Here’s my stab at a possible lineup for next year:
(h/t to @jon abbey, who does this sort of thing really well in the Yankee Discussion forum)
Betts - CF
Devers - 3B
Bogaerts - SS
Martinez - DH
Puig - RF
Zobrist - 2B
Pollock - LF
Cron - 1B
Casali - C
Bench:
Cervelli, Miller, Lin, Leury Garcia, Marco
Rotation:
Sale, Gray, Rodriguez, DeSclafani, Lopez, Hill (bulk)
Bullpen:
Hernandez, Barnes, Bummer, Stephenson, Kelly, Taylor, Brasier, Brewer
Trades (with Baseball Trade Values values):
- Vazquez (22.9), Workman (5.3) and Houck (4.8) to COL for Jon Gray (36.2)
- Price (-60) to LAD for Pollock (-41.3) and Kelly (-12.7)
- Bradley (2), Hembree (0) and Chavis (17.7) to CIN for DeSclafani (11.1), Stephenson (5.5) and Casali (2.3)
- Eovaldi (-29.5), Dalbec (18.8), and Johnson (0) to MIN for Cron (0)
- Benintendi (35.9), Mata (13.7) and Walden (5.8) to CWS for Lopez (23.1), Bummer (28.6) and Leury Garcia (6.4)
Signings (using Fangraphs crowd projections):
- Puig (3/$39m)
- Hill (1/$9m)
- Zobrist (1/$4m)
- Miller (1/$1m)
- Cervelli (1/$3m)
That team works out to be roughly $202m, using MLBTR projected arb figures).
Notes:
- The Eovaldi deal looks somewhat imbalanced, but I think the Twins do it given their window, their difficulty attracting FA starters, and Eovaldi’s rep as a Yankee killer. Dalbec could also step in at first and mash.
- The Price/Dodgers trade is obviously a very big deal, but I think it’s close enough to be able to work. Pollock grew up near Boston, fwiw, and while they probably want a do over on the Kelly deal, he actually had a very good year.
- The lineup would be pretty right-handed, but I don’t especially care about that. Swapping Miller for Cron could help if necessary. So would swapping in Leury Garcia, who becomes the new Brock Holt.
- Non-tender León, option Travis