Yankees Scouting Padres' Ian Kennedy

Going into next Thursday's trade deadline, it's obvious to us all that the Yankees need another starting pitcher.

Currently, their rotation consists of known-to-struggle-late veterans Hiroki Kuroda and Brandon McCarthy, with the seemingly-reliable David Phelps, Shane Greene, and Chase Whitley rounding things out.

Now overall, that group does look pretty good, but since Whitley and Greene's collapse could be inevitable the team is being cautious, scouting Padres right-hander Ian Kennedy yesterday.

According to Fox Sports 1's Jon Morosi, the Yanks had someone on hand for Kennedy's outing last night, in which the 29-year-old tossed 6 innings of three-run ball against the hometown Cubs.

No, that kind of performance isn't amazing, but considering that the ex-Bomber does have a 3.66 ERA in 135 1/3 IP he is pretty likable, something underrated yet important.

This year's trade deadline, as does every year's, falls at 4:00 pm ET on July 31, leaving a mere seven days for Yankees GM Brian Cashman to add more pieces to his club.

Remember, going into this last week Cashman has to acquire another arm and probably another bat, no easy task when two of your top major-league trade pieces (Vidal Nuno and Yangervis Solarte) have already been dealt.