 Yankees hot stove continues with a look at the projected top four in the starting rotations for the Yankees and Astros right now Houston has Fromber Valdez Christian Javier Lance McCullers junior and Jose Urquidi Remember the Astros lost Justin Verlander in free agency the Yankees have Garrett Cole, Luis Severino and Nestor Cortez back from last season Now they've agreed to add Carlos Rodan to the mix So that's a big loss they lost the Cy Young winner and Justin Verlander. How does that starting rotation match up now? Two great quartets right there if I'm studying them and scrutinizing them and acknowledging that the Yankees absolutely can't hit Javier I'm still saying that I like the Yankee rotation those first four now better than Houston's I think losing Verlander is something that Houston is going to absolutely Have to get adjusted to and are you able to replace a guy? I went a 1.75 e r a one the Cy Young had the experience that he had now his postseason numbers Verlanders are Not great, but I still think that he brought something to Houston That was important as they went all the way and won a world series But when you add Rodan you start to look around at what your competitors have done And I think the Yankees are feeling very excited about having him at the top of the rotation And by the way we talk about where the Yankees match up with the Astros You first got to get through your division and there's a lot of off-season left and a lot of changes can occur But if you were projecting your best team in the American League East right now the Yankees are it And I don't think it's close. I think the Yankees are the best team in that division Red Sox miring down at the bottom Orioles have gotten better Tampa Bay has a lot of decisions It still has to make I think the Blue Jays are the team that sit behind the Yankees right now But Toronto's rotation in fact the whole team compared to the way they were talking the rotation took a step back last year Barrios had some problems Kukuchi had some problems and they are hoping that those pitchers rebound They have added Bassett who is a really strong pitcher. Manoa is only going to get better Gosmin is a solid pitcher So I think as we peek ahead and look at the Astros when you look at the vision right now The team the Yankees should worry about the most is the Blue Jays But the Yankees also are an unfinished puzzle so to speak right now They still have some more moves that they want to make to put themselves in an even better position You know the other thing I think about I'm glad you mentioned Bassett because he eats up innings Verlander did that for the Astros too What kind of a ripple effect does that have losing him on their bullpen and how much usage they might have next year? It has a ripple effect for the entire season because now you're suddenly trying to get more innings out of pitchers Who maybe haven't given you that amount of innings previously? We've seen that with the Yankees last year the Yankees essentially gave Severino and Cortez some time outs Because of the total innings that they were bumping up against I know we're talking about the top five that the Yankees have but now you look at Hermann and Clark Schmidt Bob and at this point in Their careers and Schmidt's still young but they probably profile better as guys who are number six and number sevens When we were talking about the possibility of adding Rodin during the winter meetings I brought up Hermann and Schmidt as guys who could potentially compete for the number five spot But you want to add Rodin and by doing that the Yankees have made themselves stronger