TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees beat reporter Brendan Kuty answers questions from fans on Twitter. Topics include: Madison Bumgarner, Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner, Luke Voit, Greg Bird and more.

If at the trade deadline Madison Bumgarner becomes available will the Yankees consider making a trade for him? — tommy capps (@tommycapps1799) March 10, 2019

Woof. Getting ahead of ourselves, right? Anyway, yes, trading for Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner at the deadline makes sense — except all the obvious points need to apply: That he’d be an improvement or that somebody’s hurt and the Yankees need a replacement. Bumgarner is owed $12 million this year, so the Yankees would have to pay him a little less than $6 million after the deadline. That’s important to note for the Yankees’ luxury tax purposes. He’s a free agent at season’s end.

Bumgarner checks most of the boxes: Lefty, veteran, playoff-tested, coming off a solid if not great year. The big problem: The Yankees want guys who pile up strikeouts. Bumgarner has seen his strikeouts drop big-time the last couple of years, from 10 per nine innings in 2016 — the last time he was an All-Star or got any Cy Young votes — to 7.6 per nine innings last year.

As for what it would cost: The Brewers were given the idea that “a young starting pitcher — Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, or Freddy Peralta — would need to be part of (an) offer” for Bumgarner. Surprise: San Francisco would want young pitching in return. Burnes (No. 46) is a Baseball America top 100 prospect going into this season. Last year, Woodruff was ranked No. 61 by BA, then he made 19 appearances in the bigs. The Yankees don’t have any Baseball America top 100 prospects this year, and Jonathan Loaisiga is the closest they would get to either of those guys. But the Giants cut Loaisiga over shoulder concerns in 2015. So they probably don’t want to go back down that road again. Maybe Albert Abreu would have to be the starting point for the Yankees? Giants scouts like him.

Could you see Cessa pulling ahead of Loaisiga or German for one of the replacement starter spots. He is pitching real well and they are stretching him out. Then give Tarpley or another reliever a spot in the bullpen. This way it gives rotation depth in AAA. #Yankees — Rich B (@richnyc18) March 11, 2019

Of course, Luis Cessa could end up picked over Domingo German or Jonathan Loaisiga for one of the two open rotation spots. A refresher: The Yankees will be without CC Sabathia (knee) and Luis Severino (rotator cuff sorenes) on Opening Day. Sabathia might be back mid-April while Severino seems ticketed for a late April or early May return.

Here's how the trio stack up so far:

Cessa: 3 G, 2 starts, 1.00 ERA, 9 innings, 10 K, 0 BB

Loaisiga: 3 G, 2 starts, 6.43 ERA 7 innings, 8 K, 4 BB

German: 3 G, 1 start, 2.35 ERA, 7 2/3 IP, 12 K, 1 BB

Cessa is out of options. He’s almost a lock to make the team, though he seemed a sure pick for the bullpen before Severino got hurt. German might take the other spot. And, yes, it could be possible then for Stephen Tarpley to jump into the bullpen. Hard to imagine the Yankees putting Loaisiga in the bullpen to start the season. They’ll want him stretched out at Triple-A in case they need another starting pitcher.

If Frazier is raking in AAA while Gardner struggles at the start of the season, how long of a leash does Gardner have before they call up Frazier? Or do we see Stanton in LF and Bird at DH before we see Frazier get called up? — Max Mannis (@maxmannissabr) March 10, 2019

The Yankees, I think, would give Brett Gardner a chance to turn it around before giving the job straight to Clint Frazier. Especially in the first half, when Gardner is typically a more productive hitter than he is in the second half. But the Yankees understand that Frazier can hit major-league pitching — he’s shown it in glimpses over the last two seasons. It’s a matter of showing he can stay healthy and consistent at Triple-A for a while after missing most of last season dealing with concussion symptoms. Don’t count out Gardner’s defense. He’s a much better left fielder than Frazier and the Yankees should score enough to where a struggling Gardner wouldn’t kill them.

In your opinion how worried should Yankees fans be about Hicks' lingering back issues? Back problems can be career-changing. (think Mattingly, went from future HoF to early retirement). And should we believe Yanks' on Severino not being more serious? — Chris Isidore (@YankeesNerd) March 10, 2019

The Yankees have the right amount of worry when it comes to Hicks’ back, which is to say not too much. It’s just been tightness. On Sunday, manager Aaron Boone said Hicks made a lot of progress — hitting, throwing. He was set to see a doctor on Monday. Could be back into games as early as Thursday or Friday. Yes, Don Mattingly’s back problem ended his career, but this is the first time Hicks has dealt with this. As for whether to believe the Yankees on Luis Sever: If they lie, they look nuts. Yes. Believe them. If they lied about Severino’s injury, he could call them out, and it would be a huge mess.

Bird vs Voit.I want Bird to be as good as advertised,but Voit is fun to watch and was https://t.co/IGwhL5czqK Yankees put more stock into Voits year last year or Bird's spring and expectations that were once high? How do they balance these two so value stays high (if both r high) — Scott Mathusek (@ScottMathusek) March 11, 2019

Would have to put more stock in what happens at the big-league level, right? Bird hasn’t really done it much since 2015. Voit was the man in August and September. The Yankees believe Bird is finally healthy. And they believe he has a high ceiling. So it’ll be interesting to see if Voit struggles for a while in April, how long they give him before giving Bird another shot.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.