MLB Trade News: New York Yankees Considering Jake Odorizzi as Fifth Starter?
Yankees currently expected to head into the 2018 season with Jordan Montgomery as the fifth member of the rotation
After a remarkably brief rebuild that did not even lead to the New York Yankees posting a sub-.500 season, baseball's big bad villains appear poised to seriously contend for the World Series title this coming season.
Over this offseason, the team added to an already impressive core of position players that currently features star sluggers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez by trading for homerun king Giancarlo Stanton. They also re-signed CC Sabathia to be their veteran fourth starter.
Infielders Starlin Castro and Todd Frazier may have departed, but the Yankees appear content to have top prospects Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar eventually take over those openings.
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The lights-out bullpen the team had in 2017 is also intact and ready to shut hitters down again this coming season.
Still, the Yankees' roster is not flawless, and one particular spot where they may need an upgrade is in the back end of the rotation.
Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray and the aforementioned Sabathia make up a strong front four, but the fifth spot is not quite as settled.
Second-year man Jordan Montgomery is currently slated to be the team's fifth starter, and while he performed very well last year, a club with World Series aspirations may want someone else in that spot.
The Yankees may even be in the process of trying to upgrade that roster spot.
The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo recently noted that the Yankees was one of the teams that recently talked to the Tampa Bay Rays about starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi.
Now, it may seem strange for the Yankees to be interested in adding Odorizzi, considering that Montgomery arguably had a better 2017 campaign. However, the former does come with a track record of success.
As Odorizzi's numbers on Baseball Reference suggest, he was a good pitcher in 2015 and 2016, and it is possible that last year may be the outlier.
Montgomery could end up pitching well this year too, but then again, it is also possible that hitters can adjust to him better now that he is about to embark on his sophomore campaign.
The Yankees cannot really afford to have any weak spot if they want to overcome the other elite teams. If they can acquire Odorizzi, they can address a potential problem point and add needed depth as well.
More news about the latest MLB trade rumors should be made available soon.
