So the winter meetings start in a week. To this point, no major FA dominos have fallen for the most part except for Kershaw re-signing and Donaldson betting on himself in Atlanta. Corbin has done his national tour. Machado’s chatter has been non existent as has Harper’s. I anticipate deals will be made soon. That being said, with the unprecedented amount of trades being made and more players seemingly available by the minute, the winter meetings are likely to stir the trade market even further.
Taking the above point into consideration, I’d be very surprised if the Yanks move Andujar. I know he’s an easy name to throw out there with Machado available, but it’s not gonna happen. Here’s why. Machado is likely to sign later this month or even drag into January. Deals for pitching will occur likely around the meetings. There’s no way the Yanks would deal the ROY runner up and leave open the chance that we fill in 3b with garbage should Machado spurn us and go somewhere else. Also, with Didi set to miss maybe the first half of 2019, moving Andujar without first acquiring a suitable replacement would be asinine. I’d anticipate we may be in the market for Machado at SS with Andujar keeping 3b. When Didi returns, we’d have an embarrassment of riches in the IF and make it far more suitable to move Andujar next offseason. The other thing one must consider is our 1b spot. If Voit doesn’t show he can hang beyond a raucous debut in 2018 and Greg Bird ends up flopping again, we could see Andujar take 1b where he’d be a plus defensively. Right now Andujar is a solution to some unsettled positional needs and not a guy who’s entirely expendable.
My guess is we sign Corbin and make the Andujar for pitching argument moot. The rotation would look like
1. Severino
2. Corbin
3. Tanaka
4. Paxton
5. CC
If we sign Machado following this, our lineup would look like this by the ASB
1. Torres 2B
2. Judge RF
3. Machado 3B
4. Gregorius SS
5. Stanton LF
6. Andujar DH
7. Hicks CF
8. Sanchez C
9. Voit 1B
That’s a dominant team right there with depth behind it. Shifting focus to the pen, there’s a rumor we are in on Ottavino. His 2018 numbers were stupid, but I’d be fine with a KRob reunion. Either way, 2019 might be a banner year if we follow this path
Or the Yankees say "fuck the luxury tax limit" and sign Corbin, Kikuchi, Machado, Harper, and Robertson.