Yankees AL East Foes Improve As Red Sox, Blue Jays Add Sonny Gray And Dylan Cease

During a roughly 25-minute video conference with the media Monday, managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner conceded it would be ideal if the Yankees could find a way to lower their payroll while acknowledging the reduction might not happen.

“Would it be ideal if I went down (with our payroll)? Of course,” Steinbrenner said Monday. “But does that mean that’s going to happen? Of course not. We want to field a team we know we believe could win a championship.

“It just hasn’t changed which is why payrolls have gone up probably every year. It doesn’t mean they won’t go slightly down one year and then up the year after that. It all depends on what’s out there and what the possibilities are and how much I feel we’re able to or we need to pull the trigger on those possibilities.

Those comments quickly made the usual rounds on social media and turned into fodder for sports talk radio shows fatigued from talking about the New York Giants being the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention or seeking a break from dissecting the Mets trading Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien.

In the immediate aftermath of Steinbrenner’s comments, the Red Sox and Blue Jays made investments to enhance playoff rosters from last season.

In the roughly 50-plus hours since Steinbrenner’s comments, the Red Sox and Blue Jays added payrolls and made moves they hope will bolster their pitching.

The Red Sox were first to strike, trading with former executive Chaim Bloom to land Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals to potentially give them the No. 2 starter they clearly lacked after Garrett Crochet.

Gray is assured of $40 million in the next two seasons but Boston’s payroll hit will be lessened by the Cardinals assuming $20 million, doing so by sending the Red Sox a payment of $2.5 million on April 15, May 15, June 15, July 15, August 15 and September 15 before contributing $5 million on Dec. 1, 2026 – the day the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

The Blue Jays were next with a bigger move by reportedly getting Dylan Cease on a $210 million, seven-year deal. It is the first major free agent pitcher to come off the board and a contract that may set the market for how other free agent starters are paid.

The Yankees certainly were not going to engage with trading for Gray. They did that already in 2017 and after he was 15-16 with a 4.51 ERA in 41 regular-season appearances, GM Brian Cashman was opening admitting Gray was going to get traded, doing so at the annual post-mortem press conference.

Since leaving the Yankees, Gray was 23-20 with a 3.49 ERA for the Reds and 16-13 with a 2.90 ERA for the Twins. The steadiness of his showings in the two Midwest stops prompted the Cardinals to sign him to a three-year deal that contains a club option.

Gray cashed in after being the Cy Young runner-up to Gerrit Cole and with the Cardinals he is among five with at least 200 strikeouts in the previous two seasons.

“When you think about what Sonny has been in this league, it’s a guy who’s pitched at the front of rotations,” Boston Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow told reporters. “Those things that we think pitchers carry from year to year are things like strikeout rates and walk rates and ability to just stay off barrels. He excels there.”

The Blue Jays will be saying similar things about Cease some point after adding him to a rotation featuring Kevin Gausman entering his free agent year and rookie Trey Yesavage after a dynamic postseason, especially against the Yankees.

Cease is getting the largest free agent contract in Toronto’s history with some deferred money according to reports. Although Cease was 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA last season for San Diego, he also has five straight 200-strikeout seasons and took a no-hitter into the seventh at Yankee Stadium last May and seemed to get better luck last season by allowing a .260 average on balls in play, two years after that figure was .330.

Striking early to land Cease seems to show Toronto is not playing around with its money after their captivating playoff run resulted in 10 home games. After adding one of the more durable pitchers in recent years, the Blue Jays can shift focus towards retaining Bo Bichette, who some would like on the Yankees as an upgrade to shortstop Anthony Volpe.

So far, the Yankees’ big expenditure is seeing Trent Grisham come back on $22 million qualifying offer to the chagrin of many fans after he hit 36 homers while being paid five million.

For the Yankees about $78 million of next year’s payroll are being deployed on Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried. The trio represents the last three major free agents from other teams signed by the Yankees, who ended the regular season with a payroll of $301 million before various bonuses and are hoping to get through April as Cole and Rodon finish their injury recoveries.

The quick strikes of the Red Sox and Blue Jays do not mean the Yankees will move quicker but for many fans it creates slightly more angst until their team does something they like.