The Tuesday Discussion: Pitching

April 15, 2025

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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:

It seems clear that the Yankees need starting pitching.  If you were the General Manager, how would you fix this problem in the short and long term for the 2025 Yankees?

Here are their replies...

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Lincoln Mitchell - If I were general manager, i would be fired already for trying to build a championship caliber team rather than stay within self-imposed budget and emotional limitations from my boss.

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Ethan Semendinger - As of right now, the Yankees have 1 (!) starting pitcher with an ERA under 5.00. And, by the eye-test, that isn't surprising in the least bit. Max Fried is the only pitcher who looks good out there. Carlos Rodon is an enigma. Will Warren should be the number 5 guy as a rookie. Carrasco is cooked. (Pun intended.) And Stroman is averaging 3 innings a start with an 11.57 ERA. This team needs serious starting pitching help.

Personally, I'd thank Stroman and Carrasco for their efforts, release the both of them, and let Clayton Beeter and Eric Reyzelman ride it out in the 4 and 5 spots to see if either of them can capture the moment. Meanwhile, I'd be calling the Pirates about Thomas Harrington and the Reds about Chase Petty to get the Yankees a bottom-100 prospect pitcher who is close to the bigs. Prospect for prospect trades are rare, but the Yankees are desperate.

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James Vlietstra - I’ve been saying it for 2 years… Trevor Bauer. 

He may be difficult to deal with but he did his time and assuming that there isn’t any collusion keeping him out of the league, he’s free to sign with anyone. He’s commented on Twitter that he would take a league minimum contract and has mentioned the Yankees specifically. I say if they are going to deal with the media attention (which would only be the first couple of weeks), sign him to a 4 year/ $20M contract with some incentives but with no guarantees. 

He’s a former Cy Young Award winner and probably would be making $40M+ a year under different circumstances. 

He becomes the short term and long term answer. 

If the Dodgers lost 2-3 of their starters, they wouldn’t think twice about signing him. That’s why they are the defending champions and favorites to repeat again. Willing to do whatever is necessary. 

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Cary Greene - If I was the GM, a situation where the team needed starting pitching in April wouldn't have arisen and I say that because I've often written that one of Brian Cashman's biggest weaknesses has always been his inability to put a dominant starting rotation together. Due to my belief that pitching wins championships, if I were the Yankees GM, there's a high probability that I would have never traded for Juan Soto. I know that sounds pretty off the wall, but I did write often before the trade was made that parting with Mike King wasn't something I'd be comfortable doing. 

Obviously, the trade took the Yankees to the World Series and they came somewhat close to winning a championship with Soto in the lineup, so I realize the gravity of my wanting to hang onto King likely may have hurt the Yankees championship aspirations but I'm more of a long term thinker than I am a "trade all my prospects so we can win now" type, so due to my belief that King would be a great long term fit as a starter for the Yankees, I wouldn't trade him for one year of Soto, or Superman, or Thanos (with the Infinity Gauntlet), nor anyone else. 

For amusement's sake, if I were installed as the Yankees GM today, how would I fix the Yankees starting pitching in the short term and the long term would be a different matter, as the rotation wouldn't have Mike King in it this year. Starting pitching is in very high demand this time of year and the demand will only increase as the Trade Deadline approaches. The Yankees will also get Clarke Schmidt back in the near future and he'd absolutely be in my long term plans so once he's back, the Yankees will be in decent enough shape to move forward. 

Once Luis Gil returns, the Yankees will have enough firepower to make some noise in the postseason, so there's no way I'd consider burning more prospects to acquire an overpriced starter at the Deadline. My long term strategy would therefore be to sign two starters this coming offseason. Signing Mike King and Framber Valdez would be at the top of my to-do list over the coming winter and I'd look to offload Carlos Rodon as well (would have liked the Yankees to do that this offseason). 

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Tim Kabel - Pitching is clearly an issue for the 2025 New York Yankees. At this point, if I were the general manager, I would wait a little while to see how Clarke Schmidt does when he returns to the rotation. After that, I would look around to see what other teams have available in the starting pitching department. Marcus Stroman probably will not be available for a while. Carlos Carrasco, even though he pitched well last night, it’s not the answer. Will Warren has potential. If there are no viable options via trade, I would go with what I have, but I would try to make sure there were viable bullpen arms available whenever Carrasco started in case he is knocked out early. I know Luis Gil will be back eventually, but, if a quality starter becomes available near the trade deadline, I would consider making a move.

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Paul Semendinger - I honestly don't have an answer. The cupboard seems bare. I don't see any trades on the horizon. (What team is trading a good pitcher, and who do the Yankees have to trade?) The Yankees have to hope that Carrasco becomes this year's Aaron Small, Warren becomes Chien-Ming Wang, and someone else becomes Shawn Chacon (or something like that), at least until Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil both return and are effective.

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Mike Whiteman - I'd love Brian Cashman to go out and get a couple of solid starters right now. That of course may or may not be an option at this time. Some pitchers may not be on the market, and those that are available may come at a prohibitive price. 

It's obvious that the Yanks will need to lean heavily on the pen at this point until rotation upgrades become available and affordable. So for now, I think Cashman should focus on adding low price arms and aggressively moving minor league options along to a point where they can contribute if needed, all while watching the trade market and being ready to pounce should the right option come along.