The Yankees hope to re-sign CC Sabathia, aim to add multiple pitchers via trade or free agency and have received interest in Sonny Gray, GM Brian Cashman told reporters at GM Meetings on Monday.
"We need to reinforce our pitching, so we'll do the best we can with that," Cashman said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "That seems to be a yearly effort."
The Yankees will enter the 2019 season with Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka as staples from last season's rotation and could also put top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield in the mix, but Cashman said he hopes the team will re-sign Sabathia, who has been with the Yankees since 2009.
"I'd love to have him come back," Cashman said, according to the Bergen Record's Matt Ehalt. "Obviously nothing to speak for that as of yet but he's been a great Yankees and he has some time on the clock still. It remains to be seen if it's with us or not. I think he'd like to stay and I think we'd like to keep him."
This year's free-agent market features several big names, including the highly-coveted Patrick Corbin, who went 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA with the Diamondbacks last season, and former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel, who went 12-11 with a 3.74 ERA with the Astros in 2018.
Midseason acquisitions like J.A. Happ, who went 7-0 as a Yankee last season and 17-6 with a 3.65 ERA overall, and Lance Lynn, are also free agents, as are Nathan Eovaldi and Charlie Morton, among others.
Free agency isn't the only avenue New York could look to when it comes to pitching. The Indians have reportedly been looking to shed salary and could look to deal ace Corey Kluber, and perhaps the Yankees could show interest.
"I'm interested in adding more than one pitcher," Cashman said, according to Ehalt. "I think I need to add multiples. If I can do so, we'll see."
Cashman never mentioned specific players the Yankees could target, however.
"I'm not going to say who and when but we will make sure we check every box in terms of what's available and the cost associated with what's available in both marketplaces, free agency and trades," Cashman said, according to NJ Advance Media's Brendan Kuty.
One pitcher not in the Yankees' plans, though, is Gray.
The 28-year-old Gray, whom the Yankees acquired via trade in 2017, has a 15-16 record and 4.51 ERA in 41 career games with New York. His struggles last season -- 11-9, 4.90 ERA -- led him to be bumped from the rotation and left off the playoff roster.
Cashman said Monday that "a lot of teams" have inquired about Gray, however added that the team has yet to move him because he hasn't received the right offer.
"We are going to move him if we get the right deal because I don't think it is going to work out in The Bronx," Cashman told the New York Post's Joel Sherman. "I don't feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results."
He added, via Newsday's Erik Boland: "Once we feel comfortable w/ the return we'll make the decision to move him. But the plan is to move him because I don't want to keep going through the process of something that won't work here."