New York Yankees: Is the Rebuild Almost Complete?

In a very short amount of time, the New York Yankees have rapidly rebuilt their team. Is Alex Rodriguez‘ impending retirement the last move they needed?

The New York Yankees have rebuilt their team into a younger one in a very short time. In a matter of a few days, the Yankees have made a flurry of moves that made their team much younger and more likely to contend in the near future.

The Yankees viewed the elite closers they had as commodities but not necessities, until they truly needed them. They traded Aroldis Chapman first, sending him to the Chicago Cubs to help improve their farm system. They did the same with Andrew Miller, sending him to the Cleveland Indians for prospects.

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While moving closing pitchers on a team that was not expected to compete may not be shocking, it was still surprising to see the Yankees being the team selling at the deadline. They continued this trend by trading Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers, capitalizing on his resurgent season. Once again, they received legitimate prospects to further replenish their farm system.

Ivan Nova was the next player to go, being dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nova was a player that had disappointed and failed to live up to expectations unlike Miller, Chapman, and Beltran. He was not expected to be in a Yankees’ uniform after this season.

With the deadline past the Yankees continued to announce the change in their franchise. Mark Teixeira will play his last few innings this season as he announced his retirement at the end of the 2016 MLB season. Teixeira’s retirement was somewhat unexpected and takes yet another face off of the Yankees’ roster that was expected to be there for the 2017 season.

While not a Hall of Fame player, Teixeira has certainly had a solid career putting up good numbers everywhere he has gone. He will be missed by the Yankees and leave another hold on their roster that needs to be filled this off-season.

Alex Rodriguez is the Yankees’ most recognizable name on their roster and has been for many seasons. All the speculation surrounding A-rod this season has been that eventually he would be released by the Yankees. Yesterday, the Yankees announced that A-rod will play his last game Friday and be released, after which he will remain with the team as a special adviser.

The Yankees’ roster in a matter of a few weeks has been almost entirely torn down and is ready to be rebuilt. They are not expected to be done making moves either as a few older players remain on the roster.

Brian McCann is one of those players. He is expected to be traded before the start of next season. Despite his large contract, McCann is a valued clubhouse commodity and should be moved fairly easily dependent on the asking price. The Atlanta Braves are interested in acquiring the catcher meaning it is very possible the Braves and McCann could reunite this off-season.

This leaves Jacoby Ellsbury and CC Sabathia as the only obviously regrettable contracts that the Yankees have not rid themselves of. Ellsbury is signed thru the 2022 season, and for a 32 year-old player that is trending in the wrong direction, that will be a difficult contract to move, if not impossible. If the Yankees want to rid themselves of Ellsbury before his contract is expired, they may have to follow the example set by the Braves to rid themselves of Melvin Upton.

To get rid of the under achieving Upton, the Braves traded him to the Padres along with top closer Craig Kimbrel. While the move may not have been a fan-favorite, it put the Braves in the position they needed to be in to re-build. To get rid of Ellsbury, the Yankees could do something similar including a prospect or one of their better players to rid themselves of his contract.

CC Sabathia is in a much better situation as he is scheduled to become a free-agent at the conclusion of next season. The 36-year-old lefty has struggled the last four consecutive seasons to put together anything mirroring the ace that he once was. Sabathia is a player the Yankees are ready to move on from, and, unlike Ellsbury, does not have many seasons left on his contract. If the Yankees cannot find any takers for at least part of Sabathia’s salary, do not be surprised if they opt to cut him over having him in the rotation for yet another season.

Brian Cashman has re-built the Yankees farm system while putting them in a better position to compete a lot quicker than many thought they would be. While the Yankees still have the aforementioned names to move or cut they have put themselves into a position to be both buyers and seller in the free-agent and trade-markets this off-season.

Cashman has gone from being laughed at for overpaying for older players to being thought of as one of the more savvy general managers in the game right now. He is rebuilding the makeup of the Yankees roster without having to send the Yankees through a painful rebuilding process.

Next: Braves trade for Prospects

New York Yankees fans have a lot to look forward to this off-season as the Yankees’ front office continues to give their team a makeover. They can also rest easy in the fact that this is not a full re-build. If there is one thing that you can count on for the Yankees in an off-season it is that they are never afraid to shell out the cash when they need to.

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