The Bronx is Boiling: The Yankees Offseason Moves Begin

Ahh, November rolls on, folks. Did you miss the biggest news of the offseason thus far for the New York Yankees? Well, in case you missed it, allow me to fill you in on the shocking story. It turns out that Alex Rodriguez is a liar. He has admitted to the DEA that he did indeed take performance enhancing drugs for the last few seasons. That’s right, Yankees fans, the man that vehemently denied steroid usage to the point that he nearly sued the New York Yankees for ruining his reputation, was lying the whole time. The baseball world was left stunned. 

More from Yankees News

• Why weren’t Yankees in on Kodai Senga now that we know the price?
• Baseball Reference proves Yankees’ Aaron Judge lives rent free in Boston
• Yankees’ Clay Holmes trade just became even bigger disaster for Pirates
• Mets stealing New York Post’s entire Yankees offseason plan is hilarious
• Yankees add to championship core with Wilmer Difo signing

The bigger news in the New York Yankees offseason is that Brian Cashman and his brain trust (and that description is used very loosely) have already made a move or two. One was re-signing Andrew Bailey on the cheap to a minor league contract to bulk up the bullpen depth. The other move has me already worried that the Yanks are heading down the same road as the past two seasons. The Bronx is boiling and I need to blow some steam.

AND AWAY WE GO

Last season, the Yankees opened the bank and revamped their outfield. They signed hometown hero Brett Gardner to a big extension. Jacoby Ellsbury was a brought aboard to man centerfield until the next decade on a mega-deal and they were able to sign Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal for right field. The Yankees were also able to retain Ichiro Suzuki on the cheap to be the fourth outfielder.

The choice to keep Ichiro as the fourth outfielder last season was met with mixed reviews. Some people, like myself, loved the idea. We knew what we were getting as Yankees’ fans, a solid fielder who could consistently hit in limited playing time. Others felt it was stupid to hold on to a 40-year old veteran clearly in his decline. By season’s end, what Yankees’ fans realized, is that Ichiro was essentially our right fielder, and that wasn’t what Cashman signed him to do. Yankees fans quickly grew disenchanted with the elder statesman.

This will be more of the same this season. I don’t care how Beltran claims he feels or how good he may look. He’s Carlos Beltran. He is notorious for getting dinged up and he will essentially open the season yet another year closer to 40 and farther from 35. The Yanks signed Chris Young to be their “fourth” outfielder, and I don’t like it one bit.

Yankees’ fans grew enchanted with Young because of his late-inning heroics in his 23-game debut stint with the club in September. He won a few games and was seemingly able to keep playoff hopes alive all by himself. He hit .282 over that span, belting three clutch home runs and 10 big RBI.

The thing is, Chris Young isn’t and has never been that good. He loves to swing the bat and he will often go through boom or bust streaks where its strike out or home run. I thought the firing of Kevin Long showed that the Yankees were moving on from that mentality. He’s never hit above .257 and the second highest he has ever hit is 11 points lower!

Sure, he used to be a 20/20 player, but Ichiro used to get 200 hits a season. Young is a career .234 hitter with a career .313 on-base percentage. He still has a nice stroke and the ability to belt homers, but again, Young is likely going to be playing more often than not. His best years defensively came in his early 20s when he roamed center field. Let’s all collectively pray that Young never has to replace Ellsbury in center field. He is a different player when he plays elsewhere.

Chris Young fits the Yankees failed philosophy over the past few seasons that veterans are more reliable and savvy than youngsters. The key word here is failed. If the Yankees were intent on re-signing Chris Young, or going after another 30-plus year old to ride the pine, why are we messing with the kids on the farm. Tyler Austin, the one-time third base prospect, has played all over the outfield the past few seasons in attempts to convert him to a solid outfielder.

Jose Pirela and Rob Refsnyder split time between second base and right field last year after Pirela had NEVER played right field in his eight-year minor league career. I know it has been awhile, but the Yankees finally have a few pieces to experiment with and let them play. Pirela especially would be a great guy for the bench who can spell time at second and the outfield. I can only hope this means the Yankees intentions are to have Pirela be the Opening Day second baseman. Even then, I think there may have been better options than Young.

I don’t hate Chris Young, but I feel like we had other better options both out there in free agency and on the farm. This is a guy who couldn’t be relied upon by teams like the Mets to play more than 110 games in a season and even spent some time back in the minors over the past few seasons. I worry that the Yankees jumped on a situation based on a well played short window last season before exploring options. The Yankees fourth outfielder is going to play quite a few games. I’m not sure Young is the right guy for that.