The New York Yankees are heading into the back stretch of the offseason with some huge questions coming with the possible signing of pitcher Masahiro Tanaka and the suspension of Alex Rodriguez and those issues have sparked the team to designate Vernon Wells for assignment to help shore up the roster after acquiring him last season.
The Yankees dealt with a number of injuries last season and Wells was a last ditch to get some healthy bodies and while he was solid for the team last season, the Yankees are stacked in the outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki and that is why they felt okay ditching him. The team is preparing to try and sign Tanaka and they also are waiting for the Rodriguez appeal decision and that could affect how the team operates over the next couple months as well.
Rodriguez is expected to be suspended and the team is looking to sign Tanaka and both of those moves are connected, as the team will save money if Rodriguez misses time. The Yankees want Tanaka to add to the rotation, but so do a lot of teams and with the new posting system the way it is, the team may have to go above and beyond to get him in NY. The team clearly is ready to spend after dolling out $283 million for Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran and now they could add Tanaka to that list and that would give the team a solid rotation and a stacked lineup heading into 2014. The team is improved as it is right now, but without Tanaka, the rotation will have some major holes and they need a major name involved.
Tanaka is just 25 and went 24-0 this season and with the Yankees having CC Sabathia coming off of a tough season, they could use a young arm in the rotation. Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova will need to continue pitching well and adding Tanaka would be a great step for the franchise. The Yankees are waiting on Rodriguez and they now have designated Wells, who .233 with 11 homers last season in 130 games and while he was solid last season, the team feels ready to move on. The Yankees and other teams are capped to $20 million to post for Tanaka and he could get over $15 million per season and teams like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros are interested according to ESPN.com.