TOO MUCH CASH, MAN!
Brian: Yanks weren’t in on Price bidding
THE YANKEES were never significantly in on the bidding for expensive new Red Sox ace David Price, GM Brian Cashman said Friday. The Yankees, Cashman added, are more likely to make noise this winter via trade than the free agent market, anyway.
But any potential deal probably won’t include Andrew Miller or Brett Gardner. The GM has acknowledged multiple times this off-season that he’d consider trading his closer and left fielder, but now Cashman says, “I think it’s more likely that we keep them than move them.
“I say that recognizing that if someone wants to ring a bell that I’ve put out there, that (something) could happen as early as tomorrow,” Cashman added. “If I’m predicting anything, I’d predict that they’d be here. Not somewhere else.”
Cashman spoke before and between practice runs rappelling down the side of the 22-story Landmark Building in downtown Stamford, Conn. On Sunday evening, he will rappel down the building again as one of Santa’s elves in this city’s “Heights and Lights” holiday event.
Cashman took breaks through the morning to do publicity for the event and to check a valuable piece of work equipment — his cell phone. Last year, he put the finishing touches on the Didi Gregorius trade on the practice day for rappelling.
He says he’s had wide-ranging trade discussions, possibly as many as he’s ever had in a winter. Any deal won't be a response to Boston's Price signing, he says, though Cashman knows that Price, the former Cy Young Award winner who finished second in the voting for the American League hardware this year, will present a huge challenge for his club and the rest of the AL East. “Obviously, it’s a significant piece to add to any team, let alone a division rival,” Cashman said. “Obviously, it makes Boston a significantly stronger opponent.
Cashman added that he “wasn’t surprised” Price ended up at Fenway. The Red Sox gave Price a seven-year contract worth $217 million. “The rumor was that Boston was gonna get him at all costs,” Cashman said. “That’s what you read and that’s what happened. It’s a significant acquisition. There’s no doubt about it. They stepped up and pulled down, arguably between him and (Zack) Greinke, (one of) the two best pitchers available.”
While some may be awaiting a massive return volley from the Yankees, well, that’s so George Steinbrenner-era Yankees, not Hal Steinbrenner's club. These Yanks don’t react to splashy Sox moves in the same way.
“I think there’s been winters when they’ve been very aggressive and we haven’t in the last decade, where they went all in,” Cashman said. “Where their franchise happens to be sitting versus where we happen to be sitting, they have the ability to do certain things more so than we do. It’s as simple as that.”
While the Yankees are routinely thought to be every off-season’s big-game hunters, Cashman says that’s not really the case now. The Yanks are waiting for some bigmoney contracts to expire — Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran come off the books after 2016. “Do we currently have the ability to play on every available talent that pops in the sight lines?” Cashman said. “The answer is no.”
So Cashman continues to look for moves such as the trades he made last year for Gregorius and for Nathan Eovaldi.
“Our money has been directed and committed already,” Cashman said. He noted that luxury tax penalties mean the Yankees would spend 50% more in free agent dollars if they made a huge signing.
“Just to kinda give people the accurate narrative — the Yankees are spending, but our spending has been aggressively curtailed by a lot of things that have developed over time. I think it’s $1.3 billion we’ve transferred in revenue sharing in the last decade.
“Eventually, it takes its toll and becomes a preventative measure, as it was predicted to be. We have commitments to players we think can contribute to our win column and did so last year and we’ll aggressively look at the trade market right now more than the free agent market, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the free agent market at the same time.
“We’ll see what happens.”
NOVA LIMIT? NOPE
Ivan Nova might be the most likely pitcher to give the Yankees 200-plus innings in 2016, Cashman says. “I’d easily say Nova,” is how the GM put it. “I feel comfortable about that.” But Cashman is listening to trade suggestions about Nova, anyway, and says that will show whether Nova, who came back from Tommy John surgery last season, is worth more to the Yanks as a pitcher or a trade chip.
“That’s what the whole winter is going to play out,” Cashman said. “As of right now, he’s valuable to me, no doubt about it, unless somebody makes me think otherwise.”
Nova, who turns 29 in January, was 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA in 17 starts in his 2015 comeback. He’ll be a free agent after next season, so a strong campaign would put him in a lucrative position. But he’s never thrown 200 innings in his career — his high is 170.1 in 2012.
HE'S SPUR-FECT
Masahiro Tanaka, who had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow in October, completed his physical therapy to recover from the operation, Cashman said. “He should be good to go in the spring, but I’m sure we’ll be careful with him nonetheless,” Cashman said. Tanaka is set to return to Japan soon, Cashman said, and he’s “got a throwing program in tow.”