Bleeding Yankee Blue: THE YANKEES CHECKED IN ON YU DARVISH

Thursday, December 21, 2017

THE YANKEES CHECKED IN ON YU DARVISH

Photo: LA Times

Not surprising, right? A lot of teams are interested in Yu Darvish and the Yankees are always tied to all of the biggest names. Darvish is no different, but the real question here is HOW interested are the Yankees and is he a realistic gift on the Yankees Christmas wish list?

Pitching wins ball games. You can never have enough pitching. We've all heard that before, and as much as Brian Cashman has improved this team already he's not done yet. Sure the Yankees signed CC Sabathia back but he's out there looking for more pitching. Talks with the Pirates for Gerrit Cole have "cooled off" so Cashman is looking elsewhere and for "creative" solutions.

Darvish is an intriguing option for any team right now. Since he did not play for the Dodgers the entire season they were not able to extend him an qualifying offer. Now whichever team signs Darvish won't have to give up their first round draft pick. The Yankees however have a different concern here....

The Yankees are still determined to get under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold and the addition of Giancarlo Stanton adds payroll. It also gives the Yankees another outfielder and Jacoby Ellsbury's role even more redundant than it was and extra costly.

According to the New York Post HERE "counting signed players, the cost of benefits and insurance and projected arbitration signings, the Yankees are at $172 million. Add in the $15 million or so for salaries for players with zero to three years’ service time and it climbs to $182 million. Then you need to leave money for salaries belonging to players acquired by trades during the season."

Not like we didn't know this before but....Ellsbury's gotta go. He's expensive and not needed. So if the Yankees want to add Darvish AND get under the luxury tax they will need to get creative and find a way to get him to waive his no-trade clause and get another team to take him and a chunk of his salary. It's a big piece of the puzzle, maybe too big?

Darvish is going to get a multi-year deal worth between 20-25 million a year. Even though he struggled in the World Series he's a big fish in a small pitching pool so he will be in high demand. Someone is going to pay for him so getting him at a discounted price is not likely.

Photo: William Perlman, The Star Ledger via USA TODAY Sports

We've already said that Cashman is a genius. Now if he can figure out a way to get Ellsbury to waive his full trade clause, get a team to eat some of his salary, sign Darvish and get under the luxury tax then there would be no doubt about it.

Maybe Cashman can pull off another miracle.....if anything else develops with Darvish you know we'll have it here for you.