Monday night brought us a big trade in Major League Baseball, with James Paxton going to the Yankees for three prospects, the headliner being Justus Sheffield. The Yankees have already brought back lefty CC Sabathia, but that doesn't mean the work on the rotation is done for general manager Brian Cashman. 

The current Yankees rotation: 

  1. Luis Severino
  2. Masahiro Tanaka
  3. James Paxton
  4. CC Sabathia

For the fifth spot, there's Sonny Gray and I just can't see that happening. He'll be with another team come spring training. Domingo German has started before. Jordan Montgomery had Tommy John surgery last season. Some other options would be Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, A.J. Cole and pitching prospect Chance Adams. 

Especially considering Sabathia is 38 years old and Paxton's injury history, this right now doesn't seem like a rotation that will be capable of taking out the Red Sox at the top of the AL East. Surely, the Yankees want another good and proven starter. 

And then there's this report: 

This makes all the sense in the world. Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are the sexiest names out there, but the Yankees were second in runs in the AL, first in home runs, fourth on on-base percentage and second in slugging. They did this despite getting only 112 games from Aaron Judge, 123 from Gleyber Torres, 89 mostly bad ones from Gary Sanchez and not having an answer at first base for much of the season. They still need to answer the 1B question, sure, but the rotation is what needs the most attention. 

Now that the Yankees used their prospect depth to grab Paxton, it's time to dip into free agency. 

J.A. Happ, of course, was great for the Yankees in 2018. He went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 63 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings in his 11 starts after being acquired from the Blue Jays. There's a familiarity there and he'll be in his age-36 season in 2019, which means he won't cost nearly as much as Patrick Corbin. 

Corbin, 29, would be the big-money acquisition. He's arguably the best starting pitcher on the market. He's coming off a season in which he was an All-Star, pitching to a 3.15 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 246 strikeouts in 200 innings. It was likely his career year and some people caution against paying for that, but there's no doubt he's a very good pitcher still in his prime. He just finished fifth in a very competitive field for NL Cy Young. 

Take note that Paxton, Happ and Corbin are all left-handed. Yankee Stadium has the short right field porch and righties are traditionally worse than southpaws in it. Other free agent lefties include Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, Drew Pomeranz, Wade Miley and Derek Holland. 

Time will tell on whom Cashman adds, but it's a great bet that there will be at least one more capable starter added this offseason. The Yankees would always be motivated to win anyway, but seeing the Red Sox win 108 games and the World Series without ever facing elimination probably beefs up that motivation a bit.