The Yankees haven’t won a playoff game since 2012.
The Red Sox have finished last in the AL East in back-to-back seasons, the first consecutive cellar-dweller finishes since 1929 and 1930.
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These former beasts of the East have been mostly afterthoughts when the playoffs have arrived. Sure, the Yankees limped into an AL wild-card spot with 87 wins in 2015, but nobody expected them to do anything in October. And they didn’t — they were shut out at home by Astros’ ace Dallas Keuchel in the least surprising result of the entire postseason.
It’s quite the turn of events, considering that, from 1995-2013, those two franchises combined for 27 playoff appearances and eight World Series titles.
But we’re not here to talk about the past.
The question is, what are the Yankees and Red Sox going to do to reverse this downturn? The status quo isn’t acceptable. At least, it shouldn’t be.
The Yankees have already been active on the trade market, augmenting their outfield depth by dealing for Minnesota’s Aaron Hicks. He’ll be a fourth outfielder (for now), behind Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran (and his achy knees).
The Red Sox, of course, have already made their first move, too. They sent four prospects to the Padres — with a couple potential future stars in that mix — for closer Craig Kimbrel, who has two years and a club option left on his contract.
And here’s the thing, though: Getting a closer wasn’t their most pressing need of the offseason. It was on the list, but not at the top. That’s how committed they are to getting out of the division basement in 2016.
So what else is on the list?
The Red Sox have been pretty up-front about their desire to land a true rotation ace. New decision-maker Dave Dombrowski has long been an advocate of this theory — of course, it worked out well that he had Justin Verlander leading his Detroit staff for years — and that won’t change in Boston.
The Red Sox have plenty of rotation options. That’s not the issue. They’re not in the market for a Mike Leake or Yovani Gallardo (and that’s not a knock on either of those pitchers; both are solid second-tier free agents who would improve many rotations).
They’ll go hard after the biggest names. The question is, will they be able to convince David Price or Zack Greinke to take their duck boats full of money?
They'll also consider dealing outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr., a former first-round pick who's been an enigma during his time with the franchise.
Bradley’s an elite defensive outfielder who’s produced a .294 average and .851 OPS, with 30 homers and 35 stolen bases in 303 career minor-league games, but just a .213 average and .638 OPS in 238 major-league games. Still, he finally showed the ability to produce a bit in the majors in 2015, batting .446 with a 1.441 OPS in a 25-game stretch in August and September. And sure, that’s a very small sample size, but it’s the kind of sample size that could interest teams looking for an outfielder.
What exactly they’d get in return is a question — before the Kimbrel deal, it was speculated that they were looking for relief help — but Bradley has the type of talent (and cost-control) that could lead to intriguing offers the Red Sox will certainly listen to.
In New York, the Yankees could deal closer Andrew Miller. That’s the rumor spinning the mill at the moment. It’s not because Miller has failed as the ninth-inning guy after the Yankees gave him a four-year, $36 million deal last offseason.
They could deal him for the opposite reason, actually.
Miller was outstanding for the Yankees in 2015 — he struck out 100 and allowed just 33 hits in 61 2/3 innings, while converting 36 of 38 save opportunities. But they have a capable replacement in-house; setup man Delin Betances struck out 131 in 84 innings, and his career ERA (in 152 big-league games) is a stingy 1.78.
And because the free-agent market for relief pitchers is thin, now might be the time to deal Miller to a team looking to mimic the World Series-champion Royals’ philosophy of building around a rock-solid back-end-of-the-bullpen.
And now that they have Hicks in the mix, they could try and deal Gardner, who turned 32 in August. He’s under contract through 2018, with a club option for 2019, for what’s an incredibly reasonable guarantee ($36 million). That would be an attractive number for any contender looking for a veteran outfielder.
So why would the Yankees want to deal Miller and Gardner? They have to get younger, and more athletic all over the diamond. That’s a priority.
Check this out: The average age for Yankees hitters in 2015 was 31.2 years old—no other team was higher than 29.5.
To get premium younger, more athletic players, they’ll have to deal premium veteran players, like Miller and Gardner, because three more years like the past three years just won’t be acceptable.
