New York Yankees Setting up 2017 Postseason Run?

The New York Yankees have begun what may be the shortest re-build in Major League Baseball. Does it set them up to be postseason favorites in the 2017 season?

The New York Yankees started their short re-build at the trade deadline making moves that were well covered by both by this site and others. Since then the Yankees have finally taken Alex Rodriguez off the field.

Alex Rodriguez has brought nothing but trouble to the Yankees from the beginning. Taking him off the active roster was a great move and one that further cleared the way for young players. While he still is in a front office role with the Yankees his days of hogging the Yankee team headlines are done for now. The team is headed in a new direction one that Rodriguez no longer has any role in.

Shortly before that, Mark Teixeira announced his retirement at the end of this season. That brings the Yankees problems going into this offseason to a much smaller and limited list. Teixeira, unlike Rodriguez, has never been a problem outside of his declining production. The retirement clears the way for one of the Yankees talented young first baseman to step in and take over.

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The Yankees still have their work cut out for them going into this offseason, however, if they want to put themselves into a position to be favorites going into the 2017 season.

The first priority for the Yankees will be finishing what they started this season by getting rid of any remaining older and overpaid players. Brian McCann falls under both these categories making it not a question of if but rather how soon will he be traded? Gary Sanchez has started his career in amazing fashion and has all but ensured himself a starting catching role going into next season.

Brian McCann will become the next older player that the Yankees move on from their roster. Once the move is made with McCann, the Yankees will have two remaining players on their roster that they just may be ready to distance themselves from at the end of the 2016 season.

C.C. Sabathia received an eight-year, $186 million deal that is just starting to come to a close. With an exception of his first few innings in pinstripes, Sabathia has been a disappointment and at this point in his career could challenge anyone for being one of the most overpaid players in baseball.

To finish their rebuild the Yankees are going to have to make a hard decision with Sabathia. It is obvious that the pitcher is past his prime regardless of his success in his last two starts.

If the Yankees want to finish the rebuild they are going to have to make the same decision they did with A-Rod and let Sabathia ride off into the sunset. With one year left on his contract next season, the Yankees may be willing to eat the remainder and send him packing to another team. If they cannot entice anyone to take him, they will need to make the difficult decision and cut him all together.

Jacoby Ellsbury, through no fault of his own, is another example of a player that is past his prime and very overpaid. That is not to say he isn’t a good player rather that he is not a player that the Yankees will build around at this point in his career.

The problem for the Yankees will be finding someone willing to take a significant portion of Ellsbury’s remaining salary. Unlike C.C. he will remain under contract until 2022. For an aging outfielder that is not good news. The Yankees may be forced to look into trading fellow outfielder Brett Gardner instead and moving Jacoby to a less prominent role as he continues to age.

No doubt the Yankees will remain sellers this offseason as they finish changing the age and outlook of their team. Once that happens, however, the Yankees will be ready to do what the Yankees do best and that is spend both in the trade and free agent market.

The Yankees are built around a front office and ownership that values winning above all. They are not afraid to spend the money to do so. This season was the exception the Yankees team was spiraling in the wrong direction and they have made the team younger and improved all the while rebuilding the roster.

Once they finish this process they will be ready to go out and get younger but established talent to put around their young talent.

The Yankees have a core group of players establishing themselves with the Yankees for the first time in a long while. Instead of spending for a team they are establishing one from their farm system. This still doesn’t mean anything has changed for the Yankees and their spending ways.

Rather, they have found a way to bring in even more talent while going out and spending just the same. They are setting themselves up to be one of the better teams in the years to come. A Yankees team that for the first time in a while will be young and fun to watch.

While it is impossible to answer the question of exactly how good the Yankees will be coming into 2017, a close look should leave little doubt that they are attempting to set up for a postseason run in 2017. While this is obviously the outlook of almost all teams, the Yankees will have a better shot than most as they look to once again become World Series favorites.

While they are setting up nicely to do just that it is important to remember that they have a long way to go. The Yankees are no longer the only team willing to overpay for players in a bloated free agent market. If they want to make the needed improvements the front office is again going to have to find whatever magic they used for the trade deadline this season.

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No doubt the Yankees are headed into this offseason looking much better, and with higher hopes for their long-term future than they have in years.

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