Tracking the Yankees 2020 Payroll

It is probably a good thing that I married an accountant, otherwise these posts would be pretty damn hard to keep up with. I admit it, math was never my favorite or my strongest subject, my only B’s ever in High School were in math, but something just seems to click for me when it comes to tracking the Yankees payroll. I can’t explain it, but it has always interested me, which is weird for a fan who grew up in the George Steinbrenner era of completely disregarding the payroll altogether. All salaries and information here are for informational purposes only, and all credit goes to Baseball Reference, MLB Trade Rumors and Spotrac. Big shout out to those guys and girls over there, thank you! I will try to keep this updated as much as I can throughout the offseason, but no promises.

2020 Guaranteed Contracts

As you can see, the New York Yankees have a huge chunk of money already ties up to these 10 key players going forward. If the Yankees are serious about making a run at a free agent starting pitcher like Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg, or even a Zack Wheeler, some of this salary is going to have to come off the books. Stanton has a no-trade clause and has shown zero indication that he wants to play anywhere else, sorry to some of the “fans” out there that want him traded, while New York is stuck with Ellsbury for at least one more season leaving very few options as far as trades go. The only name that pops out to me is a name I have already mentioned trading lately, Happ. New York may have to eat some of that salary to move him for lower level prospects, but the ends may justify the means if they can turn his saved $10 - $12 million into the ace that the team so desperately needs. It is also worth mentioning that New York is very likely to recoup most of the money owed to Hicks and probably all of the money owed to Ellsbury through insurance in 2020, but they will not factor that into their decision making or payroll spending if history is any indicator of the future.

Running Tally: $153,000,000

MLB Trade Rumors Arbitration Predictions

We as a fan base have been talking about this forever and the New York Yankees will get their first real dose of it here in 2020. The thing about building a young core of players it that eventually those players are all going to want to get paid. Now, the Yankees have worked out extensions with Severino and Hicks last offseason and could do the same with a few key names on the list above this offseason, but until that happens, we can only watch and wait. The Yankees won’t announce the real arbitration numbers for a couple months now, so for now we can only go by what MLB Trade Rumors predicts. MLB Trade Rumors has a great track record of getting pretty damn close on the vast majority of their predictions, so I take these numbers as a great indicator of what we will actually see later on in the offseason.

Running Tally: $189,800,000

2020 League Minimum Salaries ($555K?)

This one was a bit harder to calculate only because, as of the time of this writing anyway, we do not have concrete numbers on the league’s minimum salary for the 2020 season. For now, I have used the 2019 league minimum salary of $555,000, but except this number to go up. When it does, we will update our sheet and our post accordingly. For not, the verbiage in the collective bargaining agreement had the 2019 salary at $555,000 with “cost of living increases” for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Those are yet to be determined, so stay tuned for those.

By my unofficial count, the Yankees 40-man roster currently sits at 37… so three more salaries, even at league minimum, will be added to this list.

Running Tally: $198,675,000

2020 Deferred Salaries

Alex Rodriguez - $5,000,000

Why in the world are the Yankees STILL paying Alex Rodriguez $5 million a season? I just don’t have the answer to that. I mean, I do. That is what they agreed to do in order to make him go away, but it just seems foolish to still be paying the guy who hasn’t been on the field for the team in a number of seasons. Oh well, any excuse to put a picture of Jennifer Lopez on the site is a good thing in my opinion.

Running Tally: $203,675,000

2020 Competitive Balance Tax Totals

Competitive Balance Tax Threshold: $208,000,000

Yankees 2020 Total AAV/Payroll: 203,675,000

Estimated Player Benefits: $15,000,000

Estimated Minor League Contracts: $2,500,000

Current Projected Payroll: $221,175,000

Competitive Balance Tax Space: -$13,175,000

The New York Yankees are already an estimated $13.175 million over the luxury tax threshold before they even really open their doors to the offseason. The Yankees are $13.175 million over the luxury tax before they potentially bring back Brett Gardner to man center field while Aaron Hicks is out and they are $13.175 million over the cap before they potentially bring back some of their own like Didi Gregorius, Austin Romine or Dellin Betances. The Yankees are well above the cap before they even entertain the idea of inviting one of the top starting pitchers to the Bronx to tour the Stadium and all its glory. The Yankees are well above the cap before the GM Meetings or the Winter Meetings. If you are a fan of this team and you are expecting the Yankees to be major players in the offseason, you may want to temper your expectations. New York may make a move or a splash, they have a long way to go before hitting the highest tax bracket and penalty outlined by the CBA, but to the fans that are thinking that the Yankees may get both Cole and Strasburg, or one of them and third baseman Anthony Rendon… think again.

All-Star Game Snubs: The Offense Edition

Widespread change has come to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in 2017 including a reduction of roster size from 34 players to 32 players and the elimination of the game determining home-field advantage in the 2017 World Series. With the changes and the reduced number of players attending the game and representing their team and their league the amount of snubs that undoubtedly happen every season are up. Here are a few of the snubs I feel should have made the game, if I missed any or if you disagree please leave them below in the comments section. Thank you.

Kris Bryant was thought to be a shoe-in at the beginning of the season for an All-Star selection one would think, even if he was deserving it or not. The Chicago Cubs fans came out in droves last season electing seven of their own including the entire infield at the 2016 All-Star Game but this season despite strong numbers Bryant was not voted or selected to the All-Star Game. At the time the vote was announced Bryant had an OPS of .901 with 16 home runs and 53 walks. Third base is a stacked position for the NL right now but wow, leaving Kris Bryant off is a tough pill to swallow for me.

Another National League third baseman that, as of the time of the roster announcements anyway, won’t be making the trip to Miami for the 2017 All-Star Game is the Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon. Rendon has a higher OPS than Bryant at .951 and has posted a 3.7 WAR already this season which leads qualified third baseman in the National League. Rendon is also Top 5 in major statistics like RBI, home runs, hits and runs.

A final National League third baseman that won’t be making the trip to Miami as of the time of the roster announcements over the weekend is the Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner. Turner’s biggest issue this season is the fact that at the time of the roster announcements the right-hander was not qualified for the National League batting title after having just 212 at-bats. If Turner were to qualify for the batting title, and assuming health he easily should, Turner would lead all NL third baseman with a 1.029 OPS and a .381 batting average.

*All three of Rendon, Bryant and Turner are on the final vote ballot just as an FYI so conceivably one, or all three, can still make the game.

One final third baseman, I promise, that I believe got snubbed comes from the American League this time and the Kansas City Royals, Mike Moustakas. Moustakas led all AL third baseman at the time of the roster announcement with 22 home runs which puts the right-hander on pace to hit more home runs in a single season than any player in Kansas City Royals history. More than George Brett, too much pine tar and all. More than anyone. Moustakas also had 78 hits and a .853 OPS at the time of the announcement which were both third best among AL third baseman this season.

Robinson Cano was leading all American League second baseman with 60 RBI and 17 home runs at the time of the roster announcement but that was not good enough to be named to the American League’s roster, not even as a reserve. Cano is having a Cano-esque season as he hasn’t been striking out, has been taking his walks, has hit for power and extra-base hits and has played a smooth second base defensively all season long. I’m not quite sure I get this one, but okay.

What if I told you that Andrelton Simmons had the second highest WAR among all American League shortstops at the time the 2017 All-Star Game rosters were announced behind only the starter for the Houston Astros, Carlos Correa. Would you believe that? Well believe it because his 3.5 WAR thus far this season makes it true. Simmons is a defensive wizard and has been an on-base machine this season but the big names of Correa, Francisco Lindor and AL Final Vote candidate Didi Gregorius will continue to outshine Simmons at least for now.

The final offensive snub of the 2017 may be Logan Morrison of the Tampa Bay Rays. Morrison is currently leading all of the American League first baseman in WAR with a 2.7 WAR. Morrison is also leading all AL first baseman in walks (47), home runs (24) and RBI (57) leading many to wonder why he wasn’t added to the roster. This one was a real head scratcher in my opinion and possibly the biggest of all the snubs.

The Ultimate “Get Greedy” Team

If money were no object and we were playing the game like we sometimes play on Playstation what team would you put together if you could? I’m talking about a team of All Star’s from both leagues making up a 25 man roster, a true fantasy draft. I’m bored, this offseason is truly getting to me, so I compiled my own list and frankly, I don’t think this team loses a game. That may be in part to the watered down rosters of the rest of the teams but what can you do. What’s yours? Leave it in the comments box.

Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt has to be the first baseman on this team and I don’t even think it’s all that close. Sure I could make the case for Jose Abreu, and I probably should have given him more thought, but I just really like what Goldschmidt brings to the table in a full and healthy season. My second baseman, after a long consideration, has to go to Robinson Cano even with seemingly dwindling power numbers and a broken toe in Seattle. My shortstop is Troy Tulowitzki, injury history and bad hip and all, because he is far and away the best shortstop. Even with him playing a half a season he is still accumulating more WAR then most, sometimes all, shortstops who play 162 games and something can be said about that. My infield is closed out with the Toronto Blue Jay’s newest toy Josh Donaldson who is probably the best third baseman in the league right now. No disrespect to Pablo Sandoval or any of the others but Donaldson’s numbers in a very pitching friendly Oakland Coliseum truly scare me as a Yankees fan with him now in Toronto. Finally I need a catcher and there are more than a few I could have chosen here including the Yankees own Brian McCann but I think I will have to go with a former Yankee for the spot, and a current Toronto Blue Jay, in Russell Martin to finish out the offense.

Starting with the obvious players I go to my outfield where I have Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, and Andrew McCutchen. I don’t think anyone can make a case for any of these three leaving the starting outfield and moving to the bench, not even Carlos Gomez who I probably place on my bench after a strong 2014 season. My DH has to go to Nelson Cruz right now after leading all of baseball with 40 home runs in 2014 narrowly edging out, in my mind anyway, Victor Martinez and David Ortiz. Joining Gomez and Cruz on the bench has to be Jose Altuve after narrowly missing out on the starting second base job to Cano after winning a batting title with the Houston Astros. I personally want a true backup first baseman on the team which leaves me with Abreu from the Chicago White Sox. I finish my bench off with someone who may not be the sexy name you’re looking for but someone who can play all over the diamond and that man in Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals. Rendon makes my team over Miguel Cabrera and others for the simple fact that I can move him everywhere around the field and not sacrifice defense anywhere. I’m building a team, not a Home Run Derby.

Pitching begins and ends with Clayton Kershaw, it just has to, with the likes of Felix Hernandez, Madison Bumgarner, Max Scherzer and Chris Sale finishing out the rotation. Craig Kimbrel highlights the back end of my bullpen while Adam Wainwright and Corey Kluber join my pen as long relievers and David Robertson, Andrew Miller (homer pick), Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances finish out the pitching. Nobody is touching this starting staff, no one is touching this bullpen and no one is keeping this lineup down consistently for 27 outs, nobody. 

Brendan Ryan to Washington Nationals for Anything

The New York Yankees once again have an opportunity to get younger, better and more versatile this offseason and all they have to do is trade away Brendan Ryan. Sounds easy enough right, the guy can play all over the infield extremely well and has a modest salary. While Ryan comes with obvious offensive question marks there are certain teams out there that could afford to survive with a defense first (only) second baseman, the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals do not seem very comfortable with handing the second base job to Danny Espinosa and the team would rather have the likes of Anthony Rendon at third base and Ryan Zimmerman at second base. I don’t pretend to be an expert in the Washington farm system but a quick google search and some research tells me that their best prospects who could take over the position spent the 2014 season in High-A ball and are probably two years or more away.

If the Nationals would take Ryan and his salary for essentially a throw in player, probably a big pitcher that we can drool over that’s in A Ball, New York could make room for Jose Pirela on the bench. If Didi Gregorius were to struggle the recently signed Stephen Drew could serve as the backup while Pirela could serve as the backup at second, his most natural position anyway. It is also worth mentioning that Pirela played every position in the minor leagues except for pitcher and catcher so it would not be out of the realm of possibilities to plug him in at short, or anywhere for that matter, in a pinch.

With this trade the Yankees save a couple million bucks, they get younger, they give a shot to one of their own and ultimately I think the team gets better. This trade seems to fit the mold of everything Brian Cashman has been trying to do this offseason, doesn’t it? 

Also, as an FYI, if you want to remove the words "Washington Nationals" and replace them with the words "New York Mets" that works also.