Robinson Cano and Mariano Rivera are the looming Yankees free agents dominating attention. It is because of where they are heading: Cano toward $200 million — or more — and Rivera into retirement.
That has overshadowed the fact the Yankees have the deepest group of interesting free agents of any team. Fittingly, the only rivals are The Rival. Boston has Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia poised for big interest and large raises off of this year.
The Yankees’ fifth- through 11th highest-paid players — Cano, Curtis Granderson, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Kevin Youkilis, Rivera and Phil Hughes — are all free agents, as are Mark Reynolds, Boone Logan, Travis Hafner, Joba Chamberlain and Lyle Overbay. That is roughly $94 million in salary coming off the books as the Yankees are determined to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold next year.
Of course, many of those players will have to be re-signed or replaced, and what makes it even more intriguing is how many could still impact their standing with the Yankees and the industry in the last month this season. Cano goes to the top of the market, Rivera goes home, here is what the rest look like:
GRANDERSON:Â He has been out for two long stints, but due to freak injuries to a finger and wrist from being hit by pitches. Not chronic problems. Still, he will turn 33 before Opening Day next year, his season is abbreviated, he has lost further value by being moved from center field, and other teams will wonder if his power will translate nearly as well away from the short porch at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees will make him the $13.8 million tender and will want him back, especially if Cano leaves and they are trying to retain lefty heft. Could he accept the tender and try to go back into the market off of a healthy/strong 2014? A powerhouse September would probably push up his price and move him into free agency.
KURODA: The sense is he will pitch in just three places — in The Bronx, in L.A. with the Dodgers or back in Japan. He could probably get a multi-year deal from L.A. Would the Yankees do that for someone who turns 39 before next season and looks as if the workload is getting to him now. Again, how does he do in September?
PETTITTE: Between injury and ineffectiveness, Pettitte appeared ready to join Rivera in retirement. But he has a 1.05 ERA in his last four starts — all against AL East clubs. If that continues the rest of this month, the Yankees will probably want him back. But at what price? He is making $12 million. Would he accept a pay cut? Would he go someplace else (Rangers? Astros?)?
YOUKILIS:Â The Yankees hoped Youkilis and Hafner would help with the power/patience combo lost when Nick Swisher and Russell Martin left. But both lived down to their injury-plagued ways. There is no way Hafner will be brought back, even if he comes off the DL and goes homer-crazy in September.
And the Yankees probably feel similarly with Youkilis, that his chronic back issues are too much to gamble upon even if he lowers his salary from, say, $12 million to $1 million-$2 million. But if Alex Rodriguez’s suspension is upheld, the Yanks are going to need to find a third base replacement, so Youkilis has a sliver of a chance, because he could also serve as some level of protection at first for Mark Teixeira. The same could be said for Reynolds, though his power and health make him more attractive.
HUGHES: He endured his MLB-high 11th start of fewer than five innings yesterday — but because a nearly two-hour rain delay knocked him out after 1 1/3 innings. But it is the previous 10 failures that have unsettled Yankees plans.
They had intended to offer Hughes the tender and receive the sandwich pick between the first and second rounds as compensation when he signed elsewhere. Now it is probably too risky. Would any team be willing to lose either its first- or second-round pick and offer Hughes enough to make it worthwhile for the righty to reject a one-year, $13.8 million deal? Probably not. And if that is the case, the Yanks risk being stuck with a $13.8 million contract and player they would not want.
Now, assuming he stays in the rotation, Hughes has a month to perhaps change some perceptions. He is still young (27), has good strikeout/walk peripherals and the theory hovers that out of New York and in a bigger stadium or the NL he might flourish. But the season began with the possibility he could slot somewhere between Edwin Jackson’s four years at $52 million and Anibal Sanchez’s five years at $80 million. That is as going, going gone as all the homers off Hughes.
LOGAN:Â Chamberlain was not going to be brought back even before his poor season because the Yankees believe they are flush with righty relief depth. That is not true from the left side, though David Huff is making a case for inclusion next year and Cesar Cabral began his month of inspection yesterday with a scoreless inning.
Logan, though, has been among the majors’ more durable, high-end lefty relievers in his four Yankees seasons (3.36 ERA, .298 on-base percentage by lefty hitters) — the actual asset from the Javier Vasquez trade. That probably puts him in line for a three-year contract in the $10 million-$12 million range — perhaps beyond the Yanks’ tolerance.