Why The Yankees Should Keep Their Own Free Agents But On Their Terms

Bill Madden of the NY Daily News came out with a report Saturday that keeping closer David Robertson is their number one priority of Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman. They want to keep Chase Headley and Brandon McCarthy as well. All three would be great to hang on to, but to quote Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars; “It has to be at the right price.”

First with D-Rob, he certainly did the job last year in replacing Mariano Rivera. Was it the greatest season ever? No. If it’s true that he wants “Papelbon Money”, the Yankees should say knock yourself out, but it won’t be here. I’d rather them take that money and put it towards other pieces like Jason Motte or Sergio Romo. Bullpens are volatile, and you need a good one to compete, but it shouldn’t be a part that you spend on a ton of money on. 

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In regards to Headley, if the Boston Red Sox fail to land Pablo Sandoval, it’s very possible they go hard after Headley. If they do try to spend a lot on Headley, is he someone the Yankees really want to go heavy on? They could easily have Martin Prado be the main guy at third and give Jose Pirela and Rob Refsynder the battle at second.

With McCarthy, he is one of the most attractive free agents out there as a pitcher because he has no draft pick compensation. For a team that misses out on one of the big three free agents, McCarthy will be next man up for those teams. McCarthy reached 200 innings for the first time last year and only one other season of his career did he throw more than 170. In a rotation that has a ton of questions in the health department, can they afford a third in McCarthy?

All three pieces would be great to keep. They’d certainly help in trying to bring the Yankees back to the post-season. But if another team is going to overpay, the Yankees need to walk away and look elsewhere.