While luring DJ LeMahieu into a sensible, 6-year, $90 million deal was the captain obvious move of the hot stove season, the Yankees should be far from finished in their pursuit of talent this offseason.
And since the Bronx Bombers have plenty of bombs left in their bats, it should be that other thing, the real cheat code to championships - pitching - that gets them buzzing around the offseason.
The Yankees secured their ace, Gerrit Cole, for years to come, yet they still have a gaggle of variables behind him in the rotation. Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and JA Happ have hit free agency (with Happ reportedly gone to Minnesota) and Luis Severino won’t be back until at least mid-season, so outside of signing two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to a cut-rate deal (one year, $11 million), which the former Indians ace agreed to because his best years were between 2014-2018, the spots behind Cole are a question mark.
If the Yankees really want to stop bumping heads against that ALCS ceiling, and stop a skid that saw them finish their first full calendar decade without playing in one World Series for the first time since their nickname was changed from the Highlanders in 1913, perhaps they need to be a bit bolder this winter.
Maybe they should stalk Kluber's former Indians teammate, Trevor Bauer, who just moonwalked to the NL Cy Young with the Cincinnati Reds and is the best free agent pitcher on the market. Word is the Dodgers are courting him with big money but short-term commitment, and further word is that it’s down to the Mets and Angels for his services. The Yankees must be eager to be the windshield wipers that sweep their old Brooklyn foes, and their current Queens ones, from the sports page.
Fringe fans have fallen back in love with the Yanks ever since they tossed their Darth Vader mask and curtailed their Evil Empire spending habits. But it would be foolish of the Yankees to not spend big money on a big-time pitcher simply because they used to do it recklessly, and have since built their current club largely on logic, not lira. The benefits of a big-time free agent are fairly obvious. You don't have to trade any starting players or prospects to land the coveted player, just drop some serious cash at his front door and maybe a draft pick or two.
If the Yanks don't bag Bauer, or anyone else for that matter, they are looking at a rotation with Cole, Kluber, Jordan Montgomery, Domingo German, and one of the gaggle of youngsters seen last season until Severino returns. The problem with this starting staff is that most of them have been on the shelf lately; Kluber pitched one inning last year (and 35 2/3 the year before), German hasn't pitched in over one year, Monty missed most of 2018 and 2019 due to Tommy John surgery, and Severino will be returning from a lat strain and his own torn elbow ligament that have held him to 12 total regular-season innings in 2019-20. That makes 60 to 80 percent of their rotation one big unknown, a trait not usually seen in a World Series squad.
Sure, the Yankees were founded and labeled as a team with muscle, not moxie. They club you to death by spraying home runs all over the fence. But despite leading the world in homers (573) and RBI (1715) over the last two full seasons (2018-19), they've been bounced prematurely in the playoffs because some team out-pitched them. How many times must the Yankees win 100 games and get spanked in the playoffs before they wake up with a sickness that can't be cured until they bejewel their rotation?
Almost all the great teams in Yankees history had pitching to match their thunderous lumber, and sure, it’s simply sexier to focus on tape measures and exit velo – you earn big-time handles like Mr. October with clutch homers in the ALCS, not a pitcher seducing a hitter into dribbling a ninth-inning ground ball to first.
Sexier than both, however, is a horde of pinstriped players hopping the dugout fence like zebras as they gallop toward the mound for ring No. 28. And ever since the Highlanders became the Yankees, and the Yankees made Yankee Stadium their home, they've won just as much with pitching as their celebrated Bombers. They don't have to get Bauer, but they need more on the mound before they can rush the mound in October.
Follow Jason Keidel on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
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