Yankees Trying To Sign Every Pitcher In Baseball

As the old baseball adage goes "pitching wins ballgames", so it's no surprise that the Yankees are responding to last year's disappointing season by trying to shore up their rotation. But what you don't expect them to do is sign every pitcher in baseball! The Yankees' interest in Cheddar Combo Sabathia has been well-documented, especially after they offered him $137 million double cheeseburgers to spend the next few years in pinstripes. But apparently they're not settling for just the best free agent pitcher in baseball. They're also trying to land another three high-profile hurlers. Two of them are "on the radar", as they say, because Hank Steinbrenner has been running his mouth off again to the AP:

"And we're prepared to make offers to Burnett and Lowe."

That's A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, two pretty solid pitchers to have on any team. Add them to a rotation with Sabathia and you're immediately in contention. But they don't care about "contention". They want the season to be over before it even begins, so they're going for an even bigger prize: Jake Peavy.

The Yankees' Brian Cashman and Padres' Kevin Towers discussed Padres right-hander Jake Peavy at the general managers' meetings earlier this month in Dana Point, Calif. "Right now, I need to stay focused with National League clubs," Towers told Cashman. "If I'm not able to get close with any of them, I'll circle back to you." Well, Towers is officially circling, and the Yankees remain interested in Peavy, despite their apparent plan to buy every top free-agent pitcher by the end of the weekend.

At this rate the Yankees are going to be forced to install the little-used 8-man rotation. Sources: Pads, Yanks had 'numerous' Peavy talks [Fox Sports] Steinbrenner confirms Sabathia, Burnett, and Lowe [Examiner]