Four Winter Meetings questions
NEW YORK — Thanks to back to back 100 win teams, a still-young core of position player talent, and division rivals intent on getting worse, the Yankees have blessedly few questions about the state of their roster heading into the Winter Meetings.
But if we’re being honest, there’s one we really care about, the fate of a certain late 20s right-handed pitcher. That’s right: Will Jonathan Holder bounce back into the effective middle relief form he showed in 2017-2018 or will he continue to work out his kinks from Triple-A?
OK, but for real.
Cole in your stocking?
It sure seems serious this time! Though the Yankees have largely sat out the top tier of the market, the team has signaled a willingness to make Gerrit Cole the exception to their usual disciplined approach to free-agent pursuits. Or perhaps, their discipline led them to Cole, and not Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, or Nats stars Max Scherzer and Patrick Corbin.
Cole, 29, is looking to set the market for free-agent pitchers, as he should, considering he’s the best combo of age, talent and performance since Scherzer. He’s 35-10 with a 2.68 ERA since getting revitalized by the Astros, and led the American League in ERA and the majors in strikeouts. If there’s an exception to be made, it’s for him.
What does a big-time pitching move mean for the rest of the roster?
Hal Steinbrenner is on the record, as always, of trying to limbo under the upper bound of the luxury tax. So, what does, say, a $38 million annual line item for Cole (or slightly less for secondary target Stephen Strasburg) do elsewhere? If they’re serious about both Cole and austerity, are there other players on the trade block to make sure New York plays by the handicap, even if it’s self-imposed?
At backup catcher, they go with veteran Austin Romine, who has the respect of the pitching staff and quietly hit at near league-average rates, with 18 home runs and 77 RBI since the 2018 season - or save a couple of million with Kyle Higashioka, a talented framer but unproven hitter?
Happy Ending or Happ-less?
One of the obvious ways for the Steinbrenners to save money would be dealing J.A. Happ. Happ may have negative value, but the Yankees are believed to be shopping him around. He’s also the exact kind of guy that would get killed by a turbo ball, which means there’s squintyour-eyes optimism that he might be the effective starter the Yankees acquired from Toronto from to stabilize their rotation in 2018.
But, we don’t know what ball we’re gonna get. MLB might not even know. So it’s hard to know how valuable Happ will be.
What is the Yankees’ center field plan?
Aaron Hicks’ myriad injury struggles could have easily sunk lesser teams, but Brett Gardner ably filled his role and then some. He’s a free agent again, and early indications are both sides want a reunion. With Hicks’ Tommy John recovery pushing his timetable into the summer, the importance of the fourth outfielder is extra important.
Gardner means more to the Yankees than just being good at baseball. As the longest-tenured Yankee and last remaining link to their 2009 championship team, Gardner is a leader. You see it every time a Yankee batter reaches base and starts banging an invisible bat, but there’s the hustle and work ethic too. With a career-high 28 homers last year, he’s aged into power, or at least become a manipulator of the short right porch and turbo ball.