THE YANKEES HAVE 'CHECKED IN' ON THIS PITCHER...

WILL VRAGOVIC | Tampa Bay Times

And no one saw it coming... except for Ken Rosenthal of course. The Athletic writes that the Yankees have looked into the possibility of adding Tampa Bay Rays righty Jake Odorizzi. OK then.

"The intentions of the New York Yankees, who have checked in on Odorizzi at various points, are less clear. The Yankees’ rotation seemingly is set with Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, Sonny Gray, CC Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery. But the team has been trying to trade center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to clear money for other pursuits, including a possible run at Darvish...

Photo: Tampa Bay Times

Odorizzi finished with a 4.14 ERA and allowed 30 home runs in 143 1/3 innings last season, missing time from July 26 to Aug. 9 due to a lower back strain but producing a 1.72 ERA in his final six starts."

There's not a lot there, but what is there is the Yankees continued intent to try and get an extra arm in that Yankee rotation that is not overly expensive, BUT still reliable.

We will have to see what happens here, but it's an interesting nugget, and you know I love nuggets.