Yanks at the Winter Meetings

The Yanks head to the winter tomorrow in a rare position: they are literally loaded in every possibly way for big game.  Sure, they hit the meetings with plenty of dough when player deals have expired, like in 2008 when they grabbed CC and AJ Burnett as well as beginning the romance of Tex, which ended after the meetings.  The only limits they'll have are those they impose on themselves because they have a great chance to stay under the tax zone this year.  And they should be able to do that because they do have some salaried veterans they can market for more room.

That said, they head in with a few needs.  First, a coaching staff.  We haven't heard anyone's for sure other than Rothschild, so they need that. They're also in need of another minor league development personnel guy. On roster side, they could use a serious upgrade at back up Catcher, where the only thing of he has is Stanton's number 27 he can sell if he's still with the team.  They also want another pitcher which could be CC, or it could be another free agent or a trade acquisition.

Other than that, they can listen to all ideas from other teams, since they have trade gold. Either at or just after the GM Meetings the Orioles approached the Yanks about Manny Machado.  They got the sense that the Yanks would rather sign him as a free agent next year, rather than spending good prospects on him this year.  The Orioles see a small trade market for Machado and will try to engage the Yanks again.

Another name they were looking at as a trade target at the deadline was Toronto's Marcus Strohman.  And while I would prefer not to trade for another Sonny Gray type with so many pitchers who might be even better on the way, Strohman is a great kid, as well as a very good pitcher, and I'd far prefer him to another go round with Garret Cole.

And I'd be just as happy if we went into ST with the kind of rotational competition that Jordan Montgomery WON last year.  We have higher upside guys than Jordan who might just be ready -- and not just Christian Parker types. Justus Sheffield looked deeply awesome in the AFL and could be ready.

In any event, it should be a really interesting few days until we get to Painful Thursday, where the evil Rule V draft takes place. We will once again lose the maximum and will need to make more room if we want to pick anyone.

The action should start Monday, but everyone gets there Sunday and more deals start in the lobby and the bar than they do at any meetings.

Let's see what opportunites arise.