Yankees: 3 free agent busts fans should be glad NYY didn’t sign

OK, maybe every New York Yankees fan isn’t qualified to be a general manager. Because many advocated for some of these guys this past offseason, and, well, they all would’ve been disastrous signings.

The Yankees needed a lot of things heading into 2021, but general manager Brian Cashman was hamstrung by the organization’s self-imposed financial restraints. There were no blank checks this time around and it was a lot of budget shopping.

But oh man, even these once-upon-a-time cost-effective free agents would’ve been horrible had the Yankees pulled the trigger. You want to talk about a starting rotation and bullpen being completely decimated?

That’s what would’ve happened had Cashman explored these signings, which have all blown up in these teams’ faces despite the fact they looked good on paper.

For the amount of grief fans give Cashman, he’s actually done a tremendous job building this roster, and even more so under the constraints he faced over the last 10 months.

And we’re really, really glad he didn’t take a flyer on any of these players.

Yankees fans should be glad they avoided these three free agent busts.

3. Brad Hand

Brad Hand, who the Yankees completely own, is already on his THIRD team in 2021. How is that even possible?! After the Cleveland Indians rejected his team option, he signed a deal with the Washington Nationals to be their closer.

Then he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in July as the Yankees’ division rival attempted to beef up their bullpen. The lefty wasn’t spectacular in the nation’s capital, but a 3.59 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 21 saves figured to at least help the Jays, right?

Not at all. They cut him loose after he logged a 7.21 ERA in 11 games. He didn’t record a single save. And then the Mets picked him up this week! That should go well.

Maybe Hand would’ve been in a better position to succeed with the Yankees since, heading into 2021, New York’s bullpen had a lot of heavy hitters that could help take the pressure of the left-hander. Nonetheless, fans should be very glad he’s not throwing batting practice to the opposition in innings 7-9. Imagine what would’ve happened while this unit was spiraling in June and July?

2. Mike Minor

We thought this was a good signing by the Kansas City Royals. In fact, we were jealous! There were so few attractive starters on the market this offseason that Mike Minor seemed like he could be a prime candidate to lengthen the Yankees rotation and give Gerrit Cole enough protection and support in the back end.

Again, perhaps things would be different if the left-hander wasn’t pitching for the lowly Royals, but he’s got a 5.25 ERA in 27 starts this season. That’s miles worse than anything the Yankees have dealt with this year.

And it’s quite frankly a bit of a shock because he was an All-Star in 2019 with the Texas Rangers after holding onto a 3.59 ERA across 32 starts. He owned an ERA in the high 3’s over his last 60 starts before the shortened 2020 season adversely affected everyone’s momentum/overall body of work with disastrous small sample sizes.

Though Minor’s FIP is almost a full run lower than his ERA, all of his advanced stats are bad. He’s in the bottom percentile among the league’s starters in maximum exit velocity, barrel percentage, expected slugging percentage, and fastball velocity.

Not what the Yankees needed. At all. Especially at $9 million per season.