Yankees: There's Really No Need to Rush into Anything
While the New York Yankees are far from “set” for the 2017 season, there’s also no need for them to rush into any additions or deletions from the current team either. Brian Cashman would be tarred and feathered at home plate in Yankee Stadium if he ever said it, but in truth it is what it is – a rebuilding year. And that’s not so bad at all.
If the Yankees were really going for it this year, you would know it. Because they would be the Red Sox, who can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep without making some kind of a deal these days, instead of being more like the White Sox, who lurk in the shadows of the night snatching your kids while you sleep.
And they would have been all-in on both Chris Sale and Edwin Encarnacion, taking on all comers, including the Red Sox, by throwing around some of that money they print.
The Yankees Are Indeed the New York Yankees
But it didn’t happen because there’s no need for it to happen. They’ll keep plugging away trying to trade Brett Gardner, but if they can’t make a sensible trade that yields a prospect or two, it’s not the end of the world and they still have a pretty good player to play left field for them. Ditto for Chase Headley at third base. And who knows, even Jacoby Ellsbury might wake up from his self-induced coma to help the team. Miracles have happened.
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The Yankees will take what they can get next season. With Toronto sulking about all the things they should have done, and Baltimore doing (exactly what are the Orioles doing – anyone know?) whatever it is they’re doing, the Yankees have a clear view of second place in the AL East with a solid chance to be a Wild Card team in next year’s playoffs.
And in the meantime, the kids they have will get a chance for 500 or 600 at bats in the major leagues, and the new kids in the minors get a year to continue their development and get familiar with the Yankees way of doing things. It could be a lot worse, as recently as last year when all we were talking about was Alex Rodriguez.
Small Pieces Add Up to Big Pieces
The Yankees need another starting pitcher, but who doesn’t in the thin market that is left from the free agent crop this offseason? Reportedly, they’ve reached out to Jason Hammel, who made 30 starts for the Cubs last season, but nothing has developed. And George King of the New York Post reports that the Yankees have engaged in talks with the Tigers about Justin Wilson. So more bullpen help is coming, and we’ll begin to see many of the 752 relievers, who seem to be everywhere these days, signed in the next few weeks now that the closer market is just about closed for the season.
How’s this for openers on the 2018 free agent starters though? Clayton Kershaw (if he opts out) and a host of others will out there for the takin’ for those who are willin’, and the Yankees will be all-in on that auction for sure. And during the season this year, they might look for a contender that needs a starting pitcher boost to get over the hump, and trade Masahiro Tanaka before he makes the move himself as a free agent.
Nevertheless, 2017 should be a very entertaining year for the Yankees. The only difference is that the drama will be missing. But the really good news is that there is no one trying to invent the drama, and everyone wisely seems content to simply let the team develop on its own with the pieces that are already there. So different and so refreshingly “new” for the New York Yankees.
