Fire sale in New York? Just a thought

[Crazysilver03]

What players should/would the Yankees trade? And who is actually worth valuable pieces?

The premise is silly though while the Yankees are in contention. If anything, they will add pieces. If they had a firesale they would alienate too much of the fan base.

[hanging_curve]

It is really unpopular thing to say but the Yankees simply don't have core talent to build around. Consider Robinson Cano, a great second-baseman but in entering his free agency. His Agent is no other than Jay-Z who is trying to break into the business. I suspect that Jay-Z is feeling the pressure to produce big for client and establish his worth as an agent. The Yankees have a very solid rotation and bullpen despite the impending departure of Rivera. What the Yankees lack is a pipeline of minor league talent to replace the aging veterans. The veterans that they do have are not worth the contracts and everybody knows it. I am really excited to see how this plays out during the next several weeks. If the Yankees completely tank the next several weeks then this trade talk would become quite obvious.

[waroriole]

Here is really interesting thread from a NY Yankee's Forum.

and here is the link:

http://forums.nyyfans.com/showthread.php/132173-2013-Hot-Stove-Trade-Rumors-Thread/page8

One MFY fan's opinion has nothing to do with what they will/should do.

[Crazysilver03]

It is really unpopular thing to say but the Yankees simply don't have core talent to build around. Consider Robinson Cano, a great second-baseman but in entering his free agency. His Agent is no other than Jay-Z who is trying to break into the business. I suspect that Jay-Z is feeling the pressure to produce big for client and establish his worth as an agent. The Yankees have a very solid rotation and bullpen despite the impending departure of Rivera. What the Yankees lack is a pipeline of minor league talent to replace the aging veterans. The veterans that they do have are not worth the contracts and everybody knows it. I am really excited to see how this plays out during the next several weeks. If the Yankees completely tank the next several weeks then this trade talk would become quite obvious.

You still haven't addressed who they should trade and for what?

They aren't getting anything for Wells, Ichiro, Youkilis, ARod, etc. No way they trade CC. The only players worth considering trading at Iwakuma, Hughes, and Chamberlain, but only Iwakuma has been valuable this year.

Needless to say, they won't be trading anyone. If they crash and burn, it will be with this current team.

[weams]

What would the world look like the New York Yankees? hegemony over the baseball world ended? Consider that over the last twenty years the Yankees have never placed lower than 3rd and since that time they have always finished 1st or 2nd. During the dynasty era the Yankees were free spenders and for the most part very lucky since all their contracts were agreeable to both sides.

On November 20, 2008, Hal Steinbrenner gained control of the New York Yankees and the direction of the Yankees seemed to lean toward a more financially conservative. This past off-season the Yankees shied away from some of the big ticket items and sought help from some moderately price veterans to replace some aging and wore parts.

They acquired Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells just to shore up certain weaknesses. However, Youk will be out for the next 10-12 weeks and Mark Teixeira reinjured his wrist. Both players were not really producing to expectations but New York was remaining very competitive. Consider the payroll and talent on the Yankee DL:

1. Alex Rodriguez

2. Derek Jeter

3. mark Teixeira

4. Kevin Youkilis

I dare say that at the corners Yankees have close to 50 million dollars in contract commitments this year. Contracts that will never be worth the on field production to the Yankees. Steinbrenner clearly saw diminishing returns on his investments and decided to go a more conservative route. However, with the season nearly approaching the half way point the Yankees must make a tough decision reload or rebuild?

Astute Posters at OH have wondered why would the Yankees be interested in Travis Ishikawa? I believe that the Yankees are sellers this year! I believe that Yankees could and should trade Mariano Rivera to the Tigers! I think that Cano should be traded off as well. I think that the Yankees should do what Boston Red Sox did and get rid of all those bad contracts. I just can?t imagine that there would be any buyers and as result will underperform for years to come. One thing is clear the dynastic reign of the Yankees is over!

The upshot of all this that Yankees have a lot useful parts to many teams. Robinson Cano comes to mind when the Orioles look for a 2nd baseman.

No. Even if it were the correct thing to do.

[Ommaculate]

Article about the Yankees signing Manny Ramirez.

Please do it Cashman.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130620&content_id=51240766&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

[hanging_curve]

Article about the Yankees signing Manny Ramirez.

Please do it Cashman.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130620&content_id=51240766&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

I could see this move. Do you remember when the Orioles would do dumb stuff like this? Vlad, Lee,and too many others to list.

[john316]

Here is an article that was written before the season started...it is rather lengthy but it goes into what the Yankees have planned as far as payroll/free agents. Below is an excerpt from it.

The luxury tax, which has long been just an annoyance to the Yankees, has suddenly taken on a great deal more importance.

The luxury tax, which was first instituted in the collective bargaining agreement after the 2002 season, would be more accurately called The Yankee Tax. The Yankees have exceeded the threshold every year since its creation, and the franchise has paid anywhere from $12 million to $34 million a year for the privilege of lapping the field in payroll. The Red Sox are the only other team that has paid meaningful taxes.3 They have gone over the threshold six times, but they never paid much more than $6 million in penalties.

For years, the Yankees have acted as if the luxury tax was just the cost of doing business. But George Steinbrenner died in 2010, and his maniacal focus on winning seems to have gone with him. His sons, Hank and Hal, like winning just fine, but they would prefer to win and make piles of money. So, although they've been willing to maintain the team's payroll well above the current luxury-tax threshold of $178 million, they haven't increased payroll in eight years.

The Steinbrenners' unwillingness to raise payroll has made it more difficult for the Yankees to bring in fresh veterans to replace the worn-out ones. As a result, the team has stuck with its old guys even as they turned into really old guys ? last year, the offense averaged 32.7 years old, the oldest in franchise history and the third-oldest in baseball history.

The newest CBA, agreed to after the 2011 season, included two key changes [PDF] to the luxury tax. The first is that the highest tax rate (which, of course, applies to the Yankees) was increased from 40 to 50 percent. The second change is that, should a team avoid the luxury tax even once, its tax rate will drop back to the lowest level (17.5 percent) the next time it exceeds the threshold, and rise incrementally from there.

In other words, if the Yankees can get below the tax threshold just once, they won't just save millions of dollars that year, they'll also save millions for the three subsequent years even if they jack up their payroll again.

The Yankees aren't shy in disclosing that this is their strategy ? they've been talking about it publicly for more than a year. The threshold increases to $189 million in 2014, and the franchise plans to get its payroll below that mark next year. Which would be its lowest payroll in a decade.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9025135/the-evil-empire-new-york-yankees-to-fall

[Ommaculate]

I could see this move. Do you remember when the Orioles would do dumb stuff like this? Vlad, Lee,and too many others to list.

At least Vlad and Lee weren't already busted twice for steroids and banished to Japan.

[hanging_curve]

What a fantastic article. He took a jab at the Orioles with their one run game record but really dissected the Yankees. They are certainly not going to be buyers this July but will they be sellers?

[SeaBird]

I believe that Yankees could and should trade Mariano Rivera to the Tigers! I think that Cano should be traded off as well. One thing is clear the dynastic reign of the Yankees is over!

The upshot of all this that Yankees have a lot useful parts to many teams. Robinson Cano comes to mind when the Orioles look for a 2nd baseman.

You put a lot of thought into this post. Now please step away from your computer.

NY is having a tough time but they are still +6 over .500 and 3.5 games out of 1st place. Rivera will not be traded. Cano is the future face of the franchise with Jeter headed off to the sunset.

They will not just roll over and give up on the season.

[hanging_curve]

The Yankees are at a crossroads. They do not have the core talent to build on. It is that simple. Additionally the Yankees have stated publicly that managing their payroll was a issue. So I suspect that they not going to buy the help they need. Cano could be the face of franchise but are the Yankees willing to commit to another mega-contract? I encourage you to read the article posted above. It is really quite insightful.

[Crazysilver03]

The Yankees are at a crossroads. They do not have the core talent to build on. It is that simple. Additionally the Yankees have stated publicly that managing their payroll was a issue. So I suspect that they not going to buy the help they need. Cano could be the face of franchise but are the Yankees willing to commit to another mega-contract? I encourage you to read the article posted above. It is really quite insightful.

Except that the article is old. They have already seen massive declines in television ratings and starting to see declines in attendance. There was a recent article stating the Yankees may have to add someone simply to keep the interest level up and just pay the luxury tax.

[SeaBird]

The Yankees are at a crossroads. They do not have the core talent to build on. It is that simple. Additionally the Yankees have stated publicly that managing their payroll was a issue. So I suspect that they not going to buy the help they need. Cano could be the face of franchise but are the Yankees willing to commit to another mega-contract? I encourage you to read the article posted above. It is really quite insightful.

I read the article. Managing payroll was not an "issue". The Yankees said their "goal" was to get payroll under $189M in 2014 to avoid the hefty luxury tax they have been paying. If they are over $189M in 2014 their luxury tax rises 50% which would be about $50M. Naturally Hal Steinbrenner wants to avoid writing a check for $50M but he also swore to keep the team competitive and said, “We always will field a championship-caliber team. I’ve said that a thousand times.”

But again, it was only a "goal" not something signed off on in blood. And it's pretty much been scrapped. Back in April, one team official said, "It was a good idea to try, but deep down, we all pretty much knew it wasn't going to happen."

And the reason is that the incentive monies the Yankees thought they would receive for staying under the $189M payroll during the 2014 through 2016 seasons were believed to be upwards of $45M per year. But that is not the case now.

Washington's success has thrust it from so-called payee club to payers. And the Braves, despite a bad TV contract, and Blue Jays, with an old stadium, aren't far behind. The Miami Marlins, expected to be payers, have quickly reverted to payee status. Barring a change in the game's economics over the next few years, the big rebate money, sources said, simply won't exist, and the impetus for the Yankees won't be nearly as strong.

"The assumptions on the market-disqualification rebate haven't held," one American League executive said. "The pool is going to be much less than everyone anticipated." Another league exec said, "you don't run a $300B business by trying to save a few million dollars."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/yankees-appear-to-be-scrapping-plan-of-staying-below--189m-payroll-235433974.html

As for next year, Cano will be re-signed by NY. Probably 8 years and $200M. The only place Rivera is going is home when he retires as a NYY at the end of the season. He will not be traded.

[LayzieDES]

Once paid, where does the luxury tax money go to?