Looking Forward For The Yankees

Well that did not go to plan at fucking all. Last night we were officially eliminated from any chance at the playoffs and will head into the most uncertain off-season we have had in almost 20 years. At the end of the day we were dealt a shitty hand with all of the injuries we faced throughout the year with Jeter, Tex, ARod, Grandy, Gardner, Andy, Youk, Cervelli, and Nunez all missing significant time this year. Now a lot of people are saying “Well look how far we made it with all of these injuries.” in arguments with people like KFC who know nothing about being a winner, but not this guy. Yes it was cool that we were in the hunt but realistically this thing was over weeks ago. As a real Yankee fan I can tell you that being close to the 2nd Wild Card spot  is not acceptable no matter what the circumstances are. The New York Yankees should be contenting for a division title and a World Series championship every year. That’s the way it is around here, championship or bust.

Now a lot of people are saying we are fucked for years to come because we have these big contracts and our farm system is as barren as a sorority girls womb after HPV, but they forgot one big thing. This is the New York Yankees, we have the most money and we are not afraid to throw it around to prove a point. I don’t care what the new generation of Steinbrenners say about cutting down payroll, you have to spend money to make money in this league and they know it.

So what is next for the team? Lets take a look: This is going to be long so if you don’t like the Yankees or baseball just rewatch the KFC eating a Cronut video.

• Payroll: This year our payroll was just over $220m and while we still have CC, Tex and ARod on huge contracts, we get free of a ton of money to spend next year. Right now we have only about $85m tied up on guaranteed deals for next season, which gives us 6 players.
• Giradi: He is free to walk after this year and if he did I don’t think anyone would blame him, but the scurtiny is something he signed up for and it isn’t like he is doing this for free. I hope we keep him but realistically I think it is 50/50 between coming back or going home to the Cubs. If he does go, it is time to talk LaRussa out of retirement.
• Cano: Do we need to sign him? Possibly. One thing we cannot do is give him a $200m 10 year deal, let along a fucking $300M deal, and have another ARod situation in 6 years. For the right price (7 years, $150m) I say we resign him. Luckily he’s switched to Jay-Z’s agency so they will tell him the importance of staying in NY for all of the other money he can make off the field and after his playing days by being a lifetime Yankee.
• ARod: Personally I don’t think his playing days for the Yankees are over, and I don’t think he will even miss next season. At this point he has yet to fail a drug test and while there is a ton of evidence against him, there are no grounds for a 211 games suspension. With and independent arbitrator I think he gets 50 games if he doesn’t settle for more. The plus side here? He played decent this year and even a 50 game suspension saves the Yankees over $7m.
• Jeter: The best thing he could do is just forget this season happened. They say in baseball you need a short memory because you need to move on to the next day, and this will be the test. His salary is going to drop from $17m to $9m and while anyone else with his ability would not get that on the open market, he means more to the team than just on the field. I think he comes back and plays some SS with a lot of DH and maybe a sprinkling of another position if he will have the desire to play beyond 2014 and can’t reach the balls he needs to at short.
• Tex: His injury was a freak injury and he tried hard to get back this year but it wasn’t in the cards. Hopefully he rehabs strong and comes into next season ready to earn his keep.
• Catcher: We need a Major League catcher, plain and simple. For so many teams the catcher plays a leadership role on a team and none of the guys we have had this year could play that role. Playing 3 backup quality catchers will not equal out to a #1  guy. There are a bunch of good catchers on the market and making a splash with a guy like McCann would be huge.
• Outfield: We have Soriano next year for $5m and Gardner is under control so we have 2/3 of a really good outfield. The problem then becomes the contracts of Ichiro ($7M) and Wells ($2m). Depending on how the rest of the off-season goes it may be time to cut Wells loose and eat his salary. Ichiro could then become a 4th outfielder if we made a free agent splash with a value guy like Nelson Cruz coming off suspension or a utility guy like like Corey Hart coming off and injury. We also have Almonte.
• Starting Pitching: Pretty simple here if we can resign Kuroda, get CC fat again, keep Novas head on straight and work Pineda all off-season. That is a pretty solid 4 man rotation to start with, but in reality it wont work out that perfect so let’s make a few moves. I say we get a guy like Halladay who is coming off a rough year but can still find a way to win games. He was almost a Yankee once and on a 2 year deal he can be one finally.
• Bullpen: Goodbye Joba, goodbye Hughes, I hate your faces. No chance of those 2 coming back but we also lost Mo. I think with all that has gone on around his retirement, there is no chance we get Mo to change his mind, so what now? Robertson will get the first shot to fill that role unless we make a big more for an established closer, which we wont. Besides that we need to find some serviceable arms with big league experience to fill out the rest of the pen, specifically an 8th inning guy who will set Robertson up for success.
• Other Free Agents: I wouldn’t mind if we took a look at bringing back Ryan for defense,  bringing back Eric Chavez to fill the ARod suspension whole and spell Tex at first, or Tim Hudson because I’ve always liked him.

So there you have it, and to me it doesn’t look terrible. The Red Sox were terrible last year but by throwing some money at guys who gelled together they became a great team this year. The pieces are out there to build a team that will win, Cashman just has to find them.

Let me know who you think we need to pick up and I will retweet them: @BarstoolJJ