With just about a month left before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, let’s take a look at how the Yankees have handled the offseason so far. 

With every article continuing to be written about the Yankees and their cheapness in the free agency market (my articles included) people are forgetting just what has been done to this Yankees team in 2019. From stacking the bullpen even more to having an insanely deep infield the Yankees really have done great things.

Will it be enough to improve upon a previous 100 wins season?

The Forgotten Trade

Hey, remember when the Yankees traded Justus Sheffield, Erik Swanson and Dom Thompson Williams for Seattle ace James Paxton on November of last year? Yankees fans seem to forget that this transaction happened and how huge it actually was.

In the long run of things with J.A. Happ resigning with the Yankees and Lance Lynn going to the Texas Rangers, it basically boils down to swapping Paxton for Lynn. An upgrade of significant importance to this team. Behind Luis Severino, CC Sabathia, J.A. Happ, and Masahiro Tanaka the starting rotation for the New York ball club seems to be in the right position going forward.

 

Bring on the Rockies

On December 11, 2018, the Toronto Blue Jays would release five-time all-star and the former Rockies player Troy Tulowitzki after struggling with injuries for years. Less then one month later, New York would sign Tulowitzki to a one-year deal for the league minimum salary.

Toronto remains on the hook for nearly all of the $38 million owed to him over the next two seasons. A low risk, high reward gamble that any of the other teams in the majors should have done. Joining Tulowitzki from Colorado is second baseman DJ LeMahieu.

Yankees: 2019 Infield Outlook

LeMahieu seems like a forgotten gem in the MLB hitting .298 batting average throughout his career and racking up two all-star appearances in the process. Along with his impressive batting skills, LeMahieu is a three-time gold glove recipient in his eight-year career and in my humble opinion my favorite signing this offseason.

Another high level and talented Rockies player, Adam Ottavino joins the stacked Yankees bullpen with the departure of David Robertson. Rumblings of the 2019 New York Yankees bullpen being the greatest assembled pen on paper have already taken over the internet. Lindsey Adler from The Athletic tweeted out…

Yankees bullpen

K% in 2018:

Chapman: 43.9%

Betances: 42.3%

Ottavino 36.3 %

Green: 31.5%

Britton: 20%

Green: 31.5%

Holder: 22.1%

Which will make any Yankee fan salivate at those numbers.

With the offseason still in full swing with storylines continuing to loom such as, Where will the superstars Bryce Harper and Manny Machado sign, What will the Yankees get for Sonny Gray and will the Yankees add another arm in the starting rotation with CC Sabathia’s age and health being a factor?

I guess we’ll all have to sit at our computer screens and think to ourselves: “How much longer until baseball is back and we can take revenge on those dirty Red Sox?”