The New York Yankees are heading into an offseason with many questions and after the ownership decided that the $189 million payroll was the new goal, many felt the team would not be big spenders in free agency, but that appears to be wrong, as sources have said that the franchise could be ready to unload up to $300 million on future contracts this winter.
According to ESPNNewYork.com, sources close to the team have said that it is possible that the team could go after free agents with money and still remain under the payroll number, as quite a bit of salary is coming off the books. The report says that the Yankees will get relief through a number of contracts, including Mariano Rivera, Curtis Granderson, Hiroki Kuroda, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte and with the possibility of A-Rod getting suspended, that could mean even more money to spend. The Yankees feel that getting relief from retiring players Pettitte and Rivera, Derek Jeter's salary going down around $7 million and the possibility of signing Granderson and Kuroda to friendly deals, the team should have quite a bit of money to spend, including on second baseman Robinson Cano, who is rumored to want a $300 million deal.
Reports have the team interested in Beltran and also says that keeping Vernon Wells and Alfonso Soriano will not hurt as much, as their old teams are paying a significant part of each of their salaries and that could mean Beltran and McCann could get substantial offers even if the Yankees sign Cano. McCann should be one of the top free agents on the market and the team has also been interested in Tanaka, who is considered the next great Japanese pitcher. The Yankees had a power outage last season and they feel that putting a jolt into the payroll with smart but expensive deals like in 2009 with CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and AJ Burnett, which of course resulted in a world series victory.
The Yankees dealt with a high amount of injuries and only missed the playoffs for the second time in over a decade and they have big questions to deal with regarding Cano. The team wants to keep him but doesn't want to get stuck with another A-Rod contract and he reportedly wants $300 million. The team will made a substantial offer and will try and keep him at a reasonable amount of years. The team is also interested in Tanaka, who has some Yu Darvish type hype coming into next year after winning 24 games with a sub-2.00 ERA. The Yankees want to make some upgrades and after sitting out of free agency the past few years, it might finally be time to get back to the old Yankee plans.
