The Airlander that is the Yankees finds itself in a holding pattern. The Hot Stove League will have to wait a little longer.
Brian Cashman said Friday morning he had alerted a host of agents representing available players, as well as executives of other teams with whom he had engaged in trade talks, of his intention to shut down business until the Yankees had a better grasp of the new collective bargaining agreement that was tentatively completed Wednesday night and awaits ratification by the players and owners.
“I said, ‘Listen, give me at least 24, 48 more hours to see what sort of information we can get from baseball,'” the Yankees general manager said in Stamford, Conn., between stints rappelling down the Landmark Building as part of the city’s Heights & Lights holiday program. “So hopefully we’ll be able to hit the ground running Monday at the latest, but it’s in our best interest to know what we’re dealing with, first and foremost.”
The Winter Meetings formally begin Monday in National Harbor, Md. The Yankees are looking for multiple relievers, with particular interest in free-agent closer Aroldis Chapman, as well as a starting pitcher and designated hitter.
It appears the new CBA will help the Yankees significantly on the revenue-sharing front, thanks to favorable adjustments, but won’t offer much relief on the luxury tax.
“From the early returns, I think the decisions that we made in the summer [trading Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran, another candidate to return] are even that much more important based on what I’m reading [in the media],” Cashman said. “Speeding up the process and going with the youth movement is going to play an even more important part now, more than ever with what appears to be some of the restrictions in the marketplace that are occurring here.”
He expressed no concerns that a delay in acting would cost his team any players. Realistically, no major free agent the Yankees seriously want, particularly Chapman, will make a move without waiting for the Yankees’ best and final offer.
The Yankees never made an offer to Yoenis Cespedes, Cashman said, before the Mets re-signed the outfielder for four years and $110 million.
“I had several conversations with [Cespedes’ agent] Brodie Van Wagenen,” Cashman said. “He mapped out their expectations. Those expectations got met by the Mets. I think that they would have considered anybody that was willing to meet their expectations. Now, all things being equal, clearly New York was a place he wanted to stay. And I’m sure the Mets were a place he had comfort because that’s where he’s played and wanted to be. He never said the Mets were his first choice, but my sense was the Mets were his first choice.
“All the tea leaves pointed to him wanting to be a Met, hoping to be a Met, but willing — because it’s a business — to do whatever’s in his best interest depending on the other offers out there. …He’s a heck of a baseball player. Very talented and very impactful for that franchise.”
When Jacob Lindgren was taken by the Yankees in the second round of the 2014 draft (55th overall, but the Yankees’ first pick) the left-handed reliever from Mississippi State was touted as possibly being the first pitcher from that draft to reach the majors.
He did that in 2015 when he worked seven big league innings before surgery to remove bone spurs from the elbow. This past season, Lindgren underwent Tommy John surgery in early August, and on Friday wasn’t tendered a contract for the 2017 season.
After making six relief appearances for Single-A Tampa, in which he went 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA, Lindgren was shut down. Since Tommy John surgery requires 12 to 16 months to recover from, it’s likely Lindgren will miss the 2017 season.
The move leaves the Yankees with 39 players on the 40-man roster heading into the winter meetings and makes room if they want to take a player in the Rule 5 draft.
— additional reporting by George A. King III