Quick Hit: Once Again Floating the Six-Man Rotation Idea

The New York Yankees have made many additions and twice as many subtractions to the 2016 squad this winter due to Brian Cashman’s wheeling and dealing. Cashman stated early on in the offseason that he wanted to add another reliable starting pitcher into the fold and preferred to have a young and cost controlled guy with three years or less of service time. To date Cashman hasn’t been able to pull off any trades to address the starting pitching leaving the same cast of characters from 2015 competing to bring the team back to the playoffs in 2016. The injury concerns are still there for this club so to limit them and to possibly improve the team would a six-man rotation work in New York?

I know I’ve asked that question numerous times but the Yankees must feel the same way I do about the whole situation. More than once last season they tried to get the six-man going and every time it was derailed by injuries. Masahiro Tanaka will have those same doubters wondering why he didn’t have Tommy John surgery after every ball in the dirt he throws and they will especially be coming out in droves after his bone spur removal surgery this offseason. Luis Severino will be on some sort of innings limit presumably while there will always be concerns with some sort of Nathan Eovaldi’s, CC Sabathia’s Ivan Nova’s and Michael Pineda’s body.

The Yankees, in some circles anyway, don’t have a bonafide ace in their rotation so taking away starts from an ace is not a road block that the Yankees face. The closest thing to an ace the Yankees have is Tanaka and they skip his starts whenever possible anyway so it wouldn’t make that much of a difference while they are already talking about skipping Severino’s starts whenever possible as well to limit his innings this season. This keeps everyone healthy and fresh and outside of Pineda’s struggles with extra rest it makes everyone better, on paper anyway.

Not that the team needs my seal of approval on this but if they did they would get it because I support the idea of a six-man rotation on THIS team.