HAL STEINBRENNER: WE ALREADY HAVE A "VERY GOOD" ROTATION FOR 2020

I can appreciate a good poker face, it is definitely an art. I've said that Brian Cashman has a good one. Question is....what about Hal Steinbrenner? I'm not so sure. He's had a lot to say recently. Question is, should we take him at face value or is he just trying to trick everyone else?

Starting pitching has been a major topic for a long time now. Some of us are more passionate about it compared to others. Some may think we won't win without more "top of the rotation" guys. Even if you don't think we NEED an ace pitcher, we can all admit it would be nice to have one. Good pitching is key to winning championships right?

Right. Hal knows that, but does he think we already have what we need for next season? Read HERE and see if Hal has you convinced, too.

"If the 2020 season was to start tomorrow, I would feel considerably more confident than I did a year ago at this time." Steinbrenner said. "We will have both Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery back. We now know that Domingo German can pitch effectively at this level.  And we know James Paxton can be the guy that we were hoping for when we made that trade. We have Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, Jonathan Loaisiga, and perhaps Deivi Garcia at some point. A very good rotation."

But is it good enough? We can't really count on Garcia yet, he didn't even get a September call-up when rosters expanded. It's good to have Jordan Montgomery as an option now, but can he bounce back and be that reliable guy? And Happ fell apart. The guy we saw in 2018 didn't come back and was moved to a reliever role for the postseason. We have a collection of arms, but is it the right collection of arms?

I don't buy it. This winter will have some of the best free agent pitchers we have seen in YEARS. I'm not talking just starters, but also relievers. There is some grade A talent out there and the Yankees are ready to make a splash. Passing on Manny Machado was no coincidence last winter, even if some of us didn't want to see it at the time. I really don't see the Yankees just sitting back and watching other teams make upgrades. Even if the Yankees aren't willing to spend on Gerrit Cole, they have guys like Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner and Jake Odorizzi out there. There are some guys out there that would make this pitching staff even stronger.

Hal isn't saying he's ready to make a move, but let's be real.....this free agent market is too good to pass up, see the full list HERE. They aren't going to sit back and watch good arms just go off of the market and rely on Happ to have a magical bounce-back season.

I' not going to worry about what Hal said. The Yankees missed out on pitching last winter and at the trade deadline, it's hard for me to believe they will miss out again.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @NYPrincessj