MLB Trade Rumors: 5 starting pitchers the Yankees can target to fix their rotation

The Yankees have enough pitching to have a great regular season. However, the team does need another ace to achieve postseason success.

Luis Severino’s development as a true ace has been huge for the Yankees this season and is even more important for the team’s postseason hopes. Unfortunately, he’s the only starter Aaron Boone can absolutely count on at the moment.

The Dominican hurler has been nothing short of spectacular this season. He’s got a sparkling 7-1 record with an ERA of just 2.35 through his 10 starts. If the Yankees could put him on the hill every day they’d do so without a second thought.

Unfortunately, it takes more than one starting pitcher to achieve success. C.C. Sabathia has been terrific to open the season, but counting on him to pitch this way all season is irresponsible. After that, the rotation’s results have been even more mixed.

Sonny Gray has shown flashes of being the quality pitcher he was in Oakland, but his mental state is fragile at best. The Yankees are hoping he can pull out of his slump, but there are no guarantees.

Masahiro Tanaka seems to alternate between good and awful starts. Unless he finds some sort of consistency as the year progresses Boone isn’t going to want to use him in a key playoff game. It’s possible he’s just losing his stuff due to age.

The fifth spot in the rotation was filled by Jordan Montgomery to start the year until he hit the DL with an elbow injury. Domingo German has been decent in his absence, but he isn’t ready for a big-time postseason start.

Add it all up and it’s clear the Yankees need another front-line starting pitcher. They have enough depth, but they need someone else they can feel confident about in a tense playoff game. Predictably, that type of pitcher is hard to come by. Here are five players the Yankees could reasonably target and acquire before the trade deadline to give their postseason rotation a big boost.