Time to clean out Ruth's House
Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
How is it possible that the New York Yankees are in contention for a Wild Card and only traded for one rental reliever at the trade deadline? No top of the order speed, no middle of the order power, and perhaps most importantly no starting pitching. We’re just a few days past the trade deadline and the Yankees have lost Domingo German for the year due to personal reasons. Brian Cashman also announced that Anthony Rizzo has been placed on the IL with a concussion. The organization now believes this is a result from a pickoff collision he had with Tatis Jr back on May 28th (Rizzo was hitting .306 before the collision and .172 since). It is amazing that it took them over two months to get Rizzo on the IL for this collision. I believe the Yankees knew of Domingo German’s circumstances prior to the deadline, which would mean they could have gotten him treatment and traded for his replacement. Nevertheless, they didn’t trade for either player’s replacement which is perplexing.
The Yankees currently have a CBT payroll of $292.657M, which puts them $59.6M over the threshold for 2023. Their estimated tax bill this year is $29.1M, putting the tab for the Steinbrenner family about roughly $321.8M. Is it possible that they see what teams like Houston and Atlanta have done and ownership is wondering why they are paying 30 million dollars in taxes for a payroll that barely had a positive run differential at the trade deadline?
Here are three recent moves by GM Brian Cashman that put the Yankees on a path with over $320M in payroll and taxes for a mediocre roster.
07/29/2021 New York Yankees traded RHP Glenn Otto, 2B Josh H. Smith, SS Ezequiel Duran and 2B Trevor Hauver to Texas Rangers for LHP Joely Rodriguez, LF Joey Gallo and cash.
We broke this one down in the 2021 deadline article, but the Yankees lost multiple major league contributors in this deal. Namely, Ezequiel Duran is hitting .283/.328/.481 and is only 24 years old and can play shortstop and left field. Wouldn’t that production be nice in left field right now? On the return side, Gallo hit .159/.291/.368. This trade went down as one of the bigger flops for New York in recent years.
2. 08/01/22 Oakland Athletics traded RHP Frankie Montas and RHP Lou Trivino to New York Yankees for LHP Ken Waldichuk, LHP JP Sears, RHP Luis Medina and 2B Cooper Bowman.
This one is brutal because of how the deal was at face value when it happened. At the time of the trade, Montas had a 3.18 ERA, before putting up 6.35 ERA in eight starts and eventually getting shut down for the year. He hasn’t pitched an inning this year because of his shoulder and Lou Trivino had Tommy John surgery earlier this year. On Oakland’s side, JP Sears has become a reliable middle of the rotation lefty (4.09 ERA in 21 starts) and Luis Medina has broken out. Despite middling season stats (4.22xERA), Medina has a 1.69 ERA in the 2nd Half and looks really good. He will likely cool down, but is now projected as a 3 or 4 starter, particularly if he can locate his slider and throw it for a strike. Losing two mid-rotation starters, it’s fair to say the starting rotation could use that production (Yankee starts are 26th in MLB with a 5.52 2nd half ERA).
3. 12/21/22 Yankees sign LHP Carlos Rodon 6 years/$162M
I like Carlos Rodon and I understand his appeal. He’s a lefty with a 110 ERA+ in his seven years with Chicago before his career year with the Giants last year (138 ERA+). I wouldn’t be criticizing this trade as heavily if Rodon was healthy and just bad. I don’t understand how the chronic back issues got past the Yankees. It’s inexcusable for a deal over $160M. Rodon has made five starts so far this year and there are some worrying numbers. A 14.7 BB% and 2.22 HR/9 give Rodon an expected ERA of 5.89, which is below replacement level.
To recap, the Yankees lost a future starting left fielder and a utility player in the Gallo deal. They also lost two mid-rotation starters in the following deadline, before signing a guy with chronic back issues to a high 9-figure contract. The 2022 Yankees were a really solid roster that lost a tough ALCS to the eventual World Champion Astros. However, that team would have been even better without the Gallo trade. Things have progressively gotten worse with the Montas trade, the Rodon signing, and of course Aaron Judge’s toe situation.
Unfortunately, signing Jake Bauers to a minor league deal is not enough to offset a pattern of rival executives taking advantage of the Yankees. One distinct feature of the Yankees failures is that they seem to be trading for injured guys. They also gave up prospects in the last few deadlines who are now producing in the same areas the Yankees are desperately lacking. The Yankees needed to buy or sell at this deadline, yet somehow ended up sitting on their hands. The Steinbrenner family needs to fire Cashman, Boone, etc, and hire a manager that they allow to make autonomous decisions. They clearly need a better process for physicals, as they’ve traded for injured guys multiple times, and didn’t know their own 1B had a concussion for two months. Given the historic success of the Yankees, the last several years have been embarrassing, and it’s time to clean out the house that Babe Ruth built.
*Stats are as of 8/4/23