Yankees: Is this the second coming of the ‘Core Four’?

The 2018 Yankees had a very good season. They broke the single season Home Run record, they had two players voted into the top 3 for the American League Rookie of The Year award, and they won 100 games. Unfortunately, that was not good enough. Their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, won 108 games and would go on to crush the Yankees in the ALDS and win the World Series.

In the ’17-’18 off-season, the Yankees acquired Miami Marlins right fielder, the reigning NL MVP, Giancarlo Stanton. They already had a 50+ HR hitting right fielder in 2017 AL ROTY Aaron Judge, yet they felt that talent as special as Stanton’s was too great to pass up on. Looking back, it can be debated if the Yankees should or shouldn’t have made that trade, but that is for another time.

Granted, Stanton (whose currently on the 10-day IL) is an elite player, but the Yankees now have a player who whether they like it or not, will likely be with their organization for nearly the next decade, and the Yankees already have their franchise right fielder who many say is currently the ‘face of baseball’.

In 2018, the Yanks had a roster that was good enough to win it all, but between injuries, underperformance, and Boston’s ridiculous year, it was just not their time. The acquisition of Stanton was supposed to put a team that had been one game short of making it to the World Series over the top. Instead, they were knocked out a round earlier than the year prior.

Whenever you don’t succeed at something, you look to see what you can improve on.
But where can the Yankees improve? When it comes to upgrading something, the benefit of the acquiring talent is only really appreciated by comparing what you have currently to what you want.

To help you understand this point, let’s take a look at one of the crown jewels of this year’s free agents class in SS/3B Manny Machado. Machado signed a record-breaking 10 yr/300 million dollar deal with the San Diego Padres. The Padres had an output of 4.0 WAR from the shortstop and 3rd base positions in 2018.

Then there is a team like the Houston Astros whose production out of the SS and 3rd base slots equaled out to 7.1. Of course, Machado would likely perform better in a stacked Houston lineup, but to which team is he a bigger benefit for? The Astros or the Padres? The answer is obvious; it’s the Padres.

So now, back to the Yankees. They don’t have many spots that are open to improvement, and there are a variety of different reasons why; youth/potential upside, lefty bat, a major contract, etc. The worst positional performance for the Yankees in 2018 according to WAR was 1st base at a -1.5.

Because of the lack of production from 1st base, the Yankees made what seemed like a minor trade at the deadline to acquire Luke Voit from the St Luis Cardinals in exchange for Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos. Voit would have a monster second half of the season, during which he would club the second to most home runs behind only National League MVP Christian Yellich. Point being, we don’t know what we have at first base yet and therefore don’t know if an upgrade is necessary.

Then you have the catcher, which league-wide is a very thin position. When Gary Sanchez exploded onto the scene in 2016 and took the baseball world by storm, the thought was that here was the one truly elite player at a position that is historically weak. Sanchez’s 2017 seemed to back that up, but his 2018 campaign was dreadful. Still, he’s regarded as one of, if not the most valuable asset at the catcher’s position mainly because of his huge power and overall upside.

Starting pitching is a real concern for the Yankees, but GM Brian Cashman made sure to adequately deal with it by acquiring SP James Paxton, who was one of the best pitchers available this off-season and by resigning veterans J.A Happ and C.C Sabathia. Paxton is not elite (yet), but he is very good.

The Yankees are copying the ‘Core Four’ method that they had used going back to the 1996 campaign. Mariano Riviera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada were all emerging superstars for the Yankees in the late ’90s.

That ‘Core Four’ dynasty was based on having your main 4 or 5 foundational stars, and via free agency/trade you would acquire average-above average players to fill in your vacant spots. Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, and Paul O’Neill are a few examples.

The Yanks have that core now in Judge, Stanton, Severino, Torres, Andujar, and Sanchez.
This offseason, they acquired DJ LeMaiehu, Troy Tulowitzki, Adam Ottavino and James Paxton, while resigning J.A Happ and Zach Britton. They will continue to sign good players to short contracts to fill out their roster. Regardless, even if the Yanks wanted to add a big-time star, they wouldn’t have many options.

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It used to be that players would so-called ‘bet on themselves’. Meaning, they would not sign an extension, hoping/banking on the fact that they will not underperform/get injured. Nowadays, teams are ‘betting’ on the players, and the players are taking the financial security of a longer contract. Even though had they reached free agency unharmed in both health and performance they would have been up for a lot more money and possibly years, they are taking the sure thing.

For this reason, had the Yankees even been looking to sign a big star, they may find that said stars are simply ‘out of stock’. So Yankees fans, expect more signings like the LeMaiehu and Ottavino deals and don’t be expecting many more blockbuster moves like the Stanton trade.

While for the past few seasons we have become accustomed to the Yankees being active by the trade deadline, whether buyers or sellers, do not expect the Yankees to make any moves. Their roster is good enough to win, and there is no such thing in baseball of a single move that puts a team ‘over the top’.

Yankee fans: Your midseason acquisitions this season will be Didi Gregorious and Luis Severino returning to the field, the final two pieces of your already stacked roster.