An omission isn’t a sin one may accuse the Yankees of in the wake of missing out on Juan Soto. After all, this organization did plenty to improve its World Series chances following that massive hit. That being said, one might quibble with a few decisions in light of some of the recent big-hitter contracts we’ve seen and the money invested in Paul Goldschmidt at the tail end of his career.
Gleyber Torres and Teoscar Hernández stand out as intriguing options of varying degrees who share in common the fact they’ve received rather affordable deals. Torres signed a prove it one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, worth $15 million. Hernández did what plenty expected him to do and returned to the reigning champions, but did so on the Dodgers’ terms, signing a three-year contract with $22 million AAV and a third of it coming in deferred money, the new Dodgers special.
Before getting into specifics, with Gleyber one might very well assume a similar deal from the Yankees would’ve gotten his attention at the very least. When it comes to Hernández, it’s plausible to speculate he was open to taking less to stay with the Dodgers, but at the same time, one might project a certain gap in which that would no longer be the case. Long story short, both were attainable assets with a heavy enough pursuit.
An important point that might have played a role in the lack of a pursuit of Hernández is that, unlike Torres, he came with a QO attached to him. Because the Yankees had already signed Max Fried, agreeing to a deal with Hernández would’ve meant the loss of two more draft pick slots, further limiting this team’s ability to do a decent job in the next Draft.
Now, with the advantage of hindsight, it’s a feasible scenario to speculate that the Yankees brought Jazz Chisholm Jr. into the fold already projecting a Torres exit. Throughout every step of the way, the Yankees showed little to no interest in bringing Torres back, as they not only didn’t offer him the rather steep qualifying offer, but failed to make any kind of offer at all. Think of it like this, even with a down year, anything below one year for $15 million seems a tad unrealistic for a plus hitter at second base.
Chisholm Jr. for Torres would be fine if not for the fact the Yankees now have a hole at third base, with Oswaldo Cabrera yet to prove he is an everyday bat in the big leagues. Jazz showed his athleticism plays at third, and the Yankees would’ve been better off right now and not risking anything long-term by resigning Torres for a similar deal. Meanwhile, they could be hunting for bargains at first, a position in which they committed $12.5 million to sign Paul Goldschmidt. There is even the inside option of occasionally playing Bellinger at first and using Jasson Domínguez at center, bringing in a decent left-center glove-first player.
Even with the money they got from the Cubs, the Yankees agreed to pay Bellinger a slightly higher AAV for Bellinger than that of Hernández’s contract with the Dodgers, although obviously for a shorter-term deal. Still, it’s hard not to contemplate the fact that the Dodgers won that contract and wonder what many other teams were doing. We’re talking about a four-win player who is 32 and had a 137 OPS+ last season, 137! It’ll be fascinating to see the contract Anthony Santander receives.
Clearly, Hernández would’ve required a much heftier commitment from the Yankees, but considering the amount of production they must replace with the Soto departure, they probably need more than the current versions of Goldschmidt and Bellinger.
