November 17th, 2023: Cashman, Stanton, Volpe, Cole, Beeter, Ramirez, Minor League Free Agents, Mailbag

Things are really quiet this offseason, no? Not just with the Yankees. I mean every team. By this time last offseason Teoscar Hernández had been traded and Anthony Rizzo had re-signed with the Yankees, among other moves. So far this offseason’s major move is Abraham Toro getting traded to the Athletics rather than non-tendered. Even rumors are scarce. Maybe it’s the weak free agent class, maybe everyone is waiting for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get posted, maybe it’s something else. I dunno. I would like something interesting to happen soon though. Here now is today’s post.

1. Cashman vs. Wolfe. I was hoping to avoid this entirely and let it be forgotten like all the other quotes we forget every offseason, but I guess I can not. At the GM Meetings last week, Brian Cashman said Giancarlo Stanton is injury prone and it’s hard to count on him staying on the field next season. Why this became a thing this week and not last week, I do not know.

Here’s what Cashman said (via Gary Phillips):

"We've gotta get Stanton up and running again," Cashman said in Arizona. "He's injury-prone. We all have lived and known that, but he's never not hit when he's playing, and this year is the first time that that's happened."

…

"We try to limit the time he's down," Cashman said. "But I'm not gonna tell you he's gonna play every game next year because he's not. He's going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game. But I know that when he's right and healthy – other than this past year – the guy's a great hitter and has been for a long time."

The “he's going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game” line cuts deep even though it is true. It’s not especially scathing in the context of the full quote. Context doesn’t get clicks though, so that line got passed around by itself earlier this week. Eventually Joel Wolfe, Stanton’s agent, issued a statement. From Ken Rosenthal:

"I read the context of the entire interview. I think it's a good reminder for all free agents considering signing in New York both foreign and domestic that to play for that team you've got to be made of Teflon, both mentally and physically because you can never let your guard down even in the offseason."

The “foreign and domestic” line is notable because Wolfe also represents Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And also Nolan Arenado, Yu Darvish, DJ LeMahieu, Marcus Semien, and many others. Wolfe’s a respected veteran agent with a big client list. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s protecting one client while building as much leverage and putting as much pressure on the Yankees as possible for another.

Wolfe’s job is to get his clients as much money as he can and also advise them on each team in general. How they treat players, the coaching staff, the city, etc. MLB players can call their buddies to get the lowdown. In Yamamoto’s case, he’s essentially starting from scratch in that regard, but Wolfe knows better than to freeze the Yankees out on anything. No agent advises their clients away from the Yankees.

Also, Wolfe didn’t even say anything damning? He said you have to be mentally tough to play in New York. It is not some secret New York can be a difficult place to play. Cashman probably should have skipped the “we know Stanton will get hurt next year” quip and not said the quiet part out loud, but this barely registers on the George Steinbrenner scale when it comes to calling out players on the roster.

Cashman and Casey Close, Derek Jeter’s agent, feuded during contract talks following the 2010 season. Close, like Wolfe, has a large star-studded client list, and the Jeter stuff had no impact when Close represented Masahiro Tanaka a few years later, or countless other players who have since signed with the Yankees. It’s business. They’re not in it to be best buds.

Need another example? The Yankees released Jacoby Ellsbury, a Scott Boras client, in Nov. 2019, and withheld $26M in salary. They claimed he received unauthorized medical treatment, which is a pretty serious accusation. Where was Boras a month later?

What about Aaron Judge? Cashman aired the dirty laundry about the team’s extension offer last Opening Day, which was clearly designed to make Judge look greedy, and the player himself said – repeatedly – he did not appreciate it. When push came to shove, where did Judge wind up? I think Judge has despised Cashman ever since the extension thing, but money has a way of smoothing things over.

If the Yankees offer Yamamoto the most money, he’ll sign with the Yankees, and Cashman and Wolfe will sit together at the press conference and talk about how Yamamoto is ready for the challenge of the demanding New York market. And if the offers are close and he goes elsewhere, then the problem is the sport’s wealthiest team not upping their offer, not what Cashman said about Stanton. All Wolfe did was create leverage so he can get the best offer for his client.

In short: the game is the game. GMs and agents don’t have to like each other, but they do need each other. The players don’t have to like the GM either (see: Michael Jordan and Jerry Krause). Giancarlo’s a big boy. He can handle the criticism. And if he is pissed at Cashman, then go prove him wrong. I don’t think Cashman lobbing a grenade or two into a clubhouse that seems to have grown a bit stale is the end of the world.

2. Awards recap. Awards week is in the books and the Yankees – or, really, Gerrit Cole – walked away with the one award we knew they would. Here’s an awards recap.

Monday: Volpe gets a Rookie of the Year vote

As expected, Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson were named the Rookies of the Year. It is the first time the two Rookies of the Year were unanimous since Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge in 2017. Guardians righty Tanner Bibee was second in the voting, so he gets a full year of service time even though he was not called up until April 26th. Good for him.

Anthony Volpe received one third place vote and it wasn’t even from a New York voter. It came from one of the two Tampa voters. There is an inherent bias in the voting. Just look at how many random players get a stray vote from a reporter in their market. You see the guy play every single day and talk yourself into voting for him. That didn’t happen with Volpe. He got an out-of-town vote.

Anyway, Volpe is the first Yankee to receive a Rookie of the Year vote since Miguel Andújar and Gleyber Torres finished second and third, respectively, behind Shohei Ohtani in the 2018 voting. The Yankees had a four-year Rookie of the Year vote drought after having at least a top two finisher in 2016 (Gary Sánchez), 2017 (Judge), and 2018 (Andújar).

Not much more to say here. The one third place vote is about what I expected Volpe, who did win the AL Gold Glove at shortstop, to get. I analyzed his season a few weeks ago. At this time next year, I hope we’re talking about the jump Volpe made offensively and not hanging our hats on his defense and stolen bases again.

Tuesday: Boone shut out in Manager of the Year voting

For the third time in the last four years, Aaron Boone did not get a single Manager of the Year vote. Brandon Hyde and Skip Schumaker won the awards. Six AL managers and seven NL managers received at least one vote, and eight of the 30 managers received a first place vote. The Manager of the Year voting spread is always interesting. No one seems to know what to base their vote on.

Only four times this century has the Yankees manager failed to get a Manager of the Year vote: Joe Girardi in 2008 and Boone in 2020, 2021, and now 2023. To be clear, I’m not saying Boone deserved votes. I’m saying you don’t have to do much more than show up and spell your name correctly to get Manager of the Year votes, yet three shutouts in the last four years.

And it’s not like the Yankees haven’t been competitive, you know? This season was the first time in Boone’s six years the Yankees missed the postseason. Tougher to get votes because the Yankees are expected to win? Yeah, maybe, but Dave Roberts has gotten Manager of the Year votes literally every season he’s been a manager. Brian Snitker gets votes every year too.

Boone is an unremarkable manager who doesn’t stand out in any way, and I think that’s part of what the Yankees like about him. He’s low maintenance, does what he’s told, etc. Boone is the kinda manager that appeals to the owner and front office but not to Manager of the Year voters, and, ultimately, who cares? It’s Manager of the Year. I’m just sorta in awe of his inability to get Manager of the Year votes. It feels like the manager of every half-decent team gets one.

Wednesday: Cole wins Cy Young unanimously

Cole’s season began with a franchise Opening Day record 11 strikeouts and ended with a two-hit shutout in Toronto. On Wednesday, the exclamation point was added and Cole won the Cy Young unanimously. He received all 30 first place votes – Cole is the 11th unanimous winner in the AL and 25th overall – and was the only pitcher named on all 30 five-man ballots.

“This is a richly deserved award for Gerrit, and I couldn't be happier for him,” Boone said in a statement. “It's not lost on me how fortunate I am to manage such a talented and driven player. Having the opportunity to witness Gerrit's dedication to his craft, to the game, and to his team has been a privilege. He pours so much into this. To see him finally awarded with this honor after years of coming close is incredibly exciting for all of us who share the clubhouse with him.”

Years of coming close is right. Cole received Cy Young votes six times previously, including each of the last five years. His finishes: 4th, 5th, 2nd, 4th, 2nd, 9th, and now 1st. Cole’s five top five finishes are the most ever by a pitcher prior to winning his first Cy Young, according to Yankees Stats. He was the best active pitcher without a Cy Young (was being the operative word there).

Cole is the sixth Yankee to win Cy Young, joining Bob Turley (1958), Whitey Ford (1961), Sparky Lyle (1977), Ron Guidry (1978), and Roger Clemens (2001). Cole and Guidry are the only two to win it unanimously. He’s also the second No. 1 pick to win the Cy Young, joining David Price (2012). By WAR, Cole is already the most successful pitcher taken No. 1 overall in history.

The Yankees had their two best players win the sport’s highest individual honors these last two years. During MLB Network’s Cy Young broadcast Cole mentioned the ultimate goal is winning a World Series. He turned 33 in September and Judge turns 32 in April. These two are likely closer to the end of their prime than the beginning. The Yankees have to get these two help and fast. Congrats, Gerrit. You deserved a better team in 2023.

Over in the NL, Blake Snell won the Cy Young and is the seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues, joining four Hall of Famers (Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Gaylord Perry), one future Hall of Famer (Max Scherzer), and one should-be Hall of Famer (Clemens). For all the talk that the Rays never lose a trade, that Snell trade was a total stinker for them. They got a backup catcher out of it.

Thursday: Cole, Judge get MVP votes

Other than Manager of the Year, the awards were very predictable this year, and Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. were named MVP. Ohtani won the award in 2021, finished second to Judge in 2022, and won it again in 2023. A 62-homer season is all that stood between him and three straight MVPs. Ohtani’s 2021-23 might be the greatest three-year stretch in baseball history:

• As hitter: .277/.379/.585 (157 wRC+) with 124 HR (+14.3 WAR)
• As pitcher: 2.84 ERA (3.23 FIP) with 31.4% strikeouts (+14.2 WAR)

Cole led the Yankees – and all pitchers – in MVP voting. He received a fourth place vote and a fifth place vote (plus down ballot votes) and finished 11th in the voting. Cole is the first Yankees pitcher to get MVP votes since himself in 2021. The last non-Cole Yankees pitcher to get MVP was … any guesses? It was Rafael Soriano in 2012. He got an eighth and ninth place vote.

The only other Yankee to get an MVP vote was Judge. He got one eighth place vote and two ninth place votes, and finished 15th in the voting. The only other Yankee with a chance to get MVP votes was Gleyber Torres, but no dice. Not even a stray tenth place vote. Neither Cole nor Judge was a serious MVP candidate. They finished right where they should have in the voting.

This is the first time the Yankees did not have a player finish in the top four of the MVP voting since 2018. DJ LeMahieu was fourth in 2019 and third in 2020, and Judge was fourth in 2021 and the winner in 2022. And with that, awards season is wrapped up. Cole won the Cy Young he deserved, a few scattered down ballot votes, and that’s it for the Yankees.

3. Latest roster moves. The non-tender deadline is 7pm ET Friday and the Yankees have not yet made any moves, such as trading Kyle Higashioka. A Higashioka trade doesn’t have to happen today though. I have a hard time believing they’ll just non-tender him, so there’s no need to rush into a trade. Other non-tender candidates include Albert Abreu, Jake Bauers, Estevan Florial, Lou Trivino, and Ben Rortvedt if he is indeed out of options. Here now are the latest roster moves.

Yankees add Beeter, Ramirez to 40-man roster

The Yankees added righty Clayton Beeter and catcher Agustin Ramirez to the 40-man roster for Rule 5 Draft protection purposes prior to Tuesday’s deadline. Beeter, who came over in the Joey Gallo trade with the Dodgers, is one of the better pitching prospects in the system and just about MLB ready. He was a slam dunk to be added to the 40-man, which is full heading into the non-tender deadline.

Ramirez surprised me. He didn’t get out of rookie ball until this year and he only has 31 games of Double-A experience (with a 62 wRC+ at the level), plus catchers rarely stick as Rule 5 Draft picks. A full-time catcher hasn’t even been taken in the Rule 5 Draft since Luis Torrens in 2016, and the Padres kept him as an aggressive act of tanking during their down period.

I suppose a rebuilding team (Athletics? Nationals?) could have popped Ramirez and Torrensed him, but eh, I dunno. The most likely outcome is he would have not stuck on an MLB roster all next season and gotten offered back at some point, most likely in Spring Training. The Rule 5 Draft is all pitching these days anyway. Only five hitters among 33 picks the last two years.

The Yankees have a full 40-man roster with plenty of short-term flexibility – they now have six catchers on the 40-man and that’s not gonna last – though that’s not really the issue. The issue is they just tied up a spot on a kid who’s not going to help the MLB team in 2024 (and maybe not in 2025) and was unlikely to get taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Ramirez, 22, slashed .297/.399/.517 (147 wRC+) with 16 home runs and very strong strikeout (16.4%) and walk (14.4%) rates in 83 games between the two Single-A levels before his rough Double-A stint. (His walk rate was 18.5% with the automatic strike zone in Low-A and 6.6% with human umpires in High-A). Here is Baseball America’s midseason scouting report (subs. req’d):

Ramirez is a powerful backstop who posts big-time exit velocities and has done a much better job this season of getting the ball in the air. His present approach is a bit pull-heavy and he can get over-aggressive, especially on spin. He’s a solid receiver with a strong arm but needs to get better at blocking … He has a chance to be an offensive-minded backup catcher.

A pull heavy exit velocity monster who can be overly aggressive on spin? Phew. I was worried the Yankees didn’t have enough hitters like that. For what it’s worth, Ramirez posted a 91.8 mph average exit velocity and 18.4% barrel rate during his 56-game stint with Low-A Tampa. The Low-A averages this season were 85.8 mph and 13.9%, respectively.

Catchers are often late bloomers and again, Ramirez did not get out of rookie ball until this year. The Yankees might have (probably did) add him to the 40-man a year early, but whatever. It’s not going to make or break their 2024 season or anything. Just seemed unnecessary. As for the players the Yankees left exposed to the Rule 5 Draft, here are the notables:

• Catchers: Josh Breaux, Antonio Gomez
• Infielders: Jared Serna, Alex Vargas
• Outfielders: Elijah Dunham, Brandon Lockridge
• Righties: Carson Coleman, Matt Sauer, Mitch Spence
• Lefties: Edgar Barclay

I wouldn’t worry about the position players. Coleman missed this season with elbow surgery and could be a stash candidate. Take him, stash on the injured list while he completes his rehab, and see what he looks like in rehab games. A free trial, almost. Sauer and Spence have had varying degrees of success at the upper levels, which makes them like a few dozen other Rule 5 Draft eligible arms.

Next offseason’s crop of Rule 5 Draft eligibles is potentially a big one: RHP Brendan Beck, IF Caleb Durbin, RHP Richard Fitts, RHP Zach Messinger, C Ben Rice, SS Trey Sweeney, RHP Will Warren, and sleeper RHP Danny Watson will all be eligible. Some of those guys will play themselves out of 40-man roster consideration and others will be traded. We’ll circle back and see what’s what sometime next summer.

Minor league free agents

Eligible minor leaguers officially became free agents last Monday and the Yankees added C Carlos Narvaez to the 40-man roster to keep him. Here, via J.J. Cooper, are the minor leaguers who became free agents last week:

• Catchers: Rodolfo Durán, Hemmanuel Rosario
• Infielders: Jesús Bastidas, Andrés Chaparro, Wilmer Difo, Jake Lamb, Luis Santos, Eduardo Torrealba, Jamie Westbrook
• Outfielders: Michael Hermosillo, Jeisson Rosario
• Righties: Harold Cortijo, Demarcus Evans, Gray Fenter, Zac Houston, Jesús Liranzo, Aaron McGarity, James Norwood, Steven Jennings
• Lefties: none

There are a few journeymen big leaguers in there (Difo, Evans, Lamb) and also several fringy prospects you may or may not have heard of (Cortijo, Santos, Torrealba, the Rosarios). Jennings was a minor league Rule 5 Draft pick two years ago and at one point it seemed things were beginning to click, but nope. Durán could return as an upper level depth catcher again next year.

Chaparro is the biggest name there and he’s internet famous more than an actual prospect. He jumped onto the map with a .289/.369/.594 (158 wRC+) line in 64 Double-A games last year, got passed over in the Rule 5 Draft, and wasn’t good in Triple-A this year: .247/.331/.444 (90 wRC+) with 25 homers, 21.8% strikeouts, and 10.8% walks. Some more numbers:

• Average exit velocity: 89.1 mph (Triple-A average: 87.4 mph)
• Hard-hit rate: 39.8% (Triple-A average: 36.2%)
• Barrel rate: 17.2% (Triple-A average: 17.2%)
• Chase rate: 31.2% (Triple-A average: 27.1%)
• Swinging strike rate: 13.6% (Triple-A average: 12.3%)

For a right-handed hitter whose best position is DH, that’s not going to cut it. You’re going to have to do major damage in Triple-A to get noticed and Chaparro didn’t. He’s closer to a Chris Gittens and Jorge Vazquez type than the next, I dunno, Luke Voit? That’s pretty much the upper limit on this “all bat, no glove right-handed hitter with good but not great power” profile.

The Yankees didn’t have an exciting group of minor league free agents this offseason. No former top prospects or anything like that. They’ll have to replace most of their Triple-A bullpen, though that’s not unlike any other offseason. So there. Those are the Yankees minor leaguers who became free agents last week.

Rodríguez becomes free agent

We can close the book on last year’s Rule 5 Draft losses. Right-hander Zach Greene was taken by the Mets and returned in Spring Training. He missed time with injury and posted a 5.46 ERA (5.72 FIP) in 28 innings with Triple-A Scranton when healthy. Greene is old news.

Righty Wilking Rodríguez, the other guy the Yankees lost in last year’s Rule 5 Draft, missed the season with a shoulder injury, and earlier this week the Cardinals announced he was outrighted off the 40-man roster and elected free agency. This means St. Louis put Rodríguez on waivers, every other team passed, and the Yankees declined to take him back. Now he’s a free agent.

Rodríguez is not the usual Rule 5 Draft fodder, meaning a young kid in a stacked farm system. He is a soon-to-be 34-year-old with previous MLB time (two innings for the 2014 Royals) who the Yankees signed out of the Mexican League last August. Rodríguez never pitched in the system before the season ended, so the Cardinals grabbed him based on their Mexican League looks.

After the Rule 5 Draft last December, Baseball America (subs. req’d) said Rodríguez possesses a “three-pitch mix (that) is heavily driven by his mid-to-high-90s fastball and low-90s cutter.” He then hurt his shoulder in Spring Training and never pitched. It wasn’t some Rule 5 Draft roster manipulation trick. He got hurt and spent 2023 collecting MLB paychecks on the injured list.

Although Rodríguez didn’t pitch during the regular season and wasn’t even in the organization, he did have an impact on the 2023 Yankees. On March 8th, Rodríguez threw the pitch that Harrison Bader swung at and pulled his oblique. Here’s the video. The injury kept Bader out until May 2nd. That’s how 2023 went. Guys lost in the Rule 5 Draft hurt the Yankees while missing the season.

Not sure what the future holds for Rodríguez. Maybe the Yankees will bring him back on a minor league contract and finally get to see him pitch for one of their minor league teams. Either way, Rodríguez’s Rule 5 Draft saga is over. The Cardinals dropped him from their 40-man roster and the Yankees declined to take him back, and now he’s a free agent.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. As expected, the other 29 owners approved the Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas earlier this week. It was unanimous despite concerns about their projected revenues, which are based largely on tourism. The owners’ vote is another step, not the final step. A’s owner John Fisher still needs to come up with financing for his end of the bill and the team needs to find a place to play between 2025-27 (the lease at the Coliseum expires next year and the new stadium won’t be ready until 2028 at the earliest). Things are moving forward though. Baseball’s days in Oakland are numbered … And finally, the Braves have been awarded the 2025 All-Star Game, Rob Manfred announced the other day. The 2024 (Rangers), 2025 (Braves), and 2026 (Phillies) All-Star Games are all accounted for, so the earliest the Yankees can host it again is 2027. I would guess the Cubs (last hosted in 1990) and Orioles (last hosted in 1992) will get one before the Yankees, plus the Athletics (last hosted in 1987) and Rays (never hosted) once their new stadiums get built. So maybe the early 2030s for the new Yankee Stadium?

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Several asked: What’s gotten into Brian Cashman lately?

It’s just the one press conference last week at the GM Meetings. The Giancarlo Stanton stuff didn’t blow up until this week for whatever reason, but the only time Cashman has spoken publicly since the end of the season was at the GM Meetings.

Compared to the other 29 GMs, who all talk like ChatGPT became sentient, Cashman has always been pretty candid. The cursing last week was out of character, but really all Cashman did was defend his front office, which has gotten raked over the coals the last few years. Not undeservedly! But Cashman passionately defended his people, who have taken a lot of criticism. I wouldn’t read anything more into it than that.

Cashman shouldn’t have said what he said about Stanton being injury prone and he shouldn’t have cursed so much either, that made him look unhinged, but he’s not a rogue employee who has gone off the rails. Everything – everything – the Yankees do is calculated. Cashman felt his front office has been unfairly criticized, so he shot back. If this becomes the norm and he talks like this all the time, then it’ll become an issue.

Dan asks: In lieu of pursuing Soto (and his inevitable monster extension) what about engaging the Pirates on Bryan Reynolds? An incredibly team friendly contract for a 29 year old player who fits pretty well. The resources that would be used on a guy like Soto can be applied elsewhere and LF is locked up for the first time since Gardner headed out.

Is it weird that I want Reynolds less now that he’s locked up long-term? I wanted him during his team control years, or through his age 30 season in 2025. Now he’s signed through his age 36 season (to be fair, his salaries are very reasonable) and I’d rather not be on the hook for so many decline years of a good but not truly great player.

Reynolds had the worst 162-game season of his career in 2023, slashing .263/.330/.460 (110 wRC+) with 24 home runs and a career low 8.3% walk rate, and he needed a big August and September (122 wRC+) just to get there. He’s settling in as a 25-ish homer, +3 WAR corner outfielder, which is a good player, but ideally the fourth best player on a contender.

The Pirates locked Reynolds up in Spring Training and his contract includes a six-team no-trade clause (we don’t know the six teams). There is no indication they’re looking to move him, so this is all hypothetical. Here’s what the Trade Values site says:

Yeah, I’d do that. I want Reynolds less now that he’s locked up but that doesn’t mean I don’t want him. I just want him … less. Where else are the Yankees going to get an above-average outfield bat this offseason other than trading for Juan Soto? Cody Bellinger gives me the “he’s gonna lose 60 points of batting average next season” heebie-jeebies.

The Pirates set a crazy high asking price for Reynolds all those years and refused to trade him, and now they have him signed to the richest contract in team history. They’re not going to trade him. At least not yet, less than 12 months after Reynolds signed the extension. I guess that means the Yankees will have to blow the Padres away with an offer for Soto. Oh no!

Bill asks: The Mets stretched out Bobby Bonilla's contract through the end of Malia Obama's second term as president. Would it be possible for the Yankees to stretch the remainder of Stanton's contract for 15–20 years, adjusted for inflation, and then cut him? I know it won't happen, even if allowed under the basic agreement, but a guy can dream, can't he?

To me, too much time is spent LOLMetsing and not enough praising Bonilla for an all-time great finesse move. He turned $5.9M in salary in 2000 into 25 years of deferred payments with 8% interest from 2011-35. The $5.9M grew into $29.8M, and he gets $1.2M per year. (Bonilla also gets $500,000 a year until 2028 through a deferred payment plan with the Orioles.)

As far as I know there’s no reason the Yankees and Stanton couldn’t work out a Bonilla-esque arrangement. The MLBPA will reject anything that lowers the value of Stanton’s contract, but as long as the Yankees are paying interest, that won’t be a problem. This Future Value Calculator tells me that, at 8% annual interest, the $98M remaining on Stanton’s contract will grow to … $671.2M?!? That’s spread out over 25 years. Sheesh.

I have no idea how such a deferred payment plan would work with regards to the luxury tax and I hope I never have to find out. The Mets agreed to Bonilla’s plan because the Wilpons thought they were about to strike it rich with Bernie Madoff. The Yankees make so much money these days. Just pay out the $98M over the next four years and be done with it.

Jon asks: Statcast ranks Yankee Stadium as the fourth-hardest place to hit from the left side. Why would that be? Is that because the Yankees lefties were, well, "bad" hitters generally?

Statcast has the best publicly available park factors because they’re adjusted for handedness, elevation, the pitcher, the hitter, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The Yankees having bad left-handed hitters doesn’t change the Yankee Stadium park factor. The quality of the hitter (and pitcher and defense) is baked into the cake.

From 2021-23, Yankee Stadium had a 96 park factor for left-handed hitters, meaning it was 4% worse than league average for lefties. Here are the individual components:

• Singles: 83
• Doubles: 85
• Triples: 45
• Home runs: 123

Yankee Stadium is a great place for lefties to hit home runs (23% better than average) and a bad place for lefties to hit anything else. It’s a bit more balanced for right-handed hitters (95 singles, 85 doubles, 47 triples, 113 homers) but still imbalanced overall.

The short porch giveth and the short porch taketh. For every pop up that sneaks over the fence for a homer, there’s a low line drive caught by the right fielder (like this) who is playing shallower than he would in a larger right field, or a liner off the wall in which a would-be double becomes a single (like this) because the right fielder can retrieve it so quickly.

Every ballpark is unique, it’s one of the best things about baseball, and the Yankees have a home ballpark that promotes homers and suppresses everything else. The Yankees have won in their current stadium and they can win in it again. I don’t think the ballpark suppressing singles and doubles and especially triples puts them at a competitive disadvantage.

Stan asks: You mentioned in your CBS Sports post that "New York's single biggest issue right now is so many of their top young position players have come up and not performed." Wondering what percent of that is due to 1) not signing and drafting enough players with the abilities to be solid or better MLB position players, and 2) the way the Yankees train and develop their players (e.g., maybe their methods are able to develop them to max out only as good minor league hitters but not good MLB hitters). I am thinking those are the 2 main factors, but maybe there are others I am missing.

The third factor would be roster management, such as stranding Oswald Peraza in Triple-A for a second straight season despite ample opportunity to play him at third base, and the fourth would be luck. Sometimes your hotshot outfield prospect blows out his elbow and needs Tommy John surgery a week into his MLB career. The game is cruel like that.

We are a long way from the Cito Culver and Dante Bichette Jr. days. The Yankees have done a pretty good job drafting (and signing players internationally) lately. You can always quibble with individual picks, but they have found pretty good players the last 3-4 years. Austin Wells is the catcher version of Eric Jagielo, and the difference in their development is night and day.

Geoff Pontes and Dylan White looked at farm system age-adjusted offensive rankings and the Yankees were second behind the Dodgers this season. Former hitting coach Dillon Lawson recently posted a Twitter thread laying out how much the farm system has improved offensively the last few years, specifically with swing decisions and things like that. There’s a lot of data showing Yankees minor leaguers rake.

But, to paraphrase Billy Beane, if they’re such good hitters, why don’t they hit good? Rookie-eligible Yankees hit .203/.274/.360 (76 wRC+) in 1,003 plate appearances this year (Anthony Volpe took 601 of those 1,003 plate appearances). Yankees rookies were 30th in AVG, 29th in OBP, 18th in SLG, and 21st in wRC+. That minor league success is just that, minor league success. We’re still waiting to see it turn into MLB results.

Could it be as simple as what works in the minors doesn’t work in the Majors? I mean, why can’t it be that simple? The Yankees emphasize exit velocity and the best way to generate exit velocity is by pulling the ball. Minor league pitchers make (many) more mistakes than big leagues and oftentimes are working on things, and not always throwing the best pitch to get the out. It could be the Yankees' offensive approach that yields such great results in the minors doesn’t work against the best pitchers in the world.

Stan asked for percentages so I’ll say it’s 10% talent acquisition (drafting and international free agency), 80% player development, 9% roster construction, and 1% bad luck. Yay? Nay? Am I way off here? Well, how could we possibly know as outsiders? All we know is the Yankees have had great minor league offenses the last few years, but those same young players haven’t hit in the big leagues. Maybe they will soon and this is just an adjustment period. I hope that’s what it is.

Larry asks: If we have to accept that the best team will not always win the World Series, then don't we also just have to accept that Hal's strategy makes business sense: Just pay for a team that's good enough to make the playoffs.  It's all a crapshoot after that anyway.

Larry is following up on a question he sent in last week about whether we’ve reached the point where it’s more prestigious to win the division than the World Series. I said no. You can be proud of winning the division but the ultimate goal is a championship, and we just have to accept the best team doesn’t always win the World Series because the postseason is so big now. So many teams, so many rounds, so many opportunities for things to go sideways.

The Yankees like to use the term “championship-caliber” (though I haven’t heard it once yet this offseason) and, to them, championship-caliber seems to mean a team good enough to get to the postseason each year, and hoping you run into a World Series at some point. That’s fine if you believe the postseason is nothing but a crapshoot, and there’s no way to improve your chances.

I don’t buy that. There will always be some randomness in the postseason, that’s just baseball, but you can overcome randomness with talent to some extent. Have the Astros gone to seven straight ALCSes because the October dice rolls keep going their way? Or do they have the right mix of contact and power on offense, and bat-missing pitchers and good defense, to maximize their chances at positive outcomes, thus swinging the odds in their favor in a short series?

The “be good enough to get to postseason and hope things go your way” strategy the Yankees seem to employ makes business sense, but as fans, we don’t have to worry about the business side of things. The Yankees will be just fine financially. As a fan, I want them to put the best possible team on the field every year. Doing so improves both their odds in October and the viewing experience. Speaking for myself, the strategy is good for the Yankees but bad for me as a fan.

Mike asks: I read somewhere (was trying to find it - maybe you wrote it) that the Padres are required to lower their payroll due to income to debt or income to payout ratio and that the Padres are required to spend even less with their TV deal falling apart with the bankruptcy of Bally Sports. Is that true? Does MLB have rules in place where a small market team is not allowed to spend over what their income is? A rich owner can't just put all the money into a team unless a team can show it'll make a profit, or at least not lose too much? If there is such a rule, can you give us some insight about it? If that's true, there's even more of a reason that the Yankees should leverage their ability to spend even more heavily to take advantage of big market ability that's built into the system.

I am not the best person to ask about finance stuff, so I’ll answer this as best I can. MLB has a debt service rule that requires teams to limit their debt to less than eight times their earnings. The first $100M in debt doesn’t count toward compliance and teams with new stadiums (how new? not sure) have more freedom and can carry up to 12 times as much debt as earnings.

The debt we’re talking about here is not Average Joe debt. Hal Steinbrenner is not putting payroll on his AmEx and carrying debt that way. Teams borrow money, often at very low interest rates, to invest in things that will make them even more money in the future. Renovate the stadium, build a ballpark village, whatever. MLB’s debt service limit is in place to regulate things. It's about the league’s financial health, not competitive balance.

As I understand it, the debt service limit is a guideline more than a hard and fast rule. Teams fall out of compliance all the time, though not so much that MLB has to intervene. If an owner wants to dip into their own pocket to pay for stuff, they’re more than welcome. Owners can spend as much of their own money as they want. The debt service rule covers money borrowed against the team, not the owner personally.

The Yankees, as a team with massive earnings, can carry much more debt than other teams. It is one of their many market advantages and I’m sure they have debt (good debt, the kind that will make them money in the future) up to their eyeballs. The Padres were out of compliance this year, hence the talk about reducing payroll. (Padres owner Peter Seidler passed away Tuesday and I have no idea what that means for the team and their finances moving forward.)

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)