The Yankees Haven't Ruled Out Cespedes

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Hal Steinbrenner isn’t saying the Yankees are interested in Yoenis Cespedes, but he’s not exactly doing anything to squash speculation.

The Yankees owner was asked Wednesday about the possibility of pursuing the free agent slugger, who played for the crosstown Mets last season.

I’m comfortable where payroll is right now,” Steinbrenner told the newspaper. “But we’re always looking to improve the club. You never know with us. We’ve surprised people in the past.”

The Yankees have had no significant rumors tying them to Cespedes in any way this off-season. From the standpoint of just signing him, it doesn’t make sense for the Yankees to pick him up. The outfield is full and we’re close to the tipping point where the team costs too much money to justify any result at the end of the season. But if the Yankees could make a move with Gardner, to pick up low cost pitching, a spot in the lineup opens up while strengthening our pitching resources and clearing out some money.

There is definitely something wrong with Cespedes that’s made him get traded so often and made all long term offers disappear, so becoming that long term deal makes no sense. But if the market has shrunk that much and a short term deal is something Cespedes has to take, why not be the team that can offer it? The Yankees can offer the chance to be a Yankee, which if all else is equal, can be a motivator. Yeah the Yankees will totally break him down from being the unique character that he is, but he’ll have owners that are willing to put together a competitive team every year. If the Wilpons aren’t willing to shell out for him, he knows they won’t to keep that pitching.

Reasons This Would Work

• ARod As A Mentor: ARod has an impact on younger players and no one can doubt that. Cespedes is headed down a bad path from a character standpoint, so who better to teach him than the biggest turnaround in recent years.
• Breaking Starlin Anyway: Starlin Castro has a huge personality and that’s about to change. If the Yankees are going through the process of making Starlin fall in line with the team rules, why not let him have a partner to go through it with. Yeah this could backfire and they turn into the new Melky and Cano, trolling bars in Hoboken all night, but the veterans on this team probably don’t let it happen.
• Veteran Leadership: Between sober CC, born again ARod and Brian “Sportsmanship” McCann there is no way Cespedes can cause problems. The first time Yo did something out of line, the team would come down on him hard and get him in line with the objective of winning a World Series.
• Personal Incentive: Just like Ken Rosenthal said earlier about the Mets signing Yo to a short term deal, with a short deal in The Bronx, there’s still another contract for him to play for so we’ll get his best in a hitter friendly park.

Is this likely to happen? No probably not, but there is a way to make this work without taking on much money, and improving our pitching. Plus it would drive KFC and Clem insane.