Yankees Trade Sergio Mitre and Sign Kevin Millwood

The New York Yankees continue to piece together their pitching staff as Opening Day approaches. Today, they traded Sergio Mitre to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Chris Dickerson.

Mitre had been in competition with Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, and Ivan Nova for the two open spots in the Yankees rotation. Nova appears a lock for the No. 4 spot. Mitre had pitched well before being roughed up a bit earlier this week against the Orioles.

In two years with the Yankees, Mitre had appeared in 39 games. He went 3-6 with a 5.03ERA.

By trading Mitre, it will allow the Yankees to keep both Garcia and Colon on the Opening Day roster. One will be the No. 5 starter while the other will likely take on a long relief role. Both players were signed to minor league deals with opt-out clauses in which they could leave if not on the major league roster for opening day.

While nothing has been made official, Colon is most likely to be in the rotation, with Garcia being the long man and ready to join the rotation should Colon not pan out.

The Yankees also signed veteran Kevin Millwood to a minor league deal today. GM Brian Cashman had been pursuing Millwood for a few weeks now but was unwilling to give him the major league contract he wanted. The two sides finally came to an agreement. Millwood will report to extended spring training or the minors and work his way toward a potential call-up.

Millwood represents yet another low risk/reward option for the Yankees pitching staff.