I'm still worried if the Yankees somehow arrive at Spring Training with Lewis Gil, Cody Poteet, Luke Weaver, Clayton Beater, Will Warren, etc. to compete for the fifth starter spot. If so, there's no need to worry.
More than a month after the Yankees left a hole in their rotation, they filled it Thursday night by agreeing to a two-year, $37 million contract with Marcus Stroman that includes a vested option for a third year. Ta.
At least for now, the Yankees' pitching woes are resolved. It remains to be seen how it will play out and whether even bigger additions will be added.
But until the Yankees acquired Stroman, one of Brian Cashman's comments from earlier this offseason kept coming back to mind.
Their dream was to trade for Juan Soto and sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the offseason, and they initially seemed confident they might be able to accomplish both.
Instead, they had a successful first half but missed the second half.
That's what happens in free agency — especially if Yamamoto wanted to end up with the Dodgers from the beginning — but going elsewhere would be doubly painful for the Yankees. Not only did they miss out on a high-end starter, but they also had some problems with their rotation by waiving Michael King (plus No. 6 and No. 7 starters Randy Vazquez and Johnny Brito, and top pitching prospect Drew). I couldn't even fill in the gaps. Soto) in a contract with Soto.
That brought them to Thursday. Examining the top two arms remaining on the free agent market in Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, who are expected to receive contracts worth more than $150 million, Dylan Cies highlights the top arms on the trade market After talking with the team, they pivoted to Strowman in hopes of reaping the rewards in return.
It's still possible the Yankees look to add one of these arms before the end of the offseason, but at least for now they have rotation coverage.
They had to at least do something this big. Because if you trade Soto, who only has one year left in control of the team, you have to do everything you can to win a championship with him.
It will take some time to determine if Stroman is the right player to add to the rotation.
He could be a cheaper and better option than being locked into another big contract with Snell or Montgomery or sacrificing a prospect like Spencer Jones.
Or maybe the market is right and there's a reason why Stroman could be acquired for $37 million while Snell and Montgomery get top dollar.
In any case, some of Cashman's hour-long rants at the GM meeting in November seemed prescient this week.
“One of the things we sacrifice is [by]In my opinion, that's what we're aiming for,” Cashman said. “return [in 2016] When they dismantled the team when they felt it wasn't good enough, they traded a lot of veterans. I gained a lot of perspective. we will build again. Created a completely new window.
“And that window is still open. It's not like we're open in a big way. Naturally, every year it dwindles a little bit and closes down. We're dragging down good teams at the top and drafting bad teams. Competition will become a little better due to the setting up of a system to raise international contracts. [pools]. we all know it. So we've been fighting to keep that window open and fighting to get into the postseason and have a chance. ”
Cashman brought up a trade for Frankie Montas in the summer of 2022. The story comes after the Mariners failed to land top pitcher of the year Luis Castillo at the deadline as they offered a more attractive prospect package. The Yankees focused on Montas, a pitcher whom Cashman considered the “second-best pitcher” on the limited market.
The trade ended up being a disaster, even though the prospects the Yankees sent to the Athletics still didn't come back to haunt them. (In retrospect, the second-best starting pitcher at the deadline that year was the one the Yankees traded for Montgomery.)
Cashman then pointed to the Yankees' decision to acquire Joey Gallo at the 2021 trade deadline at a time when they were in desperate need of a left-handed hitter. Of course, this was also an unfortunate decision. (In retrospect, the most impactful left-handed hitter traded that summer was Kyle Schwarber, who was rented from the Nationals to the Red Sox in exchange for minor league right-hander Aldo Ramirez. )
“The market was limited,” Cashman said in November. “We were trying to win. We needed a left-handed bat. He was the only guy we had that fit the bill. That's the reality.”
Cashman left out another big example, presumably because the player is still on the roster. After losing Shohei Ohtani (first inning), the Yankees traded for Giancarlo Stanton. There was $98 million owed on that contract. He has four years left, but he seems to be having a headache at the moment.
And here the Yankees were once again looking to win in a fairly limited market and needed a quality starting pitcher.
Strowman was their choice. Will Cashman have to defend his decisions again in the future, or was this a way to avoid the mistakes he's made recently?
Of course, the simplest solution for the Yankees is for Carlos Rodon to bounce back and pitch like the No. 2 he signed for $162 million last offseason, for Nestor Cortez to stay healthy, and for 2021- Clark Schmidt will likely recover as he approaches his 22nd season appearance. After his first full season as a starter, he has taken another step forward.
If all goes well and Gerrit Cole stays Gerrit Cole, perhaps whatever the Yankees get from Stroman will be even better.
But if you're going to trade Soto for a year with no guarantee of him winning a second title, you have to try to build your roster with as much certainty as possible instead of relying on hope.
Latest information on international signatures
The 2024 international signing period begins on Monday. According to Baseball America, the Yankees have been linked to Dominican Republic outfielder Francisco Virolio and third baseman Richard Matic.
The Yankees tend to spend the majority of their bonus pool on one player, but sometimes signing lower-level players can prove to be the most valuable (e.g., Vazquez and Brito have a total of $45,000). (contracted in dollars).
But for now, let's take a look at where top contracted players currently stand over the past three international signing periods. Dominguez, a standout in the 2019-20 season, has already made it to the Bronx.
2023: OF Brand Maea, Cuba, $4.35 million
Before turning 18 in September, Mayea played in 38 games for the Yankees' Dominican Summer League team, batting .276 with a .782 OPS and 22 stolen bases. He plans to come to the United States this year to play in the rookie-level Florida Complex League.
2022: SS Roderick Arias, Dominican Republic, $4 million
Before turning 19 in September, Arias spent summers playing for the Yankees' FCL team. He hit .267 with a .928 OPS in 27 games, but his season was interrupted by a broken finger. Baseball America ranks him as the Yankees' No. 5 prospect in his first full season of professional baseball.
2021: SS Hans Montero, Dominican Republic, $1.6 million
After spending 2021 and 2022 playing in the Dominican Summer League, Montero came to the state in 2023 to play in the FCL. In his 19-year-old season, he played in 53 games and had a batting average of .257 and an OPS of .823.
Valentine's Day is for (baseball) lovers
The Yankees officially announced this week that pitchers and catchers will participate in spring training on Valentine's Day, February 14th, but that day will be the first day manager Aaron Boone will speak to reporters for those keeping track at home. It's also a day.
Position players are expected to report on February 19th, and their first full team workout in Tampa will be on February 20th.
After a lockout-shortened camp in 2022 and the World Baseball Classic during spring training in 2023, this year should give us a chance at a relatively normal six weeks (including the famous last word) we know).
