The Yankees will have to make additions while sorting through several high-priced injury question marks on their roster as they try to rebound from consecutive years outside the postseason.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Masahiro Tanaka, SP: $133MM through 2020 (Tanaka can opt out after 2017)
- Jacoby Ellsbury, OF: $126.8MM through 2020 ($21MM club option for 2021, $5MM buyout)
- Brian McCann, C: $68MM through 2018 ($15MM club option for 2019, can vest to become player option)
- Alex Rodriguez, 3B: $61MM through 2017
- C.C. Sabathia, SP: $48MM through 2016 ($25MM vesting option for 2017, $5MM buyout otherwise)
- Brett Gardner, OF: $48MM through 2018 ($12.5MM club option for 2019, $2MM buyout)
- Mark Teixeira, 1B: $45MM through 2016
- Carlos Beltran, OF: $30MM through 2016
- Martin Prado, IF: $22MM through 2016
- Brendan Ryan, SS: $2MM through 2015 ($2MM club option for 2016, become $1MM player option if declined)
Arbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via Matt Swartz)
- Shawn Kelley, RP (5.128): $2.5MM projected salary
- Francisco Cervelli, C (4.146): $1.1MM
- Esmil Rogers, RP (4.087): $1.9MM
- Ivan Nova, SP (4.024): $3.3MM
- Michael Pineda, SP (3.099): $2.1MM
- David Huff, RP (3.062): $700K
- David Phelps, SP/RP (2.156): $1.3MM
Contract Options
- Andrew Bailey, RP: club option for 2015, dollar value unknown
Free Agents
- Chris Capuano, Stephen Drew, Chase Headley, Rich Hill, Hiroki Kuroda, Brandon McCarthy, David Robertson, Scott Sizemore, Ichiro Suzuki, Chris Young
The emotion of the Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera retirement tours over the last two seasons may have softened the blow of missing the playoffs for Yankees fans. Now that the last of the “Core Four” has retired, eyes are focused on the present and what the Steinbrenner family, the newly-extended Brian Cashman and a revamped baseball operations department will do to get this team back into contention.
When the Bombers missed the playoffs last year, they responded by spending over $500MM on new contracts for free agents and re-signed talent. It doesn’t seem like the Yankees are prepared for another spending spree, in part because two of last year’s big signings (Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran) underperformed. Combine those setbacks with a huge swath of injuries that sidelined almost the entire Yankees rotation, and it’s somewhat surprising that the club managed to win even 83 games.
The biggest issue facing the Yankees is that many of their highest-paid players can’t be counted on to stay healthy or play up to their usual standard in 2015. C.C. Sabathia is returning from knee surgery and has already suffered a decline in performance in recent years. Mark Teixeira managed to play in 123 games last year but his wrist problems will always require a backup option. McCann and Beltran could’ve just had off-years, or they could possibly be on the decline as well.
And then there’s Alex Rodriguez, returning from his year-long suspension as a complete mystery in terms of what he’ll be able to contribute. The plan for A-Rod seems to be a rotation between DH, third base and possibly first base, to spell Teixeira. Until the Yankees know if Rodriguez can handle regular time at third, however, it will somewhat hamstring their other winter plans. They have an interest in bringing back Chase Headley, though obviously Headley will want to play every day, and limiting Rodriguez to a 1B/DH role will cut down on the DH at-bats that might be needed for another aging players like Beltran or McCann.
One possible solution would be to pencil Martin Prado in as the third baseman and to acquire a stopgap option to play second or give prospect Rob Refsnyder a shot at the job. If Rodriguez’s body can hold up under regular playing time at the hot corner, then Prado can then primarily play second base, with the occasional game at 3B to spell A-Rod. Prado’s versatility is a nice tool for the Yankees to have, and since he posted an .877 OPS in 137 PA after joining the club at the trade deadline, his bat may have awoken after a rough first half with the Diamondbacks.
With Rodriguez likely looking at a healthy share of DH at-bats, Beltran will have to see much more time in right field than the 32 games he played at the position last season. Beltran’s elbow injury both kept him out of RF and likely played a big role in his struggles at the plate, so if he’s healthy, he could be back to his usual productive self. For depth’s sake, however, the Yankees will definitely look to add a backup outfielder who could regular playing time or at least would be Beltran’s late-inning defensive replacement. Someone like Gerardo Parra (who the Brewers could non-tender or look to trade this winter) would be a nice fit in this role.
Replacing Jeter is impossible from a big-picture standpoint, though replacing Jeter’s 2014 on-field production (-0.3 fWAR, 73 wRC+) at shortstop shouldn’t be hard. There will inevitably be a big media spotlight on whichever player becomes Jeter’s successor at short, and the Yankees have a couple of options: they can pursue a young shortstop as a true long-term heir apparent, or they could look for an established veteran (who might be more used to the pressure) to play the position for a few seasons until a younger option can be groomed or acquired.
If New York chooses the veteran route, there are free agent shortstops like Asdrubal Cabrera or Jed Lowrie available. Hanley Ramirez is the top free agent shortstop on the market, though if the Yankees are indeed hesitant about giving big money to players over 30 years old, then a player with Ramirez’s injury history and defensive limitations wouldn’t be a good fit. Stephen Drew could be re-signed at a relative discount price, though it’s hard to see the Yankees handing Drew the starting job coming off his poor 2014 season. It’s possible the Yankees’ top choice to replace Jeter may already be off the board, as J.J. Hardy signed an extension with the Orioles rather than test free agency.
If the Yankees went for a younger option at short, they could talk trade with the Diamondbacks or Cubs, each of which have a surplus of young shortstops. Chicago’s surplus, of course, is of a higher pedigree since it involves former All-Star Starlin Castro and blue chip prospects Addison Russell and Javier Baez. As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes wrote in his recent Cubs offseason outlook piece, however, the timing may not be right for the Cubs to trade their middle infield depth. Plus, even if Chicago was willing to deal, the Yankees may not have the prospect depth to meet the enormous asking price the Cubs would demand for any of those players. Swinging a deal for one of Arizona’s slightly lesser-regarded young shortstops (Didi Gregorius, Nick Ahmed, Chris Owings) could be a more palatable option.
The Yankees acquired Prado using one piece of their catching surplus in prospect Peter O’Brien, and the club still has John Ryan Murphy, Francisco Cervelli and Austin Romine all battling for the backup job behind McCann. Any two of these players could be expendable with top prospect Gary Sanchez on the farm, though Sanchez has yet to play beyond the Double-A level and is at least a season away from getting serious consideration from a big league job.
The biggest trade chip the Yankees have, of course, is their financial might. Headley, Prado and Brandon McCarthy were all acquired for a fairly negligible prospect return at midseason since New York was simply able to take those contracts off the Padres’ and Diamondbacks’ hands. Rather than surrender draft picks to sign qualifying offer free agents or deal away what little farm depth they have, the Yankees could pursue more trades with rivals looking to create payroll space.
If the Yankees did want to make a splash in free agency, however, Jon Lester could be an attractive target since (due to the fact that he was traded at midseason) he can be signed without any draft pick compensation. The Yankees have a particular admiration for Lester, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, and the southpaw would bring both quality and much-needed durability to New York’s rotation. Max Scherzer could also draw interest from the Yankees this winter as another front-of-the-rotation upgrade, not to mention James Shields, who is expected to be available at a lower price than those other two aces.
While adding a top starter could technically give the Yankees a rotation surplus if everyone is healthy, that’s a giant “if” given how many injury-plagued starters are in the rotation. C.C. Sabathia is returning from knee surgery and even if he’s 100 percent health-wise, the lefty has still been on the decline for the last two seasons. Ivan Nova will be out until May at the earliest as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Michael Pineda looked dominant when he was on the mound, yet had another injury setback when he missed three months with a bad shoulder.
The most tenuous injury situation involves Masahiro Tanaka, who took MLB by storm in his rookie season before a slight UCL tear caused him to miss 10 weeks. Tanaka returned to make two starts in late September and reported he was pain-free, so for now, it appears the righty may have dodged the Tommy John bullet. Any recurrence of the injury, however, could lead to surgery for Tanaka and at least a year on the DL. Tanaka is yet another high-paid superstar the Yankees don’t know if they can count on in 2015, and his uncertain health status is the club’s strongest argument for making a play for the likes of Scherzer, Lester or Shields.
Shane Greene’s strong rookie season earned him a spot in the 2015 rotation, so presuming that leaves New York with a tentative starting quartet of Tanaka, Greene, Pineda and Sabathia. If the Yankees don’t land that ace-level pitcher, they could turn to familiar faces in McCarthy (who is open to a return) or Hiroki Kuroda, who is again weighing retirement or a return to Japan.
Kuroda faced the same choice last offseason and rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer before re-signing with the Yankees on a one-year, $16MM deal. It stands to reason that Kuroda will receive another QO this winter — if the Yankees were comfortable in issuing him a qualifying offer last year before knowing if he’d return to MLB, they’d probably feel similarly comfortable this year. Kuroda still posted solid numbers and 199 IP at age 39 last season, and he’ll draw enough interest from teams that I’d suspect he’ll reject this offseason’s $15.3MM qualifying offer to look for another slightly-richer one-year pact. It’s fair to assume the Yankees have the inside track on Kuroda’s services if he does return, though the Dodgers and Angels are also looking for starting pitching and can offer Kuroda a job closer to his home in southern California.
Dellin Betances’ phenomenal success as the Yankees’ setup man has led to speculation that he could take over as closer in 2015 and New York could afford to let David Robertson leave in free agency. The Yankees are one of the few teams who can afford to issue a qualifying offer to a closer, and while it’s possible the QO could scare off some teams who don’t want to give up a first-round pick to sign a one-inning pitcher, MLBTR’s Steve Adams argued that Robertson’s status as the best closer available will still land him a significant deal, possibly in the range of four years and $52MM. A lockdown bullpen has been such an important part of recent Yankees history that I can see the Bombers re-signing Robertson and re-teaming he and Betances to create a lot of seven-inning games.
With or without Robertson, expect the Yankees to pursue a veteran lefty reliever to fill the hole left by Matt Thornton, who was let go on waivers last summer. Andrew Miller stands out as the best left-handed option (and one of the best relievers in general) available in free agency, and he could serve as Betances’ setup man. The Yankees could take a page from the Royals’ book by signing Miller AND re-signing Robertson, sandwiching them around Betances to create a terrifying late-game relief trio.
David Huff, David Phelps, Shawn Kelley and Esmil Rogers are all eligible for arbitration this winter and since all pitched well in 2014 (at least peripheral-wise in Kelley and Rogers’ cases), expect all four to be tendered contracts and brought back into the bullpen mix. The Yankees could also exercise their inexpensive team option on Andrew Bailey for 2015, though since hasn’t pitched at all since undergoing shoulder surgery in July 2013, Bailey is just a lottery ticket at this point.
The rumor mill inevitably connects the Yankees to virtually every top free agent during the offseason, both because agents like to raise their clients’ asking prices by claiming the league’s big spenders are interested and because the Yankees usually do cast a wide net. Throwing more money at free agents might leave the club with even more albatross contracts, however, and even the Yankees have a spending limit. It’s more likely the Yankees will look to fill their roster holes through trades rather than free agency, though expect them to explore all options lest the playoff drought extend to three years.
It’s time for them to do some serious house cleaning.
In order to do house cleaning, you gotta get rid of bad contracts. Problem is, no team is going to take their bad contracts, at least not for the full salary.
Thankfully their bad contracts aren’t much longer (except Ellsbury but it’s too early to say his contract is a bad one. I”ll worry about it when it starts and thankfully for the Yankees it didn’t start in Year 1).
If I”m the Yanks, i’d try to give Tex away and eat maybe 75% of his salary. Possibly the same for Beltran. We all know NOBODY is going to take A-Rod or Sabathia so they are stuck with them through 2016-2017 unless there is a buyout.
I don’t think they they need to though. They don’t need to pay someone else to take their contracts. They aren’t that far away from a contender. They have tons of overpaid players, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be productive. CC is done being an ace, I still think he can be an innings eating 4.00 era type pitcher, and that still has value to them. Tex still was a 100 wrc+ hitter.
I’m going to wait and see how many innings CC pitches this year before I’m ever comfortable calling him an innings eater again. He’s carried a lot of weight on those knees now for a lot of years and clearly the Yankees saw some kind of shoulder problem on the horizon when they inked that extension with very specific language regarding his shoulder. I think it’s possible he can still throw 200 innings but I also think it’s possible he’s a walking DL stint for the remainder of his career.
Tex should still be a league average bat but I think you can pencil him in for at least one DL stint a year and his decline doesn’t look to be coming to a halt anytime soon.
I think they are pretty far away from being a “contender” if contender means winning a world series.
They were 4 games away from the playoffs and very little went right.
The best time to unload bad contracts is in July, when teams who are in contention are desperate for that extra bat or that extra arm to get them over the top. If Beltran and Tex are going to be dealt, it would be if the Yanks are out of it in July and teams are looking for a power bat. That’s my opinion anyway.
Makes sense, unless the Yankees are still in the playoff chase.
Right, only if they’re out of it. If they’re in the playoff chase, there’s probably a good chance those guys are contributing.
Can’t see the Yanks unloading contracts, they will continue to pick up players too make the team better. In 2 years their guaranteed contracts will be down. Cashman added some great players to the roster the past couple of years to no avail. Adding Prado, Headley, Drew, and McCarthy will brilliant . Unfortunately most of the Yankee players had sub par years, few played to their baseball card. Most of the players l just mentioned will be highly sought after in the off season.
Cashman said on an interview on The Michael Kay Show that the Yankees can’t do that, essentially. They were talking about how some teams rebuild by trading veterans at the trade deadline in exchange for prospects. Something about how the fans and/or the Steinbrenner family won’t go for that, about how New York won’t tolerate a “not trying to win” attitude. I think that’s an out-dated mindset. We’re in a post “Boston dealt everybody making above the league minimum and then won the World Series the next season” game. I think as much as the loyal, loyal fans follow the game these days, with knowing the names of a team’s top prospects (something that I don’t think happened as much in the late 90s, early 2000s when all we got was an annual Baseball America magazine and maybe the results of the annual draft in the newspapers. Now some fans pay as much attention to the minor league games as they do the big club), I think Yankee fans might actually be okay with trading established veterans for young prospects and shedding major payroll.
The flip-side is the Phillies. Ruben Amaro, Jr. was getting blasted up there by not shedding those contracts and trying to get some young talent. The way I feel, if the Yanks are 10 games out in July and Cashman DOESN’T try and get some value for those guys, I’m way more upset than if he continues to hold on to Tex or Beltran because…we like them? I guess?
Amaro got blasted because he had totally unrealistic expectations of what was a fair return for his veterans. Aaron Judge for Marlon Byrd? Aaron Judge will be a better player than Byrd in 2 years. Some might say he’s a better player NOW. That’s like suggesting trading Carlos Beltran for Addison Russell–it’s not gonna happen.
I upvoted you but I don’t think anyone except Aaron Judge’s mother thinks he’s currently better than Byrd. Judge would get eaten alive by Major League pitching right now, not having faced even AA guys.
Yankees are in a Catch-22.
I think that’s really a matter of perception. There’s always going to be people who say they are geniuses and people who say they are complete idiots and doing everything wrong. Unless you win the World Series (and only one team does that every year), you’re not going to make every fan happy.
The Yankees never have to rebuild. If they could just get their farm to the level that would enable them to acquire a Troy Tulowitzki then they’d be in good shape.
I wouldn’t know about acquiring THE Troy Tulowitzki. Yeah, there’s no question he’s one of the best players when he’s in there but he misses A LOT of time with injuries and emptying the farm system for a guy who spends that much time on the DL and commands that kind of money…….yeeeee.
Fits right in. The Yankees love that sort of nonsense. As a fan it’s really embarrassing knowing they just throw money at everything and expect it to work. Last good position player out of that farm system being Cano so not sure what to think of it anymore.
Teixeira is less tradeable than A-Rod and Sabathia. Well…Sabathia may be as bad as Teixeira, but at least A-Rod is still productive when healthy.
Texeira is the youngest of the 3, only one who is Guaranteed no more than 2 years left on his deal, makes the least amount of $ in both Total and AAV, and is the only one who has had a significant amount of playing time recently.
He is definitely the one who is the most tradeable (if possible) of the 3.
It is ludicrous to say that Arod is still productive when healthy, since he hasn’t played much in two years. In his last full season, three years ago, he hit around .260 with 18 home runs. He’s turning 40. He might not be able to hit more than .230, even if he can stay on the field; it isn’t like he broke his leg at 28. He’s worn out, and that doesn’t get better.
I don’t think anyone is less tradeable than A-Rod. 40 years old, essentially missed the past 2 seasons and a baseball pariah because of PEDs. Any other team’s GM would be run out of town by an angry mob if he acquired A-Rod.
Why give Teix away and eat 75% of his salary? If they had a can’t-miss prospect waiting in the wings, I could maybe understand it but I don’t think Kyle Roller is that guy. If Teix had no upside whatsoever, I might understand it but he’s still an above average defensive first baseman so it’s not like he’s clogging up the DH spot like Beltran and/or A-Rod. But why get rid of him, eat most of the contract AND just open up a hole at first base? I don’t see the upside–just to save $5-6 million?
I didn’t say they have to or should. But if they want to clean house, then trading Tex is one way to do it.
Only reason to dump him is to free up a roster spot, and that’s only worthwhile if there is somebody else to put in it. He’s also not a jerk.
Well Bird should be getting the next crack 1B for the Yankees but he’s still a year or two away and far from a sure thing with his swing and miss tendencies.
While the money on Teixera’s contract is high at $22.5 million a year for 2 more years, he is probably still one of the better first basemen defensively and will still hit 20-30 home runs. Is that great production? No but its not terrible.
I’d also not worry too much about Beltran’s lack of production this year as he was dealing with the elbow injury. If the Yankees could relieve themselves of his contract without much of a penalty they should go ahead and do so but not eating 75% of his contract.
Arod and CC we are stuck with. but still Arod should be good for 20 homers and who knows what CC will have left.
They cant. they have no one in the minors ready to move up.. they essentially have to double down on their strategy which is to keep signing enough expensive free agents with the hope that enough of them have a decent year and they can get to the playoffs.
Looking at the “Guaranteed Contracts” up top and seeing Beltran, Tex and CC all signed through 2016, and ARod through 2017(!) makes it pretty impossible to truly “clean house.”
CC is almost essentially signed through the 2017 season because the wording on his 2017 option makes it almost guaranteed to vest.
Does the vesting option overrule the $5 million buyout though for that same season?
$5MM buyout only if the option doesn’t vest.
Hmm, I didn’t read that on Cot’s. All it says is $25 Mil vesting option ($5 million buyout). Doesn’t say only if it doesn’t vests.
Maybe the option vests And they can do the buyout, though that’s $30 million down the drain. Still……by then he’ll probably be worth close to Negative WAR. Maybe he will be Negative WAR.
Seriously, I’d be okay with kind of 2 “lean” years. I’d be willing to wait until some of the big money expires and some of the kids down on the farm (Judge, Jagielo, Severino, Sanchez, Bird) are ready to help on the big league level.
I’m not okay with two lean years
Those years happened in 2013/2014
But those 2 years are already in the past. I’d rather they take their medicine, hold onto and use their draft picks wisely the next 2 seasons rather than say, give 4/5 years and big money to Hanley Ramirez (and give up a draft pick in the process), who is ready to be moved to third base and can’t seem to stay off the disabled list, in a futile attempt to stay competitive.
Doug Rau is right. What already happened is sunk costs, like Arod’s contract. Forcing the issue by signing more aging overpriced guys will only prolong things. I want to see Pireal and Refnsyder now, those other guys in a couple of years, and the Latin kids after that. If we trade them away we’ll never win.
Beltran is going to be 38 next year. There is no guarantee that he’ll produce much again, even if healthy. Those contracts are a nightmare.
If I’m the M’s I go after Beltran if they can’t get VMart. Take his whole contract and trade back minor league filler in return. McCann and Rodriguez both need more games at DH. Let Beltran DH full time in Seattle and hit behind Cano.
Yankees could also offer to pay some, maybe most of his contract and maybe get a B prospect in return.
Beltran was a terrible signing. I was against Ellsbury and McCann, too, but they’re both seeming to be potentially good contracts (at least in the short term). It’s hard to fully quantify how valuable McCann has been for the pitching staff.
It’s easy to say that it was terrible because he had a pretty bad year. At the time of the signing, he was expected to get about that amount. Heck the Yankees didn’t even offer him the most.
I think the Yankees only signed him because Cano left. Beltran (though it’s very easy to say Cruz now) at the time of the signing was probably the best bat left on the market. (Beltran’s 2013 OPS+ was slightly higher).
He was one of the better power bats left. Ellsbury was already signed but he’s more of a line-drive than a home run hitter and the Yankees needed someone they thought was going to give them homers. McCann was thought to help in that department (and did) but a catcher can’t play every single day.
He was certainly expected to get that amount, but he is a much older player who is poor in the field. I’m not saying there were great alternatives, but the contract was clearly a bad one. I just don’t quite understand what the Yankees were thinking. I’m tentatively excited about the McCann deal now, but I know he could suddenly decline at any moment.
Except of course that they were thinking he could produce forever at the high rate he was in St. Louis.
The numbers suggested Beltran was in for a pretty bad year in 2014 unless he did some major course correcting, which he didn’t, and then he got hurt and it all fell apart.
What numbers are that? If any, many expected them to go Up moving to a league with a DH in a hitter friendly park.
The Yankees might not have the prospect depth to trade for Baez or Russell? A bit of hyperbole there.
Not sure that’s true actually. Baez doesn’t look like the sure thing he did a year ago, and long term isn’t a SS defensively anyway. Russell has never played in MLB and there are some concerns about him as well. It could be that, despite all they hype, Castro’s their best SS now and moving forward.
Actually I think their best move is a one year deal even if it’s for Drew for SS. Then go after Ian Desmond when he becomes a FA after the 2015 season. Desmond previously turned down an extension with the Nationals that would have bought out some of his FA years so my guess is he will become a FA. Desmond would give the Yankees right handed power and a very solid defensive SS. He’s almost perfect.
At what cost though?
May be better to lock someone up for a few years then go the $100MM contract route with Desmond.
I doubt very seriously that Desmond would cost $100MM. But he could cost $75MM to $80MM over 5 years by then. He’ll start the 2016 season as a 30 year old. Just for the record it’s not our money so who cares how much he cost, shortstop is probably the most critical position on the field. Spending money there to get the right player is very important.
Nats would give Desmond $100MM now… He turned down $90MM last year. He wants to get paid.
It was a year ago when he still had 2 years of team control and their offer at that time was for $90MM over what has been reported 6 or 7 years. If it was for 6 years that equals $15MM per if it was for 7 years that equals $12.86MM per.
BTW, he’s not 28 any longer he’ll turn 30 in Sept. 2015 so now he’s lost 2 of his most productive years to offer a team.
It was 6yrs $90+MM… I’m a Nats and Yanks fan and can tell you he wants to get paid – the Nats would give him $100MM to stay now. It’ll likely cost the Yanks 6yrs $120MM next year.
He strikes out a lot, but is a great run producer, very solid defender, and is a great leader on the team. Durable as well. There are so few good shortstops in MLB these days… he’s gonna get paid big.
We have a year before we find out. BTW here is an excerpt from a Washington Post piece on Desmonds contract. “…Before the sides settled on a two-year, $17.5 million contract, the Nationals offered Desmond, 28, roughly $90 million over six or seven years…”
Apparently they not as sure as you are that it was just a 6 year deal.
What are these “concerns” about Russell? I know Baez is K’ing in nearly half his plate appearances but I haven’t heard a negative word about Russell at this point; do you mind elaborating?
Prospect-for-prospect moves are rare. Teams tend to over-value their own over other teams. Plus, you’re trading for an unknown quantity at the major league level. I mean, the last one I can remember happening is Pineda-for-Montero and look at how that turned out. I wonder if either team would want a do-over on that. Probably not the Yankees because, as they expected, Montero didn’t stick at catcher and they have Teixeira entrenched at first and a multitude of veterans occupying DH.
Pineda had 170 innings in the majors when he was traded. Not exactly a prospect.
It was the closest example I could think of.
If Pineda’s healthy from here on, it’s one of the most lopsided trades in history. Montero apparently has a poor attitude and, as you said, no defensive position.
Why I loved the trade at the time. Montero looked good, but they had no room for a player with no position.
Plus he had multiple disciplinary actions taken on him in his time in AAA.
I highly doubt Pineda’s ever going to be healthy for an entire season. Best case scenario, hopefully he can give them 15-25 starts a season but I would expect a trip or two to the DL every season with soreness/scar tissue in that surgical repaired shoulder. Which, if they get that, is indeed much better than what the Mariners can seem to expect out of Montero.
The yanks top prospects are far from being ready so their value is not as high. Shedding payroll should be their first priority not trading away prospects when the team is not ready to contend. Sabathia and Arod have 0 value right now and are just a money pit. Best they could do is nothing and hope one of their over valued contracts get hot and dump them immediately.
That depends on how you define “far”. A bunch of their top prospects (Judge, Jagielo, Severino, Greg Bird) are probably going to be at AA and Gary Sanchez, whom everyone in the know seems to define as one of their top 3 prospects, will start at AAA next season. I don’t think of that as “far”. Also, Rob Refsnyder had a great season split between AA and AAA last season and, as it’s said here, will get a chance to win the second base job in Spring Training. So yeah, I don’t think that qualifies as “far” at all.
Judge and Severino, if they stay playing at their 2014 level are moving quickly through the system as well. There are others as well who could contribute this season, Lindgren who’ll likely get the lefty job (Which makes me disagree with the suggestion in the article that NY should sign a veteran loogy) is probably the most apparent. I also think Roller has a fair shot at a bench spot if they feel the need for a more comfortable 1B backup option, and he’s got some pop.
Most people just have this old idea of the NY farm system embedded into their brains and only see it as such.
Is Kyle Roller even considered a prospect at this point? He’ll be 27 by the time the season starts next year, pretty old for someone who’s never seen an MLB pitch.
He’s a farmhand with a chance to contribute this season, that’s all that matters.
The Yankees don’t look very good.
You know i was going to write a fair few words about the absolutely damning piece from Mark, but then i read your short and oh so sweet post and thought, no, you cant do much more of a better job than that.
The Yankees, indeed, dont look very good.
Sometimes less definitely is more.
Thank you. That was about all I had to say.
True, but they don’t look very bad, either, and now’s the time where it’s actually kind of okay to be mediocre. As we’ve seen, even ‘not very good’ teams can make the World Series these days.
That last sentence is just what fans whose teams don’t make the playoffs tell themselves. I assure you, only very good teams make the World Series. They may not have the traditional big hitters that other teams have, but they get the job done when it matters.
Baseball requires large sample sizes. Why we look at 200+ PA for players, and 3 years for uzr. Over the season you are generally going to see what teams are good and which aren’t. The Royals are alright, but playoffs with lots of off days allow you to ride your bullpen much more.
A big part of the playoffs is still about being hot at the right time. You consider a team that wins 10 in a row in July hot right? Playoffs are fun, but at the end of it they are about small sample sizes, to judge best team we need large sample sizes.
They were the best when it mattered the most. Playoffs are won by the teams with the most depth, so yes bullpens are very important. You can win in the regular season with a bad bullpen, but it’s harder to do in the playoffs.
The largest sample size of all is the regular season. Unless you win more than most other teams in the regular season, you don’t make the playoffs in the first place. What happens once you get there is truly the measure of how good you are. Luck enters into everything, but luck doesn’t win you 88+ games in the regular season. You have to be very good for that.
The Royals, with any semblance of a decent manager, might actually be a 91-95 win team. Of course, I’m also not projecting what gains Yost might have gotten them. I know he singlehandedly cost the division by a botched bullpen move in Boston, then the infamous play in charade.
That’s essentially the knock on the expanded playoffs. I don’t honestly feel that most years a sub 90 win team deserves to be able to roll that dice.
So the 2006 Cardinals and 2000 Yankees were very good teams, or were they just very good playoff teams?
Don’t know a great deal about the Cardinals but the 2000 Yankees got the job done because of very good starting pitching (Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez), a couple of homegrown players who were in the midst of their primes (Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada) and a couple of veterans who were definitely on the downside of their careers but had enough left to contribute that they weren’t a drain on the team (O’Neill, Tino, Brosius). That and they had a pretty good bullpen (Mendoza, Stanton, Nelson leading up to Rivera). So overall, yeah, I’d say a very good but maybe short of “great” team.
A good example was that 2009 Yankees team, they rode a 3 man rotation throughout that entire playoffs because the days off fell right in line to let it happen. If they were forced to start Hughes multiples times that postseason they likely don’t win it all.
In order to make the Playoffs in the first place you have to be a very good team. They don’t let the bad ones in. That’s what the first 162 games are played for.
I think you missed my point . Might want to check the standings that year.
They were good enough to get in. That’s all you need. What happens then is what matters. People can say you weren’t the best team in the playoffs, or even a very good team. People will say whatever they want, but those teams were good enough to get to the playoffs, and even better once they got there.
No they were just fortunate to play in terrible divisions that year but got hot in October and won it all. I’m referring to the regular season.
“They were good enough to get in”
No, they were Lucky enough to be in terrible divisions that year. I also left out the 2005 Padres actually. They did not win any playoff series, but they made the playoffs, with an 82-80 record. Again, another team that was not “good enough to get in” as you say.
Right, but if you make it in but don’t win any playoff series, you clearly aren’t an great team. Luck enters into everything, but to claim it’s the only thing that brought you there isn’t fair to the team of their fans. You still have to make it there in the first place. And if you then dominate, it’s clearly proof that you’re good. If you lose the first series, it isn’t proof of much. You have to beat the best to be the best, and until they invent another system for proving who the best teams are, the playoffs are all that we have. If you want to spend all of your time trying to prove the playoff teams aren’t the best teams in the game that’s fine. Do you have a better way to evaluate who is? Because otherwise it just looks like sour grapes.
it all depends on whoever gets hot at the end. Hottest team in baseball mid-season doesnt mean anything when it comes to the World Series.
they aren’t as far off as many like to think either though.
They’ve been consistently impressive with getting value out of places where it wasn’t necessarily expected. But their core isn’t looking as good as it once did.
“But their core isn’t looking as good as it once did”
Well of course not! This was a team that won 90+ games in 11 out of 12 seasons. And while it’s true they only have 1 title to show for it, some don’t keep in mind they were 3 outs away from a 2nd one, 3 outs away from a WS appearance in which they likely would have won (2004), and 2 games away from another title (2003). Though since their payroll started at around the $200 million mark which was 2005, can’t say a lot has been successful except 2009 (maybe 2010 and 2012 too).
Right, but in the game of parity it doesn’t take much to get to the playoffs. League average OPS has dropped over 50 points since they last won the WS, their potential lineup is pretty good if they can bring in Headley and a shortstop.
Getting a MLB SS would be a huge step in the right direction. I love Jeter but Yankee SS had a -2.5 WAR in 2014.
That is why the Orioles re-signing J.J. Hardy was such a huge blow.
The nightmare contracts they have now make it unlikely that they sign Lester or Scherzer.
Better to sign Headley and McCarthy. Both did well in 2014.
They could consider trading one of their bad contracts for a really bad contract which would still be a 2014 upgrade for them: Kemp? Verlander? Pujols? Lee?
What would they trade for Verlander or Pujols that would make any sense? And what would the Dodgers want in return for Kemp, who actually had a good second half?
My thought is they could overpay for a bad contract to get rid of a bad contract.
Those two (Verlander and Pujols) still have value… at about $12-15MM each, not $25-30MM. Yankees could pick up the difference just to get rid of completely useless contracts. The Tigers or Angels could then just accept a financial hit to save money in the long run. That is exactly what the Tigers did when they traded Fielder’s really bad contract for Kinsler’s not quite as bad contract.
On the other hand, I do not think the Yankees will overpay excessively for NEW contracts so they are not in this position again in 5 years.
Verlander’s contract with the Tigers is already looking like a disaster as for Pujols it’s only another year or 2 before the Pujols deal looks like the 2nd coming of A-Rods contract. Going forward the Yankees need a SS not another 7 or so years deal remaining on another players contract like that of Verlander and Pujols on the wrong side of 30.
Verlander had one bad year, and youre already calling it a disaster?
I said it has the “makings” of a disaster. Verlander has 6 more years remaining on his contract assuming his vesting option vest in 2020, but probably won’t happen. Here is a very simple question if the Tigers had it to do all over again would they sign him for about $28MM per over the next 5 or 6 years? If the answer is NO then my assessment of his contract “has the makings of a disaster” is accurate.
I can agree with that. “Makings of a disaster” is accurate. If he continues, then its a disaster
As far as I know, there isn’t a single pitcher who has ever signed a $125+ million contract and was actually worth it for his team.
Even Kershaw has his struggles.
Many of those big contracts looked good or even great in the first couple of years. It’s the later years that cause problems.
It’s already a disaster, imo. Next season, his salary jumps to $28MM and stays there for five more seasons. One would assume a decline phase in the backend of a huge deal, ie that you overpay during the latter years because of the production you’ll get in the early years of the deal. Verlander took a step back in 2013 (though he was still good), but then took a huge step back in 2014.
What’s more likely: that he somehow puts it back together at 32 and is dominant again for 2-3 more years or that he declines like many pitchers do? For $28MM, he needs to be around a 5 WAR pitcher for 2-3 years of that deal and 2-3 WAR for the rest of the deal.
Verlander only had a bad year last year and it might be due to still recovering from postseason surgery (he was the best pitcher for the Tigers in postseason this year granted how short it was but still. Also, he pitched well in Sept.), writing his contract off as a “really bad contract” is too soon. There’s no way the Tigers would sign another aging veteran for someone who might in the longrun prove themselves to be a future Hall of Famer like JV.
tl;dr JV still has got his stuff. After one bad year, its careless to already write his contract off as a bad one.
1. Each of the “Big 3” Tigers starters had one postseason start. Price was the best. Verlander and Scherzer each had poor starts:
Price: 8 innings, 2 Earned Runs.
Verlander: 5 innings, 3 Earned Runs.
Scherzer: 7 innings, 5 Earned Runs.
2. From the Tigers perspective, if they were to sign 2 out of 3 with similar dollars/years, they would pick 1. Price and then 2. Scherzer. Verlander at this point is a distant 3rd.
Verlander’s albatross is preventing the Tigers from signing both of the other two.
On the other hand, the Yankees could get some value out of Verlander (for the next 3-5 years), v. ZERO out of one of their bad contracts where there is no value to help them in 2015.
^^ Tigers bullpen of course let the baserunner score. Otherwise it would have been 2 runs. Anyway, when Verlander left the game he had the lead.
His premium stuff is still very much there.
But yeah, the big 3 Al Cy Young pitching rotation looks super overrated.
Anyway, I still stand by my comment. After only one bad year, its too soon and too early to write Verlander off like that. Of course the Yankees could get value if they got Verlander. But, the Tigers wouldnt be interested in any of the pieces that the Yankees would try to hand to them. Maybe try the Phillies lol
I actually have more faith in CC’s ability to pitch with diminished stuff for a couple years vs. having Verlander around for much, much longer. CC has shown at times that he can perform with a diminished fastball by relying on his breaking stuff. If the knee procedure did what it was supposed to do, CC might be serviceable as a #3 or #4 next year. It’s a lot scarier to me to think about how long JV has on his contract.
Verlander is signed through 2019. So if JV continues his treacherous path then, Tigers are stuck for him for 3 more years.
CC is signed through 2017.
Both pitchers put up their career worst numbers in 2014, with CC’s season getting cut short. But both still have flashes of their premier stuff.
CC has had two bad years in a row now, JV has had one. I guess the verdict is still out on this one.
I’ve heard Kemp is unhappy that he wasn’t starting in center field. He certainly wouldn’t start in center in the Bronx, with Ellsbury and Gardner on the team. Cliff Lee might be done. At any rate, any team would want to see him pitch before even thinking of trading for him.
Unless Lee was traded for salary relief but from what we’ve seen of Amaro he’ll want multiple top prospects.
The Yankees could have a very productive 2015 by re-signing: Headley and McCarthy and using Prado as their full time 2nd baseman. Then use A-Rod as their backup 3rd baseman and 1st baseman and have him share DH duties with Beltran. Re-sign Chris Young as the 4th outfield he had in limited time with the Yankees a pretty productive September and he’ll be cheap. Re-sign Robertson and the Yankees are pretty much ready to rock and roll in 2015.
Don’t be surprised if after the 2015 season the Yankees buyout A-Rods last 2 years.
You want virtually the same team as last season with different results?
That’s not true. McCarthy, Headley and Prado were 2nd half additions. Actually they were additions for about the last 70 games and they all performed very well. Robertson is an excellent closer, Say what you want about A-Rod but when he’s on the field he’s always given the team 110%. McCann came around the last 6 weeks of the season and Beltran should be much healthier then he was in 2015. So it’s not really the same team.
1st half Yankees – 47-47 (obviously .500)
2nd half Yankees (after all the trades of course) – 37-31 (.544). That translates to about an 89 win season.
Obviously what happened happened, but for the record that would have been good enough for a wildcard spot this year
Who knows though, maybe the 2 WC teams next year each win 92 games. Going to be a long offseason I think.
And puts them in the playoffs.
You also have to consider what a full season of Tanaka (or a full season without Tanaka {Arceus forbid}) would do for the team, same a hopefully healthy Beltran and adjusted McCann. I think it’s a boom or bust season either way.
I can’t believe you used a Pokemon reference. Nicely done.
I really don’t see them buying Arod out. I think he will be better than most expect, and the money is already spent. Maybe he isn’t a 160 game 3B anymore, but he does have value.
I think it all depends on how A-Rod performs in 2015. If he’s productive then I think the Yankees keep him. If he isn’t then I can see the Yankees buying him out. I don’t think the decision about buying him out is just about the money. It’s also about the roster spot. Remember they only have 25 active roster spots so each one is important.
Certainly, I just don’t think he will be as bad as many are thinking. He may not be a defensive substitution, but I still think that he will have value off the bench as a hitter off the bench.
Prado’s versatility is really helping the Yanks right now. If Headley doesn’t come back, you can slot him in at 3rd and give Refsnyder a shot at 2nd. Or, Headley does come back and you get one of the better defensive 3rd basemen in the game. Infield defense was a weakness for the Yanks at the start of 2014. Opening Day 2015, it looks like it could be a strength.
That’s what happens when you get rid of Jeter and Roberts.
Not only that, but you gain Headley or Prado, both of whom are good defensive players.
Before everyone kicks dirt on the Yankees 2015 with the additions/changes I’ve mentioned below the Yankees 2015 opening day roster could look like:
Starting Pitching: Tanaka, Pineda, McCarthy, Greene and Sabathia
Infield: Teixeira, Prado, Drew (SS) for one year, Headley, McCann and A-Rod (DH)
Outfield: Gardner, Ellsbury and Beltran
Bench: Cervelli or J.R. Murphy, Ryan and Young as the 4th outfielder
Bullepn: Robertson, Betances, Warren, Kelley, Phelps, Mitchell and Lindgren
All in all at least from this fans perspective not bad.
Ii would agree with all those moves..except Mitchell should be in AAA; Lindgren should start in AAA for the first couple of months. Esmil Rodgers, Chase Whitley and Preston Claiborne can replace those guys. Nova available by July.
Mitchell’s probably ready and Lindgren as a lefty specialist should be available pretty soon if not I’m sure someone could fill in there.
Rogers and Clairborne will probably be “non-tendered” this off season.
In a perfect world I would love to see the Yankees re-sign Robertson and also go after Andrew Miller. But I don’t think that’s in the cards. They would have to much money tied up in their bullpen at that point considering other needs.
my evaluation is a very good bullpen; very good infield defense and good starting pitching and they have depth in starting pitching :Mitchell, Manbam, Phelps, rogers and Nova by July. Offense could improve with a healthy Betran; return of Arod? Prado over Jeter in the 2 hole…Mccan performing the whole year like he did in the second half.
I think Gardner is in the 2 hole. Him and Ellsbury is a pretty good 1/2, except when lefties starting.
Joe tends to dislike starting lefties back to back at the top of the order regardless of starting pitcher, I imagine Prado will at least start the season hitting second.
don’t like Drew even for 1 year as SS. Bad enough watching him at the plate last season
Yanks need the most help with their offense over starting pitching and relief pitching.
SS- Stephen Drew/prospect from the Dbacks (needs to be a platoon)
1B- McCann
2B- Prado is good.
3B- Headley is good.
C- Cervelli/JR Murphy (both are better than McCann) (Give Cervell/JR more playing time!!!!!!)
DH- Arod/Teixiera platoon (who knows how Arod will be and at least Teixiera has power)
Outfield- Gardner, Ellsbury, Beltran/Young
I dont think this would work due to vets egos, but I think this lineup could produce.
????
McCann was fine in the field. Don’t get all the people trying to push him to 1B. Tex’s problems are from hitting, not from playing 1B.
Tex doesnt hit consistently. That’s exactly why Id move him into a reduced role instead of being an everyday 1B. Sooner or later McCann has to move to 1B or a DH position. Yanks got Cervelli/JP who really should take over the dish.
Yet you want them to sign Drew to play SS who cant hit for anything, assuming you want him for his glove, Tex’s glove is 10000000000000 times better than McCann at first.
Again my proposed lineup is for an offensive spark because thats what I feel the Yanks need the most. However, at the cost of offensive production, defense issues will increase.
Forget Drew. If the Yanks want to keep Tex at 1st and McCann as catcher, then Yanks need to trade maybe one of their backups for a younger, legit SS. Jose Iglesias comes to mind. I think that Lowrie and Cabrera would further stink up the Yanks.
Who would the Yankees trade for Iglesias?
Then make it later… Why opt for the sooner when you can get more value out of McCann/Teixeira at C/1B for the time being.
Tex still had league average offense according to wrc+. Is that something the greater # of pa for cervelli/Murphy going to replace?
This is literally exactly how I have my “wishlist”/”prediction list” for this off-season except that I have Drew as a platoon bat with Brendan Ryan. Great defense either way and decent bat when platooned. Nice opening day roster. Upvote for you.
Been doing the math on this…the Yankees owe $166,642,857 in just guaranteed contracts alone for 2015. Essentially that leaves them $22MM to play with for free agents, arbitration, etc. Problem is, they a lack a lot of the team in arb eligible players, which is certainly what that $22 will be spent on (Cervelli, Kelley, Nova, Pineda, and probably Phelps). Not to mention, they’ll most certainly go over if they re-sign McCarthy, Headley, and Robertson for just the bare minimum, and this is assuming they DH A-Rod and put Headley at third. There’s also the $9MM extra A-Rod will get should he hit six more home runs to reach 660. Needless to say, this team is screwed. They’ll be way over the luxury tax just to cover the bare minimum of what they need.
I don’t think there was any plan for them to get under the luxury tax this season so I don’t what exactly they are screwed with? I know Hal has been quoted as saying that the team will EVENTUALLY get under the luxury tax threshold. I take it he is waiting for A-Rod to be off the books a long with a couple of other big salaries. I would say there best chance to do that will be either 2017/18.
The payroll after the offseason will probably fall in the $220MM+ range.
They overloaded with huge contracts that has the core of this team dependent on aging veterans. With the guaranteed contracts, there is no player except for Tanaka, who is under 30. In the next 10 years, I would hope the Yankees would become more frugal with their reckless spending. They’re basically stuck with the bulk of this for the next three years.
That’s my point, it’s not something they will try to get under again unless they know they can do it. The best chance for that is 2018. You said they’re “screwed”, but it’s not like this is a team with no money or know they won’t go over the luxury tax. It will keep them from going crazy on players because they have to spend so much more money than everyone else, but it won’t necessarily stop them from trying to get better.
Well, hopefully for their sake, the guys they spent so much money on can get it going in 2015, otherwise it’s going to be a rough couple of years. There is hope though in guys like Refsynder, Lindgren, Austin, etc., but it’ll be impossible to start expecting them to perform at a top level from the get-go in the majors. I know that their financial situations pretty much let them do as they please, but they need to play it safe in the next few years, and stay away from big name free-agents, otherwise they’ll never get it going.
I’d like to see them sign Robertson and Miller and create that lockdown bullpen that’s mentioned here. Would be pretty awesome to see. As for everything else…*shrug*, not much to do. I expect to see the Yankees make 1 big trade this offseason just to surprise people.
Esmil Rogers and David Huff will most likely be non-tendered. If they weren’t okay with paying Matt Thornton $3.5M next year, they’re not going to be okay paying those two multiple millions each.
Huff made half a million, Rogers made $1.85 mill. I could see them maybe bringing Huff back for a million and change. They’ll probably give a minor leaguer a chance (Jacob Lindgren?) so it might be nice to have a veteran on the roster as well.
I think Huff comes back he could also make the bullpen initially out of ST as their lefty. Rogers is done he will be non-tnedered.
As much as I want to write off the Yankees for then next couple years it really doesn’t do the team justice. The Yankees finished the season 4 games back in the wildcard race despite receiving lackluster play from McCann, Tex, Beltran and Jeter and Sabathia, Tanaka and Pineda all spending significant time on the DL. Expecting all 6 of those players to improve in 2015 would be unwise but it is equally foolish to expect all 6 to perform as poorly as they did in 2014.
I don’t see any dominate team in the A.L. East. All 5 are pretty mediocre so it’s hard to pick who is going to finish at the top and who’s going to finish in the cellar. I don’t see the Orioles having the starting pitching to go on a long run of division winners. Wieters and Machado’s inability to stay healthy is disconcerting and they may not be able to keep Nelson Cruz.
I wouldn’t write them off either but with the loss of Jeter and the reintroduction of ARod one does have to wonder if clubhouse chemistry will be an issue.
Rich Hill pulled a salary last season – that’s amazing.
The Angels paid Rich Hill a little under 30K to walk 3 batters and record zero outs in 2014.
They aren’t as far off as many want to think. They had one starter top 140 innings, and basically everyone in their lineup underperformed. Sure they may be an older team, but if you can get headley back gardner, ells, beltran, headley, ss, prado, teix, mccann, arod is a really good potential lineup.
Last year 7 out of their batters that got the most PA had less than 1 war. Also unlike past year they have Refsnyder knocking on the door who can play outfield and 2b, and Prado has versatility.
This team just needs a few small moves and they are contenders.
As a Red Sox fan I hate to agree but I do. If the Yankees sign Headley and find a half decent SS then the lineup is set and should be much better then last year.
Also, signing Headley gives them two or more quality options at 3B (A-Rod, Headley, and Prado), 2B (Prado and Refsnyder), 1B( Tex, A-Rod, Headley), DH(anyone), RF( Beltran, Prado, Refsynder).
A lot of this is true, but it’s also worth noting that the Yankees managed that 84-78 record despite scoring 31 fewer runs than they let up. That’s highly irregular, so I don’t think it’s necessarily accurate to do what a lot of Yankees fans (not necessarily you) are doing and figuring that this is a team that only needs 5-6 additional wins to be back into contention.
Getting every borderline call known to man sure helps you look better on paper as a season progresses. We both watch those Yanks face our respective teams, you know what I’m talking about and Fangraphs posted an article on it a few years back. Being the biggest draw helps you get these calls.
Their Pythagorean W-L record in 2013: 79-83.
If Tanaka goes down to TJ at any point they are pretty far away and he’s literally one pitch away from that now until it happens. I guess the same could be said for any pitcher but he has a confirmed partial tear, it’s got to be a matter of time (could be days could be years) until it tears enough to need the surgery.
What was disturbing was Tanaka’s second start back, not his first. Any pitcher with a minor tear could rest/rehab for two months and give you 5 IP, it’s the next start 4 days later that tells you what’s what. His second start back was not pretty. His velocity quickly dipped from 92 in the first inning to a sloppy, max effort 89 in the second inning. His pitches had no life at all and he got waffled. The work load on him in Japan is also very troubling, considering the age he threw all those innings. I would be pretty surprised if he doesn’t shut it town at some point next year and get TJS.
Those contracts are a toxic waste dump. Looks like a 2005 All-Star team that will be trying to win games in 2015, while still being paid for their 2005 selves. They’re getting into the same mess they were in during the 1980s, when they kept adding more and more expensive free agents who would get old in a year or two, leaving them a winning team, but one that was never quite good enough.
Overpaid doesn’t always equate to unproductive though. They are overpaying, but it doesn’t take much to be league average offensive player anymore.
I agree with most of what’s been said in this piece with the exceptions being that I don’t see the Yankees going after another veteran lefty for the bullpen. In fact, I don’t see them spending any extra money there at all. They have two solid MLB ready lefties of their own in Jacob Lindgren and Tyler Webb. Also, I don’t believe Huff and Rogers are locks to be offered contracts. Both had spotty results and the Yankees may want to fill those slots with some of their more than capable minor league talent as well. This is an area of strength for the minor league system. Position player help is probably gonna come in the form of Refsnyder and Pirella and I believe both are better options than Gerardo Parra.
I would bring back McCarthy in a heartbeat. He and New York seemed to work together very well as he went 7-5 with a 2.89 ERA, 89 Ks, and only 13 walks in 90.1 innings with the team. Plus he’s hilarious. You should follow him on Twitter.
Depends on how many years he ends up being offered, I’m probably not guaranteeing him 4 years.
Miller, Betances, Robertson
That would be a tremendous Bullpen
Yeah they might end up guaranteeing over 60 million on just two guys in their bullpen. That’s not a good idea.
If the Yankees did trade for a young shortstop, am I crazy for wanting Chris Owings?
He’s a decent player. Probably is what he is though, not a lot of projection left. But he’d be a solid pro for the Yanks. Problem is, I think he’s won the SS competition in AZ, so would be hard to get.
Owings looks like a great target but they were asking the Mets Syndergaard+Plawecki for him. Either of those guys would be the #1 prospect in the Yankee system so it’s tough to see who they would trade for him.
McCann doesnt need many DH at bats, they label him as an aging player but he’s only 30. I’d say once he its 32 me might need more DH at bats but he can back Teix up at first before he’ll play DH. The lineup would be better off with him resting then but his average or below average bat at the DH.
Sign A. Cabrera for short , Prado at 3rd , Refsnyder at 2nd , Tex/Arod at 1st , Beltran/Arod at DH , Gardner/Ellsbury/Beltran/?-free agent signee in the outfield and Tanaka,Pineda,McCarthy,Greene,(Scherzer/Lester/Shields/Santana) in the rotation, McCann catching and Warren,Betances,Robertson or free agent closer. Trade Kelley for infielding and dump Sabathia after he’s out 3 months with a hangnail
no headley
Headley has no bat. As much as I like him and his attitude, the Yankees shouldn’t keep him
The yankees haven’t had a good hitting prospect since Cano and Gardner. Who’s gonna be the next good one?!
Jesus Montero was a pretty good prospect.
Hear hear! He was the top catching prospect in baseball, if I remember correctly.
I’d put my money on the Judge.
Yanks are always in the mix, heck they were in it this year with 4/5ths of their starters out!
Whatever you say about the Yanks, you’ve gotta respect Girardi. The Yankees overperformed signifcantly compared to their talent level.
This team is a mess. Just sign stop-gaps for the next 4 years and try to build the farm system where we can get a respectable team by 2019.
They have a decent farm system. They are probably in the 10-12th ranking, in terms of farm system. 2017, Aaron Judge could be in right, Rob Refsnyder could be at second, Eric Jagielo could be starting at third. Luis Severino could be in the rotation.
According to Bleacher Report, they are ranked 19th in all MLB farm systems.
Scouts aren’t real high on Jagielo right now from what I’ve read.
I’ve not heard that. Do you have a source, some article on-line?
Jagielo was named one of the most disappointing prospects of the season by Baseball Prospectus
(subs. req’d). “He has a gaping hole on the outer half of the plate …
His plate coverage was quite poor and will be exposed at higher levels
unless he makes a major adjustment,” said the write-up. “Because of his
size and strength, he’s still going to run into his share of home runs
and should hit for moderate power …. Jagielo profiles as a
second-division regular at best.
Huh. Well, that’s disappointing.
Scouting profiles flip-flop very erratically, just see what he does next year.
Going into the winter the Yanks still have the best team coming back on paper, it will all depend on the health of the team. Cashman will add the top players to make them competitive. I can see them signing Headley, Lowrie, Robby, Shields or McCarthy, and Kuroda this winter. Like to see them sign Gregerson too! That would give them a starting rotation of Tanaka, Shields, Pineda, Sabathia, and either Nova, Greene, or Phelps, not too shabby. Could be the best staff in the AL East.
Yeah yeah, we hear the same excuses every year about injuries.
27 championships no excuses necessary!
TBF they’ve had an enormous amount of injuries the last two years, you can’t possibly deny that. This year, their pitchers were the most injured, but it wasn’t their pitching that let them down, it was their lack of offensive production.
You’ve seen that excuse for the last 2 years. Keep in mind though that unlike most teams who lose that much time the Yankees STILL finish with a +.500 record and still were in contention for a wild card slot.
Andrew Bailey “dollar value unknown” just struck me as humorous.
“Former All-Star Starlin Castro”? He was an All-Star this season!
Or “multiple All-Star”…
Suggestion for Yankees. Offer Prado to the Brewers for Gallardo. Deal would help both clubs. Gallardo is a solid #3 and most importantly, he’s durable. Brewers should part ways with Ramirez and will have a need at 3B that Prado would fill perfectly. Would open spot up for A-Rod, or they could even bring in Ramirez to play there and DH. A stopgap at 2B? Rickie Weeks is available.
Prado for Gallardo is unrealistic. You can’t get a #3 starter for a utility player. You’d have to throw in a pitching prospect in there to get that done. I like the idea of maybe sending Cervelli to the A’s for Drew Pomeranz
Rickie Weeks doesn’t stop anything.
My plan would be resign McCarthy, Headley, and Robertson. Jettison Capuano, Kuroda and the rest of the free agents to be.
Stick Arod at the DH slot and let him play 1 or 2 games a week at 3B.
Play Prado at 2B for 90-100 games and roam around for the rest of the games. Let Pireli and Refsnyder battle it out in spring training to play the other 60-70 games there.
If the Yankees think Korean SS Jung Ho Kang is a legitimate MLB SS then sign him if they think he is a year or so away then stash him in the minors and maybe sign Drew as a 1 year stop-gap.
I also think they should let one of the kids be the 4th/5th outfielder as Prado can also play out there.
And they should also bring up some more kids to round out the pen. Bring up Lindgren and Severino. Give Banuelos a shot at winning a roster slot in spring training.
GIVE THE KIDS A SHOT WHERE YOU CAN
Good stuff, MLBTR, as usual.
You don’t see any of their arb-eligibles as non-tenders? (See Huff, David and Rogers, Esmil.)
ARod will be wearing a Marlin’s uniform. The Yanks will trade him to Miami, pay most of his salary the next 2 or 3 years and get a prospect or maybe a pitcher out of it.