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Passing on Max Scherzer Helps New York Yankees Long-Term

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By @ogab_3

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Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports

With the Washington Nationals signing ace Max Scherzer for a cool $210 million, New York Yankees fans can’t help but think about what could have been, and breathe a sigh of relief that the Yankees didn’t end up winning the Scherzer sweepstakes.

Don’t get me wrong. Scherzer is an excellent pitcher, and would be a big contributor for the Yankees. He’s going to make the Nationals rotation even more formidable, although it might not be quite as lethal if the rumors about them cutting ties with Stephen Strasburg are true.

However, if you look over recent free agent deals for pitchers of similar length, you see Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, C.C. Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Jon Lester and Zack Greinke. Now, there undoubtedly some great pitchers there, but the earliest expiration date for any of those contracts is 2018 with Greinke’s contract.

As good as all of these pitchers are, the idea of paying Verlander the amount of money he’s getting now in five years would be a little terrifying if I was a GM. The contracts terms are rising, but so are the number of long-term injuries to pitchers.

The Yankees are not immune to this issue, as they have two of those pitchers. These are just two of the Yankees’ long-term, high-priced contracts. Both Sabathia and Tanaka, while both excellent pitchers in their own right, have struggled through injuries at least this past season. So, the idea of them committing to another one of those contracts is somewhat terrifying to think about as a Yankees fan.

New York is simply a franchise that doesn’t have the flexibility to spend that money on Scherzer for such a long period of time, and need to develop cost-controlled young talent. Scherzer is a great pitcher ; he’s just not the one the Yankees need right now.

Owen Gabbey is a baseball writer who also contributes for the NFL for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ogab_3, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google. 

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