The Red Sox were happy to take Adam Ottavino in the Yankees’ salary dump of the right-hander. Why wouldn’t they be? He makes the Red Sox better and his removal from the Yankees makes them worse.

Sure, the Yankees then went and signed Darren O’Day, but why couldn’t they have both? Why couldn’t they have five elite relievers? For 2019, on paper, they had six. Now they have four.

For the second time in three years, the Yankees have cut payroll by $50 million in the middle of a championship window.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

The Yankees added another starting pitcher to their rotation by trading for the Pirates’ Jameson Taillon. The right-hander hasn’t pitched since 2019 after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery, and he joins a Yankees staff that is full of starters who are returning from injuries and who haven’t pitched much, if at all, over the last few seasons.

The trade was a no-brainer for the Yankees considering Taillon’s salary ($2.25 million) and what they had to give up. If healthy, the Yankees could have a very good rotation. But “if healthy” is asking a lot.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes every Monday and Thursday during the offseason.

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

The Yankees can no longer only worry about the Rays in the AL East. Coming off an unexpected postseason berth, the Blue Jays have decided to surround their young, very good and inexpensive core with established major leaguers. The Blue Jays added former Yankee Kirby Yates to the back end of their bullpen and then went and gave George Springer a six-year, $150 million contract.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes every Monday and Thursday during the offseason.

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

The Yankees are reportedly close to re-signing DJ LeMahieu and have signed Corey Kluber to a reclamation contract. Even still, the lineup is the same as last year’s, the rotation is less and the bullpen is essentially the same, and the team wasn’t good enough to win the World Series with that roster. They weren’t even good enough to get out of the division series.

Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees with less than a month to go until the scheduled start of spring training. Things get heated for a team that hasn’t played a game in more than three months.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes every Monday and Thursday during the offseason.

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!