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Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild said Wednesday the team is considering using a sixth starter at times in April and May to help reduce a potential early strain on their rotation, per MLB.com. The Yankees have a stretch of 30 games in 31 days beginning April 17.

"It's a result of some of the stuff that's gone on over the last few years, not just here, but everywhere," Rothschild said. "We're aware of situations here and early in the season, we need to get these guys through these stretches. Being that possibly early in the spring, some of them aren't going to be able to throw a lot, we're going to need to build them up too and give them the extra days when we can."

CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Capuano are expected to make up the team's five-man rotation. However, Tanaka, Sabathia and Pineda were all injured last season, as the Yankees used 13 starting pitchers.

Bryan Mitchell, Esmil Rogers, Adam Warren and Chase Whitley are some of the other pitchers that will be stretched out this spring.

"It'd be nice to go through a season with five starters, but there's a good chance we're not going to," Rothschild said. "There's a good chance every team in baseball won't, so it doesn't hurt to see who might fit in as a sixth starter."

Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander said he's not sure yet if it's time to change his approach after posting a 4.54 ERA in 2014.

"I think it's a little unfair to judge on last season," he said Wednesday, per MLive.com. "I think it's a different story if I go out there this year and it's the same thing. ... I'm not going to judge changing my entire career based on an injury that plagued me last year. I don't think that's the right way to approach things."

Verlander couldn't prepare for the 2014 season as he usually does last offseason since he was coming off core muscle surgery.

"A couple of my off-speed pitches -- my curveball and slider specifically -- against righties, neither one of those pitches were good at all last year," Verlander said. "They just didn't have the same bite. I've already seen a pretty dramatic difference in my curveball. I haven't thrown any sliders yet, but the curveball seems to be a lot better already than it was at any point last year."

Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason, and has been receiving positive reports from catcher James McCann after his latest bullpen session on Tuesday, reports the Detroit Free Press.

"All bullpen long, he was hitting his spots," McCann said. "I was very impressed. That's a really good sign three days before camp even starts."

Verlander will turn 32 in the next few days, and is seeking a bounce-back campaign. General manager Dave Dombrowski indicated the Tigers are expecting big things from Verlander in 2015 after he went 15-12 with a 4.54 ERA in 2014.

"I talked to some of the trainers that have been down here, and they say he's throwing very well," said pitching coach Jeff Jones, who also attended Verlander's session. "He's very optimistic. He looks good, and that's the thing. He put on some weight, some good, strong weight."

Coming off his AL Cy Young campaign in 2014, Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber doesn't plan to make any major changes this spring, per MLB.com.

He said he will work on improving his changeup and looking into potentially altering his pitch sequencing.

"Some guys who win the Cy Young," catcher Yan Gomes said, "the next year they still live on that fame from the year before and they don't focus on the next year. The kind of guy that Corey is, he's going to keep moving forward. And he knows that every year it seems like he's got a lot more on his shoulders. He's got to lead a staff this year. From the experience that we all took from last year, I think it's going to be exciting."

Amid a Boston Globe report the Red Sox were one of four teams to have made a trade offer for Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels, multiple reports surfaced Monday the Red Sox aren't any closer to acquiring the left-handed hurler.

A major-league source told WEEI.com the Red Sox aren't "remotely close" to any deal for Hamels. However, the source added the Red Sox have made the Phillies aware of what they are willing to give up in a trade for Hamels.

FOX Sports reporter Jon Morosi also reported Monday there was no recent progress in trade talks between Boston and Philadelphia.

Hamels can block a trade to 20 teams, and the Red Sox are reportedly among the teams on his no-trade list. It is speculated the Red Sox would likely have to pick up a $20 million team option for the 2019 season on Hamels' contract in order for the veteran left-handed hurler to waive his no-trade clause. Hamels is guaranteed to make $94 million over the next four seasons, per Baseball-Reference.com.

Although Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro would not reveal the four teams that made an offer for pitcher Cole Hamels, the Red Sox were reportedly one of the teams, a source told The Boston Globe. 

The Phillies are targeting minor-league prospects for Hamels, with reports indicating the Red Sox are unwilling to trade their top prospects. Hamels went 9-9 with a 2.46 ERA in 2014 and is due $96 million over the next four seasons.

Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander is already throwing two bullpen sessions a week in preparation for spring training. Which, for Verlander, is not all that uncommon. Except, last season, Verlander could not do so, because he was still recovering from a core muscle injury that required surgery.

"Last year I hadn't even picked up a ball at this point," he said Friday according to The Detroit News.

Verlander finished 2014 with a 15-12 record in 206 innings with a 4.54 ERA and 159 strikeouts.

Mariners starting pitcher James Paxton has spent the offseason in Seattle in order to work on a regular basis with the team's training staff. Paxton is looking for ways to improve his durability after he missed several months in 2014 due to a strained lat, per MLB.com.

"It's been great. I've been living in Kirkland, so I'm in here every day working out at Safeco," Paxton said. "I've really got into a routine working out with our trainers here. They've got me doing some things, and my body is feeling really good.

"My goal and focus the whole offseason has been getting myself ready to pitch for an entire season and stay healthy and make all my starts. I'm doing whatever they ask me."

Part of Paxton's offseason routine includes participating in yoga sessions four times per week.

"This year, I've focused on it more and tried to do it a little more often, so I can really loosen up those muscles," he said. "It's hot yoga, so I'm sweating buckets in there. It's a workout as well as stretching."

Yankees starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi has already thrown several bullpens with pitching coach Larry Rothschild in attendance, according to the New York Daily News. The right-hander, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Miami, is thrilled to be working with Rothschild.

"We've already begun to work on things," said Eovaldi, who added two are working on offspeed pitches and consistency. "He's awesome. It's going to be a lot of fun working with him this year."

Eovaldi achieved a lot of career highs in 2014, including games started (33), innings pitched (199 2/3 innings) and strikeouts (142). However, he still wants to improve in a few areas.

"Ups and downs," Eovaldi said on evaluating his 2014 season. "I accomplished a lot that I wanted to. I stayed healthy. I got a lot of innings under my belt, controlled my walks. But my ERA was a lot higher than I would've liked it to been and I gave up too many hits."

New Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson isn't trying earn a new contract this season. He just wants to pitch.

"I hear people say that to me all the time. Have a good year and you'll get the big contract, but if I was overly concerned about that yeah, that would be the case," Masterson said to The Boston Globe.

Masterson, who is entering his first season in Boston after posting a 7-9 record with a 5.88 ERA between stints in Cleveland and St. Louis, is only concerned about helping the Red Sox get back to the playoffs.

"It's just more fun when you pitch better and when you're able to help your team win. That's what I want to get back to. Last year was disappointing because if the Indians had a healthy Justin Masterson, they might have gotten into playoffs and may have had a whole different ball club."