Even if only a scare, this emphasizes the need for more arms
TEMPE, Ariz. — At this point it feels like I’m writing a series, not a story or two. No, this isn’t my first or even second piece suggesting the Yankees need to augment, enhance, improve or at least lengthen their talented but thin starting rotation. But it’s surely my most urgent.
If the Yankees needed a starter or two before Gerrit Cole felt a twinge in his right elbow, how much do you think they need it now? When Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced Monday that the best pitcher in baseball would need to undergo an MRI on his golden elbow, that was the scary moment of spring. Even if they are acting calmly, it should have sent off alarm bells.
Maybe it turns out Cole’s tweaked elbow is next to nothing, just a minor blip in a spectacular career. But any sort of setback is of great concern now. Maybe it’s the best-case scenario, and Cole is only sidelined for a spell.
But at the very least, it’s a reminder that when it comes to arms, nothing’s a certainty anymore. Even the most consistent of track records take unexpected turns.
The Yankees need to act. Their depth was obviously iffy to start with, now it’s worse. Since certainties don’t exist, they need at least one more strong possibility.
It doesn’t have to be Blake Snell, either, though the reigning NL Cy Young winner and maybe the best March 11 free agent ever is the most obvious solution. Sure, why not? One Cy Young winner has a question, bring in the other.
But I get it. If managing partner Hal Steinbrenner is loath to spend $60-plus million for the addition of one player — I mean, after all, is anyone worth $60M, except maybe 100 percent of Shohei Ohtani or the medicinally enhanced version of
Barry Bonds? — they can look elsewhere. Hal Steinbrenner certainly doesn’t relish the idea of taking his fourth-tier tax bill from the current $11M (they are $10M over according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts) to $44M. So there’s a decent chance he won’t.
I’d say maybe don’t look at it like that. Imagine that the extra $30-plus million in tax is about the whole team, not just the one extra player. But of course, that’s easier said than done.
Even with Cole questionable for once, the two best hopes for Snell still look like the Angels (which is partly why I came here to Angels camp off the plane to Phoenix) and the Giants. The most current buzz is about the Angels, and the team that still makes the most sense is the Giants.
Rumors were circulating after Snell posted the famed eyeball emoji on his Instgram account that the Angels may be the one’s making progress. But all I could glean here is that the sides are talking. They are actually talking about both Snell and DH J.D. Martinez both. Who knows what to make of the rumors, but I do believe Snell would relish the idea of the Angels as a West Coaster from Seattle who’s spending his winter (and now spring) in Orange County, working out and coaching a kids team. But it sounds like the sides still have work to do.
The Giants probably need Snell most. They recently lost 40 percent of their rotation (camp injuries to Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck), and despite nice pickups, still appear in over their heads in the ultra-tough NL West. They already spent a quarter of a billion this winter, but that was dwarfed by the rival
Dodgers $1B plus, so the Giants have extra incentive, not to mention plenty of loot.
Plenty of other teams could make sense, including the Cardinals (their rotation looks pretty underwhelming even after some early adds), Phillies (their rotation is excellent, but Taijuan Walker is hurting and they want to win as much as anyone), Mariners (Snell’s hometown team) and whatever team suffers the next injury scare.
Speaking of which, let’s first see the extent of the Cole Concern. If he’s only set back a bit, I certainly wouldn’t insist they go for the marquee man. Dylan Cease has been out there, and in terms of loot, he is an unquestionable, abject bargain at $8M this year (plus another arbitration year). There was some whining about the asking price for Cease, but teams that have dealt with the Sox suggest they seek maybe one and a half times what the Brewers got for Corbin Burnes. That seems close to fair to me; while Burnes is better, Cease is paid much less and has two years to go.
There aren’t a lot of great choices after that, so they may need to overpay. Teams were similarly complaining about the asking price for Jesus Luzardo, but he was at least out there, as well. And perhaps if the Mariners did go for Snell, they’d consider trading one of their many young pitching studs. They are all really good and would require a haul in return, probably including top prospect Spencer Jones. But this is desperation time for the Yankees,
whether they admit it or not.