Agents Look to Yankees FA Spending with Hope

Last winter, baseball agents everywhere heard the proclamation they feared would come since the mid-1970’s: the Yankees will be cutting payroll.

Then they awoke from their nightmare, to find the same old pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The Yanks opened their wallet for free agents Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Masahiro Tanaka. Agents rejoiced – it was business as usual despite any rhetoric coming from the organization. When the Yanks are “in play” for a free agent, fees go up, bidding wars ensue and agents start looking at yacht catalogs. 

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Agents expect more of the same this year in spite of the team’s protestations about going after any of the big name free agents.   In Brendan Kuty’s article on NJ.com, Uber-agent Scott Boras observed, “The one thing I know about the Yankees is that they’ve been out of the playoffs for two years.” He continued, “The Steinbrenner history has always been, ‘We’re going to win.’ It serves their brand. It serves their model to do anything they can to win. I’m not here to make individual decisions for them but I just know, I think that brand dynamic and trying to win every year has gone pretty well for them the last time I looked.”

Boras may not be too far wrong. With their offense historically inept, and their projected front-line pitchers coming back from injury, the Yanks can leverage their greatest strength – their wallet. Money would be the only obstacle in picking up an ace for the pitching staff (see Jon Lester or Max Scherzer). They could trade what little valuable youth or marketable contracts they have for high dollar (and high-risk, high-reward) field players (see Troy Tulowitzki or Matt Kemp).   Of course, free agents (and their representation) are drooling at the prospect of getting on the market in 2016 as the Yanks get out from under the trifecta of awful contracts (CC, Teixieria, and Arod) to open up some serious budget slots.

As it stands now, the Yanks are committed to $168 million for 11 players on the 2015 team (not counting the six heading toward arbitration). With the Dodgers printing money, the Red Sox and Rangers enjoying the fruits of their new TV deals and taking the lids off their budgets, and the Cubs (yes, the Cubs) paying a manager like a starter, refurbishing their stadium and opening their vaults, the Yanks will have serious competition for the top names.

However, from a seller’s perspective, they’re still the best name to have in the hunt; where even the rumor of a Yankee purchase can make an agent start shopping for a Maserati.