The Yankees’ roster is worse than it was the last time they played a game, but the owner of the team doesn’t think it is.
The Yankees are a mess. The front office has taken a roster that wasn’t good enough to clinch a postseason berth until the final at-bat of the regular season last year, and a roster whose postseason lasted nine innings, and they have made it worse. Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t think that’s what happened, and he said as much on Wednesday.
After breaking down Steinbrenner’s comments to the media, White Sox Dave of Barstool Sports joined me to talk about the offseason and his perspective of the Yankees as a fan of a team that has already clinched a playoff berth.
The Yankees have taken a roster that wasn’t good enough to reach the postseason until the final at-bat of the regular season and wasn’t good enough to win a postseason game and they have made it worse.
On Monday, after making a puzzling trade to acquire Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt for Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela, Brian Cashman spoke about the odd deal.
“We appreciate what Gio has done,” Cashman said to Meredith Marakovits. “But he’s not Josh Donaldson.”
Despite choosing to trade for Kiner-Falefa rather than sign Corey Seager, Carlos Correa or Trevor Story, and despite not adding a single starting pitcher, and despite not trading for Matt Olson or participating in the Athletics’ firesale in any capacity, the Yankees still had a chance to semi-save their disastrous offseason by bringing Freddie Freeman to the Bronx. Instead, they chose to sign Anthony Rizzo to a two-year deal.
I appreciate what Anthony Rizzo has done, but he’s not Freddie Freeman. He’s not close to being Freeman.
In terms of age, Freeman is 13 months younger. In terms of career, Freeman has posted a 43.1 WAR to Rizzo’s 36.8. In terms of postseason performance, Freeman has hit .290/.393/.523 in 42 games and Rizzo has hit .207/.283/.387 in 40 games. In terms of recent production, Freeman is coming off a 4.7 WAR season and Rizzo a 1.7.
In 2021, Freeman hit .300/.393/.503 with 31 home runs, led the league in runs scored (120), won his third straight Silver Slugger, was an All-Star for the third straight time, and finished in the Top 9 in NL MVP voting for the fourth time in four years (a year after winning the award). Rizzo posted his worst full-season OPS (.783) since his first full season in the majors (2013). He hit a career-low 21 home runs, drove in a career-worst 61 runs and had the second-worst on-base and slugging percentages of his career. As a Yankee, Rizzo hit .249/.340/.428, homered in his first two games on July 30 and July 31 and then hit two home runs over the next six weeks.
The Yankees reset their luxury tax penalty prior to this offseason and there was the hope they would use the reset to their advantage. They could go to the “marketplace” (Cashman’s favorite word) with their financial might and all it would cost them to make impressive roster upgrades would be money. Money. That’s it. The resource they make more of than the league’s other 29 teams.
Instead of using their financial power to bring in the “legitimate options” (a phrase Cashman used at his mid-October, end-of-the-season press conference), the Yankees have traded for a light-hitting stopgap shortstop, acquired a 36-year-old former superstar third baseman who has played 135 games in just two of the last five years and is owed $48 million, created the worst starting catching tandem in the majors and now signed a 32-year-old first baseman who’s coming off his worst full season since his first full season nine years ago. In each of these moves, the Yankees had the option to use the free-agent marketplace to their advantage and plug holes created by their past poor roster construction. In each move, they failed to do so.
The Yankees could have signed Seager, Correa or Story to be their everyday shortstop. Signing any of the three would have instantly made the Yankees better and would have pleased a fanbase that has watched the team half-ass its way to building rosters, resulting in early-postseason exits in three of the last four years. By signing one of the star shortstops in the best shortstop free-agent class of all time, the Yankees then would have been able to keep both Urshela and Sanchez and used the $48 million they now owe to Donaldson toward paying their new shortstop. A Seager-Urshela, Correa-Urshela or Story-Urshela left side of the infield and Sanchez at catcher is a much better situation than Kiner-Falefa and Donaldson at short and third and Kyle Higashioka and Rortvedt behind the plate. The Yankees instead chose to make the deal with the Twins, a deal that makes them worse, and you would have to lie to yourself in a way that Aaron Boone lies daily to Yankees fans to think the Yankees got better after Sunday night’s trade.
After watching the Braves trade for Olson, the Yankees were left with signing either Freeman or Rizzo to play first (since they have tried to trade Luke Voit for a full calendar year). Once again, rather than using their financial strength as a strength, they passed up the top-shelf choice for a good, but not great option. Rather than reinvigorate the fanbase and show that while the front office is committed to either Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe as their future shortstop, they still mean business when it comes to other positions. Now the Yankees are out on Freeman. Just like they are out on Seager, Correa and Story (just like they were out on other free-agent stars in their prime like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado). Just like they have been out on the starting pitching market as a whole this offseason.
Rizzo isn’t an upgrade and doesn’t bring change to the Yankees’ roster that was the preseason favorite to win the American League and ended up finishing fifth in the AL and third in their own division and played nine innings of postseason baseball. He was part of that roster. A Yankees team that failed miserably to meet expectations in 2021 has exchanged Sanchez and Urshela for Kiner-Falefa, Donaldson and Rortvedt for 2022.
The Yankees didn’t use their luxury-tax reset to build the best possible roster. They haven’t upgraded the roster with the “legitimate options” Cashman referred to in October. They have taken a roster that wasn’t good enough to reach the postseason until the final at-bat of the regular season and wasn’t good enough to win a postseason game and they have made it worse.
Yankees’ recent trade only creates more questions about the state and direction of the roster.
A day later I still feel the same way about the Yankees’ trade for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which has only created more questions about the state and direction of the roster.
“Neil, are you awake? Neil? Are you awake?“ “I am now,” I responded to my wife. “The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez.” “Yeah, right.” “No, really. To the Twins.” That’s how my Monday began, shortly after
“Neil, are you awake? Neil? Are you awake?“
“I am now,” I responded to my wife.
“The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, really. To the Twins.”
That’s how my Monday began, shortly after 2 a.m.
Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night I began updating every possible news outlet by the minute. That was the official start time to the 2022 MLB season and that was when the supposed madness would take place, especially for the Yankees, who would be in search of a shortstop, first baseman, starting pitcher and possible outfielder. I spent the weekend attached to social media in between Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Cocomelon episodes only to be disappointed when the Yankees’ lone move was bringing back Tim Locastro on a major-league deal to give them outfield depth.
I passed out shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday night in the middle of scouring social media for any inkling of positive Yankees news or potential acquisitions. The moment I fell asleep, Brian Cashman and Co. swooped in as if they were waiting for me to let my guard down, sending Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins.
My Sanchez fandom is well known. As one of the few surviving members of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club, of course I’m disappointed he’s no longer a Yankee. When right, he presented the biggest position advantage the Yankees had over any opponent. The problem is he hadn’t been right often over the last few years and I spent an inordinate amount of time defending him to Kyle Higashioka believers, who have nonsensically looked past the 32-year-old backup’s career .183/.234/.385 batting line and bottom-of-the-barrel arm, while at the same time being fed up with Sanchez, who in a down year in 2021 hit three more home runs than Higashioka has hit in his career. In the end, Aaron Boone and Higashioka Fan Club won out and now the Yankees boast the worst catching tandem in Major League Baseball. Congratulations!
As for Urshela, I wrote at the end of last season that he was the easiest piece of the roster to move to give the appearance of a new-look roster, and so the Yankees moved him. He was a good Yankee. A product of the 2019 super baseball, but a good Yankee nonetheless.
The Yankees moving on from Sanchez and Urshela isn’t surprising. The return for Sanchez and Urshela is what kept me up from 2 a.m. until 5 a.m. this morning, tossing and turning, trying to go back to sleep, but wondering, ‘Why this trade?’
Prior to the 2019 season, the Yankees had the chance to sign Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado. They courted Machado enough to sell it to the fanbase that they “tried” to sign the 26-year-old left-side-of-the-infield superstar. They didn’t even meet with Harper, the 26-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder with already one MVP to his name.
Why weren’t they even remotely interested in the generational talent Harper? Because they already had Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks, and had Clint Frazier waiting for an everyday role. Since not signing Harper, the Yankees haven’t extended Judge, they don’t let Stanton play the outfield, Hicks has missed 239 of a possible 384 regular-season games (62 percent) and Frazier was released this offseason for nothing. Harper has gone on to hit .281/.402/.556 for the Phillies, averaging 38 home runs and 105 RBIs per 162 games, while winning the 2021 NL MVP and playing in 356 of a possible 384 regular-season games.
All Harper would have cost the Yankees money. Their greatest resource and the thing they make more of than every other team. He ended up getting an average annual salary of $25.3 million, which would cover his age 26-38 seasons.
In Sunday night’s trade, the Yankees acquired Josh Donaldson … and the $48 million owed to him. An average annual salary of $24 million for a 36-year-old third baseman who has played two “full” seasons in the last five years and in one of those “full” seasons (last year), he missed 27 games.
Once upon a time, acquiring Donaldson and paying him that much money would have made sense. That time was five years ago. And while it’s not my money, the idea the Yankees are willing to pay essentially the same average annual salary for the age 36 and 37 seasons of an oft-injured former superstar, while choosing on multiple occasions to not pay for the age 36 and 37 seasons of other current superstars when they would also be getting their prime years is beyond puzzling. The Yankees are choosing that same path at shortstop.
Prior to the lockout, the Yankees had their choice at shortstop: Corey Seager, Carlos Correa or Trevor Story. Seager signed with the Rangers, leaving them with the 27-year-old Correa or the 29-year-old Story. The Yankees chose instead to trade for Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
They chose to do this because their No. 1 and No. 3 prospects are both shortstops excelling in the minors. So in win-now mode with the majority of their “core” approaching or on the other side of 30, rather than commit their future on an already-proven major-league shortstop in their prime, the Yankees are choosing to commit to either a 20-year-old who has never played above High-A or a 21-year-old who has only played 87 games above High-A. Only one of them can be the shortstop of the future, and it’s likely the Yankees choose Volpe, meaning the New Jersey-born native will basically have to become the other New Jersey-born former Yankees shortstop. The Yankees are banking on Volpe being Derek Jeter 2.0. A very reasonable expectation. Kiner-Falefa is a decent player, but the Rangers also signed Seager and Marcus Semien rather than commit to Kiner-Falefa. The Rangers. The same team that released Rougned Odor, who the Yankees happily traded an actual person to acquire, rostered him all season and even let him get two at-bats in the one-game playoff against the Red Sox. Only one person can bat ninth and the Yankees now have multiple candidates for that spot.
There’s this idea the Yankees aren’t done yet, but I don’t know how anyone could truly believe that. That trade could very well be it. They could go into the season praying for a miracle that Hicks (who has missed 44 percent of regular-season games since 2018), Stanton (33 percent), Donaldson (27 percent) and Judge (23 percent) all stay healthy and productive for six-plus months. They could think an infield combination of Donaldson, Kiner-Falefa, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit is good enough to get them back to the World Series for the first time in 13 years. They could very well think the duo of Higashioka and Ben Rorvedt isn’t the worst catching tandem in the league. (Sorry, it is.)
In mid-October, Cashman said:
“I’m going to be looking to upgrade. There are some areas of weakness that have popped up in a lot of categories.
“Here’s the biggest key: Go to the marketplace, whether it’s the free-agent marketplace, or go to the trade market and see how we can solve that with what’s available in the marketplace. And obviously there will be some legitimate choices to reconfigure in certain categories.”
The roster that needed upgrades still hasn’t gotten them. It still hasn’t added any one of the “legitimate choices” Cashman mentioned. If this is it for the Yankees’ offseason, it’s going to be a long 2022 season, and likely a wasted one at that. On Monday morning, the Yankees’ roster is worse than it was on Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty awful then.
As long as Brett Gardner is a Yankee, he will play, and he will play nearly every day. If injuries don’t force him into the lineup, Aaron Boone will.
I didn’t want Brett Gardner back for the 2019 season. I had seen enough from the then-35-year-old outfielder and his career-worst season to want the Yankees to go in a different direction. Entering the first true season of this group’s championship window of opportunity, I wanted a younger and better left field, with the assumption Giancarlo Stanton would be primarily used as the designated hitter. I wanted the Yankees to sign Michael Brantley.
I’m not sure if the Yankees ever even gave a thought to signing someone other than Gardner because in the first minutes of free agency, they brought him back on a one-year, $7.5 million deal, believing his career-low .690 OPS in 2018 wasn’t indicative of who he was at what’s now considered to be an advanced age in baseball.
Gardner was said to be the team’s “fourth outfielder” entering 2019, a position which might have gone to Clint Frazier if not for a lost season due to unfortunate injuries. As a reserve player with extra rest, the logic was that Gardner would be more productive than he had been in the career-worst 2017.
In 2019, Gardner went from being the supposed fourth outfielder to being an everyday player. The same thing happened in 2020 and again in 2021. Gardner played the third-most games on the team in 2019, the fifth-most in 2020 and the third-most in 2021.
On Monday, Gardner’s agent Joe Bick said Gardner intended to play in 2022 and prefers to play for the Yankees.
With Aaron Judge, Joey Gallo and (unfortunately) Aaron Hicks under contract, along with Giancarlo Stanton, who the Yankees are cautious to ever let play the outfield (despite his increased production when he does), Gardner would at best be the team’s fifth outfielder. But fifth is still too high on the depth chart. As long as Gardner is on the roster, he will find his way into the lineup with regularity. Injuries will make sure of it.
Before Opening Day in 2019, Gardner went from fourth outfielder to starting center fielder as Hicks started the season on the injured list (after injuring his back on a 35-minute bus ride in spring training) and Stanton joined Hicks on the IL before April 1. On April 20, Aaron Judge joined them both. In what was supposed to be a season in which Gardner would transition from an everyday player to a role player, he played in 141 games.
In 2020, Gardner was back again as the fourth outfielder. Prior to the pandemic ruining and shortening the season, Hicks was set to miss half the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, Judge was going to miss about half the season after the Yankees were unable to diagnose his fractured rib and punctured lung and Stanton was also going to miss half the season with a calf injury. If the 2020 season started on time, some combination of Gardner, Clint Frazier, Mike Tauchman and Miguel Andujar was going to be the everyday outfield.
Spring training in 2021 started without Gardner, but a week into it, he was re-signed. Despite Aaron Boone opening spring training by saying Frazier was now the team’s starting left fielder, in the third game of the season Gardner was starting in left field and would go on to play 140 games during the regular season with only Judge and DJ LeMahieu playing more.
In 2019, the Yankees needed nine outfielders to get through the season. In only 60 games in 2020, they needed seven. In 2021, they used Gardner, Judge, Stanton, Gallo and Hicks, along with Frazier, Tauchman, Andujar, Tyler Wade, Greg Allen, Estevan Florial, Ryan LaMarre, Tim Locastro, Jonathan Davis, Trey Amburgey and Hoy Park.
Last season, the Yankees got a miraculous 287 combined games played from Judge (148) and Stanton (139), and if you’re counting on that type of health in 2022, well, there was a guy in New York who recently won the lottery for the second time in three years. Hicks has missed 251 of the Yankees’ last 401 regular-season and postseason games. He’s now 32 and the most games he has played in a season was 137 back in 2018, which was a hamstring injury, significant back injury and a surgically-repaired elbow and wrist ago. Thankfully, Gallo has been exceptionally healthy in his career.
Gardner can’t be even the Yankees’ fifth outfielder in 2022 because he can never just be a bench option used a couple of days a week. No fourth or fifth outfielder on the Yankees ever remains that.
But if injuries aren’t the reason Gardner becomes an everyday player for the Yankees again in 2022, his manager will be.
Under Boone, Gardner lost his job to Andrew McCutchen after the 2018 trade deadline. Gardner wasn’t in the lineup for the 2018 wild-card game against the A’s and wasn’t in the lineup for Game 1 of the 2018 ALDS against the Red Sox. But when Hicks went down with a hamstring injury in that Game 1, Gardner came off the bench to play the rest of that game, as well as Games 2 and 3. When Hicks was healthy enough to play in Game 4 with the Yankees facing elimination, Boone benched McCutchen in favor of Gardner.
In 2019, Gardner was supposed to be the team’s fourth outfielder for the second consecutive year. But in a season that became about replacement players and “the next man up,” Gardner found himself playing in 87 percent of the team’s games, batting in the Top 4 spots in the lineup 46 times in 141 games, and when the postseason started, Boone penciled him in as the team’s 3-hitter. He would bat third in all three games in the ALDS, and then again in the pivotal Game 3 of the ALCS against Gerrit Cole, in which his first-inning at-bat swung the game (and the series) in the eventual Yankees loss.
Gardner was awful for six of the eight weeks of the 2020 regular season, but the two weeks he was productive happened to come at the end of September and right before the expanded postseason. So when it came time to fill out the lineup card for Game 1 of the postseason, Gardner’s name was on it and Frazier’s wasn’t after Frazier carried the Yankees’ offense along with LeMahieu and Luke Voit through two forgettable months.
Spring training in 2021 started without Gardner, but a week into it, he was re-signed. Despite Aaron Boone opening spring training by saying Frazier was now the team’s starting left fielder, in the third game of the season Gardner was starting in left field and would go on to play 140 games during the regular season with only Judge and DJ LeMahieu playing more.
Boone loves his veterans and he loves Gardner. When the going gets tough, Boone goes to Gardner. When the Yankees’ backs are against the wall and their season is on the line facing elimination, Boone has gone with Gardner every time and every time the Yankees have been eliminated. Boone will continue to go with Gardner every time. He’s one of his guys, and being one of Boone’s guys is in no way tied to ability or performance.
As long as Gardner is a Yankee, he will play, and he will play nearly every day. If injuries don’t force him into the lineup, Boone will. It’s time to move on. It’s been time to move on.
