Shohei Otani Is The Greatest Luxury

Shohei Otani is a luxury. However, he's not like every other luxury I've talked about.

See, normally, when I talk about a "luxury" I'm referring to somebody that would be nice for the Yankees to have, but the cost of acquiring said "luxury" may very well be too much. Take for example Bryce Harper...

How great would it be for the Yankees' outfield in 2019 to consist of Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, and Bryce Harper? Just imagine a lineup with those three players, along with Gleyber Torres, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, and Miguel Andujar. Let's just see something....

1. Gleyber Torres
2. Aaron Judge
3. Bryce Harper
4. Gary Sanchez
5. Didi Gregorius
6. Greg Bird
7. Clint Frazier
8. Miguel Andujar
9. Aaron Hicks

When writing that lineup something popped out to me, but I'll talk about that later.

Like I was saying, as great as that lineup would be, adding Bryce Harper to it is not going to be cheap. We're talking about a guy who's next contract will be around $450 million. What makes him a "luxury" is the fact is he may not be necessary for the Yankees to win. Take Harper out of that lineup and you have this...

1. Gleyber Torres
2. Aaron Judge
3. Gary Sanchez
4. Didi Gregorius
5. Greg Bird
6. Clint Frazier
7. Miguel Andujar
8. Aaron Hicks
9. ???

That's still a very good lineup. Compared to this past season's lineup, which if you don't remember was pretty good, all I've done is replace Starlin Castro with Gleyber Torres, Brett Gardner with Clint Frazier, and Chase Headley/Todd Frazier with Miguel Andjuar. And that's without knowing who would DH, or rotate with others in that spot.

Getting back to Shohei Otani, though, let's see what a starting rotation would look like with him...

1. Luis Severino
2. Sonny Gray
3. Masahiro Tanaka
4. Shohei Otani
5. Jordan Montgomery

That's ridiculous. That rotation doesn't need a top ten offense to support it, let alone a top three offense. Even without Otani, and assuming the Yankees would simply bring back CC Sabathia, we'd have this...

1. Luis Severino
2. Sonny Gray
3. Masahiro Tanaka
4. CC Sabathia
5. Jordan Montgomery

Even without Otani, or heck... Sabathia, on board many people are saying the Yankees' rotation is championship caliber. That's why I say Shohei Otani is a "luxury", and not a "necessity". But here's what makes Shohei a totally different type of "luxury"... money.

This may be the only time in the history of baseball that a team can add such a great player, or at least a top prospect, without giving up much of anything. Even with the posting fee the Yankees will likely only have to pay in the neighborhood of $22.5 million to have Otani on their team in 2018. You're not going to get anyone like Otani in free agency for that little, nor are you going to be able to acquire a guy like Otani in a trade without giving up a nice package of players and/or prospects.

Oh... lol. While they would have to shell out about $22.5 million, since Otani's contract would be a minor-league deal that $2.5 million outside of the posting fee would simply be a bonus, like those given to players in the amateur draft. The Luxury Tax hit for the Yankees would be the league minimum.

The funny thing is that I haven't even talked about what he could do for the offense.

In short, Shohei Otani is going to be the cheapest luxury in the history of Major League Baseball. Maybe in all of sports.

Thankfully, I believe the Yankees will do everything they can to get Otani. And anyone that doesn't think they should is, without a doubt, out of their minds.

I'm Not Necessarily Looking Forward To Harper In Pinstripes

Who wouldn't want Bryce Harper on their team?

"You know you want me."

Since 2000 there have only been ten times in which a player has finished the season with an OPS+ of 190 or higher, and four of those times were by the same player (his name rhymes with "Hairy Ponds"). Bryce Harper not only had an OPS+ of 198 in 2015, but he did that at just 22 years old.

Do you know what I was doing at age 22?

Neither do I, to be honest. But I guaran-damn-tee you it wasn't nearly as impressive as what Harper did.

You might want me to bring up what Bryce did last season. Okay... he had an OPS+ of 116. Not bad, but not nearly as incredible as his previous season. On that note, you may point out his OPS+ of 111 in 2014. But let me remind you of something...

He's only 24!

However, I couldn't help but think... What if the Yankees don't have to spend upwards of $500 million on the guy?

Aaron Judge may be a MLB mainstay starting this season. Clint Frazier looks to be a future star, who could debut as soon as this season. Blake Rutherford is ranked as the 37th best prospect in baseball by MLB.com. Dustin Fowler is getting a bit of love from various prospect experts. And Billy McKinney is getting some mention too. And that doesn't include the idea that Jorge Mateo (ranked the 47th best prospect in baseball) could be turned into a centerfielder.

That makes three, possibly four, strong candidates for the outfield, along with a couple more possible MLB regulars in the Yankees' future.

Oh, and there's no guarantee that the team will be able to offload Jacoby Ellsbury, either.

The main point here is that the future outfield looks pretty strong. So how about using that money elsewhere?

How about luring Clayton Kershaw away from the west coast, assuming the Dodgers can't re-sign him once he inevitably opts out of his current deal? Perhaps Miguel Andujar flames out leaving the Yankees scrambling to fill third base, and therefore wanting to go hard after Manny Machado?

Or what about signing "Big Game" James Shields!?!?

So much can happen before now and at the end of the 2018 season. And there's a good chance some of the guys I mentioned earlier are used in trades before then. But I have to be honest... it's a little disconcerting that the Yankees may sign somebody for up to 15 years and nearly $500 million.

I mean, long contracts tend to become albatrosses. Heck, we could be dreaming of the end of Bryce's contract as soon as 2025, and that would only be half-way into the deal.