Yankees Rumors: Eight potential offseason moves for Brian Cashman
By Paul Ashley
The expectation before the 2018 MLB regular season was for the New York Yankees to reach the World Series. As the young, talented team fell short of their expectations, it is now expected for general manager Brian Cashman to alter the roster in order to repair its weak points. Yankees rumors could be wild!
The New York Yankees were only one win away from winning the American League Championship Series in 2017 before they were eliminated by the eventual World Series Champion Houston Astros. The 2017 regular season began as a potential rebuilding year in the Bronx, but they were able to compete at a high level which encouraged the front office to buy at the trade deadline.
This was mainly due to the emergence of Aaron Judge, the continued growth of Didi Gregorius, and a breakout year for Luis Severino. However, as the front office has been on a mission to stay below the luxury tax threshold ahead of the 2019 season, any offseason adjustments prior to the 2018 season had to fit within their budgetary goals.
Fortunately, this involved the Yankees being able to add the 2017 National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton. Unfortunately, this involved the organization not being able to afford the veteran presence of Todd Frazier or being able to strengthen the starting rotation.
Although the Yankees were able to bring back veteran CC Sabathia on a one year, $10 million contract, the only other significant offseason moves consisted of signing Neil Walker to a one year, $4 million contract and acquiring Brandon Drury in a trade for prospects Nick Solak and Taylor Widener. The team sent out roughly $25 million by trading Starlin Castro, Chase Headley, and Bryan Mitchel and they brought in $25 million by acquiring Stanton from the Miami Marlins.
Although Dellin Betances, Sonny Gray, and Didi Gregorius saw the most significant arbitration raises on the team, the Yankees no longer had Sabathia at a $25 million salary, Matt Holliday at $13 million, Michael Pineda at $7.4 million, or Alex Rodriguez at $21 million. All of these circumstances put together, along with other minor moves, caused the payroll of the team to go from $209 million in 2017 to $179 million in 2018.
As the front office created some wiggle room to add additional pieces before the $197 million luxury tax threshold was reached, they were eventually able to acquire impact pieces at the trade deadline. These pieces included J.A. Happ, Lance Lynn, Zach Britton, and Luke Voit. They were also able to bring in Andrew McCutchen and Adeiny Hechavarria prior to the waiver wire deadline.
Nonetheless, the Yankees hopes of winning the American League East division quickly slipped away when the Boston Red Sox took a 5.5 game lead into August and a 7.5 game lead into September. The Yankees were able to secure home field advantage in the American League Wild Card game due to the emergence of Voit (14 HRs, 33 RBI, and a 1.095 OPS in 39 games) and the steadiness of Happ (7-0 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts).
The team was able to Defend the Bronx in a victory over the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card game. However, the Yankees were then only able to win one game in the American League Division Series before being eliminated by a Red Sox team that currently holds a 2-0 lead in the 2018 World Series.
As the strict financial restrictions will likely not be there this offseason, expect to see Cashman make significant improvements to a young team that is already built to win. Due to this, here are eight moves that the Yankees organization could potentially pursue during the upcoming offseason.