For the sake of a parlor game, let me tell you what you already know.
You have until Friday to finalize the Yankees' 40-man roster before the December Rule 5 draft. Supposedly, you have too many unbelievable, can't-miss, super-prospects to protect, so you're in the market for converting a few of them into an established star. You know... the usual move this time of year, a holiday tradition!
According to the Internet, you are talking with Oakland about obtaining 1B Matt Olson for a bundle of prospects and Lovable Luke "the Lug" Voit.
Well, I won't tell you what to do. Why bother? You never listen. You look at me with those puppy eyes, and you nod, and I want to believe that you are absorbing my wisdom. But I know better. You're humming a tune in your head. You've been angry at me since Jesus Montero - yes, I was wrong about the human Ice Cream Sandwich, but Pine Tar Pineda wasn't exactly Cy Young, was he? And Sonny Gray? I mean, come on... so, yeah, I won't tell you what to do. But I can say this:
Once you cut your first deal - whatever it is - you better have the follow-up moves locked and loaded, because all Hell is going to break loose.
Let's say you obtain Olson, a fine player who should solve our 1B woes. Immediately, that undermines any bidding war over Freddie Freeman (who, let's face it, will probably will stay in Atlanta anyway) and Anthony Rizzo (who - hmm - we know is coveted by Boston.) With the Yankees out of the 1B market, the Redsocks might move quickly on Rizzo, or re-sign Kyle Schwarber, or both. Either way, they get their 1B without a checkbook duel with the Yankees. It might happen within hours.
By then, you need to be well into your next move: Finding a shortstop. To get Olson, it's almost a certainty that either Anthony Volpe or Oswaldo Peraza - our best two prospects, both shortstops - will go to Oakland. That leaves the Yankees with a potential long term hole at SS. Instead of two prospects competing against each other, we'll have one, and the odds of a farm system solution wither dramatically. The notion of a stopgap, one-year SS - you know, Didi or Elvis - becomes much less viable.
Thus, if you swing that deal for Olson, signing a big name SS becomes The Immediate Priority. You better know who you want - Correa, Seager, Story, the cast of Glee, whomever - because the stampede will have begun. And once you make that offer, and once you get your shortstop, every other team in baseball will know that Elvis has left the building. North to Alaska, go north, the rush is on! The SS market will explode.
By then, you need to be into your next move - the hole in CF. (Note: Aaron Hicks is now officially an afterthought. Your 40-man roster will have two or three openings. You can fill them with prospects or go after a CF, or pitching, pitching, pitching.
Whatever you do, sir, keep your powder dry. A miniature trade deadline is about to crash. I assume you are ready? Right? Hello...?
Did not Cashman famously saying once that if he listened to what the fans said, he would be sitting in the stands with them soon.
ReplyDeleteWe waste our suggestions on him , because , after all, we are just peons, the unwashed masses who buy up all the St. Paddy's Day ST gear and munch our $9.00 hot dogs while quaffing our $14.00 Stadium beers.
I am anxiously awaiting the first Yankee Stadium chant during a 10 run shellacking by the Devil Rays of "Let's Go Brian."
I'm going to keep banging this drum even though Brian and Hal don't listen to me:
ReplyDeleteThe A's are in a panic to cut payroll this offseason. Take advantage of that. Flex your financial muscles. Instead of trading the farm for Matt Olson, take on some unwater contracts to lessen the prospect cost.
Elvis Andrus (2-yr/$21.8M)
Stephen Piscotty (1-yr/$8.3M)
Both guys bad 2021 seasons and are guaranteed more money than any team wants to pay them.
If you don't like 'em, just DFA them immediately. Or bring 'em to Spring Training and see if they can win jobs. Whatever.
As for Olsen, Peraza is on the 40 man roster while Volpe isn't. Packaging Peraza with Frazier and/or AnJUjar and one of our young pitchers and taking back a contract makes the most sense.
ReplyDeleteI hope they get Olsen. He's one of the starting infielders on my all Daily Planet Team.
ReplyDelete1B Matt Olsen
2B Jeff Kent
SS Frank White
3B Jason Lane
Interesting idea, Zach, as usual. If they're desperate to cut payroll, yeah, let's stick it to them. And we can do it knowing that we can always just walk away and re-sign Rizzo.
ReplyDeleteAnd as Doug K. mentioned in the last post's comments, Correa is already beginning to go sour. Sure, publicly dissing Derek Jeter might have got him on the right side of The Office Boy, but if the new C.C. really wants to come to NYC, he's still going to have to play in front of us Yankees fans, who will use those remarks to pillory him at the first sign of a slump.
ReplyDeleteCan he really be that stupid, not to realize this? And if he IS that stupid, do we really want him on our ball club?
I really hope we stay away from signing diacorrhea, but then again I don't want Seager either so hopefully there will be a Story-book ending for me
DeleteAnd yeah, the Mets sign a GM who has made a hash of the Angels (Heavenly hash?). Plus they let another of their "Star pitchers of the future" get away.
ReplyDeleteOh, Mets, Mets. We desperately need a real competitor in this town to keep HAL interested in competing.
Instead, we get the Mets.
Mets get a 2nd round draft choice and $500K of international pool money from losing Thor. He was only slated to pitch 120 innings. Mets may have gotten the better of that...
ReplyDelete