Yankees' Protocol Needs Obvious Addendum After Latest Free Agent Whiff

1 week ago 2

The New York Yankees struck out a whole lot at the plate this past season, and now, they are whiffing in free agency.

The Yankees' latest miss came when Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai signed a three-year, $63 million contract with the Houston Astros, a deal that includes opt outs after each of the first two years.

In fact, the pact only guaranteed Imai $54 million.

And yet, New York somehow couldn't get it done.

Were the Yankees just not all that interested in Imai? Or were there deeper issues at play here?

Well, perhaps New York's longstanding policy of — generally — not offering opt outs to players came back to bite the front office here.

I say "generally" because the Yanks did include an opt-out clause in Gerrit Cole's contract. Otherwise, it's just not something Brian Cashman does, just like how the Yankees typically do not sign players to extensions before they hit the open market.

My question is, why?

I understand that it gives the players power, but it also gives you more flexibility as an organization when it comes to signing free agents. Look at what the Boston Red Sox did with third baseman Alex Bregman last winter, for example.

At this point, the Yankees should probably be willing to concede a little bit of control to ensure that the best players end up in pinstripes.

Again, perhaps New York was not entirely enthralled with the idea of Imai. Clearly, his market was not nearly as robust as Scott Boras initially expected. We heard speculation that the right-hander could land a deal worth in the neighborhood of $200 million. Imai didn't even come close.

Regardless, the Yanks' stubbornness when it comes to offseason activity in recent years is starting to wear on the fanbase, and it has some of the Bronx faithful genuinely questioning how much owner Hal Steinbrenner actually wants to win.

You could certainly never accuse George Steinbrenner of that.

The Yankees are past the point of being able to lure top players based on their mystique alone. They haven't won a World Series in 16 years, and plenty of other clubs have money to throw around now. Gone are the days when the Yanks and Red Sox would compete for every big-name star.

It's clearly time for New York to add some nuance to its winter strategy, because clearly, what the Yankees had done in previous years isn't working anymore. At least not as well as it once did.

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