What to think of the Yankees’ off season so far?

The Yankees signed Chris Capuano to a one year deal, yesterday.

I know that the Bronx Bombers are in desperate need of a starting pitcher, but I cannot imagine that Capuano is the guy they are waiting for. He is a guy for the number five slot in the rotation, the part of the team where The Yankees have quite some question marks: Sabathia isn’t his old self anymore, Nova will be back halfway 2015, is Tanaka’s arm completely healed? With a bit of luck Pineda can put up some good numbers (if he can stay away from the pine tar. Or was it thanks to the pine tar?).

With all these queston marks, I don’t think you want a guy like Capuano. Sure he is cheap. But his numbers aren’t impressive. In 2013, with the Dodgers, he kept his opponents to a .295 batting average. Last season, with Boston his opponents hit .270 and after the Yankees picked him up, that average went down to .261. In nine MLB seasons he managed to keep his  ERA below 4.00 only three times. For the rest he was (way) above 4.00.

He can pitch a gem, to be followed by a disastrous outing. I think that with all the question marks in our rotation we need a bit of stability, not a guy that you cannot rely on.

With this deal sealed, I start to wonder if the Yankees should have made the Greene-Gregorius trade. At least not in the way the trade was set up. Greene was a reliable arm that will be missed for sure. I still think that the Yankees made the right decision to trade for Gregorius, but in my humble opinion they should have sent another player instead of Greene.

I am not the guy that want the Yankees to go after big name players all the time. I think we have enough A-Rod and Teixeira like contracts. I know that the off season is not over yet. But it starts to look like that the Yankees will muddle through the way they have done the past three seasons. If Cashman keeps saying that the Yankees will have a competitive team for the 2015 season, I think that he is missing a fuse.

What is Cashman’s plan? To me it starts to look like that he is giving up the 2015 season and those beyond, just to stockpile talent in the Yankees’ farm system. If that is really the case, I can only show my admiration for Cashman. On the other hand…. Last season the Yankees tried to avoid the $189 million luxury tax treshold. Now they say that that is not the goal for this year. If that is really not the goal, why didn’t the Yankees go after Lester? Why does Cashman keep saying that the Yankee fans will not see Scherzer in a Yankee uniform?

It would be nice if the Yankees brass would come up with their plan for 2015. I think that they owe this to their loyal fans, even if this means that there will be a lot of empty seats next season. But with the current roster you can bet that there will be a lot of empty seats anyway.

If the Yankees will reach the play offs next season, I will be the first to say that I was wrong. But Cashman has to come up with one more reliable pitcher. If he doesn’t do that, I think that you can write off the 2015 season already, pending the development of the current rotation.