The New York Yankees’ entire front office model has changed in recent seasons. It’s gone from the richest organization in the baseball world buying in bulk in both free agency and on the trade market to the team building internally.
While this has led to some struggles on the diamond itself, it is a solid long-term plan. Build with young players while adding the expensive veteran here and there.
Coming off a 2016 season that saw the team progress with youngsters while watching both Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez call it quits, the Yankees seem to be willing to continue with this model during the winter.
According to a report from Ken Rosenthal over at Fox Sports, the Yankees are willing to listen to offers for Chase Headley, Brett Gardner and Brian McCann.
There’s a few different things to look at here. These three veterans are set to earn $42.5 million this upcoming season. That’s a nice chunk of change for what many would consider role players on good teams.
Secondly, the Yankees have higher-upside and cheaper options already on the roster. Top prospect Gary Sanchez put up one heck of a rookie season. In fact, he hit 20 homers in just 201 at-bats en route to breaking many rookie home-run records. It makes little sense for the Yankees to block Sanchez’s progression in favor of continuing to roll McCann out there.
At third base to potentially replace Headley, Dominican Miguel Andujar is one of the top-seven prospects in the organization. And while he’s probably a year away from making an impact, the Yankees have other internal options to replace Headley.
The same can be said for Gardner in the outfield. Aaron Judge got a sip of tea in the Majors this past season and is seen as one of the best power-hitting prospects in the game.
New York has prepared for the eventuality of moving on from veterans over the past couple years by stacking its farm system. This looks to be on the verge of coming to fruition here soon. And by taking that $42.5 million off their books, the Yankees could easily then target one or two top-end free agents this winter.