who is more about defense.

I read an interesting thought from Chad Jennings of Lohud this morning that ties into Cervelli being the back. Jennings pondered the idea that the Yankees might be setting up Cervelli to be Masahiro Tanaka's personal catcher this season.

When the Yankees held their team bonding pool tournament earlier this spring, Tanaka's partner was Cervelli, who also caught him in his spring debut against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. While McCann has to learn the entire pitching staff because he is new, Cervelli already know most of the pitchers very well, and would be able to spend more time with Tanaka, and get to know him much better.

While that's not something the Yankees will come out and say during the spring, it'll be something to watch for as the games go on, especially this Thursday when Tanaka starts against the Phillies again, we'll see who is behind the plate.

One last note on the catchers: The Yankees have used a catcher at the DH position in almost all of their games this spring, meaning they've had two catchers in the lineup. Many speculate that the Yanks are trying to showcase their catching depth for a possible trade to acquire an infielder. The Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to add a young catcher, and are willing to give up one of their middle infielder. In that case, a trade could very much work out for both teams involved.

* Though it's too early to call him a legit roster spot contender, Yangervis Solarte has been very impressive this spring, both at the plate and in the field. Solarte currently has the highest batting average on the team after playing in just four games -- he's 6-for-7 with two homeruns and five RBIs.

If he continues to play well at this pace, it'll very possible that eh does get his name thrown into consideration when Girardi is deciding who he wants on his bench to start the season. Solarte could be a lot like a Eduardo Nunez-type player for the Yankees, and so far, he's been this springs Ronnier Mustelier, who played well enough to make the squad last year, but suffered an injury at the end of camp, hurting his Opening Day chances.

* Another thing tough to judge after just one week is how the starting pitchers have performed, because they've all been impressive. CC Sabathia, low velocity and all, Hiroki Kuroda and Masahiro Tanaka combined for six scoreless innings on Saturday. Ivan Nova looked very sharp yesterday against the Washington Nationals, striking out four in three innings. And Vidal Nuno has looked good as one of the fifth starter candidate.

David Phelps and Adam Warren also pitched well in their first starts of the spring; Michael Pineda is the only fifth starter candidate that has yet to pitch, but we'll him in action on Friday for the first time. The word on the street with Pineda, though, is that he's been throwing the ball well, and his arm strength is coming back.

Dellin Betances and Cesar Cabral -- two young pitchers with good chances to break camp in the bullpen -- have been solid and impressive during games. Betances has given up just one hit in almost four innings of work, while making his case to be an important piece in the Bronx this year. Preston Claiborne has even thrown two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He, too, can be important in the bullpen for Girardi this season.

* Derek Jeter looks healthy, and that's big. The infield is, without a doubt, the most questioned part of their roster. There are a handful of roles that will have to be defined as the spring goes on, but a healthy Jeter can help a lot.

Jeter says that he wants to play as much as possible yesterday, but we all know that he's not going to play shortstop everyday; he'll get a good amount of time in as the DH, and the Yankees will have to use Brendan Ryan, with a mix of either Dean Anna, Nunez or Solarte to also play shortstop, while also filling in at second base for Brian Roberts, who you need to keep healthy, and Mark Teixeira, who will need time off a couple days a week.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog

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Spring Training position battles: The fifth starter

The Yankees already know who will fill up four of the five spots in the rotation this season, and the last spot is still up for grabs. Four starters will enter camp with a chance to win the job, but only one will emerge victorious.

David Phelps, Michael Pineda, Adam Warren and Vidal Nuno will be the four pitchers battling for the final rotation spot.

They're working to be slotted in behind CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Masahiro Tanaka and Ivan Nova.

Pineda, in my opinion, will enter camp with the best chance to win the job. The Yankees have been waiting more than two years to see what he can give them. They gave up, at the time, one of their biggest prospects in Jesus Montero, and though he hasn't been much for the Seattle Mariners, either, the Yankees can finally win their trade for him if he's able to show that he is healthy, and able to be the fifth starter.

Just being able to come back as half of the pitcher he was in 2011 when he put together an all-star first half of the season, Pineda can make himself, possibly, the best No. 5 starter in the league.

Phelps technically won the fifth starter job last spring when Phil Hughes had to start the season on the DL with a bulging disk in his back, but never had to chance to actually make a starter until later in the season when Nova hit the DL in late-April.

I liked what he was able to do while being starter, and though he was only able to make 12 starts before going on the DL himself, I thought that he set himself up in a good position to be back in the rotation this year.

Warren is a guy like Phelps -- he's a talented arm that is capable of giving you some quality innings. He pitched pretty well as the long-reliever last season, and I think that he's more suited to be in that role again, and he'll probably get it if he doesn't win the fifth starter job.

Like Warren, I think that Nuno is a good pitcher, but might not have as much of a foot in the race as Phelps and Pineda do.

He impressed me in his few outings with the Yankees last year. His control has been praised by many, and his ability to throw strikes is far better than most pitchers in the league. We've heard some talk already about Manny Banuelos having a chance to make the club as the second lefty out of the bullpen, and Nuno might have a chance to do that if Banuelos starts in Triple-A, like he should.

Of the five positions battles we previewed this past week, this is definitely going to be that one that I'll be watching the most. Like the other positions, I'll also have periodical updates on how things are going throughout the spring.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

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Yankees recently inquired about Ervin Santana

The Yankees were one of several teams that recently inquired about free-agent starter Ervin Santana, says Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500. Ken Rosenthal also says that Santana is finally progressing towards a deal, but another report stated that talks still have a long way to go.

According to Wolfson, the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians are the other teams that have recently checked in with the right-hander.

However, the Dodgers might be out of the running for him after signing Paul Maholm this past weekend.

The Yankees had requested to see Santana's medical records last month, but that was as far as they have reportedly gone with in. Up to this point, Brian Cashman has said the Yankees are done making any more major moves, and seem ready to go into spring training with the current group of pitchers that have.

While Santana would be an upgrade over the current fifth starter candidates, I have not been one to push the Yankees to make this move. Yes he can be a good pitcher, but I think that you have to be cautious when looking at a pitcher that gives up as many homeruns as he does -- don't forget about Phil Hughes.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer for Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

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A healthy Michael Pineda can be a big victory for the Yankees

PALM COAST, Fla. -- Even if they don't win a championship, the Yankees have a chance to be major winners this season.

Two winters ago, when the Yankees sent their top overall prospect, Jesus Montero, to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Michael Pineda, an all-star pitcher with some serious potential, they thought they had acquired their future ace.

But a couple of shoulder surgeries later, the Yankees have yet to see him throw a Major League pitch in anything more than spring training.

Pineda is finally healthy -- at least that is what Brian Cashman is telling us -- entering spring training this year, and is ready to compete for a spot in the rotation for the first time since coming to New York.

For both teams involved in the trade, the Yankees and Mariners, this trade that featured nothing but promising young prospects has been a disaster. The Yankees have had to deal with Pineda's shoulder problems, and Montero not only dealt with some injuries, but he performed so badly in 2013 that he was sent back down to the minor leagues.

In all, nobody got what they thought they would.

But that can change this year with Pineda and the Yankees. Assuming he can stay healthy, they'll have a chance to be the winners of the trade, even if the victory comes a few years later.

Of course, everyone has their views on the matter, and I'm sure Cashman and Joe Girardi will have different opinions on how to use Pineda, but here is how I see things shaping out.

Pineda will be battling for the fifth spot in the Yankees' rotation this spring, and the job won't be won easily. He'll be going up against the like of David Phelps, who won the job last spring, Adam Warren, and Vidal Nuno. Warren pitched well out of the bullpen last season, and might be more suited in that role, and Nuno proved to be effected in his couple of starts in 2013.

There is always a chance that the Yankees decided to bring in one more starter, maybe someone with more experience, to compete for the final starting spot. But I don't see that happening right now.

Although, I think that of four starters most likely in the running for the job, Pineda might be in line to win it, ahead of Phelps, Nuno and Warren.

The reason being that the Yankees invested heavily in him, and really want to see what he can give them.

If you remember, this guy was an all-star in 2011, his last year in Seattle before being traded. If he can earn himself a rotation spot, and pitch to half of the level he was at in 2011, Pineda becomes, possibly, the best fifth starter in the game, and helps set the Yankees' rotation near the top of the league.

However, I don't expect Pineda to come back that great right away. He hasn't faced Major league hitters in a couple of years -- he only made a few starts in the minors last season - and it might take him a little bit of time to adjust.

But if he can get back to normal, and stay healthy, then Pineda becomes a major asset to the Yankees not just this year, but for the next few years. And with the farm system where it is, that's a pretty big victory for the Yankees.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

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Best free-agents still available: Starting Pitchers

With Masahiro Tanaka now in the mix, the Yankees' starting rotation looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago. The Yankees can now count on CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Tanaka and Ivan Nova being their first four starters, with a spring training battle to decide the fifth spot.

However, it's always possible that the Yankees could decide to sure up the rotation even more and add a veteran starter to compete for the fifth starter role, rather than just simply go with one of the young guys competing for the job.

Spring training starts next week for the Yankees, and there are still a good handful of notable pitchers worth signing, should Brian Cashman go that route.

Ervin Santana, SP: age 31, 211.0 IP, 9-10 W-L, 3.24 ERA, 161 K.

With Tanaka and Matt Garza having come off of the board in the last couple weeks, Santana remains as the top pitchers on the market, not far ahead of Ubaldo Jimenez.

He's been a guy with the potential be be a good starting pitcher, but he has never been able to put it all together for a full season. He's a guy that has given up a lot of homeruns in the past, making him no so compatible in Yankee Stadium. Phil Hughes gives up a lot of homeruns, and Yankee Stadium hurt his Yankees career.

The Bombers have not shown much interest in him this winter, though, and the signing of Tanaka probably threw away any small interest they might have had.

Ubaldo Jimenez, SP: age 30, 182.2 IP, 13-9 W-L, 3.30 ERA, 194 K.

Jimenez is probably the pitcher, of all of the free-agents that were on the market this winter, that I thought could most likely end up in pinstripes. I always felt that if they could land Tanaka, then the Yankees could go after Jimenez.

He is another guy that can be really good if he puts everything together. He finished the 2013 season with a great second half in Cleveland.

Declining a qualifying offer from the Indians means that he is tied to draft-pick compensation, bu that doesn't really seem to matter to the Yankees at this point after giving up picks to sign Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran.

Again, I don't think the Yankees are going to spend the kind of money on a start like Jimenez, when all they really need is a legit fourth or fifth starter. Not saying they can't do it, but I don't think they will.

A.J. Burnett, SP: age 37, 191.0 IP, 10-11 W-L, 3.30 ERA, 209 K.

I'm just going to come out and say this: why would some people even think of this as an option? The Yankees have already tried working things out with Burnett, and it ended with them trying really hard to get rid of him before the 2012 season, trading him to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yeah, it would be a great story to have him coming back to New York one last time, but things didn't work the first time he was here, so why would they work the second time around?

Sure, Burnett was decent in Pittsburgh in his two years there, but that was in Pittsburgh, not New York. Different league, different team, complete different setting.

Right now, I see the Baltimore Orioles being the favorites to sign him. They really need to add a starting pitcher before they get to Opening Day, and their heavy interest in the right-hander suggests that he could be the guy.

Bronson Arroyo, SP: age 37, 202.0 IP, 14-12 W-L, 3.79 ERA, 124 K.

Arroyo seems close to landing with another team as we speak, with someone on the west coast likely to come up the winner with him. Even though the Yankees reportedly "touched base" with him earlier in the offseason, I doubt there was any serious interest.

Yeah, Arroyo is a pretty tough, durable workhorse that will give you 25-30 starts each season, but I just didn't see him working out well in the Bronx.

Paul Maholm, SP: age 32, 153.0 IP, 10-11 W-L, 4.41 ERA, 105 K.

Personally, this lefty has been at the top of my "Fifth Start Free-Agent Big Board" for the Yankees this winter. I've always believed that if they sign someone to compete for the rotation stop, Maholm should be the guy.

Yeah, 2013 was not a great year for him (as you can see from the numbers above). He also failed to reach 175 innings last season, which he has done in six of his eight full big league seasons. That kind of workload would be great for a fifth starter.

Signing him on a short-term contract could be something that can help re-establish his value, and can turn out to be a good signing for the Yankees.

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If the Yankees decide against signing another starting pitcher, I think the current group of starters that will compete for the fifth spot -- David Phelps, Adam Warren, Vidal Nuno and Michael Pineda -- can be a solid option, too.

I'm sure that Pineda will go into the spring with the best chance to win the job. Assuming that he is healthy, I think the Yankees will give him the chance to be the all-star pitcher that he was when they acquire from him the Seattle Mariners two years ago.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (below).

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