[PARAM]

On a side note, this Harper and Machado saga is very strange.

Yeah, they want too much money and too much time. Owners are getting smarter trying to avoid those 10 year deals. Collusion? I don't give a shit. Collude, mofos, collude. I wouldn't give any player more than a 5 year deal.

[dieterbrock]

Yeah, they want too much money and too much time. Owners are getting smarter trying to avoid those 10 year deals. Collusion? I don't give a shit. Collude, mofos, collude. I wouldn't give any player more than a 5 year deal.

What I don't get, is why cant they write a contract like so:
10 year deal, total value 250 mill.
1st 5 years 160 mill, last 5 years 90 mill
Player opt out after 5
Team opt out after 8

These guys are so young, the 10 year deal isn't all that intimidating, its just that there is no incentive for the team or the player down the road

[PARAM]

What I don't get, is why cant they write a contract like so:
10 year deal, total value 250 mill.
1st 5 years 160 mill, last 5 years 90 mill
Player opt out after 5
Team opt out after 8

These guys are so young, the 10 year deal isn't all that intimidating, its just that there is no incentive for the team or the player down the road

Too much common sense for agents!! That be like expecting Case Keenum to lead the Broncos (or wherever he goes in 2019) to the Superbowl. Not gonna happen.

[Horny Mcbae]

I am soooooooo in favor of what the teams are doing. Some people say " oh you are siding with the billionaire owners". NO! I am siding with sensible contracts and siding with teams not getting handicapped by giving 10 yr deals.

Up till a few years ago the agents were the smart ones. I think a lot of the front offices are now as smart as them and they set the precedence last off season and so far this off season that players and their agents need to come back down to earth when talking about contract lengths. I want every player to get compensated fairly but of course i'd rather have a 30yr old pitcher sign a 3 year deal with my team than a 7 yr deal because the last 2 yrs of that is basically the team paying you unfairly over what you are producing. The league is capped so no matter how rich the Yankees or Red Sox are they can escape that fact. There are countless examples of teams suffering from these long deals. Why shouldn't there be balance.

It's just that Harper and Machado got caught up in this course correction that MLB is going through. I feel like when Machado get a serious offer Cashman will inquire and look into it and perhaps match that and get him.

[dieterbrock]

[dieterbrock]

Love this signing. Locked up for 7!! Judge next...

[PARAM]

Absolutely!!! The guy is the most underrated CF in baseball. Switch hitter with power from both sides? Cashman is a genius.

Severino
Hicks

soon to come

Judge
Sanchez

later

Torres
Andujar

[dieterbrock]

That’s why they didn’t spend on Machado or Harper...
Hope Judge AND Didi are next....

[PARAM]

At the time of the November 2015 trade, Aaron Hicks was 26 years old and had never been a full-time player during three seasons with the Twins. He had a .225 career batting average and a .306 on-base percentage.

And yet … on the day Yankees general manager Brian Cashman traded for Hicks, he seemed genuinely excited about the possibilities.

Cashman acknowledged that Hicks had some unknowns, but then he ticked off things like foot speed and bat speed, strength, instincts, etc. He’d seen enough to trade the Twins a highly regarded young catcher, John Ryan Murphy.

This is the kind of trade baseball people love. It’s not a trade about money or contract or any of that. Instead, it’s two organizations lining up their needs and evaluations of two players.

This week when the Yankees announced Hicks had agreed to a 10-year, $70 million extension, it was more than a simple reminder that Cashman won that trade. He has won quite a few of them in recent seasons. Let’s run down the list:

• Hicks
• SS Didi Gregorius
• RHP Chad Green
• 1B Luke Voit

(Seeing how Voit has played just 39 regular-season games for the Yankees, it might be a tad early to award Cashman a win in this deal, but we grade on the curve.)

All these trades are a larger lesson in what the Yankees have become. Yes, they have more money to spend than any other team. Yanks owner Hal Steinbrenner isn’t about to apologize for that because building a financial behemoth is part of the legacy of his dad, George Steinbrenner.

But under Cashman, the Yankees have prided themselves on making smart evaluations of players and using every avenue to build an organization. The Yanks have baseball’s largest analytics department, but they also have a scouting staff -- both international and domestic -- as good as any.

The 2019 Yankees reflect Cashman’s good work. Just 2 1/2 years ago, with the team hovering around .500 and in fourth place in the American League East, Cashman made the difficult decision to rebuild.

OK, not rebuild in the way we typically think of the rebuild. Instead, Cashman moved two of his prominent veteran players in an attempt to replenish his Minor League system.

In trading Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs and Andrew Miller to the Indians, the Yankees received three highly regarded youngsters: infielder Gleyber Torres, outfielder Clint Frazier and lefty pitcher Justus Sheffield.

Within a year, the Yanks had a top 10 farm system and made back-to-back postseason appearances in 2017 and '18. (FanGraphs projects them at 95 wins in 2019, one less than the Red Sox, one more than the Astros.)

Their 2019 team comes in a mixture of Draft choices (Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner, Greg Bird), international free agents (Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar) and trades (Giancarlo Stanton, Torres, Voit, Hicks, Gregorius).

There’s also perhaps Cashman’s biggest gamble in recent seasons: Troy Tulowitzki. He has averaged 98 games a season since 2012, but the Yankees signed him out of an offseason tryout camp, believing he could still contribute at a high level at 34.

Tulowitzki was part of an offseason shopping spree almost as notable for who the Yanks didn’t go for as who they did. They re-signed lefties J.A. Happ, CC Sabathia and Zack Britton and added Adam Ottavino to the bullpen, James Paxton to the rotation and DJ LeMahieu to the infield.

What they did not do: sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado. Money may have been a factor in both decisions, but more likely Cashman focused on his pitching staff instead of a lineup that belted an MLB-record 267 home runs in 2018.

Even with all their cash, the Yankees are a reminder that postseason appearances are harder than ever to buy via free agency. For one thing, plenty of elite players never reach free agency. Yanks fans were reminded of that on Tuesday when the Rockies locked up third baseman Nolan Arenado with an eight-year extension.

When the Yankees won the World Series five times between 1996 and 2009, they were led by a homegrown core: Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.

Is a core of Judge, Stanton, Torres, Andujar and Hicks even close to being comparable? Yankees fans can hope.

LINK

Here's who they gave up in those trades:

Aaron Hicks...………..John Ryan Murphy (C)
Didi Gregorious………….Shane Greene (RP)
Chad Green, Luis Cessa………...Justin Wilson (RP)
Luke Voit………….Chasen Shreve (RP), Giovanny Gallegos (P)
James Paxton...……….Justus Sheffield (SP), Erik Swanson (SP), Dom Thompson-Williams (OF)
Giancarlo Stanton...……..Starlin Castro (SS,2B), Jorge Guzman (P), Jose Devers (IF)
J.A. Happ...……………..Brandon Drury (IF), Billy McKinney (OF)

Throw in the previous mentioned trades, which in some cases allowed Cashman to make the above trades:

2016 / Aroldis Chapman to Chicago for Glyber Torres, Rashad Crawford, Billy McKinney (traded for Happ), Adam Warren (traded to Seattle for International Pool Money)
2016 / Andrew Miller to Cleveland for Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield (traded for Paxton), Ben Heller, JP Freyereisen
2016 / Brian McCann to Houston for Albert Abreau and Jorge Guzman (to Florida for Stanton)
2016 / Carlos Beltran to Texas for Dillon Tate (to Baltimore for Britton), Erik Swanson (for Paxton) and Nick Green

Dude has been wheeling and dealing for years. He's obtained starters in Stanton, Hicks, Gregorius and Torres; major bullpen arms in Green and Britton; and starting pitchers in Happ and Paxton by giving up very little.

Is a core of Judge, Stanton, Torres, Andujar and Hicks even close to being comparable?

I'll let you know after they win a couple of World Series. Until then, they're just a potential core group. If I were to "compare", albeit, unfairly...…
Jeter / Didi/Torres
Williams / Judge
Posada / Sanchez
Pettitte / Severino
Mariano / ....sorry, no comparison.... but I like Green as the eventual closer.

[PARAM]

It's going to be one of 'those years'. Seve is out until who knows when. CC will start the season on the DL. Didi may not be back until August. Wow!!!!