New York Yankees

Via two tweets from Buster Olney of ESPN:

Since the Yankees failed in their quest to get Cliff Lee, the Yanks need to make a trade and make one now! They cannot go into the 2011 season with the same thin pitching staff that got them unceremoniously dismissed from the postseason. The Yankees need a solid No. 2 pitcher behind C.C. Sabathia and the Mets have him.

Who should the Yankees go and trade for?

The answer is Johan Santana.

Via Jerry Crasnick of ESPN:

LHP Jeff Francis has gotten calls from several clubs. Mets, Nationals, Pirates, Rangers and Yankees have varying degrees of interest.

For the past two seasons, Derek Jeter has been leading off for the New York Yankees after spending many years in the two-hole.

At the beginning of 2009, Joe Girardi explained that Jeter was a "more pure" lead-off man than Johnny Damon. Speculation has it that it was also because Jeter frequently hits into double-plays.

After getting spurned by top free agents from Cliff Lee to Carl Crawford and failing to make a trade for an impact arm such as Zack Greinke, the New York Yankees currently sit as a team that is certainly no better than last year's version, and may be even worse.

If the Yankees cannot entice longtime great Andy Pettitte out of retirement, the rotation could feature multiple minor leaguers and castaways.

Mickey Mantle matured on Aug. 14, 1960. The New York Yankees were embroiled in a tense pennant race with the defending American League champion Chicago White Sox and the upstart young Baltimore Orioles.

The Washington Senators were in Yankee Stadium for a doubleheader. The Yankees were in first place, but when the games had been completed, they were a third-place team.

Heading into the offseason, the Yankees considered themselves favorites to land Cliff Lee, and the Rangers definitely thought they had a chance. The Angels though they could sign Carl Crawford, and several teams around the league believed they could bring in Zack Greinke.

With all three players off the market—Lee in Philly, Greinke in Milwaukee and Crawford in Boston—GM's around baseball are scrambling to find that backup plan, fill their budgets and put a competitive team on the field heading into 2011.

With the Yankees having missed out on ace pitchers Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke, they are now faced with more bad news.

Veteran lefty Andy Pettitte is leaning towards retirement, which will make the Yankee rotation thinner than it already is.

There are not many options left in free agency, so the Yankees might be forced to make the 38-year old Pettitte a big one-year contract.

Losing Pettitte would be devastating for the Yankees, who currently have Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre at the back of the rotation.

The New York Yankees rarely allow emotions to interfere with winning.

After the Cleveland Indians won the 1954 pennant to snap the Yankees' record streak of five consecutive pennants and World Championships, general manager George Weiss, referred to by baseball writers as "Lonesome George," stole Bob Turley and Don Larsen from the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees won four consecutive pennants from 1955-58.

The New York Yankees relied on the right arm of Luis Vizcaino as their bridge to Mariano Rivera in 2007.

The Yankees acquired him in the deal that also brought along Randy Johnson for a short amount of time. Then they sent Vizcaino on his way and chose not to re-sign him when his contract expired.

Vizcaino's road in the Major Leagues was crazy afterwards. He signed with the Colorado Rockies only to be traded early on to the Chicago Cubs, who would release him in the same season.