Somewhere, George Steinbrenner is screaming at the top of his lungs.
While the late owner was in charge of the New York Yankees, his only goal was winning the World Series every year, and when they didn’t, the season was deemed a failure. His tenure was full of rash decisions, but at the end of the day, it’s hard to argue with the results.
The Yankees did win, and they won a lot.
With their father no longer around, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner have ushered in a new era that’s unfamiliar to many in the Bronx. They obviously still want to win, but they’re no longer going to break the bank with enormous long-term contracts for stars past their prime.
And, unlike two offseasons ago when they scrapped that idea to sign Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year, $153 million deal, the Steinbrenners are letting general manager Brian Cashman follow through. So far, it’s working.
This winter has been the ultimate test, especially with such a deep crop of top-tier free agents to potentially pursue. Dave Dombrowski and the Boston Red Sox have already made two major splashes, acquiring closer Craig Kimbrel in a trade and signing David Price to a seven-year, $217 million deal.
.@DAVIDprice14 on what it means to be a part of the #RedSox organization: #WelcomePrice pic.twitter.com/0RNcdY9Z0y
— Red Sox (@RedSox) December 5, 2015
Not only are we used to watching the Yankees throw their weight around with big-money contracts, we’ve also become accustomed to them reacting to major moves from rivals. If this happened 10 or 15 years ago, New York probably would’ve immediately hopped into serious negotiations for the top pitchers and position players still available, overpaying for one (or more than one) of them.
As annoying as it was to watch New York do this time and time again – especially if it prevented your favorite team from landing a player they desperately needed – one had to think it would eventually come back to bite them. That time has finally come. Sure, the Yankees can still afford to pay for top talent, but it wouldn’t make much sense given how the roster is currently constructed.
It all started coming to a head in 2008, before anyone really realized it. That was the final year of the old Yankee Stadium, and the Bombers missed the playoffs for the first time since the Wild Card was introduced back in the mid-90s, and that was unacceptable. So, they went shopping.
Alex Rodriguez had just signed his 10-year, $275 million deal the offseason before, so he was all set. The Yankees ended up spending around half a billion dollars, but bagged two of the biggest free agents in CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. Did that work? Well, they did win their 27th World Series title the following season, so it’s hard to argue.
However, after doing a little math back then, I wondered what the Yankees would look like with Sabathia, Teixeira and A-Rod all in their late-30s or early-40s and nearing the end of their contracts at the same time. Overall, it’s not as bad as I thought, but it’s still a place they probably regret getting to. At least a little bit.
I’ve read many articles saying this is the worst time for Cashman and the Yankees to start pinching pennies because next year’s free agent class looks rather uninspiring. That’s entirely true, but it’s now time for Yankee fans to trust the process, as unnatural as that sounds.
Cashman deserves a lot of credit for the deals he’s swung over the past two winters to get New York younger, while keeping them competitive.
Heading into this winter, the organization had a few concrete needs, including second base, some outfield depth and insurance for the rotation. So far, two of those three objectives have been addressed.
First, Aaron Hicks was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for John Ryan Murphy. In Hicks, they get a much younger, cheaper and better version of Chris Young in the outfield. He’s under team control until 2020, can play all three outfield positions, will likely continue improving and can be a starter now if another outfielder (cough, Brett Gardner, cough) ends up getting moved.
The next deal involved sending Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for second baseman Starlin Castro. Sure, giving up Warren is a loss for the bullpen and starting rotation depth, but they get another young, controllable asset who has already proven to be an All-Star caliber player.
Castro comes with his lumps, but this change of scenery can do a lot of good. He’s only 25 years old, will no longer be the “elder statesmen” in the clubhouse and performed very well at the plate after shifting from shortstop to second base last season (.339/.358/.583 triple slash with five homers and 22 RBI in 115 at-bats after the change).
Plus, all great teams are solid up the middle, and having Castro paired with Didi Gregorius in the infield for the foreseeable future is awfully good.
However, questions still remain with regard to the rotation since most of the incumbent starters come with legitimate concerns:
Girardi concerned with health of Yankees rotation https://t.co/FyWVu5Sfh9 pic.twitter.com/V45smruhRp
— theScore MLB (@theScoreMLB) December 17, 2015
Like we said earlier this week about the St. Louis Cardinals, pitchers and catchers aren’t reporting tomorrow. It’s not even officially 2016 yet! Spring Training is right around the corner, but there’s plenty of time left to improve roster depth.
Will it be tough competing with other AL East teams like Boston and the Toronto Blue Jays while rebuilding on the fly? You bet it will be, but manager Joe Girardi did a great job en route to leading his squad back to the postseason for the first time since 2012 (it was for one game, but still, they made it).
Cashman and his front office have used the last two winters to carefully infuse youth into an aging roster with guys like Gregorius, Hicks, Castro, Luis Severino and Greg Bird. It’ll be crucial for Girardi to utilize some kind of rotation again in 2016 that keeps vets like Rodriguez, Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann healthy and productive, while also keeping his young players sharp.
When looking ahead, the concern regarding the lack of talent in next year’s free agent class is legitimate. However, it’s all a process. At the end of next season, New York will get nearly $40 million in payroll relief, with another $45 million coming off the books the season after that.
This sets them up perfectly for an absolutely stacked free agent class in 2018 that potentially features guys like Bryce Harper, Matt Harvey, Manny Machado, Andrew McCutchen, Adam Jones and plenty more. Yankees fans will surely want the Bombers to be a major player for possibly one of the best free agent classes in MLB history, right?
For that to happen, it’ll take some planning, and it starts now. New York is still going to be competitive and could potentially make the playoffs again in the meantime, which is only possible because of what the front office has done over the past two years. The Yankees are not acting like the Yankees we’ve come to know and love (or hate), but their new strategy is working so far.
For now, it’s about trusting the process. Even if it feels weird to.
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter so we can get through a winter without baseball together: @mmusico8.
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