THE PRESENT
Yanks in transition but still playing to win now
TAMPA — Rebuilding while trying to contend is a difficult balancing act, but the Yankees are going to give it their best shot.
“We’re in transition,” Brian Cashman said Thursday. “But we’re not waving the white flag while transitioning.”
The Yankees last won the AL East in 2012 and have been to one playoff game since, and are now a mid-80s winning team missing the homegrown and purchased superstars of the past. Eventually, they were going to have to get younger while all their onerous contracts ran out.
World Series champions CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez will account for $46 million in 2017 in the final years of their respective deals, but Cashman, with ownership’s blessing, took a massive step at the trade deadline last season when he turned Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller into top-5 prospect Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield.
The farm system hasn’t been this deep in a long time, and 20-somethings Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino and others could have a big impact in 2017 for Joe Girardi’s club. James Kaprielian and Chance Adams maybe later in the year, too.
It’s an intriguing yet uncertain time, with question marks filling the roster at first base and right field — where Bird and Judge are the favorites — the back end of the rotation — where Severino needs to end up to avoid another stint in the minors — and the middle of the bullpen. Not to mention center field, where Jacoby Ellsbury needs to produce more. As do Michael Pineda, Starlin Castro and Chase Headley, among others.
But if everything breaks right, they stay healthy and overcome the growing pains that come with youth and inexperience, maybe they can be better than the .500 team analytical models project them to be. “I think Brian’s right. I think we are in transition,” Joe Girardi said. “I think that started at the end of July last year, when we started bringing up younger players and relying on them more. I’m excited about it. I think there’s a lot of talent in that room and we’re going to get a chance to see it play out. Our goal is to win here. That’s the bottom line. You don’t get Chapman or (Matt) Holliday (otherwise). You don’t make the moves that we made. For me, let’s go win.” On one end of the spectrum, landing Chris Sale and Edwin Encarnacion this offseason and winning big would’ve been nice. On the other end, losing and drafting the next Bryce Harper or Kris Bryant would’ve been nice too. But these are the Yankees, seats still need to be filled in the Bronx, and at least ownership realized something needed to change and allowed Cashman to make progress in that respect. The 2018-19 free-agent class of Harper, Manny Machado and others remains a talking point. That won’t change. Still, there are a couple seasons to play beforehand — including this one, where winning now and developing for the future are the simultaneous goals. “I’m hoping I’ll be here in 2018 and 2019,” said Cashman, who, like Girardi, is in the final year of his contract. “That means I better focus now.”