Early on during the winter hot-stove months, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made it known that he would not be spending more than $200 million on any given player. The Yankees managed to grab multiple for under the threshold Cashman put out – $150 million for J.A. Happ, James Paxton, Zach Britton, Troy Tulowitzki, DJ LeMahieu, and Adam Ottavino.
Rumors of a potential starting pitcher being picked up looms, but the rotation is all but set with Happ, Paxton, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and CC Sabathia manning the starting rotation.
A superstar deal is off the table:
Bringing in a player like Machado or Harper would undoubtedly make the team much better, but the price-tag that comes with them would be extreme. Both free agents are looking for decade-long deals with over $300 million in compensation.
Yankee fans have suffered through the terminal deals of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixiera, two players that offered immense value in the beginning but fell off toward the end of their respective careers.
I believe that Cashman never planned on unloading over $200 million this offseason for any amount of players, especially just one.
Former Yankees first baseman Mark Teixiera has been an outspoken voice in regard to the way the MLB is progressing and why signing playings for massive deals is a bad idea:
“There’s two things being said right now about Harper and Machado,†Teixeira said on Sportscenter. “While these two are great players, the numbers just don’t say they’re worth 30 to 40 million dollars a year. Plus, the fact that at 32, 33, the decline of players, that’s when it’s starting to happen now, players aren’t on steroids and getting better into their 30s, so they’re saying, ‘Okay, well, I’m willing to pay you $25 million bucks for maybe seven years,’ that doesn’t get close to what these guys are looking for in free agency.â€
Teix has a point – signing players to long-term deals ultimately doesn’t pay off. It’s a hefty investment that benefits the short term and puts serious stress on the salary-cap later on. It seems as if the Yankees have shied away from the idea of monster-contracts after trading for Giancarlo Stanton last season.