New York Yankees & Creativity: What Does It Really Mean?
There has been a lot of talk about the New York Yankees and their intent to drop payroll below $189 million by 2014. Along with the polls and general speculation, there is one word that continues to pop up: creativity. Most of us grew up equating “creativity” with the work we did in art class – a pasta sculpture (a.k.a. a mess), a painting (a.k.a. a garbled collection of indecipherable squiggles and blobs) and whatever other stuff that our parents hung or continue to hang on our fridges*. Anyway, the New York Yankees are not going to get payroll relief by building a Mariano Rivera statue out of rigatoni. What “creative” options are realistically available for the New York Yankees? Let’s break them down:
1. Trade Acquisitions – The New York Yankees have used this option with solid success in recent years. The jury is obviously still out on the Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda deal (not to forget Hector Noesi and Jose Campos), but most fans are pretty happy with the way the Curtis Granderson deal has worked out. The same can’t be said for the deal that brought Javier Vazquez back to the Bronx for round 2 though. You win some, you lose some, but this is clearly an area the Yanks will likely utilize again soon. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Campos, Gary Sanchez, Austin Romine, David Phelps, Adam Warren, Mason Williams, Dante Bichette Jr….no one is safe.
2. Under-the-Radar Signings - If this works – as it did in 2011 with Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia – it is called creative. The same with Raul Ibanez this season. When it doesn’t work (i.e. at least 80-85% of the time) it’s called dumb and people give you the “duh” face. Typically, I don’t care for this type of “creativity”. Not unless you’re talking about taking a flyer on a former top prospect – i.e. the Houston Astros with Fernando Martinez, the Cincinnati Reds with Andrew Brackman and the Yankees with Adam Miller. Those types of moves probably have a similar failure rate, but they’re still more exciting. Of course an “under-the-radar” signing doesn’t have to be someone off of the scrap heap. Guys like Hiroki Kuroda and Russell Martin probably qualify as under-the-radar for a lot of people.
3. Let the Young Guys Play - This is an option that is usually negated by the utilization of options No. 1 and 2. It is not very often you see a New York Yankees prospect last all the way up the minor league ladder and through early growing pains in the Majors. Other teams can afford to be patient, but the Yanks have to win every year. Hell, even Ivan Nova was almost lost to the San Diego Padres.
4. Rearrange the Furniture - Sometimes one of the most effective ways to create space in your house is rearrange the furniture. The analogy doesn’t flow seamlessly to baseball operations, but moving players around to different positions can at least open up possibilities. Look at C.J. Wilson, Daniel Bard, Ryan Dempster, Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando. Each has made or is preparing to make the shift from the bullpen to the rotation. This isn’t necessarily another plea for Joba Chamberlain to be moved back to the rotation, but it is an example of filling a high-cost area of your team with a low cost option from within. A slight variation could be if the Yankees shift Robinson Cano over to the hot corner at some point (general speculation that’s swirled among fans) while Alex Rodriguez DH’s full-time and a low-cost option takes over 2B – Eduardo Nunez for example.
*This is why I’m getting a Sub-Zero fridge when I have kids. No magnets, no “artwork”. I’m kidding of course. Kind of.
For more fear and fret regarding the New York Yankees and their impending penny pinching, follow me on twitter @craigmwilliams.
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Hay craigwilliams,I think the Baby Boss(Hank Steinbrenner)better prepare himself if he thinks it’s as easy as he thinks.First of all these are the Yankees.Yankee fans put up with paying the most for,food,beer,merchandise,and cable,only because they know the Yankees will reinvest those profits on the team.It is a source of pride for Yankee fans to go online and tell the Hatters “that the Yankees don’t have the riches owners in baseball and they don’t pocket their Money they put it back in the team”.That is the legacy that “The Boss” left Hank and if he’s going to change it just so they can make a few more Millions and run the Yankees like they do in those accounting classes he’s in for a shock.If it were not for A-Rods contract the Yankees would be under the spending limit today,and the Soriano contract would put us way under the the limit.And who do we have to thank for those beautiful baseball moves,well we know who.He should just stay away.Hank must understand that one of the reasons the Yankee payroll is always high is that the Yankees don’t let their good players get away,they sign them to good contracts.One of the problems in the past was that they signed veterans long term and they were good for the first couple of years and then they were stuck.It looks like they’re trying to stay away from that now.I love the kids on the farm,and if this where any other team there would be a commitment to the kids,but these are the Yankees,the Microsoft of baseball,every team wants to be the Yankees.The Yankees play for today not five years from now,the fans won’t stand for it.You hear the fans saying,oh we most give the kids a chance to play so that we can build for the future.Yea right that’s until we start losing or the kids have a hard time producing,those same fans would star yelling for change.Back in the 90′s it was different,we hadn’t won for some time so the kids(Jeter,Posada,Mariano,Pettite)were allowed to develop, that no longer can happen.The Yankees reflect their fans(New Yorkers).
Haha, yea, it is kind of funny that the contracts that ownership gave out are a huge part of the reason the payroll is so high. To be fair though, the Soriano contract will be off of the books.
I don’t have a problem with working with a smarter budget. As Cashman said, they’re still gonna spend money. They just need to make wiser decisions. Also, if I understand correctly, the $189 million threshold only needs to be adhered to for one full season for the Yanks to receive some financial benefits – which will be reinvested into the team – and avoid some massive penalties.
I think it will be difficult to get under $189 million, but it will be worth it in the long run.