Judge (left), Rizzo (center), Carpenter (left)
After the news that former Warriors star shortstop Dansby Swanson would sign a seven-year new contract (valued at $177 million) with the Cubs, the top twenty free agents after this year's postseason have all been determined. Although there are still some free agents on the market, such as Nathan Eovaldi and Justin Turner, who are still looking for new clubs, their movements will basically not have a significant impact on the overall situation next year. Therefore, this moment is a good time to score each team's reinforcements.
Some people may disagree with the statement that the Yankees are the biggest winners in this round of reinforcements this winter. After all, although the Yankees once again became the most expensive team in the market - far ahead with 584 million, the second and third largest Giants (451 million) and Mets (402 million) could not see the taillights at all - but more than half of it was spent on retaining star Aaron Judge's sky-high contract (9 years, 360 million). The only other thing worth mentioning is the signing of starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who has been among the strong pitchers in the past two years. In addition, the contract extension with first baseman Anthony Rizzo and the return of relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle are all the Yankees' reinforcements at this stage. Compared with the Rangers and the Mets, who respectively recruited Cy Young Award winners Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander, and the Phillies, and the Padres signed two major guerrilla stars, Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts, it was indeed a bit less lively.
DeGrom (Jacob deGrom)
It was originally reported in the free agent market that the Yankees wanted to sign deGrom, but the Rangers directly offered a sky-high price of US$185 million over five years. Although the Yankees could not afford it, they obviously had great doubts about deGrom's injury.
Aaron Judge
However, in hindsight, this time Yankees general manager Brian Cashman can be said to have fully implemented the principle of "we must get what we should get, and we don't want to spend a penny on what we shouldn't spend." First of all, the Yankees' primary goal this winter is undoubtedly to do their best to regain Judge, who originally left for Italy. It would be a complete public relations disaster for the Yankees if they fail to retain this player who just broke the American League single-season home run record and is the highest-ranking and most popular player after Jeter. During the process, it was rumored that Judge would land with the Giants, and the Padres even offered an unprecedented 14-year contract ($400 million) to disrupt the situation. However, in the end Cashman still managed to convince Judge to change his mind without any danger. Although Judge's average annual salary in the new contract surpassed Mike Trout and became the highest in the history of fielders, the nine-year contract is not too long compared to the contracts received by other superstars before, and even ranked fourth among this year's free agents.
Judge did not choose to return home to join the Giants or accept the super long-term contract offered by the Padres, which was a great help to the Yankees. Otherwise, the Yankees' future and subsequent reinforcements would be in big trouble.
Carlos Rodon
Secondly, in terms of pitching reinforcements, the Yankees also broke through the siege and stood out from many strong enemies to win the Rodon award. Although Loden's background is not as good as Verlander and deGrom, his performance in the past two years is not inferior to any big shot. This year, he ranks first in the major leagues in strikeouts per nine innings (12) and pitcher independent ERA (FIP, 2.25). Before his performance declined due to lack of energy in the second half of the season, Lowden, who had pitched a career-high number of innings this season, was the most vocal candidate for the American League Cy Young Award. After Lowden joined, the Yankees' starting pitching lineup was not only greatly upgraded, but the left-right ace combination formed by him and Gerrit Cole was enough to compete with the first and second pitchers of any team in the league. Just like renewing Judge's contract, the price the Yankees offered Loden also included premium .Most opinions believe that Loden can get a five-year, 140 million contract at most, but the figures for most new contracts on the market this year are higher than originally expected. In the end, the six-year, 162 million contract signed by Loden is by no means outrageous compared to the premiums received by others. The Yankees "again" defeated teams such as the Giants to win Loden's favor without raising the price too much, which is indeed a big victory.
The Yankees' signature star Judge was not snatched away by the Giants who offered a sky-high price. He had extra bullets in his backhand to snatch Lowden, the Giants' best starting pitcher last season.
Of course, even if Judge is retained and Loden is added, the Yankees' lineup is still far from perfect, especially since their senior lineup has not received any reinforcements. The main players include first baseman Rizzo (33 years old), third baseman Josh Donaldson (37 years old), super tool man DJ LeMahieu (34 years old), and Giancarlo Stanton (33 years old) who can only play DH most of the time. Their performance is declining at an age. New-generation infielder Gleyber Torres seems to have made great progress in the first half of the season, but in addition to his disappointing performance in the playoffs (an OPS of only .420 in 37 games in two rounds), it is still unknown whether he can regain the strength of his first two years in the major leagues (a total of 62 home runs, an OPS of .849).
In view of this, many people believe that the Yankees should take advantage of the emergence of batting stars in the upper reaches of the market in the past two years to grab people, but Cashman has never had this plan. Perhaps the owner did not leave him the budget for this, but more likely because the Yankees already have Oswald Peraza, a guerrilla rookie who just entered the major leagues this year, and the much-anticipated super rookie Anthony Volpe on the farm. What they should do at this stage is to wait patiently for the two of them to grow, rather than wasting the budget that can be spent in the future. In fact, judging from last year's Corey Seager and this year's three major shortstops all received long-term contracts of more than ten years, it may indeed prove that the Yankees' deliberate avoidance is a wise move in the future.
Oswald Peraza
By retaining Judge and Rizzo, the Yankees have stabilized the core lineup. Naturally, there is room to hone shortstop Peraza and other rookie players.
As the most watched team in the major leagues, every move of the Yankees, whether it is active reinforcement or passive inaction, will inevitably attract various criticisms. Cheng Ze is ridiculed as the "evil empire" created with money. As long as it fails to win the championship, it will be regarded as a failure by the fans. Once it misses the playoffs, it will become a laughing stock of other teams' fans. In such an atmosphere of easy failure, it is really difficult to maintain faith and lead the team in the right direction. Cashman, who has served as the Yankees general manager for 24 years, also received a four-year contract extension this winter, which is equivalent to the boss's greatest recognition of his past achievements and trading abilities. And Cashman's subsequent series of strategizing indeed lived up to everyone's high expectations.
