During their quest to acquire starting pitching in recent months, the Yankees have been connected to a litany of potential trade and free agent targets. The list includes right-handers Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb, who rank as two of the best free agents remaining in this year’s class. It doesn’t appear either will end up with the Yankees, though, if we’re to believe manager Aaron Boone.
“At this point I don’t see those guys as realistic options,” Boone said Sunday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). “It’s my understanding that those guys aren’t really in play for us.”
With the Yankees poised to stay under the $197MM luxury tax threshold and having anywhere from $10MM to $15MM left to spend, Lynn or Cobb would likely be a tight fit for the club’s budget (MLBTR predicted $14MM per annum for Lynn and $12MM a year for Cobb at the outset of the offseason). Although things haven’t gone according to plan for either pitcher since the market opened, they still seem likely to reel in contracts worth somewhere in the $10MM to 15MM-per-year vicinity. Further, because Lynn and Cobb rejected qualifying offers at the start of the offseason, signing either would cost the Yankees two 2018 draft picks (their second- and fifth-highest selections) and $1MM in international bonus pool space.
Even if they’re truly not in the mix for Lynn or Cobb, the Yankees still have the financial wiggle room to make some sort of move(s) – particularly after addressing third base this week with the acquisition of the inexpensive Brandon Drury. However, general manager Brian Cashman may not feel any urgency to upgrade over the Yankees’ current starting five.
New York’s on track to begin the year with Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray, CC Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery, the same rotation that helped the club to 91 regular-season wins and a berth in the ALCS in 2017. There are some question marks with each – arguably more in terms of workload and/or durability than performance – but if the quintet doesn’t deliver as hoped during the season, the Yankees could bolster their rotation via trade. That’s exactly what they did last year when they picked up Gray from Oakland in July.
Do the Yankees get charged draft picks and international money because they went over the luxury tax for so many years.
If they go over it again then they will. That’s why the Yankees are waiting like most teams next free agent class so they can reset that number and have more money coming off the books.
Everybody gets a draft pick penalty if they sign a free agent who rejected a QO (before the draft), but there are three tiers of teams that pay different levels of penalties. The heaviest penalties are for teams that were over the tax threshold the previous year, that’s why the Yankees get those penalties.
The fact that they were over several years in a row doesn’t matter for the draft penalties, but does increase the tax rate they pay on every dollar of payroll over the threshold. That’s why they and the Dodgers (and the Red Sox last year) are making sure they get under the line so they can get their payroll tax as low as possible when they blow past the threshold next year for Kershaw, Machado, Harper, et al.
Why does everyone think the Yankees are trying to get under the line just so they can blow their budget? I think it has been shown that you don’t need to blow the bank to make a good team if you draft well and make prudent trades.
In addition to that, Hal runs this team differently than his father and the game has changed. Long term contracts are extremely risky and generally aren’t worth the long term effects. Fans will say it’s worth it if you win a ring (and then complain a few years down the road when that contract ties their hands and the team is bad), but I’m sure Hal would rather keep the money because at the end of the day it’s a business. As long as the team is competitive people will show up to the games and buy the merchandise and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.
I like how people down vote posts for no reason..
Down votes mean nothing so who cares.
Nobody down votes for no reason.
The democrats do, all the time
This is a site for baseball trade rumors and you, unprovoked, made a nonsensical political appeal. May I ask why?
Please save your political jabs for political sites. We would like to keep this site about baseball.
They should sign cobb. I don’t trust sabathia to have another good year. I do think they need to have more trust in james Montgomery. Really good player who had a good season last year
Not sure who James Montgomery is.. the Yankees have no need for Cobb. They only way they get that deal done to us if they backload it extremely. Then all of the sudden you’re paying a 33-34 year old 18-21M per if you only pay out 12M the first year or two.
Back loading does not work with the luxury tax. It goes by avg annual salary.
Why would the Yankees have to backload a contract? They are one of the few teams that could sign a player for any amount of money and not worry one bit.
It’s Jordan Montgomery
Jordan Montgomery
Montgomery is better than Cobb and costs nothing.
Easy there. Let’s not forget that Montgomery has only played one season and was never seen as a top prospect. His best pitches are a 81mph 12-6 curve and a low 90’s sinker. Decent stuff for the backend of a rotation but pretty far from being a TOR pitcher. Hopefully, he can maintain the numbers he put up last year. A couple of years ago Shane Greene had a decent rookie season for the Yankees. Since then he has become a solid bullpen guy after failing to hold down a spot in the Detroit rotation. Thankfully, the Yankees flipped him for Didi while his value was high.
Before Cobb had TJS he had proven to be a decent #2 or very solid #3 (I believe he was seen as the Rays’ ace of the future at the time). 2018 will be his 2nd full year back from TJS and that is usually when pitchers start to find themselves again. Whomever signs him for the cheap deal he is going to get because of this weird offseason is going to look smart for doing it.
The Yankees have Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams waiting in AAA if CC or Gumby struggle. Also have Cessa and Chad Green as potential starting options out of the pen. Adam Warren could also be considered.
Who is Gumby? Sheffield is in AA and hasn’t been assigned to AAA yet. They just need around 140-160 from Tanaka and CC.
Gumby is Montgomery’s nickname
If you’re a Yankees fan why insult one of their players?
Gumby is Montgomery’s nickname.
That’s his nickname…
Gumby is Montgomery’s nickname
Would really like to see Chad Green get another shot at starting.
Completely agree though. They Yankees have quite a bit of starting pitching depth. Sheffield and Adams are only the beginning of a wave of starting pitchers they have advancing into the upper minors.
Adams doesn’t have as high of a ceiling as you think. Sheffield does. Very similar to Stroman in demeanor.
Chad Green should never start again, no way in hell will he replicate success like he does out of the bullpen. He hasn’t thrown a third pitch in a year.
Sorry but I still think that the Yanks weakness is starting pitching… CC or Tanaka will not last all season, so another Q starter is/or will be needed to make it to postseason. No matter how many HR’s we get!
Tanaka has made 30+ starts two years in a row. He also had a 3.77 ERA in the 2nd half, not to mention he pitched extremely well in the playoffs.
Sabathia won’t be of much concern either. He’s healthy and won’t be asked to pitch 7 innings every day. The Yanks will ask 5 innings and let their pen finish the rest.
The only question mark I see is Montgomery since he will most likely be on an innings limit and we don’t know how good he really is.
Yankees have the best BP in baseball and are good with the starters they have to start the season. Now if they need to add at the deadline now that’s another animal…
Actually the Red Sox bullpen had a better ERA (3.15 vs. 3.34) last year.
Myopic Yankee fans down voting actual statistics.
Let’s be real. The Yankees bullpen is the deepest in baseball. The Yankees didn’t have Robertson and Kahnle all year and Chad Green really turned it on after the first few months. It’s going to look even better this year.
Let’s be real. The Red Sox bullpen outperformed them last year and will add Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith at some point.
Actually according to baseball reference WAR position analysis and to fangraphs WAR stat page, the Yankees had a higher number…..5.1 vs 4.8 for BR and 9.2 vs 7.0 for fan graphs in terms of bullpen. WAR proves to be of a lot more value to this myopic Yankees fan rather than an a singular arbitrary stat that is somewhat meaningless such as ERA.
Choke on those actual actual statistics.
According to what stat???
At least you admit you’re myopic (re: non-objective).
According to both baseball reference and fan graphs Yankees bullpen far outperformed the sux bullpen in terms of WAR. That stat means a lot more to me than an arbitrary singular and somewhat meaningless stats such as ERA.
Yea facts get in the way of a Sox fans point so of course they resort to insults. You are so right everyone knows that the ERA stat shouldn’t be considered when evaluating relievers. Plus the second half after that trade with the White Sox the Yankees BP was that much stronger. Especially in that playoff run.
One silly Red Sox fan using ERA to judge an entire bullpen.
Myopic is your pseudo-intellectual piss poor version of trying to be smart. It doesn’t mean non-objective, it means closed-minded and not open to other ideologies.
LOL. Hey, look, I’m a thesaurus
A pitcher like Aceves from their last WS would be great for this team: a long reliever who can spot start. Though I believe Warren is that guy now?
I think their rotation is actually quite strong, the strongest it’s been in a while, at least. The emergence of Severino plus solid guys like Tanaka and Gray. CC, knowing he only needs to do 5-6, should be good in his present role, too.
Both seem like a luxury. But if either wanted to sign 3/30 I would jump on it.
Good for you but no thanks.
This is why the Yankees should have waited before signing CC. Coulda had someone better for the same price albeit more years.
Those pitchers aren’t better then CC even at his age.
Cobb is way better, it’s just he has injury flags
It would be an unnecessary expenditure for the Yankees first. “Cobb is way better” CC had a 2.8 WAR last year vs Cobb’s 2.3,CC was 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA 120 SO vs Cobb’s 12-10 3.66 ERA 128 SO, so he is not way better.
Way better is a stretch. Their numbers were very similar. The thing I trust about CC is that he has learned to pitch with a 89-91 mph fastball. Cobb is declining and has injury concerns. Well he be able to pitch with CCs guile going fwd?
Yanks have plenty of depth in AAA albeit must with no mlb experience. The guy that I think is very overlooked is Domingo German. He had a great year in AAA/AA last year and looked good in his brief stint in the maggots working out the pen. I assume Justus Sheffield will be moved to AAA shortly to join Chalice Adams’s and Domingo Acevedo too. That’s 4 quality prospects at AAA to go along with the tweeners like Cessa and others.
I think it’s always smart to bring in depth but not at the cost of signing #3-#4 guys for $10mil plus and multiple years. I would take a shot with guys like Lincecum on short 1 year deals with incentives.
Pardon typos. Not given the chance to edit off my mini pad.
I’m pretty sure Sabathia our pitches his peripherals pretty badly though while Cobb was right around where he was projected
Makes sense to me. . .just because Lynn and Cobb are still lingering on the market doesn’t mean there is anything special about them. If anything it means quite the opposite. They are nice average starters but that simply isn’t worth $15MM a year on the open market anymore, or else a couple of teams would have swooped in and they both would have been signed by now.
The one thing I disagree with is the belief that in 2019 the Yankees are just going to blow past the competitive balance threshold. That seems to be a belief a lot of fans have, but I’ve yet to see anything published that quotes the Yankees as saying this is going to happen. Yes they are going to reset this year (as they should), but, suppose they do have another run like last year or even make it to the goal of winning the World Series. If they prove they can win a World Series with less than a $197MM payroll, why would they suddenly decide to pay $240MM for a payroll to chase the same result? The answer is, barring the ghost of George Steinbrenner coming back to run the team, they won’t.
Totally agree with you on their approach on the Tax threshold and they need room to add at the deadline. Gardners salary comes off the books this winter and the luxury tax increases so they can do something big and still stay under.
Great point about the deadline too. If 4/5 of the rotation are meeting expectations the first few months of the season the Yankees will be doing fine and then they can start to look at the trade market if nobody in the farm system steps up first (for any team it’s very rare when 5/5 of the rotation is meeting expectations at the same time for an extended period. Remember the 2009 Yankees when the top four didn’t miss a turn for the first half of the season while Chien-Ming Wang was terrible and then got hurt and was done for the season).
I bet the market will have more interesting rotation options at the deadline (or other pieces if they have a need) and the Yankees have the extra prospects to make a deal. Instead of taking the leftovers on the free agent market, go get the player you really want, and they don’t NEED another starter to begin the season.
I know Gardner is coming off the payroll (Robertson and Warren too who combined are almost $15MM against the threshold) but I think he’s a Yankee for life. If they’re going to keep staying young they’re going to need a leader on the field, and I think he still has a few more good years left in him. He can be the next ’96 -’98 Tim Raines and there is a lot of value in that.
The Cubs had the same fortune with their starters in 2016 but with the whole rotation. Yea the market might bare a sonny Gray caliber starter cheap and under control for a couple of years or an infield bat if needed. I love Gardy and he is a great veteran presence but Florial is ultra talented and coming on quick. The players will have another year under their belt for experience and I think Stanton will provide a positive clubhouse presence.
Agreed.. If Andujar does a decent job at 3rd they will have no need for Machado Plus, they are already deep enough in the OF where a pursuit of Harper isn’t necessary either. No way the Dodgers let Kershaw sign elsewhere and I don’t think he even wants to leave. I just don’t see the Yankees spending much next year unless Bird gets hurt for the 3rd year in a row. Gardner and CC are pretty much the only players with decent sized expiring contracts and they can both be replaced from within. Hal has been quoted many times saying that you should be able to field a very competitive team for under $200m. People need to get over the Yankees history. They have learned that spending big rarely wins championships and have put that business model to rest.
Yankees are going to have to win a lot of 15-14 games with that rotation
Good one qguppy187. You should be monitoring JD’s injury and checking in on Hanley’s mental health instead of trying so hard!!!
You need to be more polite. That remark about certain players you know nothing about.
I don’t think he “needs” to be more polite. It seems that you want him to. Lucky for him, nobody cares what you want. FYI all sports talk is effectively speculation, no one ever knows what they are talking about.
You need to push that on qbass187 and look at some of your previous posts.. glass houses and all. What is there to know about those players that’s not been written? Unless of course you’re an insider!
I don’t understand why people think the rotation will implode. All 5 pitchers pitched pretty much the entirety of 2017 and they ranked 5th in the MLB in ERA, 4th in WHIP, 5th in BB/9, 7th in K/9, and 6th in H/9. The only blemish is that they ranked 21 in HR/9, mostly due to Tanaka’s first half struggles which are forgivable since he was the teams best playoff pitcher by far.
Well put costanza. Yankees would be smartest to save budget for needs at all star break. Lose first 2 highest picks and $1 mil international pool seems Ike a high price for number 5 starters in an already solid rotation with a bullpen that can pickup any slack. Also have better options with arms coming up the ranks.
Why is that? It’s the same group from last year and they didn’t have to win with double digit runs scored often. Stop hating.
I think the Cards should re-sign Lynn to a 2 or 3 year deal. Insurance against Waino’s regression or injury. Lynn is a safe bet to go 175+ innings and is a veteran presence.
No big loss here I would much rather have archer from Tampa Bay. Strange that they weren’t more involved on darvish as I’m sure he would have taken a pay cut to have the privilege of playing in pinstripes but maybe I’m wrong who knows. Some players go for the money some go for legacy and winning. Nothing you can do about it.
I hope Lynn signs soon for the simple fact that he’s on my fantasy team
Yeah.. I am glad I signed up for a late draft this year. Some of these players could very well become the next Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales by missing the entire spring training and showing the severe rust when they do sign. I know they are/have set up that ST for the unsigned players but they still won’t have much time to gel with their new teammates and learn the coaching staff’s philosophy before the season begins.
Why is “Gumby” Montgomery’s nickname ?
I think either would make a big difference for them, but I think they have other adjustments they can make that will have more impact. Plus lot of young kids knocking on the door that could easily be the answer
Don’t left the Yankees full you, something is brewing. When all else fails everyone wants to be a Yankee
Like Ohtani wanted to be a Yankee?