Pitching to be focal point for Yanks at Winter Meetings

NEW YORK — Brian Cashman’s stance heading into the Winter Meetings is that he plans to be “open minded to what’s available,” which should serve as an open invitation to the free agents and potential trade partners who might wander by the Yankees’ suite.

Cashman said that his priority is “pitching, pitching, pitching,” both in the rotation and in the bullpen, but the Yankees also are prepared to add a bat or two to a lineup that produced just 680 runs last season to rank 12th in the 15-team American League.

“It gives us more choices,” Cashman said. “Whether any of those current high-end free agents are legitimate choices or not remains to be seen. But ’tis the season to engage and find out.”

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MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 Winter Meetings from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 8 at 9 a.m. ET.

Club needs

Rotation: The Yankees have expressed preliminary interest in free-agent starters Rich Hill, Derek Holland and Jason Hammel, which should not come as a surprise given that they possess just three locks for their 2017 rotation in Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia. Expect to see the Yankees engage both the trade and free-agent markets to bolster that staff, though they do have several arms who could compete in the spring.

Bullpen: While the Yankees have said all of the right things about Dellin Betances’ future in the closer role, club officials — including managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner — have made little secret of the fact that the team would like to re-sign Aroldis Chapman. For what it’s worth, Chapman has reportedly said that he would …

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