ccvle wrote:SelbyCobra wrote:Rich Rane wrote:
Realistically, while Jones has a shot at the big leagues this season, as of now, I don't expect him until September callups and he really only gets playing time if there's a lot of injuries to add him to the 40-man (with this team's recent history, definitely not out of the realm of possibility). Dominguez...with his Tommy John, a fan would have to pray he's ready to go by All-Star break and hopes he has an amazing second half to push Judge to a corner outfield spot. But yeah conventionally speaking, you're correct in that Soto would need a horrendous season for the Yankees not to wanna sign him longterm, but there's no part of you that thinks Hal is praying the young guys come up with mega seasons to give him a reason not to wanna sign Soto to a mega contract?
Oh I can definitely see Hal thinking that way, and
that's been the problem with the way he's run this organization for the last 15 years - seeking a cheaper/easier way out of situations and ending up with a sub-Yankee-standards product. Having Juan Soto in the building is an honor and privilege, Hal has to get out of his own way on this one - and this is coming from someone who doesn't want to ever deal with Boras clients (despite agreeing with his general theories on player salaries). access to a longterm Juan Soto deal at age 26 is a generational exception to not working with Boras, to me. There is not a single reason for a competently run New York Yankees team to let a likely future HOFer go in his PREPRIME if he's willing to sign here - it doesn't matter who else is on the roster.
As an aside, Jones is a big question mark based on his professional work so far. If he can be the centerpiece to a star trade, than I'd trade him in a heartbeat. I love his profile, and it's easy to get drunk on his other-worldly tools and athleticism - especially when they flash in a viral video of a 470ft bomb - but his overall results have some significant red flags. Despite all the comps, to this point he is decidedly NOT a left-handed Judge.
That is not a fair comment. I also lost my confidence with cashman and boone but it is not fair to say the Yankees are cheap. They have always been top 3 in payroll every year. You can't sign a big contract to fill every single position. The plan was to have the young and cheap players (Greg Bird, Sanchez, Andujar, Fraizer, Severino, Hicks) supplement the superstars (Judge, Stanton, Cole). This is the blueprint that pretty much every team follows. The problem is every single one of those young players didn't work out and even the superstars(Stanton, Rodon) didn't contribute. For this, Cashman is definitely the one ultimately responsible for the results.
It's a completely fair comment. The Yankees under Hal have spent a lot of money for sure AND they've been cheap. They have avoided the top of the true apex of the FA market at almost every turn except Gerritt Cole, but then they've realized mistakes/come up short and backfilled with multiple small/medium money pieces that end up costing almost exactly the same as the stars they passed on, but with less production.
The payroll ends up high, but because they cheap out on the big, obvious pieces, they end up scrambling and spend tons of money on inferior options, bullpen pieces, reclamation projects, etc, as if getting to a certain payroll amount will mean the same production in the end.
So I agree that it's certainly a reflection of the choices Cashman has made - the roster is poorly constructed. But the WHY behind many of these ill-fated moves and directions is the way Hal has these mid market inclinations of being the smartest guy in the room, while clearly not being so. He's a bean counter first and foremost - there's a reason Hal has always said "we don't need to spend X million to build a championship team" in response to why they're not in the running for the best FAs, and why he votes to implement restrictive payroll changes at every opportunity. He's never been interested in being the Dodgers, or even the Mets, for that matter. He's quintessentially conservative, wanting things to remain the same as they were when his family was dominating, despite the modern world evolving and progressing around him.