It was reported yesterday that the Yankees are right-handed Frankie Montas will require shoulder surgery that will keep him out of action for most if not all of the upcoming season. That led to some speculation that the club might try to finalize a swap for a replacement, but SNY’s Andy Martino reports that no serious consideration of a swap has taken place and that the club will instead be turning to internal substitutes such as Domingo German And Clark Smith.
According to Martino’s account, there are a few reasons why the club is leaning in this direction. One factor is that even without Montas, they still have a strong front four, which is certainly true. Gerrit Kohl And Carlos Rodon would be up for debate for the best brace of any rotation in the league, while Luis Severino And Nestor Cortes offer the club solid options for the next two slots.
That leaves the club in good shape on paper, although another injury could quickly change that perception. Cortes is already injured and dealing with a hamstring strain that prompted him to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic, though he’s expected to be ready to walk around Opening Day. Severino barely served in the 2019-2021 season due to various injuries but managed to make 19 starts last year despite still making an excursion onto the 60-day injured list due to a lat strain. Rodón has been largely healthy for the past two years but has previously had lengthy layoffs through injury, barely playing in 2019 or 2020.
By sticking with what they already have in the squad, the club shows great faith in this group to remain healthy and believes in Germán and Schmidt. The former posted a 3.61 ERA in 72 1/3 innings last year, with a strong 6.4% walk rate but a below-average strikeout rate of 19.5%. Schmidt had a 3.12 ERA in 57 2/3 innings with a 9.7% walk rate and a 23.7% strikeout rate.
While belief in its players is one factor, Martino adds that the second factor is the club’s reluctance to break the latest luxury tax threshold, something that has been mentioned in previous reports. Her current competitive balance sheet tax number is $292.48 million, according to Roster Resource calculations, just a hair’s breadth short of the $293 million mark. Exceeding this would result in higher tax rates, but no further penalties related to draft picks or anything like that.
It doesn’t seem like there’s absolutely no scenario in which the Americans would cross that line. Martino reports that they discussed Carlo Carrasco with the Mets this offseason. However, at that point it seemed like the latter club would sign Carlo Correa and they wanted to pull some salary off their books, like the $14 million owed to Carrasco this year. Martino’s report shows Carrasco was unavailable after the Correa deal fell through and he signed with the twins.
Another avenue the club considered was Michael Wacha, as reported by The New York Post’s Joel Sherman, the Yankees checked in on him. However, he is now off the board after signing with the Padres this week.
It seems the team has some willingness to add another player given the right circumstances, but the desire to do so doesn’t seem very great. Free agency still offers people like Dylan Bundy And Chris Archerwhile the trading market theoretically would have Chris Flexen And Adrian Hauser on the block. It’s said that a phone call can change things quickly, but it seems the team plans to lean on players who are already in the organization.
A path that is not without risk as the club has declined from its initial depth in recent years. like jars Roansy Contreras, Jordan Montgomery, Hayden Wesneski, JP Sears And Ken Waldichuk and others have been dealt out in the last few seasons. The group remaining on the roster are strong for now, but general manager Brian Cashman is aware the depth is shakier than usual. “We have a strong front line and then obviously the next wave isn’t as strong as it has been in the past,” Cashman told Sherman. “We need what we have right now to stay active and over time some alternative depth options may present themselves.” As they prepare for another fight in the cutthroat AL East, time will tell if they get the pieces have to repeat as division champion.