Boom Or Bust Time For The Yankees

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Free agency in Major League Baseball is set to begin and the next few months will be a very important stretch for all teams, but especially in regards to the New York Yankees. For the first time since the early 1990’s, the Yankees have failed to qualify for the playoffs in consecutive years. In fact the 84-win season that the Yankees are coming off of is their lowest win total in a non-strike shortened season since 1992 when they only won 76 games. New York has several holes on their team that must be addressed and it is up to Yankee owners Hal and Hank Steinbrenner along with team general manager Brian Cashman to execute a plan of attack that will get the team back to the postseason.

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Hal Steinbrenner

The Yankees payroll of $208 million last season was the second highest in MLB, but a ton of that money was given to veteran players that were mainly injured or who are past their prime. 34-year old starting pitcher CC Sabathia earned $23 million last season. But knee problems relegated him to only making a handful of starts as he was 3-4 with a 5.28 earned run average. For 2015, Sabathia is once again set to earn $23 million and the Yankees can no longer rely on him being a guy that is going to give them 200 innings every season. Last winter there was a huge bidding war for Japanese born starting pitcher Mazahiro Tanaka. The Yankees won out as they signed the Japanese phenom to a seven-year, $155 million contract. Tanaka was as good as advertised as through July 3, he was 12-3 with a 2.27 earned run average and he was in the running to win the American League Cy Young Award. But elbow problems forced Tanaka to miss two months of the season and the injury that he suffered injury smells of a potential Tommy John procedure. This past season Tanaka earned $22 million and he is set for the same number in 2015. Since hitting 39 home runs in 2011, the production of Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has regressed. Teixeira only batted .216 with 22 homers and 62 runs batted in this past season. Teixeira is set to earn $22.5 million next season. Last off-season, the Yankees signed designated hitter Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal worth $45 million. At 37-years of age, Beltran is not the player that he once was which was evident by his career lows in batting average (.233), home runs (15), and runs batted in (49).

Then there is the case of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 MLB season due to his multiple infractions in regards to his usage of performance enhancing drugs. Rodriguez is 39-years old and his baseball skills have greatly diminished. Rodriguez is set to earn $21 million dollars next season and for the Yankees it appears that they have “dead money” on their hands with him.

Already the Yankees have $144.6 million committed to next year’s payroll and in spite of the Steinbreener’s publicly refusing to surpass the $189 million threshold, they will give Cashman the Neiman Marcus card in order to improve this team over the winter because they want and need to return to the role of being contenders.

The Yankees have a glaring hole at shortstop as they need to replace the retired Derek Jeter. Guys like Jeter don’t come along everyday and Cashman will have his hands full in replacing him. Hanley Ramirez is the most attractive shortstop on the free-agent market. Ramirez will be 31-years of age next month and with declining defensive skills, he could be a risk for the Yankees at shortstop. There have been “internet” rumors surfacing about Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki seeking to be traded out of Denver and that rumor grew legs when he was spotted in the stands at Yankee Stadium last summer. Tulowitzki is under contract through 2021 and he is still owed $129 million. Tulowitzki has not appeared in at least 140 regular season games since 2011 and like Ramirez, the Yankees could be taking a risk in acquiring him.

The Yankees could be in the market for some more depth in the outfield and with the Baltimore Orioles recently declining to pick up the option for outfielder Nick Markakis, he makes total sense as someone that the Bronx Bombers should pursue this winter. Last season Markakis batted .276 with 14 homers and 50 runs batted in. But Markakis’ biggest contribution came on defense as he won his second Gold Glove Award in helping the Orioles win their first American League East Title since 1997. If the Yankees are willing to go after Markakis, he would join a pretty good defensive outfield in the Bronx with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner.

But the name of the game in baseball is pitching as it is the deciding factor in winning championships. The Yanks team earned run average of 3.75 this past season was eighth in the AL and with question marks surrounding the health of Tanaka, Sabathia, and starting pitcher Ivan Nova who is coming off of Tommy John surgery , it is time for the Steinbrenners to open up their illustrious vault. This year’s crop of free agent starting pitchers will be highlighted by James Shields, Max Scherzer, and Jon Lester as the Yankees will need to sign at least one of those players. Shields will turn 33-years old next month, but he is coming off of a year in which he helped the Kansas City Royals reach the World Series for the first time since 1985. In the last eight seasons, Shields has thrown at least 200 innings in each year as he has been extremely durable. Scherzer is 30-years old and he won the AL Cy Young Award in 2013 as he went 21-3 with an earned run average of 2.90 to go along with 240 strikeouts for the Detroit Tigers. Scherzer is a power pitcher that the Yankees may go after, but Yankee Stadium historically has not been a pitcher’s park like Comerica Park is in Detroit. The Yankees are very familiar with Lester as he was a thorn in their sides during the last nine seasons with the Boston Red Sox. In nine seasons in MLB, Lester is 116-67 and he knows how to get it done it October as he helped the Sox win a pair of World Series Championships.

More than ever the time is now for the Yankees to strike as the American League East in 2015 could be there for the taking. Like the Yankees, the big-market Red Sox missed the playoffs this past season and they have already begun the process of re-tooling. After winning the AL East this past season, the Orioles have some key players that need to be re-signed and it still is not clear whether or not that they will be able to keep their team in tact. The Toronto Blue Jays still have a ton of questions in regards to their starting pitching rotation while the departure of manager Joe Maddon from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Chicago Cubs sent shock waves around Major League Baseball as he appeared to be the glue that kept Tampa Bays together as far as being a very formidable foe. The opportunity is there for the Yankees front office to make big things happen this winter.

Sources: Baseball-reference.com, Baseballprospectus.com

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