Winter Meetings Wrap Up

by James Vlietstra

December 13, 2023

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We haven't yet summarized all of the goings on in one post, so I'll provide a quick overview here as well as some thoughts on the Yankees moving forward.

The New York Yankees had an extremely active winter meetings. 15 players have departed from the organization and 6 have been added. This also sets them up for a plethora of other transactions, some of which may take place before this article is posted. 

The biggest deal that was finalized was the 5 for 2 trade with the San Diego Padres. Outfielders Juan Soto and Trent Grisham came to New York in exchange for Michael King, Kyle Higashioka, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, and Drew Thorpe. MLB Trade Values said that this was a huge overpay. I tend to agree with them as a player making $33M for one year of control would realistically only have 3-4 potential suitors to begin with, however to get a generational talent, you have to make this trade, even if it hurts.   The Yankees were dealing from a point of depth. 

There has only been 23 MLB players in history with an Adjusted OPS+ of 157 or higher. With the addition of Juan Soto (157) the Yankees will two of them batting back to back as Aaron Judge (164) is fully healthy and ready to go for 2024.  This will be their best 1-2 combination since the days of Ruth and Gehrig almost 90 years ago. I actually expect them to benefit from each other’s protection. 

Prior to the Padres deal, the Yankees and Red Sox made a rare trade. The Yankees acquired Alex Verdugo for Greg Weissert, Richard Fitts, and Nicholas Judice. This trade to me is a bit of a head scratcher. With the Padres deal, Grisham would be the center fielder and Soto and Judge would plank him. Cabrera, Florial and possibly Pereira could be the 4th outfielder and Stanton could see some time in the field. However, with Verdugo in a corner, Judge is forced to center, which he can play capably, but more is required out of his body. This now moves Grisham to the back up outfielder. Which relegates Pereira back to the minors, Cabrera a super utility player, and Florial, who is out of options, to the DFA assuming everyone makes it through spring training healthy. 

At the conclusion of the meetings, the Rule 5 draft is held. This year, the Yankees lost three pitchers in the MLB phase, including their former second round pick, and an additional four more in the minor league portion. The Yankees selected two players in the minor league portion. They also signed Dennis Schmidt as a minor league free agent. 

THe Yankees then made a deal with the Dodgers - Trey Sweeney went to LA for some bullpen help and a prospect.

On Monday, the Yankees sent a contingent to California to meet with Yamamoto, the prized Japanese pitcher. Included in this group was Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, Masahiro Tanaka, and Hideki Matsui. A contract with him may exceed $300M.

Even if they do sign Yamamoto, the Yankees are in desperate need of more pitching. They have lost 68 games started from 2023 with the absence of these seven players: German (19), Severino (18), Brito (13), King (9), Vasquez (5), Weaver (3), and Cordero (1).  In addition, Mitch Spence (Rule 5)  and Richard Fitts (trade) had the most starts for AAA and AA respectively and are both gone, as is Drew Thorpe, second in Hi-A. From within the organization, some options to get starts are Will Warren, Yoendrys Gomez, Clayton Beeter, and Chase Hampton. 

Another spot to expect some sort of movement is the amount of catchers on the 40 man roster. Even after the trade of Higashioka, they have five. Typically they have around three. If Austin Wells is ready for the starter’s job, Jose Trevino or Ben Rortvedt could be on the move. 

There’s also been speculation that Oswald Peraza or Gleyber Torres could be on the move, but I could also see a scenario in which Anthony Rizzo, Torres, Anthony Volpe, and Peraza are the starters counter clockwise around the diamond with LeMahieu giving each some regular time off, using him as they originally wanted five years ago. This would help keep everyone fresh and with the addition of Soto, everyone should see better pitches to hit and improved stats. 

The Yankees have only won one World Series in the past 22 years and I believe that ownership is prepared to spend as needed to give them the best opportunity to supply them with the best players available to make a deep run in the playoffs. Their farm system has been developing lots of impact players and they are being used to improve the big league roster. 

I believe they are far from the team that breaks camp at the end of spring training and I am excited for the upgrades that they are making.