More Yankees coverage
CHICAGO — This summer, the Yankees saw the benefits of preparing and the drawbacks of punting. Will the coming winter provide a similar lesson?
The non-waivers trade deadline never delivered the frontline starting pitcher the Yankees hoped would be available when they purposely saved room on their payroll and stockpiled prospects as trading chips. Instead, the Yankees utilized their plentiful farm system to acquire a pair of been-there, donethat, walk-year guys in Lance Lynn and J.A. Happ, both of whom won their first starts as Yankees. Lynn’s strong outing Monday night, registering 7 ¹/3 shutout innings to defeat the White Sox, 7-0, and end a five-game losing streak, proved especially valuable.
Happ and Lynn both will be free agents this winter, as will Tuesday night’s scheduled starter CC Sabathia, and maybe one or both of the new guys will show enough in pinstripes to earn a return invitation. Because what’s more clear than ever is the lack of clarity in the Yankees’ future starting rota- tion — particularly the question of who can join Luis Severino as an ace-level guy.
Once upon a time, let’s call it three to four years ago, the Yankees wanted to get their 2018 payroll under the luxury-tax threshold, reset their tax rate and go to town on what appeared to be an epic free-agent class. Jose Fernandez, Matt Harvey and Clayton Kershaw headlined the group of starting pitchers in that class.
If we’ve learned anything from what has transpired since, it’s the folly of projecting so far out. The class now has an elite top in Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, a great closer in Craig Kimbrel and not much else. Fernandez has died, Harvey has dramatically diminished and Kershaw has been so compromised by injuries that he might not opt out of his Dodgers contract.
The impending free-agent pitcher having the best season is Arizona’s Patrick Corbin, who grew up in upstate New York and has publicly professed his interest in joining the Yankees. Maybe that marriage happens, although given the 29-year-old Corbin’s overall track record, that would feel more like a Sonny Gray trade than a signing of CC Sabathia. The trade market doesn’t look particularly inviting, either; the Mets probably won’t trade Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, and they certainly won’t send either guy to the Yankees.
So the Yankees might find themselves in gathering quantity and hoping that quality results. They possess a plethora of interesting young arms, from Jonathan Loaisiga to Justus Sheffield to Domingo Acevedo to Chance Adams, who encouraged with his bigleague debut last week at Fenway Park. Jordan Montgomery can get himself back on the radar eventually after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Some of these guys will need to help on the mound, others in the trade market.
Ten years ago, the Yankees launched a master plan that worked perfectly: They passed on trading for the Twins’ Johan Santana, concerned about the southpaw’s long-term viability, and as Santana excelled for the 2008 Mets, the Yankees bided their time until Sabathia became a free agent after that season. Sabathia has turned into one of the better ninefigure free-agent signings in baseball history. Yet the Yankees didn’t supply Sabathia with enough help, which explains why he has only his one ring from 2009.
Now, the planets have not aligned in the Yankees’ arms race. They thought they weren’t ready for the Chris Sale trade when Sale went from the White Sox to the Red Sox in December 2016. They didn’t want to add Justin Verlander to their payroll when the Astros got him from the Tigers in August 2017. And they didn’t think Gerrit Cole was worth Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier when Cole went from the Pirates to the Astros this past January.
Referring to Jacoby Ellsbury’s future with the Yankees in the wake of the center fielder’s season-ending hip surgery, Aaron Boone said on Tuesday, “It’s hard to speculate what our roster will look like in April of next year.”
With each day that passes, that simple prophecy becomes more true — and, for the Yankees, more challenging.