The Yankees are once again striving to get under the luxury tax threshold, though there’s added incentive for them to do so this time around, writes Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Getting under the luxury tax barrier (which is set to rise to $197MM next year) will reset the Yankees’ luxury tax hit just in time for the 2018-19 mega-class of free agents that features the likes of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw (assuming he opts out of the final two years on his deal), Dallas Keuchel, Josh Donaldson and Charlie Blackmon, among many others. As Heyman notes, achieving the goal is more realistic than ever for the Yankees as well, with commitments to CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and quite possibly Masahiro Tanaka coming off the books (in addition to recent veteran pickups Matt Holliday, Todd Frazier and Jaime Garcia).
More from the division…
- Chris Tillman isn’t making excuses about his poor season and is maintaining that he’s 100 percent healthy, writes Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. Schmuck spoke with Tillman for a lengthy and candid interview that readers will want to check out in full, as it’s rife with frank, harsh self analysis from Tillman, who is his perhaps his own biggest critic. “I’ve been here before,” said the longtime Orioles right-hander. “Before 2012, I was god-awful. I was just as bad as I was this year, if not worse. We were able to figure it out.” Tillman attributes his early-career struggles to a “horrible” delivery and states that he’s had significant difficulty in repeating his delivery in 2017 as well. He also speaks fondly of the Orioles’ clubhouse and suggests that he’d be open to a return, though as Schmuck notes, the Orioles figure to be seeking some certainty in their rotation this winter.
- Teoscar Hernandez’s trade from the Astros to the Blue Jays gives him the opportunity to become a potential replacement for a player he grew up idolizing, writes Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. Jose Bautista’s 54-homer breakout came the year before Hernandez signed as an amateur with Houston, and the 24-year-old tells Griffin that his countryman and childhood idol has already been an invaluable mentor. “The day that I got here (Sept. 2), Bautista came to me and told me a lot of things,” says Hernandez, who credits Bautista with giving him advice on his hitting as well as his off-field routine. “For me, he’s one of the awesome guys that I ever met. He’s every day telling me something new.” Per Griffin, the Jays plan to give Hernandez “every opportunity to earn an everyday role” in 2018 and beyond.
weren’t people calling Tillman a legit ace last year?
Good point. The term “ace” is grossly overused in baseball. Every team has a #1 starter, but there might be 6-7 “aces” in all of baseball.
thank you I hate seeing that word tossed around all the time. Kershaw, sherzer, kluber are aces Ervin Santana Jose Quintana Chris Archer are good TOR starters.
completely agree with you. out of curiosity, who would you say are the 6-7 legitimate aces are?
Kluber, scherzer, Kershaw, sale. Maybe greinke and Strasburg – when healthy.
Off the top of my head … Kershaw, Bumgarner, Scherzer, Kluber, Sale, Greinke. The next tier would be Lester, Verlander, Price, etc.
yup that sounds about right
With their money and current studs such as Severino, Judge, Sanchez and Frazier along w that farm, they gon be good
Even Castro and Gregorious are still fairly young
They’re both only 27 and not going anywhere.
Fraizer is a rental
Referring to Clint Frazier, not Todd Frazier, I would imagine.
Ohhh ya my bad completely forgot theres 2 of them
Little early to pencil Frazier in as a stud. Hasn’t been very good in the big leagues in his extreme small sample size
Get rid of Tillman Davis Miley to start
Nobody would want Davis
Yeah please explain how you would get rid of Davis and his contract because I would bet that it can’t be done
Either swap it for an equally horrific contract, oh wait they have Trumbo too, or pay every dime left on it.
Signing Davis and Trumbo showed complete lack of foresight on the Orioles part, with Machado coming up.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If the O’s had let Davis walk, EVERYONE IN BASEBALL would have ripped them for not paying out money for top free agents. He isn’t a great average hitter, but has led the league in HRs twice in the last five seasons, has more HRs than anyone in baseball since 2013, and is a gold glove caliber 1Bman. Those kinds of players get paid. They tried to let Trumbo walk, but his demands came down to a reasonable level and the team had no idea that Mancini was going to able to play the outfield at an acceptable level.
I hate it when fans of other teams think they know my team based off of sketchy generalizations and the opinions of a few national writers/pundits who just don’t like the organization. I am a realist. I know that Davis is the worst guess hitter in baseball. I know that Trumbo is redundant. Neither of those contracts will be the reason that Machado signs or doesn’t sign with the O’s. He will either want to stay or he will want to go. If he wants to stay, he and the team will find common ground. If he wants to go, the team could offer him Stanton money and it won’t matter.
O’s definitely need to move on from Tillman, Jimenez, and Miley. Problem is it will be costly to bring in better replacements. Davis will be impossible to trade, and his contract will haunt BAL for years to come.
Getting rid of Davis doesn’t help the rotation.
We’ll see if the Yankees can hold themselves. Between Frazier ($12MM) CC($25MM) Holliday($13MM) thats a lot of money coming off the books, but whether or not Tanaka opts out (min. $22M annually thru 2020) is key.
It’s possible either way for them to get under $197M but Tanaka opting out of the remaining 3 years $67M makes it a whole lot easier.
also Arod’s 21 million is coming off
Yes how quickly we forget.
Add Arod’s $21M ’17 salary
And Sabathia’s also coming off the books…although highly likely they will re-sign him to an incentive laden team friendly contract.
Once again, Aroid’s name is misspelt
Actually A-Rod counts $27.5 AAV against the Tax not $21MM. Pineda’s salary also comes off the books. My guess is the Yankees will also move Ellsbury while his entire $21MM per won’t come off the books the Yankees will probably save about $6 or $7MM of it and eat about $14MM per. There is a ton of money coming off the books. .
Nice. Even better. Add Arod’s $27.5M salary, and Pineda’s $7.4MM.
yankees25 was half right. Arod got paid $21MM this year, but it was the final year of a complicated 10 year $275M that expires 2017, the most important figure is how much counts against tax. Pinballwizard did the hard part and found the correct answer: Arod counts $27.5MM agianst Yanks tax this year, even though he only got paid $21MM.
If Tanaka opts-out the following are coming off the books for the Yankees just from OD salaries for the Tax caculation:
CC: $25MM
A-Rod: $27.5MM
Tanaka: $21MM (presuming he opts-out)
Holliday: $13MM
Pineda: $7.4MM
That’s about $95MM +/-
That does’t even include Todd Frazier, Chris Carter’s $3.5MM
The Yankees could have in excess of $100MM come off the books. With the exception of the Yankees possibly looking at signing a Starting Pitcher and a LH’ed relief pitcher they will probably fill out the rest of the roster with low cost pre-arbitration and arbitration players. It would be almost impossible for the Yankees to NOT get under the Tax Threshold for 2018.
Heck the Yankees would have been under the tax threshold in 2017 if they didn’t have to absorb A-Rod’s salary for tax purposes.
How do the Yankees not resign Pineda?
Cuz he got tj surgery out probably next year some of 19
You have to add in BIG arb raises for: Warren, Betances, Grey, Hicks & Didi.
Plus Robertson 13MM. As for Tanaka — Who is going to pay more than 3/67 for an elbow MRI that is uninsurable. Then the pressure will be on to find 2 SP’s and a replacement for Holiday. They may get under but it won’t be that easy.
You wouldn’t count $12 million for Frazier since he wasn’t on the team most of the year.
Now I’m curious. He’s getting paid $12MM
Mid-season acquisition, so is it close to $6MM?
MLBTR mentioned something close to 5 M when they acquired him.
Thank you Blue_Painted Dreams_LA.
Much appreciated, my friend.
’18-’19 MLB FA Class reminds me of the NBA Summer 2010 FA.
If Kershaw believes he can make more money if he opts out I’d be a little surprised if he doesn’t give the Dodgers first shot at an extension. So then it comes down to which team is willing to accept paying him over $30M in his late 30s.
With that dudes fragile body, no thanks to that.
I don’t know if I’d trust the health anymore to go for the kind of years he would command.
Someone always is willing to gamble on top tier talent.
I’d be surprised if he isn’t a lifelong Dodger
If the Dodgers don’t win it all before he is a free agent, Kershaw will be gone quicker than you eating a taco.
Does getting ride of kendreys morales any way how trade paying most of salary u know what ever.and signing jay bruce 2/35 camron maybin 3/30 call up alford and Hernandez. Maybin, Hernandez alford battle out for the cornors other down to AAA. Bruce qnd peairce are 4Ofer and a Buce plays of and dh peairce playes 1st and dh some of. Two many rule 5 Draft pick to protect 15 total 10 prob teams could take so i see a trade maybe.two happening for our pitching depth. 5 hole guy or hopfully getting better.second baseman Any think that sounds like a good plan, let me know how off much my prices are off if at all
Younger faster more agile still homers with maybin and bruce and donaldson and smoke 1234 wow
This comment is quite the comment.
It should get Rave Reviews.
Only if he included signing pete obrien for their catcher
Bruce won’t sign with Jays.
The hell?
Didn’t you just make this same comment under submit your questions? Woah!!
The old big money Yankees will come back to earth just in time to become the old big money Yankees all over again
Welcome to San Diego Mr. Tillman
I was thinking Pittsburgh.
The Yankees front office has done a really great job with convincing idiot fans that ownership saving money and cutting payroll is something that fans should be happy about. I understand why everyone hates us.
George Steinbrenner is dead.
The sons are nothing like the father.
Hey Caseys. Yankee fans loved the Boss. However the game of baseball changed and once Hal shoved Hank (a-rods’ gift horse) out ownership began listening to Brian Cashman.
For you yankee haters, start your rant; however he should win executive of the year for the mid summer pick up from Chicago. That’s on top of reloading the farm system in 2016.
The game has gotten younger and so have the Yankees; WITHOUT tanking in the cellar for a few years like most teams that need to rebuild.
Whatever. We don’t need reminders dude.
It is amazing that being over the Lux. Tax for 15 yrs in a row and paying hundreds of millions in Tax only gets you 1 title.
Will u think that if they lose the WC game?
As an O’s fan, I hate the Yankees and admire them at the same time.
But the results speak for themselves. The Yankees are one of the best teams in baseball, have a young core, and money soon to spend on FA. Cutting payroll and saving money was necessary and long overdue. It’s a new age in the game. And as someone stated before, they never tanked to rebuild. All this was done on the fly. Cashman should be president of baseball operations by now and it’s a shame he isn’t while Levine is.
I guess spending a Billion to win 85 games a year (and be a non factor in the playoffs) from 2013 to 2016 is success by NYC standards. Well, at least as successful as Lehman Bros. and Madoff.
I agree on Cashman, he’s really turned this thing around. Levine is an ass, and is usually the source of insulting the players like Betances, and I’m willing to bet he was behind the Greg Bird stuff earlier in the year.
Playing Yankees GM, the Rotation has Severino, and Gray as locks for next year. Montgomery is a semi-lock, because I think if he pitches poorly at any time, he will be demoted. I think Tanaka will opt-in, due to the sub par year he’s had, so that could make CC the odd man out, with Adams knocking on the door, and Sheffield not far behind. My take is if Tanaka opts in, CC is a goner, and if he opts out, they will extend CC an offer.
There are 29 GM’s that would lose their jobs if they gave Tanaka more than 3/67 He is back, you can write him in with black permanent marker. No way Cashman counts on a 23 yr old Adams and a 21 yr old Sheffield both of whom will be on innings & pitch limits. CC makes sense but they still will need at least one other veteran SP for innings and another at AAA for depth.