Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija are the Yankees’ opponents for their two-game series at Wrigley Field. They also are auditioning.
Because if it wasn’t obvious before, the Yankees are clearly in the market for starting pitchers now that they know CC Sabathia will be out likely until at least July. Hammel and Samardzija are expected to be two of the more prominent starters available.
However, no one is available currently, general manager Brian Cashman said. And the Yankees are very much in desperation mode with the rotation in the here and now.
Ivan Nova already has been lost for the season. Michael Pineda (lat) is throwing bullpen sessions and without further glitches should be back the second week in June. And Sabathia needed stem-cell treatment injections into his inflamed right knee, and Cashman said “it will be no sooner than six weeks from now” before the lefty could return.
However, Cashman said that was the rosiest forecast. At this moment, the Yankees have Masahiro Tanaka, a fading Hiroki Kuroda and three replacements — David Phelps, Vidal Nuno and Chase Whitley — in the rotation. If they knew for sure Pineda and Sabathia would return successfully, then the issue would be less alarming.
But Pineda has proven fragile in now his third season with the Yankees. And Sabathia’s arm already was diminished from the wear of being a career-long workhorse. Now, he has a knee injury that will need surgery, at the latest, in the offseason.
Sabathia received the injection Thursday in Alabama from noted surgeon James Andrews. He was scheduled to get off crutches Monday and begin pool therapy as soon as Tuesday.
“Our dialogue with Andrews has been good and the small sample of stem-cell procedures, the results are very successful,” Cashman said. “But he has to be pain free before strengthening, so there is a way to go. Because he is a starter it will take longer. I have no idea how long it will be and if it will be successful. We are hoping it is six weeks to a major league return.”
Cashman said the Yankees “have no choice” but to go internal because “nothing has materialized [on the trade market]. If we can make something materialize, we will. If not we go with what we’ve got.”
The next man up — if there were further injury or underperformance — would be Adam Warren, according to Cashman. However, that would rob the bullpen, where Warren has pitched well. After that, perhaps, they would consider Alfredo Aceves. Once touted prospect Manuel Banuelos is nowhere near ready to help in the majors. The lefty has been limited to three-inning outings as he builds up after Tommy John surgery and was scratched from Monday’s start with what was described as fatigue. In his last three starts at Double-A he has surrendered six runs in 6 ²/₃ innings, walking six.
In the big picture, the Yankees will continue to monitor the trade market to see if they can find help. Samardzija is viewed as the best starter likely to be available in June — he is a free agent after 2015, and the Cubs and the righty have yet to get close to constructing a long-term deal. If the Rays and/or Phillies are not in contention, there are expectations that David Price and/or Cliff Lee could go on the market.
Hammel (signed for just $6 million this year) is among the next-level starters who could become available because the Cubs remain in rebuild mode and — in particular — are looking for high-end young pitching in return. Cleveland’s Justin Masterson (a free agent after the season), Arizona’s Bronson Arroyo and Houston’s Scott Feldman also have been mentioned by executives as potential trade candidates.
Two interesting cases could be the Mets’ Dillon Gee and San Diego’s Ian Kennedy. The Mets — if they are not in contention — could look to market Gee or Jonathon Niese to find position players, believing they have strength in young starters coming. Kennedy is beginning to get expensive ($6.1 million this season) and can be a free agent after next season. He was the Yankees’ first pick in the 2006 draft and was a key piece in the three-way trade that brought them Curtis Granderson.
To make a significant trade, though, the Yankees will have to use pieces from a farm system that is not generally well regarded. It could be they would have to include a catcher — John Ryan Murphy or Gary Sanchez — to front any meaningful deal.