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New York Yankees: Difficult Challenges Still Remain

By Steve Contursi

Mar 15, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner before the New York City FC vs. New England Revolution soccer game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2015; New York, NY, USA; New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner before the New York City FC vs. New England Revolution soccer game at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports /
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Clearly, the New York Yankees are committed to giving the franchise a massive makeover. But during this transition, there remains a series of difficult decisions they still need to make

As with all kinds of major change, there is always a transition period of time when you are almost “there”, but not quite there yet. The New York Yankees find themselves in that in-between mode right now. They’ve shed themselves of some of the past, but they’re not quite where they want and need to be yet. As a result, some difficult days still lie ahead and general manager Brian Cashman will continue to find his plate full for several more months at least.

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As an example, an article today from Yankees Go Yard indicates that there are no takers for Brett Gardner, despite the fact that the Yankees have shopped him around for nearly a year. According to Spotrac, Gardner is due $24 million through the 2018 season. Plus, he gets a million dollar bonus if he’s traded. He’s 33-years-old now and sliding backwards at an alarming rate. This will undoubtedly come down to how much money the Yankees are willing to “eat” if the Yankees pull the plug and trade him anyway.

In the same category, we find Jacoby Ellsbury, who pulled off one of the biggest salary heists in baseball history. He’s not producing and he’s still owed about $80 million, not including a $5 million buyout in 2021. Another choice, what do you do with him? Eating more money is always a possibility, or you can try to trade him and eat a lesser but still a significant amount. Except that he has a full no trade clause in his contract and he would have to approve any deal the Yankees make.

Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner have started the jigsaw puzzle. Now, the challenge is finishing it.

It doesn’t get any easier from there either. In the same boat, we find  Brian McCann (33) who’s scheduled to earn around $50 million through 2019 if he can catch a minimum of 90 games in 2018. And guess what? He also has that sweet no trade baggage clause in his contract.

And nobody even wants to talk about the deal given to Chase Headley for $52 million. Trade him and it’ll cost you another cool million as what? – inconvenience pay?

So in sum, the Yankees are by no means free and clear from the mistakes of the past. Hopefully though, we’ll at least be able to give them an “A” for effort in trying to rid themselves of the albatross holding them back from completely transitioning to the wealth of new talent now in their farm system.

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At the same time however, it should be pointed out that the bulk of the players they recently inherited from trades are position players. Regrettably, it just doesn’t look like either Michael Pineda or Nathan Eovaldi are going to reach their stride, at least with the Yankees. Because of their age and salary, they’ll be easier to trade. But again, they also become part of the jigsaw puzzle Cashman and Steinbrenner (who by the way seems to have finally awakened to the fact that he’s the owner of THE New York Yankees) need to figure out.

So close, and yet so far away………

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