Of the many questions hanging over the Yankees’ offseason, three reside in the starting rotation.
With Andy Pettitte having retired again and Phil Hughes heading to free agency, CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova are the team’s only certain starters next season.
As for Hiroki Kuroda, the midseason Cy Young candidate who fell apart in the final two months, he isn’t quite sure whether he wants to come back to The Bronx.
“Right now I’m not thinking about it and to be honest, I can’t think about it right now,” Kuroda said through a translator, outside of Yankee Stadium Monday. “At this stage, I’m not really thinking about it.”
The 38-year-old has spent the past two seasons with the Yankees, signing one-year contracts, including last fall’s $15 million deal, but Kuroda could be considering returning to play in his native Japan or sign with the Dodgers, with whom he played four seasons.
This season, Kuroda went 11-13 with a 3.31 ERA, but floundered in his final eight starts, going 0-6 with a 6.56 ERA as the Yankees failed to avoid their second season without a playoff appearance since 1995.
“I’m sure we all wanted to get to the playoffs, so in that sense I’m disappointed,” Kuroda said. “Overall, I thought it was a good season for me, but the latter half of the season where I didn’t contribute, I feel pretty bad about.”
Even if Kuroda returns, Nova knows his spot in the rotation will be more vital than ever.
After a shaky 2012, when he went 12-8 with a 5.02 ERA, the 26-year-old bounced back this season, going 9-6 with a career-best 3.10 ERA.
Nova said he hadn’t thought much yet about the drastic changes that could potentially take place for the Yankees in the offseason, but the right-hander did express enthusiasm Monday for accepting the responsibilities of an unquestioned top-end starter in the rotation next season.
“There should be,” Nova said about his elevated importance. “Of course, I want to be there. I want to be one of the guys that can pitch in any situation, that they can have confidence in me. That’s what I want to do.”