The Yankees still are playing the waiting game in their search for a right-handed hitting outfielder, with free agent Scott Hairston holding out for a two-year deal and Washington unwilling to rush into a deal to trade Michael Morse.
One baseball official said it seemed most teams were in a “holding pattern” while the market sorted itself out.
That shouldn’t bother the Yankees, because they held off until this time last year to make two of their most significant offseason moves: signing free agent Hiroki Kuroda and trading Jesus Montero in a package to the Mariners for Michael Pineda.
The Kuroda signing worked out better than most imagined it would, while Pineda has yet to throw a pitch for the Yankees after undergoing shoulder surgery. He’s not expected back until the middle of the upcoming season.
Barring another major trade, the Yankees’ roster appears close to set — though managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner admitted at the owners’ meetings in Arizona on Thursday that the team needs “another bat.”
Steinbrenner also reiterated his goal of getting the team’s payroll below the $189 million luxury tax threshold by 2014, while adding “only if I’m convinced if the team I see, that we’ve put together, is a championship-caliber team.”
Don’t expect general manager Brian Cashman to bank on that bailout.
When asked yesterday about Steinbrenner’s most recent comments regarding the organization’s financial future, Cashman said: “I agree with everything Hal says. He runs the club. He sets the policy. Whatever Hal says, we follow.”
Both Steinbrenner and Cashman have maintained the Yankees still will be able to contend for a title despite the reduced budget — something that may prove difficult considering the number of bloated contracts that will still need to be paid, as well as the failure of younger players such as Pineda and Manny Banuelos to stay healthy and develop.
The Yankees’ best candidate to be the right-handed designated hitter is Eduardo Nunez, though he’s not an ideal choice. Another one-time potential target, Mike Napoli, still seems destined for the Red Sox despite the prolonged negotiations between the two sides.