It was the Offseason in 2008. The Yankees signed CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett in the span of three weeks. One of these three important players was a true ace, another was a well-rounded third-place hitter, and the third was a good No. 2 starter. And in return, all they got was 103 wins and the World Series title in 2009. Like the 2022 offseason, then the front office gave up on being careful and spent a lot of money to try to make the team the best in the league. They succeeded too. But the team hasn’t done anything like that at all until this winter.
The Bronx Bombers have made many trades and free agent deals after the 2008 offseason, but none had the immediate impact or financial zeal that led directly to the 2009 championship. The closest thing to what happened with Sabathia, Teixeira, and Burnett was when they signed Gerrit Cole before the 2020 season. That was a big splash, but it was only for one player.
Most teams would love to be in the Yankees‘ position right now. After all, this is a team that has won 90 games in each of the last five full seasons and has been to the playoffs for the last six years in a row. But their record in the American League Championship Series is 5-12, and all of those games were won by the Houston Astros. The Astros have done more than just beat the Yankees; they have thrown them out to sea.
One could argue that giving Aaron Judge $360 million to stay with the team and then giving Carlos Rodon $162 million is a “going for it” off-season. No one in their right mind will say that the Yankees had a bad off-season. But they have every right to say it’s been a little hard to understand. As of right now, the Yankees’ left field still has a big, smelly hole in it. If the season starts tomorrow, Oswaldo Cabrera would take the spot, even though he is not a natural outfielder and has only played four games there in the minor leagues.
Carlos Rodon is a big boost to the Yankees rotation. But the Yankees are supposed to solve their left field problem on the trade market, but that will mean giving up real people who could help them win baseball games in the future, not just money that they can quickly get back. Even if this strategy of saving money doesn’t win a championship, fans can rest easy knowing that the Steinbrenners can still pay their mortgage.
The bench is a pretty important part of a team that has been dealing with injuries and will be one of the oldest in the league, but it’s not much to look at. Last year, Hicks, Josh Donaldson (if DJ LeMahieu starts at third base), Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Kyle Higashioka were all terrible hitters, and the offseason has only made them worse.
“Ultimately the owner has to take everything into account,” Brian Cashman told on November 4. “It involves a lot of different categories. You want a team that will compete for a championship and wins a championship…but ultimately Hal Steinbrenner will collect all the information from an industry standpoint. Where people are in free agency, things can get pretty crazy.”
Things have definitely gotten crazy, as many of the contracts signed this offseason have been in the nine-figure range. When asked about throwing money at that November press conference, Cashman gave hints that these decisions are made by the owners.
“Obviously, you factor in everything else that is not baseball related. What drives our fan base? [Hal] wants to make them happy. He’s always been driven that way, to try and make our fans happy. Hopefully, we’ll have some positive conversations that lead to the outcome we want. But, we’ll see.”
As we head into the new year, it seems like fans are happy that the team kept Judge and tried to sign Rodon, but it’s hard to say for sure that Steinbrenner has made them happy. Even though that’s usually the case with Yankee fans, who don’t seem happy unless their players are wearing rings, the last two offseasons have been full of stars, and it’s been strange to see the Yankees mostly stay out of it.
Even though they had big contracts with Cole and Giancarlo Stanton going into the offseason and now have new contracts with Judge and Rodon, they’re still nowhere near the Mets’ projected payroll. Part of the reason for this is that the Mets have broken all the rules about how to spend money, but it’s also because they put winning over everything else. And Steinbrenner should pay close attention now because doing this will also make the fans happy.
What we do know is that the Yankees were successful the last time they tried to buy a team capable of winning the World Series. It sure looks like they should give it another shot and have the money to pay for it.
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