What the New York Yankees are doing with Aaron Judge so far could impact their pursuit of Bryce Harper next off-season
The free agent market this past off-season was certainly slow and quiet. One of the reasons may be teams like the New York Yankees re-setting the luxury tax penalties for a star laden free agent class next season that includes guys like Charlie Blackmon, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.
The Yankees may be giving us clues already to their thinking for next off-season and it surrounds a guy who’s probably the face of their franchise at this point in Aaron Judge. They’ve already done a couple of things that could give us some clues into their thinking for next season and why you shouldn’t rule them out of pursuing Harper.
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Brett Gardner is their longest tenured position player. He and CC Sabathia are the de facto captains of the club right now. The Yankees can also get out of his contract for the 35 year old next year by paying a $2 million buyout instead of paying him $12.5 million.
Besides Judge, the Yankees will have Giancarlo Stanton who can play left. They also have Aaron Hicks, who has had a hard time staying healthy, but is a Brian Cashman favorite, Jacoby Ellsbury who has an untradable contract and prospects Clint Frazier and Billy McKinney. None of which would necessarily prevent the Yankees from pursuing Harper next year.
The Yankees put Judge in center on Saturday, a place that he played in college, so it isn’t foreign to him. It also may not really matter how you align your outfield that much anymore. Why? Per Travis Sawchik of Fangraphs, since 2007, defensive opportunities for five of the seven fielders in fair territory have declined due to the how the game has changed with the increase of launch angle and strikeouts. The position with the biggest change? Centerfield with a 27.2% decrease.
Now, center still has the most plays of all three outfield spots, but the Yankees have more of a power and groundball staff, plus Judge is a good enough athlete that you can run him out there, even for part of the game and then go to a defense first outfield with a lead late where you bring in Hicks for Stanton if they were to add Harper.
Secondly, the Yankees experimented with Judge in the leadoff spot during spring training and may use him in that spot against tough lefties. Judge didn’t have a problem with it. Harper has led off in the past as well and may even this season.
Imagine this for next season
Judge RF
Harper LF
Stanton DH
Greg Bird 1B
Next: Mets honor Rusty Staub with patch
Good luck opposing pitcher. How about if they kept Gardner?
Gardner LF/CF
Judge RF/CF
Harper LF/RF
Stanton DH/LF/RF
Bird 1B
Sanchez C
Gregorius SS
Even worse for opposing pitchers.
Even though we have a very long way to go til next off-season, keep an eye on how the New York Yankees use Aaron Judge this year. It may give a clue to their off-season plans.