New York Yankees: How a canceled season impacts the Bombers
How a Canceled Season Would Hurt the Yankees
Cancelation of the 2020 MLB Season would both help and hurt the New York Yankees, Some don’t realize just how much it would hurt them. As mentioned earlier, if the season is canceled, all contracts would still move forward a year.
This means that if players were pending free agents after the 2020 World Series, this would continue to be the case. Here is a list of essential Yankees who would become free agents at that time:
- Masahiro Tanaka
- DJ Lemahieu
- James Paxton
- Brett Gardner (team option)
- J.A. Happ (vesting option)
If the season gets canceled, it will force New York to make decisions on Tanaka, Lemahieu, Paxton, and Gardner. General Manager Brian Cashman would have to make these decisions without performance in the season prior, to base these choices off.
In addition to this, what happens with J.A. Happ would be an interesting story considering his vesting option is based on performance in the year prior.
The Bombers would have to figure out their starting pitching rotation without Masahiro Tanaka AND James Paxton. If the young pitchers in the organization aren’t ready to step in, there will be a problem.
Obviously, another problem with the season being canceled is the fact that each of their young stars will move a year closer to free agency. Players like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and Luis Severino each lose a year and would now be moving closer to forcing the Yankees to make some difficult decisions.
In addition to this, the Yankees would miss out on a season which they would have entered with the highest of expectations, winning another World Series. If the 2020 season does get canceled, it will be gut-wrenching for Yankees fans, players and staff alike because they will be left wondering what could’ve been.
If it does get canceled, the Yankees will have the chance to win it in 2021 and years following, but Yankees fans will still be saying 2021 should’ve been the year they went for 29 and not 28.
With all of this in mind, the Yankees would be hurt quite a bit should the 2020 MLB Season be canceled, but the season being canceled would also help them believe it or not.