Hot Stove Lunch: Yankees taking aim at Red Sox; What-if on Beltre? and more

Monday saw the New York Yankees make their first big move of the offseason, trading for Seattle Mariners lefty James Paxton in exchange for three prospects, led by Justus Sheffield.

GM Brian Cashman has made upgrading the Yankee pitching staff -- rotation and bullpen -- his chief priority. The Yanks have Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia in place, and the acquisition of Paxton gives them four solid starters.

Cashman is intent on adding another top starter and speculation has centered on free agent lefty Patrick Corbin, who has expressed a desire to pitch for the Yankees.

Paxton is a nice addition, to be sure. He misses bats (11.7 strikeouts per nine innings last season) and has a .612 winning percentage over his major league career. But there are questions, too. He's been on the DL six times in the last five seasons and over the last three years, has averaged just 139 innings a season. And when not pitching in spacious Safeco Field, he sports a career ERA of 3.87.

Still, it's hard to criticize the deal. Paxton is just 30, is under control for two more seasons and in the eyes of most evaluators, the Yankees didn't surrender much -- Sheffield, though ranked as the Yanks' best pitching prospect, is seen as a middle-of-the-rotation starter at best, and may be better suited for the bullpen.

So, Paxton represents an upgrade. But his acquisition alone doesn't close the gap between the Yankees and Red Sox. To achieve that, there's more work to be done for Cashman.

Elsewhere...

AL EAST 

The Yankees weren't deterred from making the deal for Paxton despite some red flags, writes Joel Sherman.

The Orioles have a lot of work to do to catch up, but hiring Mike Elias looks like a good start.

A top Blue Jays prospect got popped for PEDs

AL CENTRAL

The Indians lost a top minor league pitching coach to the Brewers.

Baseball America ranks the Top 10 Twins prospects 

...And does the same for the Tigers.

The White Sox join the long list of teams with an interest in Nathan Eovaldi

If Condoleeza Rice can coach the Browns, a fun look at some out-of-the-box candidates to manage the Royals.

AL WEST

A couple of former Astros are on the Hall of Fame Ballot for the first time.

Like a lot of other teams, the A's could have some tough roster decisions to make today.

A look at the Paxton trade from Seattle's standpoint.

HOT TAKE I MAY SOON REGRET

Adrian Beltre announced his retirement from the game Tuesday morning. There seems little doubt that Beltre will gain entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in another five years.

Beltre is one of the greatest defensive third basemen in modern history, with 3,166 career hits and 477 homers.

Beltre spent just one season with the Red Sox (2010), signing a one-year "pillow deal'' to rebuild his value after a series of down seasons in Seattle. He then went on play eight more seasons with the Rangers.

One wonders how Red Sox history might have changed had the Sox been more aggressive in retaining Beltre. Would his presence have been enough to halt the September slide in 2011? Would he have helped the Sox avoid their disastrous bottoming out in 2012?

Who knows? But Beltre -- from his down-on-one-knee home run swing, to his peculiar freakout over teammates touching his head to his glove magic -- was an entertaining player and personality in his one year at Fenway. Wish he could have stayed longer.