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Given all the pre-season hype, it's hard to see how the 2018 season can be described as a better thing than a disappointment for the New York Yankees. The Yankees have won 100 regular season games, but had to settle for second place in eastern Alberta. They have been bluntly eliminated by Boston Red Sox rival in the last four games of the ALDS.
"We've been through a lot of things this year, but the thing I'm most proud of is that these guys are still competing … it's really bad, we've been up to it," he said. Aaron Boone's manager after defeating match 4 of ALDS. . "With regard to (the changes of season), it's for the winter, as the list will change and add and subtract these kinds of things, and hope we will continue to work to have the 39, the most complete team possible ".
The Yankees, even with their disappointing ALDS ousted, are as well prepared for the next seasons as any team in the game. They have a young upscale core run by Judges Aaron, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar. They have other potential customers like Justus Sheffield. And they have money to spend. A lot of money to spend. At present, it's hard to see the Yankees as being less than a World Series contender in 2019.
That being said, the Yankees have important questions to answer to the question of offseason, as they change their list and staff on the ground. After all, their success is measured in World Series titles, not in regular season wins or home run records. Here are four of the biggest questions facing the Bronx bombers this winter.
How much will the Yankees spend this winter?
A strangely neglected story this season is that the Yankees went to ALCS 'seventh game last year and cut nearly $ 50 million in payroll this year. Between salary and luxury tax, the Yankees have paid about $ 242.1 million for their 2017 list. Their list of 2018 will cost them a few million dollars under the threshold of $ 197 million of the luxury tax.
Consider Yankees Opening Day's payroll for the past five seasons, according to Spotrac:
- 2014: $ 214.9 million (the second largest in the MLB)
- 2015: $ 222.6 million (second)
- 2016: $ 220.7 million (second)
- 2017: $ 209.7 million (third)
- 2018 $ 179.6 million (sixth)
The Yankees have certainly taken their payroll by the trading deadline, of course, but seeing a Yankees team – a rival Yankees team – out of the top five is a bit odd. All this was done intentionally, of course. The Yankees did not hide that they did not want to exceed the $ 197 million luxury tax threshold to change their tax rate, which was at most 50% for years. . They did it this season staying under the threshold.
So now, with the reset of their luxury tax rate, what is the payroll going up next season? Odds and attendance increased significantly in 2018, as expected, and the Yankees reaped millions of dollars from playoff home games. The question is not whether the Yankees have money to spend. The question is whether they are willing to spend as we know it. No team can compete with the Yankees in terms of buying power. No.
The upcoming free agent market features two 26-year-old superstars, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. The Yankees must understand the situation on the left field and it would not be difficult to leave a place for Machado at the third goal. The Yankees also need the help of the rotation and that, Patrick Corbin, the free agent and the New Yorker, would associate well with Severino in the rotation. What if Clayton Kershaw withdrew? You think the Yankees would like to get their hands on him?
Obviously, the Yankees will spend money this winter. The question is how much. Are they willing to exceed the luxury tax threshold now that they have redefined their tax rate – the threshold rises to $ 206 million in 2019 – or is it that avoiding the luxury tax is a permanent organizational mandate? President Hal Steinbrenner has stated (time and again) that he did not believe that you needed a payroll of $ 200 million to win. Maybe that's only posture. We should know for sure this winter.
Is Boone the right man for the job?
The Yankees lost the ALDS for a multitude of reasons. One of them was the decided lack of urgency of Boone. He gave the starter of Match 3 Luis Severino and The starter of match 4, CC Sabathia, stayed too long on a leash, and it cost the Yankees to run on the board. It's impossible to watch this series and think that Red Sox skipper Alex Cora has not managed Boone under the table. One went to fetch the jugular and used Chris Sale in relief. The other tried to extract the outside of his entrance.
Boone was hired right out of the broadcast booth with no coaching or management experience. The Yankees played in the seventh game of ALCS last year and basically handed the keys to a newbie manager this year. Boone worked well during the regular season of 162 games. In the playoffs, the lack of urgency was alarming, especially since he had repeated his mistake in the third game in the fourth game. This is not a doubt either; It was difficult to understand the movements of Severino and Sabathia while watching live.
Obviously, decision-making on the ground by a manager is only part of his job. And these days, home offices have so much influence on strategic decisions (which platoons with whom, who launches which round, etc.) that it's hard to know what's coming from. Upstairs and what the manager does. The most important work of the manager takes place in the clubhouse, behind closed doors. It is there that he builds relationships and creates trusting relationships with his players, and broadcasts data from the front office.
By all accounts, Boone is excellent at the clubhouse. He is considered a special communicator and a liaison between the front office and the players. He is also good with the media, which is not an easy task in New York. That said, his strategic mistakes in the ALDS were flagrant, so much so that it's legitimate to wonder if a Yankees team aspiring to the World Series should wait for Boone to take his place as a manager. The inexperience of the rookie skipper was very apparent in the playoffs.
Is it time to move from the old guard?
Only two players from the 2009 World Series team were still with the Yankees in 2018. Well, three if you include David Robertson, who left for a two-and-a-half year stay with the White Sox before coming back. Whatever the case may be, Sabathia and Brett Gardner have been uncompromising Yankees over the past decade and, more than anything else, their future within the organization is questioned. Sabathia will be a free agent after the season and Gardner's contract includes a $ 12.5 million club option for next season that has no lock to win.
On the one hand, both players are important leaders in the clubs. Gardner is the unofficial captain of the club and Sabathia has helped form an inclusive culture that allows recruits like Torres and Andujar – and Judge and Sanchez before them – to introduce themselves, to be themselves and to be safe. blossom almost immediately. The impact of the Gardner and Sabathia clubhouse is not insignificant. Their contributions on the ground, however, are fading. Gardner finished the season with a record 86 OPS + and Sabathia is no longer a safe bet to finish five innings every fifth day.
In both cases, the Yankees could consider continuing their transition to their new core – Judge has already become a team leader – replacing Gardner and Sabathia with younger players. Harper could replace Gardner, for example. The Yankees could also stay at home with Clint Frazier, who had concussion problems in 2018. Replacing Sabathia is not as easy as there are five places in rotation and it's hard to push youngsters like Sheffield and Jonathan Loaisiga to qualify. good idea.
In fact, Gardner and Sabathia are longtime contributors to the Yankees who are currently at a crossroads. They both said they wanted to play in 2019, but they are no longer the players in their heyday – they are still useful, but they have no impact – and the advancing Yankees would be understandable. What does this mean for the clubhouse? Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot. This is part of the equation for the Yankees and will be a determining factor in the decision to separate from Gardner and / or Sabathia.
Where does Andujar end?
In almost every respect, Andujar had a fantastic rookie season in 2018. The 23-year-old third-baseman has created a .297 / .328 / .527 (126 OPS +) line with 47 doubles. and 27 circuits despite the start of the season. Triple A. Andujar set a new doubles franchise record for a rookie and finished 12th among all players with 77 additional base-load wins in 2018. He was one of the baseball hits behind the club's favorite. player of the NL, Christian Yelich. Andujar was exceptional this year.
At the same time, Andujar is a lower-than-average third-base player who ranks among the worst defensive players in baseball. Two hundred and fifty-six players have taken part in at least 500 field defensive heats this season. Here is the bottom of the table defensive defenses:
252. Nicholas Castellanos, Tigres: less 19
253. Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox: less 19
254. Rhys Hoskins, Phillies: less 24
255. Miguel Andujar, Yankees: less 25
256. Charlie Blackmon, Rockies: less 28
The DRS data goes back to 2003 and Andujar has just experienced one of the worst defensive seasons with a third baseman ever registered. Defensive stats hate his glove work, and you know what? The Yankees told us what they thought of his playoff defense. In the two playoff wins in New York, Adeiny Hechavarria defended the third defending goal in the game. sixth inning. Eighth or ninth inning? Sure. But the sixth? I do not remember the last time I saw a defensive substitute at the start of the game.
Clearly, Andujar's bat is part of the range. Only 10 baseball players combined a .520 percentage this season with a swing-and-miss rate below 10.0%, and they are essentially the MLB's top nine hitters (Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Alex Bregman, Matt Carpenter, Manny Machado, Jose Ramirez, Anthony Rendon, Mike Trout, Christian Yelich) and Andujar. His combination of power and batting ability is special. He must be in the range.
At what position, however? This question will help shape the offseason of the Yankees. Given his age, keeping him at third base is not unreasonable. Give him more time at the post and see if he improves. Placing it on first base could also make sense, even if it would handle the ball more often than it would on third base. The outside field may be the best bet. This keeps Andujar away from the action and gives him more time to react.
The wild card here is Machado. Machado is so good and so talented that the Yankees will not let anybody as talented as Andujar stand in his way. The Yankees could pursue Machado for the third base, and if they landed, they could move Andujar to the first base or perhaps to the left. And if they miss Machado, Andujar could stay third another year. The best position of Andujar will always be that of the batter. It's not often that you see a rival team with a third base defense that notes that badly, though.
New York's high priority will be to process their rotation. Assuming that Sonny Gray is traded or left out – a certainty after the season that he has just played – the only starters in place for next season will be Severino and Masahiro Tanaka. To retain Sabathia as a fifth starter seems possible. Do the Yankees spend on Corbin, Kershaw or Dallas Keuchel? Do you immerse yourself in their prospect base to trade against someone like, say, Madison Bumgarner or Jon Gray? Or roll the dice on children like Sheffield? Rotation is the number one issue this winter.
Beyond that, the Yankees need to figure out what to do with some veterans of the year of walking and also where Andujar is adapting in the long run. It has its place in training, that's for sure, but at what position? This is an important problem that needs to be solved. Plus, the Yankees have to watch Boone, right? A horrific performance by ALDS contributed to the team's exit in the playoffs and the fact that he repeated his mistake in the third game in the fourth game raises questions about his ability to 39, adaptation and adaptation.
The issue of pay and the question of whether the front office is allowed to become homeowners allow it to spend lavishly and exceed the luxury tax threshold next season. If so, the Yankees could make noise this winter. Otherwise, general manager Brian Cashman and his staff will have to show some creativity. Whatever the case may be, the Yankees have an excellent core of youngsters in place and seem ready to fight for years, even though their 2018 season has ended earlier than planned.
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