NEW YORK — The Mets — perennial little brothers, laughingstocks, blue and orange painting of dysfunction — have done everything right. They got their A-student in Max Scherzer, boosted their GPA with A-minuses in Starling Marte and Chris Bassitt, and even brought in players from the B-level like Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha to make sure things didn’t get too top-heavy. On Sunday, they filled in the margins a bit by wrangling Brooklyn kid Adam Ottavino.
General manager Billy Eppler and owner Steve Cohen did exactly what they were supposed to do. The offseason is about identifying ways to get better. That means finding some teams that are doing the opposite — even in a post-lockout world there are still several clubs proudly getting worse in the name of profit — and improving the roster via trades with those teams or by establishing to free agents that you’re in it to win it.
For literal generations, this is how the Yankees got down. Reggie Jackson. Dave Winfield. Alex Rodriguez. Gerrit Cole. They were all swayed by the pinstripes and the Yankees’ history, sure, but like any red-blooded American they also love money. The Yankees used to love giving out that type of persuasive money. Not so much in the 2020s, where the Yankees have nabbed Cole and re-signed DJ LeMahieu, but also struck out on Scherzer, George Springer, Justin Verlander, and the entire 2022 shortstop free-agent class, which is made up almost exclusively of players who grew up idolizing Derek Jeter and would have presumably jumped at the chance to recreate his career if the money was right.
Rather than going for the big, young names, the Yankees are also bizarrely trying to match their productivity by bundling lesser players together. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Josh Donaldson instead of Carlos Correa, an unclear LeMahieu and Luke Voit situation at first base instead of Matt Olson. The Donaldson move specifically smacks of the Wilpon-era Mets, who hit on Carlos Beltran, but also made a habit of throwing money at aging veterans like Jason Bay and Moises Alou.
Ottavino, who the Yankees salary-dumped on the Red Sox last year, pointed out the five-borough body-swap after joining the Mets. “It’s great that a good team is in New York,” he said with a smirk on Tuesday.
If the Yankees aren’t going to make a Bassitt-like trade to ameliorate the big league club at the expense of the minors, and if they refuse to shop in the $300 million department anymore — or even the $200 million department — what is the plan? The answer seems to be extreme prospect hugging with the hopes that Jasson Dominguez, Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza and others can eventually turn the ship around and usher in a new era that prioritizes prudence.
That does not help the 2022 team at all, and in fact, you could argue this team is worse than it was on paper at the end of last season. At best they made lateral moves. Gary Sanchez was not without his flaws, but at least he was an MLB catcher who could be one of the best offensive players at his position when everything was clicking. As of right now, the Yankees’ catchers are a career .241/.316/.355 hitter in the minor leagues and a lifetime backup who is known mostly for being Gerrit Cole’s personal battery mate.
There’s no guarantee that Donaldson will be better than Gio Urshela either, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Adding Kiner-Falefa shores up the defense, but in exiling Urshela to get him, the new shortstop will need all the help he can get. Donaldson had the worst Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of all American League third basemen last year, per FanGraphs. According to UZR, Donaldson cost the Twins 6.2 runs on defense relative to the average third baseman. If his 36-year-old calves and hamstrings can’t hold up for a full season again, or hinder his range even more, someone will be forced into an unnatural position, creating another defensive headache.
Essentially, Donaldson will have to hit and hit often for this move to work out. A bat first, glove sometimes player at this point of his career, the former MVP is a little bit like the third base version of Sanchez, whom he was traded for. The Yankees might have very well “solved” one problem by creating a new one at a different spot. There’s still some thunder in Donaldson’s bat, to be sure. He hit 26 home runs and 26 doubles last year, ran a .352 on-base percentage and came in at 24% more productive than the average hitter. At his best, he’s a significantly better hitter than Urshela, but he really hasn’t been at his best since 2019, the year before the calf injuries started. He also can’t be better than anybody if he’s on the injured list.
The Yankees might very well have another move up their sleeve to address some of the remaining, glaring holes. The Kiner-Falefa acquisition tells us it won’t be at shortstop, though, which was both the most talent-rich position on the open market and the area where they needed the most help. First base is another question mark right now as well, and the Yankees could have easily matched or topped Atlanta’s basket of prospects that landed them Olson on Monday.
We also shouldn’t sneeze at the fact that the team has three hitters in the lineup who could easily hit 40 homers, another who boasts a career batting average of exactly .300, and perhaps the best pitcher in the AL. The Yankees stand to be pretty good, but pretty good is never the goal, especially when there are avenues to get better that have gone unexplored or worse, denied access by ownership.
To say this is a new era in the Bronx is underselling things. The front office strategy is completely unrecognizable from the one that brought them to eight American League Championship Series in 14 years from 1996 to 2009, culminating with the franchise’s last title. This upcoming season will be the 13th since that 2009 parade, and since that confetti cleared, the Yankees have played in the ALCS four times and won none of them.
At least they’re saving money, though.
