After the Non-Tender Deadline, How Many Spaces Remain on the Yankees’ 40-Man Roster; How Much Money Did They Clear Up?

The 2023 Offseason has been seeing a whirlpool of incidents surrounding free agencies and inter-team trades. Still, a certain sad segment of the MLB regime has been fronting the baseball world for the last few days, and that is the non-tendering of players. This season’s deadline for non-tenders was already over by November 17. Amongst many other clubs that let go of their own set of injured or expired contract players, the New York Yankees were a part of the off-loading procedure as well.

The Yankees have had an illustrious lineup this season, regardless of how much use they could get out of it in the playoffs. And now, with the 2024 season right around the corner, they’re cleaning house. The number of members they let go of will be directly proportionate to the club’s projected budget for season ’24. How many members were actually removed from the 40-member pool? Will the proceeds from non-tenders be recouped?

The New York Yankees’ “4”-seeable future

The Yankees let go of four members this Friday; three of them were non-tendered, and one was dealt to be traded off to a rival team. Among the non-tendered players were pitchers Lou Trivino, Albert Abreu, and Anthony Misiewicz. The Bombers have also traded outfielder Jake Bauers to the Milwaukee Brewers in lieu of two prospects. Abreu’s yearly deal with the New York Yankees stood at a good $738,700. They paid much more for Trivino, a yearly sum of $4,100,000. Bauers and Misiewicz cost the Yankees an annual salary of $600,005 and $81,291, respectively.

Trivino basically sat by the sidelines this season, watching his teammates have a go at the diamond. He was predicted to earn around $4 million next season; all of that went down the drain following his recovery period from elbow surgery. He had to leave to make space for an active and healthy pitching staff.

Misiewicz has a somewhat similar reason as Trivino. He had a successful Yankees debut with his no-hits allowed 13-inning streak in a game against the Brewers; unfortunately, his time on the diamond was shortened by a head injury he received during the regular season playoffs. Misiewicz had to end the season with a serious concussion. Abreu had no physical issues, as such. But his gaming form was disappointing and burdensome for the team, to say the least.

The non-tenders left the Yankees with a surplus budget of $5.5 million; adding Bauer’s trade, the amount sums up to approximately $7.5 million. With their projected payroll of $235 million, they now have enough revenue to go after the free agents they have been chasing all along. One might ask, were the Yankees wise with their non-tender and trade decisions?

Were the New York Yankees right with their recent decisions?

Right now, their projected total payroll for 2024 stands at $235,713,295, per Spotrac. Their luxury tax threshold is $237,000,000; that gives them a good $1,286,705 to spend annually on a surplus player. They got Brian Sanchez and Jace Avina from the Milwaukee Brewers for the Bauers trade.

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Now, they have prospects like pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, third baseman Jeimer Candelario, and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier on their list of predicted targets. They also need a good designated hitter on the team following Giancarlo Stanton’s continued terrible form. So, hiring a power hitter like Juan Soto will further help the team secure league berths.

Yamamoto has a projected contract value of $200 million for 8 years, which brings down his annual salary to $25 million a year. Soto’s deal is predicted to be around $25 million–$30 million a year, given his current contract value of $23 million per year. Comparatively, Candelario ought to receive $12 million–$17.5 million a year, per various reports. Last but not least, Kiermaier is projected to have the cheapest deal of them all at $10 million a year. If the Yankees can move around some internal funds and if Steinbrenner feels like splurging, the $7.13 billion clubhouse can easily hire two of these players per their necessity.

Who do you think the New York Yankees should go after headfirst, now that they have a few active spots left on the team? Let us know your views in the comments below.

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