It’s the offseason, which means we’re seeing constant updates about the Yankees and how they don’t want to spend money or trade their best prospects or give up their first round draft pick. We hear the same stuff every offseason and inevitably the Yankees do some of that, either spend money or give up prospects. They can’t not do anything, not when they continue to push “World Series or bust” mantra.
The offseason is still young and the Yankees have made just one notable move so far, swapping John Ryan Murphy for Aaron Hicks. They’re trying to get younger so trades figure to be the focus this winter — just like they were the focus last winter — because that’s how you get younger. Free agents aren’t young. They’ve put their 6+ years in and have earned the right to test the open market. Guys in their mid-20s like Jason Heyward are extremely rare.
The Yankees had relatively little money come off the books this year, roughly $20M total between a bunch of low cost one-year contract guys (Stephen Drew, Chris Capuano, Chris Young, Garrett Jones). Next year some of the huge contracts begin to expire. Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran will be free agents next offseason, then Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia come off the books the offseason after that.
“The last couple of years, the money that has come off, we’ve had to put it back in,” said Hal Steinbrenner to Ken Davidoff. “Fill voids because we haven’t had the young players to do it with. The guys that we picked up two years ago, the McCanns and the Ellsburys, they’ve been great. Glad we did it. A couple of years from now, the payroll situation will be different. I’ll have flexibility. We will be active on the free agent market. We always are. But I’ve got other options.”
Between Teixeira and Beltran, the Yankees will dump $40M or so in payroll next winter. Another $50M or so disappears thanks to A-Rod and Sabathia the following year. That’s an awful lot of money. But where does that money go? Hal can say they “will be active on the free agent market,” but have you seen the upcoming free agent classes? Here’s my quick ranking of next offseason’s top ten free agents:
- Stephen Strasburg – really great when healthy
- Carlos Gomez – kind of annoying but really good
- Jose Bautista – like the Blue Jays are letting him leave
- Kenley Jansen – like the Dodgers are letting him leave
- Edwin Encarnacion – he’s a DH
- Adrian Beltre – he’ll be 37 in April
- Justin Turner – looks like a human-sized leprechaun
- Matt Wieters – oh geez
- I got nothing
- Really, that’s it
So yeah, the Yankees are freeing up a boatload of cash soon, but quality free agents aren’t going to magically appear just because the Yankees have money to spend. If anything, the 2016-17 free agent class will only get worse because a few of the actual good players will sign extensions.
The more I think about it, the more I believe the Yankees need to look at this free agent class as their best opportunity to bring in quality players for nothing but cash over the next few years. They could really use a high-end starter, and right now guys like David Price and Zack Greinke and Jordan Zimmermann are available. Next year it’s Strasburg and Jered Weaver. Want a second baseman? Either sign Ben Zobrist or Howie Kendrick now or pretend Martin Prado is comparable next year.
The Yankees have not increased payroll significantly in a decade now, which is both total crap and something we can’t do anything about. Hal Steinbrenner has established his payroll comfort zone in that $200M to $220M range — well, aside from the fact he’s made it clear he wants to get under the luxury tax threshold as soon as possible — and if the Yankees are going to stick to that next year, they won’t be signing any notable free agents this offseason. The math doesn’t work.
For the Yankees to take advantage of this deep free agent class, Hal would have to step out of his payroll comfort zone for a year before the bigger contracts come off the books next winter. Live with a bigger than usual payroll in 2016 before things return to normal in 2017 and beyond. Spending the savings now, basically. It’s either that or sit out the best free agent class in years and look for other ways to improve the team in future offseasons.
The Yankees have gotten burned by big money contracts and I get that. I’m actually in favor of avoiding huge money long-term deals for guys at or over 30. There are very valid baseball reasons to not sign, say, David Price. Heyward is a special case because of his age and a long-term contract makes sense for him. Otherwise the mid-range free agents are where the Yankees can benefit the most, guys like Zobrist or Hisashi Iwakuma, who likely could be had for high-salary three-year deals. (Iwakuma might take two years.) The money’s not really the issue — at least it shouldn’t be for the Yankees — the years are the sticking point.
Long story short, the upcoming free agent classes stink and there won’t be many good places for the Yankees to spend the Teixeira, Beltran, Sabathia, and A-Rod savings. The smart thing to do in my opinion is to target free agents this offseason — get the help you need to contend and maybe actually win a postseason game — and live with the high payroll for a year. (That’s easy for me to say, of course.) Waiting for the contracts to come off the books before spending comes with a high opportunity cost. They’ll miss out on a lot of good players who fill obvious needs.
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