The New York Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman has lots to do to repair a team that hasn’t been in the World Series since 2009. The team may be in the worst shape it’s been in for the past decade. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has said that the New York Yankees will be one of the top teams all of Major League will be watching over the next several months.
The question of why is easy to answer. The Yankees pitching rotation is in shambles, just one season after the Yankees gave Gerrit Cole the biggest contract in MLB for a pitcher. Now at the end of the season, the Yankees basically only have Gerrit Cole. Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ have all become free agents. The New York Yankees will need to pick up at least one premium pitcher if not two. Much of that depends on if they can reach a discounted deal with Masahiro Tanaka.
If the Yankees can keep Tanaka from signing with another team or going back to finish his career in Japan, and owner Hal Steinbrenner decides to take back Domingo German, who was suspended all of last season for breaking the domestic violence protocol, the Yankees will only need one new pitch for the starting rotation. But that is not where the Yankees needs end. One of the main priorities will be finding the money to keep DJ LeMahieu in pinstripes; he will want his salary nearly doubled and a longer contract to give him security.
Still, the Yankee needs don’t end there either. The Yankees have problems at short and at the backstop. The Yankees are unhappy with the catching and hitting performance of Gary Sanchez who has let the club down for a couple of years now, and this was the worst of his career. Although the Yankees had faith that Gleyber Torres could handle replacing Didi Gregorius at shortstop, that has not come to fruition. The Yankees want to find a way to salvage Torres who they believe is a future Yankee star, but has been misused this past season.
One of the major problems in attending to these needs is that the New York Yankees lost more money last season than any other MLB team, due to lost revenue from no fans in the stands and other associated fan revenues. All this while having to pay the largest player payroll and supporting front office expenses, security, and Yankee Stadium maintenance. The Yankees may have lost as much at $700 million in total.
It is doubtful that the Yankees will be spending big this offseason, even though the needs are great. The Yankees will also try to stay below the luxury tax threshold of $210 million. The is no shortage of players out there in free agency and to be traded for, the question is whether the Yankees will spend to fill those needs. This writer’s belief is the Yankees will spend but will spend modestly. First, they will try to find a way to not be outbid for the services of DJ LeMahieu, next they will likely pick up a quality mid-rotation pitcher. There are some low to mid-priced ways to solve the catcher problem and the issue at short.
For Yankees fans there most likely will not be any blockbuster deals that include the names of Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto, or Francisco Lindor Cashman will try to use his creative magic to find inexpensive LeMahieu-like player to fill the holes. To augment those changes the Yankees will surely rely on the host of up and coming prospects within the system.