Yankees secure six-year deal with LHP Carlos Rodón…what’s left to do?

Last week, the Yankees announced the signing of a six-year, $162 million deal with LHP Carlos Rodón. Rodón elected free agency after signing a two-year deal with an option in March 2022 with the Giants. Securing a deal with the 2022 All-Star and sixth place NL CY Young finisher was a grand slam for the Yankees. I’ll break down the starting rotation adding in Rodón, but first, let’s talk about what’s left to do. What’s left is…who is in left?

Who is in left?

With the news that Andrew Benintendi is headed to the south side of Chicago, who is left on the current roster or in free agency to fill that hole?

This team’s pitfall in the past several postseasons has been its overabundance of power hitters and a lack of putting the ball in play. DJ LeMahieu is a guy you can rely on to balance that out, but he’s been out-of-commission the past two postseasons.

The other thing that is missing sans LF is a lefty in the lineup. A lefty or a switch-hitter is kind of imperative at this point.

In looking at the everyday LF to balance out the lineup, and what’s left on the existing roster, Aaron Hicks finished the 2022 season with the 8th best OBP across the entire active roster. Hicks’ season ended early due to a fielding collision with Oswaldo Cabrera during Game 5 of the ALDS, so the verdict is still out on whether or not he’s even healthy to start the 2023 season on time.

We know that Oswaldo Cabrera can play anywhere, but do we really want to limit our utility player to LF? I think not. What a waste of versatility, talent, and reliability. He simply can’t be held captive at any one position every single day, especially with Aaron Boone’s tendency to get carried away with giving days off.

Turning to free agents, is there anybody out there worthy of a short leash, maybe a one-year deal until the Yankees are ready to call up switch-hitter Jasson Dominguez? A few names being tossed around are Jurickson Profar (Padres), David Peralta (Diamondbacks), and Michael Conforto (Mets). Of these options, Profar has the highest fWAR of the remaining free agents, and he’s a switch-hitter. Peralta is a veteran at 35 years old and I feel like we have to tread lightly after the deal gone awry with veteran Josh Donaldson. Conforto was out for the entirety of the 2022 season with a shoulder injury, so it’s a mystery as to how he’ll perform this next year. The .255/.356/.468 career-hitter (Conforto) is reportedly looking for a short-term deal as he regains his strength during the 2023 season. If we had Hicks and Cabrera as back-up plus Dominguez on the active roster, that doesn’t sound like the worst idea to me.

Trade rumors include a potential trade for Padres’ CF Bryan Reynolds. I like the versatility there if we needed a back-up CF, or if down the road, the Yankees don’t resign Bader. Reynolds bolsters a career .281/.361/.481, but that trade would undoubtedly come with compromises I’m not sure I’d be willing to make. The Padres aren’t going to hand him over at no cost to the Yankees. This likely means having to send a combination of Peraza, Cabrera and/or Volpe packing for Pittsburgh. It’s also entirely possible that I’m wrong about that and if that’s the case, go get him!

The road we’re on with Rodón…

The most obvious road we’re on is the best rotation in baseball. Rodón gave up just 12 homeruns in 2022, four of those being in his first 12 starts of the season. He finished the 2022 season with a record of 14-8, a 2.88 ERA, and a 1.03 WHIP. He finished 15th across all of MLB just behind Gerrit Cole who finished with a 1.02 WHIP. This should make for a dynamic and hopefully an iconic duo. Rodon replaces Jameson Taillon who finished the 2022 season with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. At least on paper, that looks like a significant upgrade.

The road we’ve got to be on is the road to 28. The right one. You know that memorable "wrong-way" scene in Dumber & Dumber when Harry and Lloyd get in an epic fight after Lloyd drives five hours in the wrong direction? First of all, I can attest that would never happen because I literally grew up on the Colorado-Nebraska state line, but that’s beside the point. It feels like we’ve been on the wrong road to 28 since 2009 and we’ve just totally redeemed ourselves.

Jonna M. Perlinger