Game Thread: New York Yankees @ Colorado Rockies 6/14

The New York Yankees are making a quick two-game stop in Colorado to take on the Colorado Rockies this week with the first game coming tonight inside Coors Field. The Yankees are coming off an impressive home stand despite losing their last two games over the weekend and head into the game tonight fresh off their first off day in far too long. In the contest the Yankees will send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound to face off against the struggling Jorge De La Rosa. The game will be played at 8:40 pm ET inside Coors Field and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV.

New York has one more in Colorado tomorrow before heading back to an American League park to face off with the Minnesota Twins. Follow along during these games and every game this season and interact with us by following us on Twitter, @GreedyStripes, or by liking us on Facebook by searching for The Greedy Pinstripes.

Let’s show these NL guys how it’s done. Go Yankees!

Yankees Hot Stove Update

Yankees also in discussions with Rockies involving Jorge De La Rosa who is red hot 3-0 with a 1.78 ERA and 1.105 Whip in July #Rockies #NYY
— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) July 25, 2014

The New York Yankees and Brian Cashman are extremely active this week as we head towards the trading deadline of July 31. Instead of writing 100 posts detailing all the potential deals I thought one nice and neat little post would be more efficient.

The Yankees are said to be discussing a trade with the Colorado Rockies for Jorge De La Rosa.

yankees are interested in kennedy but not in clarkin plus jagielo for kennedy.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 25, 2014

New York is discussing an Ian Kennedy trade with the San Diego Padres

Both the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox have shown some interest in acquiring backup catcher Francisco Cervelli. I have seen the names of De La Rosa, Brett Anderson, and Wilin Rosario thrown around from Colorado and John Danks name mentioned from the White Sox.

Yanks are currently not in on Matt Kemp, according to a source.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 25, 2014

The Yankees are not said to be interested in Matt Kemp. That's a shame, his talent would be amazing in New York.

The "Best" Of What's Left On The Trade Market

After the Oakland Athletics soaked up all the good starting pitching we had a legitimate chance of acquiring by trading for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel the Yankees find themselves in a not so great predicament. I personally don't believe that the Yankees can acquire David Price, not from the Rays anyway, so the "best" of the rest is really scary to look at.

I do not have links or sources that say these guys are actively available but I simply looked at the 2015 and 2016 free agent classes for starting pitching and looked at the non contending teams specifically. I compiled a short and no so sweet list of pitchers the Yankees could look at this July.

Edinson Volquez (Padres): 30 years old, 4.07 ERA, 87 ERA+, 4.39 FIP, and 1.242 WHIP.

Kyle Kendrick (Phillies): 29 years old 30 in August, 4.12 ERA, 89 ERA+, 4.12 FIP, and 1.326 WHIP.

AJ Burnett (Phillies): 37 years old, 3.92 ERA, 93 ERA+, 4.00 FIP, and 1.359 WHIP.

Jhoulys Chacin (Rockies): 26 years old, 5.40 ERA, 78 ERA+, 4.80 FIP, and 1.437 WHIP.

Ian Kennedy (Padres): 29 years old, 3.87 ERA, 87 ERA+, 2.88 FIP, and 1.235 WHIP.

Jorge De La Rosa (Rockies): 33 years old, 4.86 ERA, 86 ERA+, 4.81 FIP, and 1.335 WHIP.

Cliff Lee (Phillies): 35 years old 36 in August, 3.18 ERA, 115 ERA+, 2.67 FIP, and 1.279 WHIP.

Cliff Lee isn't healthy which really complicates things, complicates things that got real complicated when Billy Beane cornered the starting pitching market. It may be worth selling pieces this season and building towards 2015.

Five Realistic Yankees Trade Targets

The New York Yankees likely don't have the resources to acquire a David Price or Jeff Samardzija unfortunately but there are five starting pitchers I find to be realistic for the Yankees to be looking at. Obviously these guys will not knock Masahiro Tanaka off his ace pedestal but any of these five guys could really help the Yankees rotation right now.

Ian Kennedy, we all remember the name. Once a highly touted Yankee prospect and the last to make the majors in the same season he was drafted. Kennedy has a 9.7 K/9 which could help him switch from a pitcher friendly park in Petco back to Yankee Stadium.

The Rockies Jorge De La Rosa has struggled this season but it somehow may be easier for him to pitch in Yankee Stadium than it was in Coors Field. De La Rosa has a 4.78 ERA so he may not be the biggest Yankee upgrade but he would easily be the cheapest, plus he's left handed.

Brandon McCarthy gives up too many home runs for Yankee Stadium but sports a 9.67 K/9 to make up for it a bit. The Diamondbacks want to dump his $9 million in salary so he could also come cheap.

Jason Hammel is no Jeff Samardzija but he is solid and a free agent at the end of the season. Hammel has AL East experience and could fit into the Yankees price range prospects wise.

Cliff Lee is hurt and might not have much time to prove he is healthy before the trading deadline. He is high priced and an aging veteran, the Yankees forte. Plus we have a history of stealing salary dumps for nothing from the Philadelphia Phillies, see Bobby Abreu.