The truth is that the best-case scenario for the Yankees this offseason was to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto, though after he signed with the Dodgers, there still shouldn't be that much worry among Yankees fans. Let's take an honest look at what Yamamoto would have brought to the Yankees. This is what their rotation would have been with Yamamoto:
- Gerrit Cole
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Carlos Rodon
- Nestor Cortes
- Clarke Schmidt
Basically, Yamamoto would have been a good finesse pitcher behind a power pitcher like Gerrit Cole. Cole and Yamamoto would have been a very effective top two in terms of keeping hitters off balance with their different styles of pitching. Then you would have had Rodon with his power fastball from the left side, and Nestor Cortes—the master of deception—coming at you the next day. Without Yamamoto, this balance in the rotation ceases to exist, but it is still achievable if the Yankees do the right thing. That would be to bring back Jordan Montgomery, which would not only be good for production on the field, but also for team chemistry. Back in 2022, four of the Yankees pitchers—Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Jordan Montgomery, and Nestor Cortes—all seemed to be very close, and all seemed to feed off each other. That is, until Brian Cashman decided to trade Montgomery to the Cardinals for Harrison Bader. Say all you want about the lack of hitting in the second half of the Yankees' 2022 season, but I believe that it went downhill when they got rid of Montgomery. This is how I think the rotation should look if they signed Montgomery:
- Gerrit Cole
- Jordan Montgomery
- Carlos Rodon
- Nestor Cortes
- Clarke Schmidt
In the event that the Yankees obtained Montgomery, they would probably make him the third starter, which I think would be a mistake. Montgomery proved himself last season with the Rangers en route to their World Series title. He proved that he could be a really good number two starter, or even ace if need be. Plus, though Montgomery may not be as high profile as Yamamoto, he is similar in the sense that he is more of a finesse pitcher than a power pitcher. The Yankees wouldn't be missing out on much if they signed Montgomery, and they'd be saving a good chunk of money that they could use to sign another pitcher to replace Clarke Schmidt in the rotation. But then, who would be that fifth guy?
There has been a lot of news about the Yankees' interest in Dylan Cease, but that would not be a smart move at all. He strikes out a ton of hitters, but he also only had one great season where he finished second in the Cy Young voting. Last year, his ERA was a bloated 4.58 and he walked way too many hitters. That does not come as a surprise for Cease as he is consistently a starter with a high walk rate, but it's not a very pretty combination when you are walking a lot of hitters and also giving up runs. A very similar pitcher to Cease is Blake Snell. Blake Snell won his second Cy Young Award last year while walking the most hitters of any pitcher in the major leagues. The walks are also nothing new for Snell. I think that the Yankees should go after Snell because though he is comparable to Cease in terms of walking a lot of batters, Snell's worst seasons are still respectable, while Cease's worst can be a significant blow to a team's success. If the Yankees got Snell, at the worst they'd be getting a solid fourth or fifth starter, and at the most they'd be getting a Cy Young candidate. Not to mention, he seems to handle the bright lights well judging by his performance in game 6 of the 2020 World Series against the Dodgers. Snell also seems to be pretty good friends with Aaron Judge, so he's probably a likeable dude. If the Yankees managed to get Snell, I'd set up their rotation like this to begin the season:
- Gerrit Cole
- Blake Snell
- Carlos Rodon
- Jordan Montgomery
- Nestor Cortes
If Snell isn't performing at Cy Young level just make him the fourth or fifth starter for the playoffs.
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