The New York Yankees have a Major League-leading 19 players who will be arbitration-eligible for the 2022 season. And you can bet it’s going to limit their spending in some capacity since this organization now operates on a strict budget.
Why is that? Because so many of their starters (or potential starters) are up for big raises, one of whom is their best player in Aaron Judge. Don’t expect the MVP-caliber talent to come cheap in his final arb year.
But we’re also not going to rule out the harsh reality of this situation. Players will be traded. Others won’t be tendered a contract. We’ll be getting into that more as the offseason progresses, but at this moment it’s best to look at the big picture financial situation for 2022.
Another important date to note is the non-tender deadline, which arrives on Dec. 2. That’s when teams can cut bait with any arb-eligible players they no longer wish to retain.
Projecting the 2022 arbitration salaries for these New York Yankees players.
Thanks to MLBTradeRumors.com, we have some very accurate projections:
- INF/OF Miguel Andújar: $1.7 million
- OF Clint Frazier: $2.4 million
- OF Joey Gallo: $10.2 million
- P Domingo German: $2.1 million
- P Chad Green: $4.1 million
- C Kyle Higashioka: $1.3 million
- P Clay Holmes: $1 million
- OF Aaron Judge: $17.1 million
- P Jonathan Loaisiga: $1.7 million
- OF Tim Locastro: $700K
- P Lucas Luetge: $1.1 million
- P Jordan Montgomery: $4.8 million
- P Wandy Peralta: $1.7 million
- C Gary Sanchez: $7.9 million
- P Jameson Taillon: $4.7 million
- 2B Gleyber Torres: $5.9 million
- 3B Gio Urshela: $6.2 million
- 1B Luke Voit: $5.4 million
- INF/OF Tyler Wade: $700K
Determine for yourself who no longer belongs in the picture for the Yankees after the 2021 season. Some are self-explanatory, like Miguel Andújar. Others are more nuanced, like Luke Voit. Others are downright complicated, like Clint Frazier. Guys like Gary Sánchez could prove to be too pricey.
Some harsh decisions may come by Dec. 2. Other departures may come after, since a number of these guys are worth keeping and moving due to trade value. Either way, we have a good idea of what this large chunk of guys will cost the team in 2022 and how it may affect Cashman’s offseason spending.
Yankees: 4 players who should be traded this offseason
The New York Yankees have a lot of work to do this offseason. And Brian Cashman should consider kicking things off by trading a few of these players.