Yankees: Ranking the Best Moves of the 2015-2016 Offseason

With the 2016 season officially in the books and a new hot stove league upon us, Yanks Go Yard looks back at the most impactful transactions the New York Yankees made last offseason.

While everyone focused on the fact that the New York Yankees completely swore off free agency last winter, the 2015-2016 offseason was actually pretty eventful for the club. General manager Brian Cashman pulled off seven trades during the winter, made two picks in the Rule 5 draft, and brought in a number of semi-interesting guys on minor league deals. The front office avoided most of the big names, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t busy.

Before we start, two quick honorable mentions. First, nobody really noticed when the team re-signed longtime farmhand Kyle Higashioka to a minor league deal in February rather than let him walk as a free agent. Now, it’s right on the verge of being one of the best moves the team made last offseason.

While he has yet to crack the big leagues, the 26-year-old backstop had one of the best offensive seasons of any Yankees prospect, hitting .276/.337/.511 with 20 homers in the upper minors this year while continuing to be a plus defender behind the plate. Cashman has already said he’ll be added to the 40-man roster this winter and his emergence could be one of the deciding factors if the club chooses to trade Brian McCann.

Another small move that has worked out very well for the Yankees is the trade that sent Rob Segedin to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 27-year old lefty Tyler Olson and 23-year-old infielder Ronald Torreyes. Olson made just one appearance for New York this year, but Torreyes grabbed a bench job out of spring training and somehow managed to hang onto it the whole year, despite sometimes lackluster results.

Torreyes is young, versatile, and put together an incredible August during which he temporarily displaced Chase Headley as the team’s starting third baseman, hitting .438/.471/.719 in 34 plate appearances over 13 games. He looked a lot more pedestrian in September when asked to take over the every day second job with Starlin Castro hurt, but he still showed enough this year to make that trade a total steal for Cashman.

With the two honorable mentions out of the way, lets count down the four moves from the 2015-2016 offseason that had the greatest impact on the team this season and into the future.