If only the New York Yankees acquired Cliff Lee. In a perfect world that would have happened, and the Yankees would have the flexibility to move Phil Hughes back to the bullpen and relieve Joba Chamberlain of the eighth-inning duties. Unfortunately for Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman, it isn’t a perfect world and Lee is with the Texas Rangers.

According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post, the Yankees have the AL’s fourth-worst eighth-inning ERA at 4.86 and he believes the time is now to shop Joba. Chamberlain has an unabused arm, and is under team until through through 2013, so he has plenty of upside for a team with patience.

The Yankees need to bridge the gap to Mariano Rivera, the closer, and Hughes is the best option, but if they go down that route then Brooks says the team will have to go with both A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez in the postseason, and that may not be the best scenario.

The Yankees could go after Kerry Wood of the Cleveland Indians or Octavio Dotel of the Pittsburgh Pirates. While they both are closers on their respective teams, they could keep Hughes in the rotation, take the 8th inning responsibility and spell Rivera on days that he could use some rest. Both have been included in trade chatter and New York has the bank roll and the prospects to make a trade possible.