The New York Yankees are always looking for quality pitching, no matter what (or at least they should). In late 2008, they were fresh off their first season without making the playoffs since 1993. CC Sabathia was the best pitcher available in free agency.
That 2008 Yankees rotation had Mike Mussina as the ace. He and Andy Pettitte pitched over 200 frames and were the only pitchers to surpass 115 frames. Chien-Ming Wang (4.07 ERA in 95 innings) and Joba Chamberlain (2.60 ERA in 100.1 innings) made some successful starts, but there were some ugly performances, too.