Position players have not even reported to camp yet and already Spring Training has become monotonous. We’re just kinda going through the motions and waiting for Grapefruit League games to begin next week. As far as the Yankees are concerned, things have been quiet. No news is good news in mid-February.
Things are not so quiet elsewhere in the AL East. Impending free agent Jose Bautista told reporters yesterday he recently met with the Blue Jays and laid out exactly what it will take to sign him to an extension. He also said he’s not giving them any sort of hometown discount. From Shi Davidi:
“I’m not willing to negotiate even right now,” he said. “I don’t think there should be any negotiation. I think I’ve proved myself and the question has been asked, what will it take, and I’ve given them an answer. It is what it is. I’m not going to sit here and try to bargain for a couple dollars.”
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“I didn’t want to waste any time,” he said. “If this is going to happen, I think it should be natural, organic, quick and easy, it shouldn’t be a pull and tug about a few dollars here or there. I didn’t want to waste any time, I didn’t want to waste their time or their effort, so they can start planning ahead, and if it’s not going to happen they have plenty of time to do so … There’s no negotiation, I told them what I wanted. They either meet it or it is what it is.”
I’m sure the Blue Jays appreciate Bautista being up front, but that’s bad news for them. Unless Toronto ups payroll considerably — they certainly have the ability to do so, Rogers Communication is frickin’ massive — the team might not be able to sign their franchise cornerstone after the season.
A few years ago — perhaps even as recently as two or three years ago — Bautista’s comments would have been music to our ears. Bautista is the perfect Yankees free agent target. He hits dingers, he gets on base, he’s been through the AL East grind, he’d help balance the lineup as a right-handed hitter, and he’s step right into right field to replace Carlos Beltran. He’s perfect. Aaron Judge? Who needs Aaron Judge when you can have Jose Bautista. Sign Bautista and trade Judge for an arm. It’s a win-win.
That’s the way the Yankees used to do business. Sign the big name free agent who fits the roster so wonderfully and to hell with the prospect (who, by the way, also fits the roster wonderfully). The Yankees signed Jason Giambi when they had an elite first base prospect knocking on the door in Nick Johnson. Why? Because Giambi was a boss and Johnson was an unknown, and the Yankees weren’t in the business of the unknown. They wanted stars.
Of course, the Bautista contract would be a land mine. He turns 36 years old in October and it’s probably doing to take something like three years and $25M per season to sign him. Maybe even a fourth guaranteed year if he winds up on the open market. All the goodwill he built in Toronto would be useless to the Yankees. The Blue Jays got his best years and New York would get the ugly decline. The contract would be almost all downside.
That old way of thinking — sign the big free agent and who cares about everything else — is no more, at least for the time being. Maybe the Yankees will go back to doing business that way down the line. Right now the Yankees are skewing young whenever possible and trying to create financial flexibility. Financial flexibility for what? Who knows. Maybe Bryce Harper, maybe Manny Machado and Matt Harvey, maybe Hal Steinbrenner’s summer home. Either way, the Yankees are now avoiding the kind of big money deal it would take to acquire the last few seasons of Bautista’s career.
Remember when CC Sabathia was entering his walk year? We hung on every word about a possible extension. Yet when Bautista’s comments came out yesterday, it barely registered as a blip on the radar in Yankeeland. We’ve all grown accustomed to the way team does business now. On paper, Bautista fits the roster well, and yesterday’s news seems to make it more likely he will hit the open market next winter. Bautista’s free agency would of interest to the old Yankees. These new Yankees don’t build their roster that way and for good reason.
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