New York Yankees’ show interest in Beltran, Drew, Ellsbury, and more

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the New York Yankees are not stopping with their $85 million acquisition of star catcher and former Atlanta Brave Brian McCann.

Not that any of us thought they’d be done. But talk about aggressive. According to Heyman, the Yankees are “engaged” with shortstop Stephen Drew and outfielders Carlos Beltran,  Jacoby Ellsbury, and Shin-Soo Choo. They’re also known to be talking with representatives for former Twins and Rangers closer Joe Nathan and their own free agents, starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda and second baseman Robinson Cano.

Of course, everyone knows that Cano is looking for a $300 million deal, and the Yankees have been very vocal in stating that they won’t be the team to sign him (or anyone) to a 10-year deal, or one that totals more than $300 million. Clearly, they won’t be inking more than one  (maybe two, at most) of the Beltran-Ellsbury-Choo trio.

Pitching should be the focus for the Yanks, but we’ll see how seriously they end up taking their dearth of talent on the mound. Kuroda would certainly be a start, and other mid-rotation arms like Matt Garza and Ubaldo Jimenez remain on the market. It wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise if the Yankees spent lavishly on position players and went diving in the bargain bin for pitching, but it would be a disappointing misappropriation of funds.