Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish has yet to be posted, but Cubs right-hander Matt Garza is on the block.
You can be sure the Yankees will kick the tires on Garza next week at the Winter Meetings in Dallas.
This is the offseason of pitching, pitching and more pitching for the Yankees, so they will be looking anywhere they can to improve the staff. The biggest piece is in place in CC Sabathia, but that just keeps the Yankees where they were this past season. They still are looking to upgrade.
Garza certainly has the stuff to be effective, and new Cubs general manager Theo Epstein got the word out yesterday that Garza is available for the right price.
Two different talent evaluators, one from the National League, and the other with an AL club, told The Post that they are extremely impressed with Garza’s stuff and the fact he can repeat his delivery with ease. Both evaluators said it would be worth it for the Yankees to take a shot at Garza.
General manager Brian Cashman did not want to get drawn into any talk of whether the Yankees would make a play for Garza, but it stands to reason he is on Cashman’s radar.
Garza, 28, was 10-10 for the dreadful and defensively-challenged Cubs last season with a 3.32 ERA. He seems to get in his own way sometimes — a little bit like A.J. Burnett — but there is no denying he has the kind of ability to succeed in the AL East. The former Ray is 7-4 lifetime against the Red Sox.
Over the second half of the season, Garza was 6-3 with a 2.45 ERA. For the year, he allowed 8.5 hits, 0.6 home runs and 2.9 walks per nine innings with 9.0 strikeouts, remarkably similar numbers to Sabathia, who gave up 8.7 hits, 0.6 home runs and 2.3 walks and managed 8.7 Ks per nine innings.
Darvish, 25, could be a game-changer for any staff, but is not available until he is posted by his team in Japan, the Nippon Ham Fighters. The lanky right-hander could stay in Japan.
“He’s got all the stuff you are looking for and he can locate really well,’’ said one scout who has seen Darvish pitch.
As with all Japanese pitchers, it is unclear if he can make the switch from pitching once a week to once every five days and make the kind of adjustments that are needed to succeed in the majors against the world’s best hitters.
On the free-agent front, lefties C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle are the big fish in the small pond of available starting pitching. The Yankees do not seem enamored with either pitcher in the early going. At least 10 teams have shown interest in Buehrle, including the Tigers, who need a lefty in their rotation. Buehrle was 13-9 last season with a 3.59 ERA for the White Sox. He will be 33 at the start of the 2012 season.
The hot-stove season begins in earnest in less than a week in Dallas.