The Yankees had spent $283 million on three huge free agents, hosted three significant press conferences at their Stadium this offseason and still knew this — spend another $175 million on Masahiro Tanaka or the signings of Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann could mean nothing.
“They had to have him,” a rival AL executive said. “We can all debate the years, the money, etc., but bottom line: They’re better with him than without him.”
And they are. They needed a top-flight starter and the industry viewed Tanaka as the best free-agent starter available. There are tons of risks. Tanaka’s pre-age-25 workload is substantial. He has never pitched every fifth day, worked with a major league-sized ball or faced MLB lineups.
Yet less than a year after Felix Hernandez, who has proven everything you would want a major league pitcher to prove, received a seven-year, $175 million contract from Seattle, the Yankees had to pay the same amount — $20 million posting fee plus $155 million over seven years — for a pitcher whose next major league pitch will be his first.
And that is just a piece of the $503 million guaranteed this offseason by the Yanks to sign outside free agents and retain their own. It speaks to their deep coffers and ownership’s commitment to never rebuild and always go for it.
But mainly it speaks to the sorry state of their feeder system that there were no internal answers last year when devastating injury hit, nor would there be for next season without this giant outlay of cash that now trashes their dreams of sinking beneath $189 million in payroll.
The Yankees can talk about how those plans were always just a goal, not a mandate. But a year ago, Hal Steinbrenner was saying his goals were essentially mandates and the franchise should be able to put together a consistent contender for less than $189 million. Most notably, the Yankees had been avoiding spending 2014 dollars for three years, which possibly hurt their chances of winning playoff rounds in 2011-12, and kept them out altogether last year.
They believed going under the luxury-tax threshold could save some $100 million in a three-year range. But drooping attendance and TV ratings, and the promise of more of that to come without a drastic infusion of talent/stars meant potentially losing $100 million — or more; losing fans that would be hard to recoup any time soon. So the cost analysis screamed for the Yankees to do what the Yankees do — go big.
What more can we say about organizations honoring their DNA than this: In an offseason in which the Mets were supposed to spend, they have bought $87.25 million worth of free agents, but appear unwilling to go further for someone who could help, such as Stephen Drew. In what was supposed to be an offseason of penny counting, the Yankees have invested nearly six times more than the Mets.
As one NL executive said, “I feel like the baseball universe makes sense again.”
In other words, the Yankees weren’t talking about cutting costs, they were doing a Yankee thing. A Steinbrenner thing. Good for them for always trying, reinvesting in the product.
But this is the second time in five years they were forced to do this. Yes, the $423.5 million spree that brought in Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett five years ago led to a championship and the kind of renewal of the interlocking NY brand that has benefits for years. However, as those players wilted in effectiveness, the Yanks had to double down yet again this offseason.
It is a horrible business plan, a caveman way to build a roster (no art, all financial bludgeoning). It is a tactic that leaves the Yankees susceptible to this current crew wilting and forcing a rinse, repeat, spend a half a billion in a few more years to cover up more malfeasance in drafting, international signings and development. Steinbrenner said he is attempting to fix those problems with new hires and new ways of operating.
And, also, with Tanaka, who will pitch at 25 next year and who has drawn comparisons to Hiroki Kuroda and prime-aged Dan Haren, and for having a deceptive, late-moving splitter reminiscent of once-elite closer Bryan Harvey. One admiring AL official said, “He is the real deal, filthy.”
The Yankees believe so, which is why they were willing to invest in him as if he were Felix Hernandez. But they also did so because they were a desperate team with cash, because their internal shortcomings left no other choices, because all the money they had spent previously this offseason would be rendered meaningless without this big gamble on Tanaka.