Top Five Best Fits for the Yankees on the Free Agent Market

The Yanks Go Yard team scours the 2016-2017 free agent class for top five best fits for the New York Yankees this offseason.

While the New York Yankees are probably not going to go two straight offseasons without signing a major league free agent, fans shouldn’t expect them to return to their free-spending roots either. One or two smart investments to address areas of need seems far more likely than going after any of the biggest available names.

General manager Brian Cashman has already come out and said that especially on the offensive side, the team is mostly planning on sticking with their in-house options. He’s revealed that spring competitions will decide the starting right field and first base jobs, although Aaron Judge and Greg Bird are probably the front-runners there barring disaster.

However, if the team decides to move Brett Gardner or Brian McCann, it would be too surprising for them to be in the market for an inexpensive veteran power bat on a short term deal to take some of the pressure off the kids. A guy with some versatility would probably be ideal so you don’t run the risk of blocking anyone, but a DH-type on a one or two year deal also could be feasible depending on what other moves Cashman makes.

All that being said, here are the five free agent who I think are the best fits for the Yankees this winter. There is a chance that four of them could be have on modest one year commitments despite their talents. We’ll begin with the exception to that rule, because the fit is just so darn obvious.