With Surplus of Starters, Cashman Looks for D.H. With seven starting pitchers in hand and no steady designated hitter, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said on Monday that he might use what he termed his "excess pitching" to acquire such a bat. The Yankees lost two designated hitters/catchers this off-season when they traded Jesus Montero, their best hitting prospect, to Seattle, and Jorge Posada, who was the left-handed D.H. for most of the season, retired. Posada will make the announcement Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. This month, Cashman dealt Montero, who was set to be the everyday designated hitter, to acquire the right-hander Michael Pineda, the promising young starter from the Seattle Mariners. On Monday, Cashman said he would "look at the trade market first and foremost, and see where that takes us." The Yankees would love to find a trading partner for the struggling right-hander A.J. Burnett, but he has two years and $33 million left on his contract. The Yankees would have to pay much of that in order to make a deal, and even then, Burnett would probably not yield a premier player in return. They could also take a chance and trade Phil Hughes for an impact offensive player, kind of a reversal of the deal that sent Montero to Seattle with Hector Noesi for Pineda and Jose Campos. Hughes would be dealt only for a top-flight player or prospect. Ivan Nova would also intrigue teams, but as with Hughes, it would take a lot for the Yankees to relinquish him. As for whether Hughes would be used in the bullpen, Cashman said he still saw him as a starter - hopefully the starter who won 18 games for the Yankees in 2010. Cashman reiterated that he could still use veteran position players on a rotating basis to fill the D.H. role, and he mentioned Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano or anyone else who needs a rest. Cashman said during a conference call that it "hurt" to trade Montero, who he insisted could have been a catcher for the Yankees, not just a designated hitter. He called the deal a risk for both teams, and promised great things for Montero, whom he had been very involved with from the time the Yankees signed him in 2006 when he was 16. "It's not an acknowledgement of what we believe Montero's catching abilities are," Cashman said. We do believe he can be an everyday catcher in the big leagues. It was really more trading from an area of strength to continue to try and shore up an area of need. We gave up a lot on Montero, but we're hoping we got a lot in Pineda. Montero may be the best player Cashman has ever traded, he noted. He said he had no trepidation in dealing with Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik, even after what happened two years ago when the Yankees thought they had a deal for Cliff Lee, then with the Mariners. That prospective deal included Montero, but at the last moment Zduriencik traded Lee to the Texas Rangers. The Yankees issued a statement from Pineda on the trade, who almost seemed to think he was destined to eventually pitch for the Yankees. "I'm feeling great and I'm beyond excited," he said in the statement. I never thought I would become a New York Yankee so early into my career. This is the best thing in the world. Pitching alongside C.C. Sabathia, I'm speechless. And playing alongside players such as Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter is unbelievable.