Current Dark Days Make Future Decisions Loom Large

Today is dark on the schedule, so it makes it easier to let the ineptitude of the team’s now mercifully completed road trip really sink in. 3 wins out of 10 games away from the Bronx. Utterly pathetic, even when you consider that three of the losses were against baseball’s best team—two of those games the Yankees were in positions to win, so you can’t chalk it all up to being overmatched or outclassed by a better team.

Even the off days seem dark considering how far behind the team has fallen and how little time is left to make this season relevant. Based on how bad the team looks right now, I’m driven to consider what the roster might look like next season as an alternative to dwelling on the present. It is going to be an extremely interesting offseason for the Yankees, and it is extremely premature to be speculating on what will happen, but I am going to run through a short list of moves I think need to be made:

A) Bring back Brian Cashman. He has a plan that needs to be carried out for a while longer—he has put the organizational onus on drafting the best players available and being willing to overpay them, thus stocking the farm system for the first time in a long time. It has not been all sunshine and roses (See: Expectations for Hughes and Kennedy in 2008), but there is still so much talent in the organization. It should be Cashman who decides which of those guys to keep and which of those guys to move, and he should be given the chance to use all the pieces he picked to put together a championship. Sign him to a 3 year deal, and if he hasn’t produced a winner by year 2, maybe he doesn’t live to see year 3.

B) Say goodbye to Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, Richie Sexson, Wilson Betemit, Ivan Rodriguez and *gulp* Carl Pavano. These guys are either flat-out free agents, or have team options that should not be picked up (Giambi & Pavano). That’s 20% of the active roster already deleted right there. Out of the group, Abreu is the one that I would consider bringing back, but only if he wanted to take an incentive-laden 2 years guaranteed/3rd and 4th year option deal. On the open market, though, he will certainly get a better offer than that.

C) Offer a ton of money to CC Sabathia to return to the American League, not drift further west towards his Oakland hometown. Out of all the other “marquee” free agents (Mark Teixeira, Ben Sheets, Adam Dunn for sure, guys like AJ Burnett and Rich Harden have options), Sabathia is the best fit for the Yankees. Much debate revolves around replacing Giambi with Teixeira, but he will demand a long (7 year) contract for money that supposes that he’s on the level with Albert Pujols or other elite-type first basemen, which he isn’t. Plus, there are enough position players on this team under long-term contracts, and adding another extremely long deal to the mix removes any of the gained financial flexibility from the departures of those 5 players I mentioned earlier.

D) Try to fill the voids created at first base and in the outfield through trades and potentially low-key free agent signings. This is where Brian Cashman can get really creative. The team has stockpiled a lot of prospects since the organizational philosophy shifted in 2005—this is probably the best offseason to start exchanging trading chips for major league talent. You have to go out there and scour the Earth to see if there is a first basemen that is not aging, has athletic ability, is a decent situational hitter and can play good defense. The philosophy shouldn’t be, “We need a new power threat who can mash 30 HRs!”. It should be, “We need to find the best baseball player available at this position, who fits our needs both financially and on the field”. First base has to be the priority in terms of trades, but if a deal came along for an outfielder who fit that previously mentioned profile, AND has experience playing CF, I would hope that Cash would jump at that.

E) This last point kind of goes along with Point D. Decide the fate of the hideously obnoxious tandem of Melky and Robbie by asking some tough questions. Cano is going to end up having his worst full year in the majors, and he has looked God awful while doing it, but we’ll talk about his buddy in CF first

Melky has become an abomination at the dish, and is quickly losing playing time to Johnny Damon and Justin Christian. His value is much lower than it was during the offseason last year, but he is still only 24. Do you try and deal him in any trade you want to make to fill other voids left by Abreu and Giambi? And if you do, are you signing a stopgap to replace him, or giving Brett Gardner a chance to win the job in Spring Training, or what? And if Melky is still around, you absolutely have to tell him that he must earn any playing time he’s going to get in 2009. He didn’t have any competition for the job this year, and it burned them in the end because it seems like he now takes his job for granted.

As for Cano, the Yankees have to decide if he is their best option as a second baseman for the next 3 years. They have to recognize that other teams would want Cano due to his previous success, age, and cost-controlled nature, on top of a lot of raw talent that teams would think they could tap in to. All those things combined, Cano is the commodity that would land the Yankees the biggest return of talent if traded. If you can land a difference-making offensive player, or if you miss on Sabathia but there is another bigtime pitcher available, you have to consider trading Cano.

All these things considered, it will certainly be an interesting offseason in the Bronx this fall.