Money's A Luxury, But Time Isn't

Angel Pagan signed a four-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on December 3rd.

BJ Upton signed a five-year contract with te Atlanta Braves on November 28th.

Josh Hamilton signed a six-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on December 12th.

Nick Swisher signed a four-year contract with the Cleveland Indians on December 23rd.

Jose Reyes signed a six-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on December 5th.

Albert Pujols signed a ten-year contact with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on December 8th.

Carl Crawford signed a seven-year contract with the Boston Red Sox on December 11th.

Jason Werth signed a seven-year contract with the Washington Nationals on December 6th.

Adrian Beltre signed a five-year contract with the Texas Rangers on January 5th.

Victor Martinez signed a four-year contract with the Detroit Tigers on November 24th.

Those are ten of the largest contracts given to hitters over the last three offseasons.

I'm getting to the point... stay with me.

The reason I bring up those deals is because of what is going on with Alex Rodriguez. His appeal hearing, regarding the 211-game suspension for alleged PED usage along with other violations of the Joint Drug Agreement, is going longer than expected. The hearings themselves are still going on, and personally I don't see any end in sight thanks to Alex asking the MLB Player's Union to step aside. All of this means a decision may not be handed down until this winter.

While I'd like to see a resolution happen as soon as possible, since I'm pretty impatient, there's another bigger problem at hand.

The Yankees may not want to make any big signings until they know for sure what will happen with Alex. If Rodriguez is suspended for the entire season, then that would free up $27.5 million towards the Luxury Tax. Freeing up that much money would not only allow the team to bring back Robinson Cano, but to also sign somebody like Brian McCann or Shin-Soo Choo.

However, history has shown us that big signings tend to happen before Christmas. So by the time the Yankees know if they'll have more money to spend, thanks to ARod being suspended, it may be too late.

If the Yankees want to make a big signing, such as adding Brian McCann to solidy the catcher position, then they are going to have to take a gamble on ARod's suspension happening.

Maybe that's why Brian Cashman has been saying that the $189 million goal is not a certainty, but simply something the team would like to get to.

We need to get some deals done!