EARLY X-MAS GIFTS
Yankees can settle down for long winter’s nap after getting Chapman & Holliday at Winter Meetings
OXON HILL, Md. − As executives, agents, reporters and nearly everybody else scattered from the Gaylord National Resort Thursday afternoon to avoid the mayhem headed here with the opening of a brand new casino later that night, Brian Cashman headed home with a lot less to do in the weeks ahead. The Yankees added a new designated hitter − Matt Holliday − and reached an agreement to bring Aroldis Chapman back to the Bronx on a five-year, $86 million deal. These were the Yankees’ two primary needs this winter, and in a sport where some of the biggest free agents can often drag things into the new year, Cashman pounced on both and wrapped up his holiday shopping in the first week of December.
(For what it’s worth, I predicted in Sunday’s paper that the Yankees would make both of these moves at the meetings. Given my track record of predictions in the past, I felt it necessary to point this out to redeem myself. Then again, even a broken clock is correct twice a day, right?)
The Yankees had a productive week, but they didn’t leave Maryland as the meetings’ biggest winners. That would be the rival Red Sox, who dealt four prospects for Chris Sale, adding the best lefty in the game not named Clayton Kershaw to a rotation already headed by David Price and Cy Young winner Rick Porcello. The Cubs did pretty well, too, acquiring closer Wade Davis from the Royals for outfielder Jorge Soler. Many will predict a Red Sox-Cubs World Series in 2017 and who could blame them? These are the two best teams in the league right now, and it’s difficult to believe the Yankees will do anything between now and the start of spring training to thrust them anywhere near that conversation.
No worries, Yankees fans. The plan is playing out perfectly.
The Chapman addition gives the Yankees a thunderous 1-2 punch at the back end of the bullpen, pairing him with Dellin Betances, who moves back to the setup role that has made him an All-Star in all three of his full seasons. Factor in Tyler Clippard and Adam Warren and the Yankees have a bullpen quartet that should cover up a lot of the warts in the rotation.
That bullpen should help the Yankees contend for a wild-card berth, keeping the season interesting as they continue the youth movement and work toward getting the payroll beneath the luxury tax threshold.
Could they stay below the $195 million threshold in 2017? Once the Chapman signing becomes official, they will have roughly $166 million committed to nine players, including the $26.5 million they’re paying to Brian McCann and Alex Rodriguez.
With seven arbitration-eligible players, staying under the threshold appears unlikely, but accomplishing that goal in 2018
(when the number rises to $197 million) looks to be a realistic scenario after they shed $46 million with the expiration of A-Rod and CC Sabathia’s contracts.
Last summer’s trades of Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran restocked the farm system with some highend talent including Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield.
Signing Holliday added a middle-ofthe-order bat on a short-term, financially sensible deal.
Chapman gives the Yankees a dynamic bullpen duo for at least the next three years, the last of which they expect to be serious contenders after resetting their luxury tax and spending big on a freeagent class that includes Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper and quite possibly Clayton Kershaw.
Sale would have cost the Yankees several of those top prospects, while Edwin Encarnacion would have required at least four years − as well as the 16th pick in the draft − to add to the lineup. Under the guidance of Hal Steinbrenner, Cashman has showed great restraint to pass on such things, no matter what moves his main competition are making.
“We’re trying to we as careful in our decision-making process as we possibly can as we straddle that line of trying to be as good as we can be in ‘17 and hopefully even better than that in ‘18 and going forward,” Cashman said. “Every decision we’re trying to make is with that in mind.”
So what’s next? Barring a trade of Brett Gardner, the position players are set. Cashman has said he doesn’t expect to add a starter, but it’s quite possible he signs or trades for a reliever, likely a lefty setup man such as Mike Dunn, Travis Wood, Boone Logan or Jerry Blevins.
“We have more needs,” Cashman said. “We won’t really have that much to play with financially, but we still have more needs.”
The Yankees should be among the list of “winners” from the meetings, arriving here with two primary goals and accomplishing both. Cashman will leave that talk to folks like me, preferring to judge his moves by what he sees on the field next season and beyond.
“The success gets determined in-season with the wins and losses that come,” Cashman said. “That’s how you get defined. Everything else is just noise before that.”
He’s made his noise. Expect a quiet winter in the Bronx the rest of the way.