The New York Yankees are one of the teams interested in the Cy Young Award-winning Trevor Bauer. It has been described that the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, and the Toronto Blue Jays are the insiders looking for a deal, and the New York Yankees are still outside looking in. The Yankees would most likely be interested in a one year deal, however lately, Bauer has made it known that he will not accept a one year deal this year.
The Yankees, with so many unknowns for their pitching rotation for the upcoming season, are looking for a solid veteran presence to follow Yankee ace Gerrit Cole. After the World Series, the Yankees let Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ walk into free agency without giving any qualifying offers to those pitchers. All three had sub-par 2020 seasons.
If the New York Yankees entertain bringing any of the three back, it will be Masahiro Tanaka that for the part has been solid for them over the last seven years. Tanaka was never the true ace that thought he would be, but nevertheless, he has been good for them. Shortly after signing Tanaka, he developed a partial UCL tear; he rehabbed but avoided Tommy John surgery. However, every time he takes the mound, it is of concern. Over the last few years, Tanaka has not been able to go deep into games.
Much to Yankee fans’ frustration, the Yankee front office has been sending a bunch of mixed messages as to the importance of rebuilding both the starting rotation and the bullpen. Owner Hall Steinbrenner has said he wants to stay below the luxury tax threshold of $210 million. At the same time, it has been known that the Yankees were considering Charlie Morton among others, but several of those targets have already been signed. General manager Brian Cashman has recently said that he will likely wait to spring training to make any moves.
If he holds to that stance, the main question is what will be left on the market that can make a difference for the Yankees. The more general stance of both manager Aaron Boone and Cashman is that they are relatively happy with their rotation. That would be Cole, German, Montgomery, and the newbies like Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt. But it is unknown how all of those would perform in a 162 game season. Mid-season Luis Severino will help shore up the rotation, but it is also unknown how he will pitch after not pitching for two seasons.
With Trevor Bauer stating that he will not accept a one year contract, it pretty much takes Bauer out of the picture for the Yankees as they will likely not talk on a big-money contract with their main priority being re-signing DJ LeMahieu that appears to be most costly than the Yankees would have liked. Those negotiations are at a standstill as the sides are still far apart in both dollars and contract length.