It's a quick turnaround for the Yankees after last night's gutting defeat. The front office will jump right into offseason work. The most immediate focus is on their ace's complicated opt-out decision. After that, they'll make a push to retain a likely Hall of Famer who'll set a new contract record in the next few months.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Aaron Judge, CF: $280MM through 2031
- Gerrit Cole, RHP: $144MM through 2028 (Cole can opt out this winter; Yankees could void the opt-out by exercising $36MM club option for '29)
- Carlos Rodón, LHP: $108MM through 2028
- Giancarlo Stanton, DH: $96MM through 2027 (including buyout of '28 club option)*
- DJ LeMahieu, 3B: $30MM through 2026
- Marcus Stroman, RHP: $18MM through 2025 (deal contains $18MM vesting/player option for '26 if Stroman pitches 140+ innings next season)
* Marlins are covering $30MM of Stanton's contract between 2026-28, so Yankees are on the hook for $66MM
Option Decisions
- RHP Gerrit Cole can opt out of final four years and $144MM; Yankees could void the opt-out by exercising $36MM club option for '29
- Team holds $17MM option on 1B Anthony Rizzo ($6MM buyout)
- Team holds $5MM option on RHP Lou Trivino
- Team holds $2.5MM option on RHP Luke Weaver
Additional Obligations
- Owe $10.5MM to released OF Aaron Hicks
2025 financial commitments (if Cole doesn't hit free agency): $183.5MM
Total future commitments (if Cole doesn't opt out): $662.5MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (projected salaries via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Jon Berti (5.168): $3.8MM
- Tim Mayza (5.129): $4MM
- Nestor Cortes (5.094): $7.7MM
- Jose Trevino (5.063): $3.4MM
- Trent Grisham (5.060): $5.7MM
- JT Brubaker (5.000): $2.275MM
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. (4.075): $6.9MM
- Mark Leiter Jr. (4.031): $2.1MM
- Clarke Schmidt (3.148): $3.5MM
- Scott Effross (2.156): $900K
Non-tender candidates: Berti, Mayza, Grisham, Brubaker
Free Agents
- Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, Alex Verdugo, Tim Hill, Jonathan Loáisiga, Phil Bickford, Tanner Tully
There's no bigger story of the offseason than Juan Soto. That's true not only for the Yankees but MLB as a whole. Soto's next contract is almost certainly going to surpass $500MM. There's a reasonable chance the guarantee begins with a 6. He should break the record both for average annual value and overall guarantee (assuming one takes the net present value of the Shohei Ohtani deal rather than the $700MM figure, which does not account for the contract's $680MM of deferrals).
The Yankees are obviously going to try to keep Soto in the Bronx. His first season couldn't have gone much better. Soto had arguably the best full year of his career. He just turned 26 and is theoretically only entering his prime, at least offensively. The defense probably won't age well over the course of a deal that stretches beyond a decade, but it doesn't really matter. Soto's floor at the plate is better than any free agent's in recent memory.
Every high-payroll team will be tied to Soto. There's a chance it comes down to a bidding war between the New York franchises. The Mets are clearly going to be all-in. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns stoked the flames last week, saying the franchise's ample payroll space "means that pretty much the entirety of the player universe is potentially accessible." The biggest offseason question may be whether Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is willing to be outbid by Mets owner Steve Cohen on a player who was instrumental in pushing the Yankees to their first pennant in 15 years.
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The No. 1 change I’d like to see Yankees management make is putting names on the back of uniforms.
“Putting names on the back”…I agree with the Yankee’s stance, that the name on the front of the uniform is much more important than the one on the back of the uniform. The iconic Yankees should stick to their longtime traditions, even the one prohibiting many types of facial hair.
Names like Error, Blunder, Bonehead, Cheater, Bum, Overpaid, Bobble, etc.
Sonny – I’m guessing you also actually like the Yankee Stadium scoreboards encouraging fans to “make noise”?
It’s a shame the organization has sunk to that level, especially during the World Series.
Gerrit Cole will opt out leading to Soto leaving
Buttercup – Wouldn’t Cole opting out (and the Yanks not voiding the opt-out) result in a better chance of keeping Soto?
Yes that but don’t have to spell everything out
Cashman needs to sign Soto. If he leaves then Judge will have no protection.
Acoss – Not true, those two bozos who mugged Mookie would “protect” Judge.
Fever,
Oh man, that was embarrassing. Catching the ball, sure whatever, but they actively grabbed his arm, wrestled the ball out of the glove, and the other guy was grabbing Mookie’s throwing arm. They could have hurt him, the bozos were actively assaulting him. Mookie is a cool guy, he didn’t get into any argument or try to slap back. I know I would have had some words and slapped the guys off.
The Yankees would be a much better all around team, by spreading $500M+ around to 3 players, including 1 pitcher, rather than give it all to one guy(Soto) who’ll very soon be a DH.
Agreed, at this point in time, the Yanks just aren’t a great team.
Get some new coaches that was some terrible baseball they played all series
Yeah…fundamentals were right out the window.
The AL is currently very bad, so the Yankees have that going for them.
There are some decent teams but they might not get any better than they are now. So, yes, the league looks kind of dreary:
The problem with the Central teams is that they don’t spend any money. Maybe the Twins will with new ownership? The Astros aren’t what they were. The Mariners will never find enough hitting. Red Sox are in transition.
It’s just the Yankees and Orioles. Maybe Texas will rebound, but I doubt it.
fred – The biggest spenders are in the NL, so it’s reasonable to believe the NL will have the toughest competition.
5 of the top 7 payrolls are in the NL:
NYM
PHIL
LAD
ATL
CUBS
Please stop with peayroll, the Chiefs and Bucs pay for their players, and they only play 8 home games.. Time for a floor on these so called small market teams.
I will say this for the Yankees… they try to put a championship team on the field every year.. I can only hope that my beloved Redsox are trying to take a page out of the Yankees playbook in which Cash forbid trading their core ( Bernie/ captain/ Jorge/ Andy ) or these last few years will be a total complete waste!!
Olm – Totally agree! The Yankees make the postseason pretty much every year, because winning is important to them.
Wish I could say the same for my team.
If Cole opts out I’d let him walk. 12yr/480M for Soto or let him walk too
It doesn’t matter what the Yankees “pay” Soto. They will make soooo much more by having him on the roster the next ten years. In business, it’s called in an investment, not an expense.
I don’t see how Soto is bringing in an extra $600M in revenue to the New York Yankees. The Yankees are already constantly in the playoffs.
Today on ESPN they were saying Soto will get over 700 million, in that case I let him walk!
Then he can join Betts in the outfield. The Dodgers wouldn’t even blink at paying 700.
Slider- If that doesn’t include deferrals, then ESPN are idiots.
That sounds crazy
There is more than one way to skin a cat, players like Burns, Fried, Alonzo, Bregman, Snell, Bellinger will be available, but even signing all of them might not give you a better roster than the Dodgers.
The Yankees have ALOT of flexibility in thier payroll right now.
I think that they will resign Soto, I think that Cole opts out and the Yankees tack on the extra year.
That represents the 1st half of the heavy lifting part of the offseason.
With regards to “”other aspects””?
Jasson, Rice, and Wells take over LF, 1B/BUC, and Starting C.
(Rice being 1B AND BUC would be huge for roster flexibility, DJ and Berti back him up at 1B)
That means 4 Pre-Arb players, including Volpe, cover 4 starting lineup slots.
Trevino becomes a trade candidate, I can also see the Yankees shopping Cortez as well.
The Bullpen is the 2nd half of the heavy lifting.
ALOT of RP’s are gone as FA’s.
While the Yankees are really good at bringing up RP’s and finding raw RP’s and polishing them up, the Yankees will likely have to spend some money here.
With all due respect to Luke Weaver’s amazing last 1.5 months or so, plus the fact that he is in his walk year, the Yankees have to build up the bullpen with Cash.
All in all, 2nd place.
It could have ended better, We will get ’em next year.
Signing Soto will tie up too much payroll Yanks need a LOT more help. But not signing him and they are screwed so….rock meets hard place.