About The Off-Season: Coming up Aces

About The Off-Season: Coming up Aces

By Tim Kabel

October 31, 2026

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The Yankees will now begin building their team for 2027. Due to the uncertainty over the CBA, which is set to expire on December 1st, it is unclear if there will be a lockout beginning on midnight of that date. It seems likely that there will be. Thus, it would seem to make sense for the Yankees and other teams to make transactions early before such a lockout occurs.

Otherwise, it might be similar to the last time this happened, at the conclusion of the 2021 season. Since the lockout did not end until March, teams had to scramble to make transactions before the season started. Scrambling is never a good thing, particularly for Brian Cashman of late. Cashman seems to me to be more like a spider, weaving its web then a cobra striking quickly. Certainly, Cashman has been able to make fast moves before but at the trading deadline, he frequently makes one or two moves and then comes up empty.

Remember the relief pitchers he brought in at the 2026 deadline? Exactly.

Therefore, it might be nice to see the Yankees strike fast over the month of November to put things in place for the upcoming season, whenever that begins. That may be particularly true regarding Teruaki Sato, the Japanese third baseman. Once he is posted, teams will have 45 days to sign him. If he's posted in the next week, they will have less than 45 days because he will need to be signed before a potential lockout begins on December 2nd. It will be very interesting to see what moves the Yankees make.

Now that the off-season is underway for all Major League teams, not just the Yankees, the major awards will be announced relatively soon. Most people believe that Cam Schlittler will be named the 2026 American League Cy Young Award winner. I am one of those people. Schlittler has been great since he came to the Major Leagues in 2025. He is clearly now the ace of the Yankee staff.

Thinking about Schlittler and what a great pitcher he has become led me to think about the best starting pitchers I have ever seen who came up through the Yankees system. In other words, they were developed by the Yankees. Now, before anybody complaints that I left off CC Sabathia, I am strictly talking about players who came up as a Yankees, not pitchers they signed as free agents or traded for. You won't see Roger Clemens or Catfish Hunter on this list. Also, for those of you who are going to comment that I left off Whitey Ford and Lefty Gomez, (and you know who you are), I am only writing about pitchers I saw. I'm not 137 years old. I didn't walk to school with Three Fingers Brown. This is also not a statistical analysis. I am not going to be writing about WHIP, how many walks they gave up in the 6th inning on a Tuesday; average velocity on a rainy Monday; none of those things. I am just going to write about what I saw, what I remember, and my opinions.

At this point, the three best starting pitchers I ever saw who came up to the Major Leagues as Yankees are Ron Guidry, Andy Pettitte, and Cam Schlittler.

Andy Pettitte won more games than Ron Guidry. It's not fair to compare either one of them to Schlittler in that category. Andy Pettitte was a tremendous postseason pitcher and an amazing competitor. In my opinion, if CC Sabathia is in the Hall of Fame, Andy Pettitte should be there too. I think Pettitte had a great career and was an excellent Yankees pitcher. He was an extremely solid member of the rotation. He always seemed to be in more of a supporting role to other pitchers, such as Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina and others. However, when the Yankees had to win a big game in the playoffs or World Series, Andy Pettitte was the one you wanted on the mound. 

Ron Guidry had one of the best years for a starting pitcher in 1978.  He was 25 and 3 with a 1.74 era. He pitched 16 complete games and had 9 shutouts. No one will ever do either of those things again. That was not only Guidry’s greatest year as a Yankee, but he was so good that year that very few other pitchers have put up a comparable season. Guidry was a tremendous competitor, a leader, and a true team player. In 1979, after Goose Gossage was injured in a locker room scuffle with Cliff Johnson, Guidry went to the bullpen to help the team. His career did not last as long as Pettitte's because Guidry came up to the Majors when he was older. 1977 was his first full year in the Major Leagues and he was 27 years old. Guidry was an outstanding pitcher and a fierce competitor.

It is very early in Cam Schlittler's Major League career. However, he has impressed me greatly with his poise, ability, tenacity and aggressive pitching style. If he remains injury free, I think he could have a tremendous Major League career, hopefully all of it with the Yankees. I believe he will win the Cy Young Award this year and hopefully, will repeat next year. I have no reason to suspect that he won't be in the running. He likes to pitch in big games and usually does very well in them.

If I am going to rank these three pitchers, I would put Guidry first not simply because of the 1978 season, but also I think he was the best homegrown Yankees starting pitcher I have ever seen. At this point, I would place Pettitte second due to the length of his career. Schlittler is in third place, but I would not be surprised to see him move up. The Yankees were lucky to have all three of these pitchers and I was extremely fortunate to be able to see them.