Time to Wake up and Smell the Coffee – There’s a New Sheriff in Town
For those of you who have not heard, the Yankees were outbid for the services of the top free agent starter (Patrick Corbin) by the Washington Nationals. The Yankees refused to sign him for 6 years and only offered 5.
In my opinion, the Yankees acted in a perfectly rational way.
Corbin has only had 1 all star talent level year (2018).
Corbin will be 35 in the last year of the contract and in all likelihood, those last 3 years will not be pretty. CC Sabathia (who had a far more extensive track record as an elite starter) had his last all star quality season at the ripe old age of 32. He’s been pretty much average since then. And no disrespect to CC, being average from 33-38 is very impressive.
It’s always a risk bringing a pitcher to a major market from a market with less pressure.
Long term deals for pitchers are always very risky.
The key point is that the Yankees chose rationality over immediacy. If we ever needed a clear sign that the old days of “spend whatever it takes” were over, this is it.
So everyone who has been preparing their 2019 rosters with no thought as to budget, stop wasting your time. The old days of George Steinbrenner are over. The new Yankees will be run in a rational fashion. They will spend very close to $200 million in 2019. And they will spend it as wisely as they can in order to avoid more Ellsbury-type disasters. All of this is good.
