The New York Yankees are a contender in the American League, as usual. But a lot of people doubt that they have the pitching to beat out the Red Sox.  CC. Sabathia is the staff ace and one of the best hurlers in the majors.  He’s followed by youngster Phil Hughes, who has always had a lot of talent and put together a break-out season in 2010.  However, Hughes faded down the stretch and will have to figure out what went wrong.  Third in the rotation will be A.J. Burnett, who struggled mightily in 2010 and needs to have a bounce-back campaign.

ESPN’ Buster Olney is looking at potential options for the Yanks this season beyond those three starters.  “While the Yankees will look for solutions all over the place this summer — whether Freddy Garcia or Bartolo Colon or Mark Prior, or from the yet-to-be identified veteran pitcher they will inevitably target — they will also need some help from their farm system,” he writes.  Olney notes youngster Manuel Banuelos as a guy that could make an impact.  “They don’t need the No. 4 and No. 5 starters to be great; the Yankees just need them to be competitive, to hang in there, and to hold the fort for what should, again, be a very strong offense,” writes Olney.

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