Unofficial ‘21-22 Yankees Offseason thread

[SixFeetDeep]

Wow, actual news

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1466802143189426178?s=21

[SixFeetDeep]

just goes to show that championships aren't won on paper, i guess. 

💯

[Derek Smalls]

Odds to win WS on FDSB

Yankees: +1200
Blue Jays: +1200
Rays: +1400
Red Sox: +1800
Mack: L


And this is before they have made a single offseason move

Dude, the Yankees are always going to have inflated odds because they are the Yankees. It's MLB Gambling 101.

Yankees were 4th in the AL East in virtually every stat. Snuck into the wild card game and got embarrassed.

[Derek Smalls]

There has been a sense of complacency around the Yankees for years, and they haven't done anything to prove why they should.

The Yankees play in the toughest division in baseball, and they have more money than any team in baseball. The Rays embarrass us every year. The Red Sox and Blue Jays were both better than us last season, and I think the Blue Jays still are. Not sure what to think of the Red Sox.

I get that there is a ton of randomness when it comes to the MLB playoffs, which is one reason why the Braves can win without Acuna. But the Yankees had the run differential of an 85-86 win team last season. We were 33-27 the year before. We've won 1 division title in 9 seasons. There are no laurels for this team to rest on. We're most likely going to be in a dogfight next season just to make the wild card game again.

Yes, the Yankees spend a lot of money compared to the rest of baseball. But when there is no official salary cap, I don't really care about the Steinbrenners paying the luxury tax when they already make more than any other team in baseball.

[SixFeetDeep]

As a Yankees fan, you should know better than anyone that money doesn’t buy championships. There is no correlation from the amount of money you spend to how many World Series you win.

[SixFeetDeep]

Yankees were 4th in the AL East in virtually every stat. Snuck into the wild card game and got embarrassed.

But the Yankees had the highest payroll in the AL East, how could this have happened

[SixFeetDeep]

If Gerrit Cole made $60M per year he wouldn’t have gotten bombed in the wildcard game

[AlioTheFool]

Machado AND Harper?

K

You know my stance on this, I was all in on signing one. That being said, it was probably Machado/Harper or Cole. I would take Cole, and if you factor in our pitching staff vs our offense at the time of these decisions, it’s a no brainer.

I know I can be a bit of a douche in here sometimes, but if the Yankees don’t come away with Correa/Story/Freeman, then I agree with most of what everyone is saying.

Can we wait for that to happen though? The offseason isn’t even close to complete (and who knows when it will be)

IMO the only FA’s we’ve truly missed out on are Starling Marte and Seager (moot point if we get Correa/Story)

Would I have loved to sign Max Scherzer? Absolutely. It’s not my money. I can also see the rationale that signing a 37 year old pitcher with a million innings on his arm to $40M/year is pretty risky. We need a shortstop more anyways.

Volpe and Jasson are the best prospects we’ve had in…idk a really long derriere time, the only problem is they’re not going to help the 2022 Yankees. Oswald Peraza is closer and would be viewed as the SS of the future if not for Volpe. The Yankees need a SS tomorrow though.

I really liked what I saw out of Luis Gil last year. They don’t usually give young pitchers a shot in the rotation though, hopefully Gil forces their hand in ST.

See? We're not actually far off each other.

I personally wanted Harper. Of course, getting Machado instead of/in addition to would've been cool as well, but Harper was the guy who should be here.

They should've gotten Marte this year. When Hicks is healthy, Hicks is legit. We all know the problem.

At SS, I'm in favor of a band-aid because the kids are coming. I mentioned this earlier, but I'd love to get Didi back as the bridge. Even not at his best, a lefty who can field SS helps a lot.

Sherzer or Verlander would've been nice-to-haves. Both come with risk.

At the end of the day, do we agree on the key point? It's not how much the Yankees spend, but how well. It goes along with the analytics conversation. Analytics aren't bad, the Yankees just aren't good at it.

[AlioTheFool]

There has been a sense of complacency around the Yankees for years, and they haven't done anything to prove why they should.

Completely disagree. They're complacent because they have no reason not to be. The day Yankee Stadium was allowed to host capacity again this past summer, the game was sold out.

If fans keep coming to games, or watching YES, Hal keeps printing money. George wanted to win at all cost. Hal cares about every single cost.

Yes, the Yankees spend a lot of money compared to the rest of baseball. But when there is no official salary cap, I don't really care about the Steinbrenners paying the luxury tax when they already make more than any other team in baseball.

Exactly. But Hal's never going to pay the luxtax again--unless fans stop coming. And that's not going to happen as long as the team keeps winning enough that games after September 15 still matter.

[SixFeetDeep]

But Hal's never going to pay the luxtax again

Hal took over in 2007. Since then, we’ve paid the luxury tax every year except for 2. Both of the years we didn’t was to reset the escalation rate. As I said in this thread before, the idea is that you get back below the tax threshold to reset your penalties and go all in on some big signings.

Last year we didn’t pay tax. This year we should make some signings. If that doesn’t happen, I will concede that I had too much faith in the front office and ownership.

A club exceeding the Competitive Balance Tax threshold for the first time must pay a 20 percent tax on all overages. A club exceeding the threshold for a second consecutive season will see that figure rise to 30 percent, and three or more straight seasons of exceeding the threshold comes with a 50 percent luxury tax

You also get draft pick penalties which aren’t a huge deal but should be avoided if possible.

[SixFeetDeep]

From 2014-17, the Dodgers were tabbed with the highest luxury tax bill, paying nearly $150 million in taxes when also including 2013. L.A. reset penalties by remaining below the threshold in 2018, and stayed there for the 2019-20 seasons as well.

[SixFeetDeep]

You don’t wanna be bottom right

[SixFeetDeep]

Total Luxury Tax Paid All-time:

1) Yankees - $348M
2) Dodgers - $150M
3) Red Sox - $50M

5 more teams have paid it, none more than $11M total.


Glad we could put that narrative to rest.

[delavan]

Yanks have deep pockets for guys who hit rockets

[AlioTheFool]

Hal took over in 2007. Since then, we’ve paid the luxury tax every year except for 2. Both of the years we didn’t was to reset the escalation rate. As I said in this thread before, the idea is that you get back below the tax threshold to reset your penalties and go all in on some big signings.

Last year we didn’t pay tax. This year we should make some signings. If that doesn’t happen, I will concede that I had too much faith in the front office and ownership.

You also get draft pick penalties which aren’t a huge deal but should be avoided if possible.

I get it, and I was even okay with it when they went under for the reset. On the condition that they then spend on the big-ticket items. Which they haven't done unless you count Stanton, which I don't because he wasn't a FA signing.

If Harper were a Yankee, I wouldn't have nearly the issue I have today. It's a lot like how Joe Douglas has gotten a raw deal from the fanbase, including (especially) me, because the history of the club formed a pattern that has looked familiar. The difference is, Hal and Cashman have been in charge a lot longer.

FTR, I think it's great you're a lot more patient with the Yankees. I'm an admittedly glass-half-empty personality. And I admittedly have rarely liked Cashman, so I give him a lot less leeway. I just want to win. Whether via free agents or promotions like Judge. Winning cures everything.