Yanks could have had Cespedes for half price had they not traded a starting pitcher for unneeded Castro.

Supposedly the Washington Nationals have offered free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes $20 million for each of five years.  The Metsies are offering three years to the player who saved their season by hitting 17 home runs in August and September.  The Yankees are doing whatever they do these days.

The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network has a one hour weekly program called "Hot Stove" between seasons in which local sports writers and sometimes also Yankee announcer Michael Kay comment about how smart Yankee general manager Brian Cashman is and how well the Yankees will do in 2016.  Sometimes Cashman even shows up and does this himself.  They all love the recent acquisition of Cubbies shortstop Starlin Castro, who played 38 games at second for Chicago in 2015 and will become the full time second baseman for the Yankees in 2016.  All for only starting pitcher Adam Warren, who never relieved in the minors, and picking up the ridiculous four remaining years of the Castro contract that the Cubbies now wriggled out of:

baseball-reference.com:

2016	26	New York Yankees	$7,857,143
2017	27	New York Yankees	$9,857,143
2018	28	New York Yankees	$10,857,143
2019	29	New York Yankees	$11,857,143

That's about $10 million per year.  Remember, one of the top Yankee prospects is a second baseman, Rob Refsnyder, who would be paid the minimum, currently about half a million, for each of the next three years.  In 858 AAA plate appearances Refsnyder has OPS .794.

That's the half price the Yankees could be paying Cespedes or Justin Upton if Cashman hadn't wasted that money on Castro.  Not acquiring Castro would have made signing either Cespedes or Upton much more cost efficient.  The total hit on the team payroll might be about 40% less and the Yanks would add a much bigger bat.

Plus, the Yankees would have that starting pitcher whom Cashman continues to seek: Adam Warren.  Warren is still unproven as a starter only because Cashman, like other current GMs, ruined his chances by putting Warren in the bullpen most of the time.  In the meantime, Cashman sits back waiting for another team to offer him a starting pitcher for his redundant outfielder Brett Gardner, who is 32 and has broken down in each of the last two seasons.  Cashman vastly over estimated Gardner's value this off season.  Just look at the money received by free agent starting pitchers.

Yankees need to sign Yoenis Cespedes. Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What, you say, don't the Yankees have ... in their farm system: Aaron Judge?  For the umpteenth time:

Judge: 260 PA in AAA: OPS .680; Born: April 26, 1992 in Linden, California

The Yanks can sit around and wait and see if Judge can get his AAA OPS over .700 in 2016.  Or they can immediately sign Cespedes to a semi-reasonable contract.  If Judge turns out to actually be the real deal, then they will have TWO corner outfielders who can hit 30 home runs each.
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Brian Cashman likes duplicates: CF, SS. But zero 2B. Tuesday, January 19, 2016