How New York Yankees Should Handle Each of Their Important Free Agents
October 23, 2014 · Peter F. Richman · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
After missing the postseason in 2013, the New York Yankees set out to accomplish two goals in 2014: play October baseball and stay under the luxury-tax threshold. But prior to the season, New York brass doled out $500 million in marquee signings—exceeding the threshold—and the Bombers concluded a wholly unremarkable 84-78 campaign a few weeks ago, 12 games behind the Orioles and four games out of the second wild-card spot.
Now, equal parts anxiety, anticipation and optimism surround the fanbase ahead of this winter.
With general manager Brian Cashman recently re-signed to a fresh three-year deal, the 27-time champions will invariably seek to right the ship ahead of 2015 and avoid missing the playoffs for the third straight year. And here in late October, the two biggest question marks are likely starting pitching and the infield.
But in addition to scouring the free-agent landscape around Major League Baseball in the upcoming months, they’ll inevitably be faced with a few internal decisions. Taking a look at six of the Yankees’ most important free agents—three pitchers and three fielders—we’ll ask a simple question for each: Keep him or dump him?
The task becomes trickier for Cashman and Co. with factors going beyond just 2014 performance: Should the Yankees hang on to pitchers like Brandon McCarthy and Hiroki Kuroda—or go after a premier free-agent starter instead? Will CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova be 100 percent by April?
Do they bring back a Chase Headley or Stephen Drew, neither of whom opened many eyes down the stretch? Do they need to find their shortstop of the future this offseason? Would they fill the infield with a returning Alex Rodriguez and stopgap in-house options?
Here’s a preliminary blueprint examining these scenarios and offering up how the Yankees should handle each of their important free agents.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted; contract and salary information via Spotrac.
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