2015-16 New York Yankees

Some people think that with virtually unlimited resources, the GM of the Yankees has an easy job.  To be sure, my hypothetical 2016 budget of $233 million had to make some of the other GMs in this group green with envy.  But the vast majority of my budget was locked in to aging veterans who are long past their prime and prone to injuries.  The only positions that did not have a big dollar contract affixed to it were second base and shortstop.  The shortstop situation was a no brainer.  After a slow start offensively and some early defensive hiccups, Didi Gregorius blossomed into a good all-around player in the second half.  His projected arbitration salary of $2.1 million for 2016 is a steal.  I was determined to use in-house options at second base to keep payroll flexibility in order to get a right handed free agent bat.

On the first day of trade negotiations, the Nationals approached me concerning the availability of catcher Brian McCann.  McCann had a strong bounce back season in 2015 and I was not looking to move him.  However, the Nationals are loaded with starting pitching and since every member of our opening day 2015 rotation spent significant time on the DL this year, the opportunity to add a quality starter could not be ignored.  I would have preferred Stephen Strasburg, but I agreed to Gio Gonzalez.  As a bonus I got the Nationals to take Joe Girardi and his infernal binders off my hands to fill their vacant managerial slot.  This deal was consummated before the real world Marlins hired Don Mattingly as manager, so in our alternate reality Don Mattingly is the new Yankees manager and Paul O’Neill is our new hitting coach.  I did not pursue a replacement starting catcher.  Our player development has long touted our catching prospects and now it is time for them to deliver.  Austin Romine and John Ryan Murphy will compete for the starting job in spring training.

With Gonzalez aboard, my envisioned 2016 starting rotation is as follows: Tanaka, Gonzalez, Severino, Pineda, Nova.  For the time being, CC Sabathia and his bloated contract will be relegated to mop-up duty out of the pen or the occasional spot start to give Tanaka extra rest.  If Sabathia reports to spring training in decent shape he can of course compete with Pineda and Nova for a back of the rotation slot.

My one foray into the free agent market was unsuccessful.  I offered Justin Upton $17 million but was outbid.  I wanted his right handed power to balance my lefty laden lineup and also provide insurance in case any of my increasingly fragile outfielders went down with a serious injury.  Since that didn’t pan out, I decided to use that money to eat a large portion of Mark Teixiera’s remaining contract in order to move him and free up the starting first base job for Greg Bird.  My trade partner on this deal was the Cardinals who gave me outfielder Jon Jay and infielder Pete Kozma.  I like this trade because Bird earned a chance to start full time based on his performance at the end of 2015 and Princess Teixiera is always a hangnail away from a 60 day DL stint.

The last roster move I made was a deal with Athletics to acquire utility infielder Eric Sogard.  Sogard will compete with Kozma for starting second base duty with the loser backing up Gregorius and third baseman Chase Headley.  Rob Refsnyder still shows promise as our second baseman of the future but I see him as starting the season at AAA.

That completed my wheeling and dealing and I submitted a roster that projects an opening day 2016 payroll of $210,192,857.  That’s $5 million and change below our 2015 opening day payroll and significantly below my allotted budget.  This gives me substantial payroll flexibility at the trade deadline next July.  The week of the deadline this year, the Yankees held a seven game lead over the Blue Jays.  We made no moves of significance while the Jays added Price and Tulowitzki.  Our seven game lead evaporated in the blink of an eye and we had to settle for a wild card play-in spot.  If we can manage to be in contention by July 2016, we will have the resources available to bring in the necessary reinforcements to bring the division title home.