SAN DIEGO _ Heading back to New York from the MLB Winter Meetings, the Yankee front office was satisfied. This winter they have secured closer Aroldis Chapman through the 2022 season, they've brought back the heart and soul of their clubhouse and lineup in Brett Gardner and landed the best right-handed pitcher available on the free-agent market in Gerrit Cole.
"We feel good. We came into the offseason in a pretty good spot with the roster and had some good conversations and progress on a number of things here," Yankees assistant GM Mike Fishman said after the Rule 5 draft. "So I feel like we're in a good position heading into the rest of the offseason."
The Yankees will have to make a few moves before they can officially announce the record-setting nine-year, $324 million deal with Gerrit Cole and the one-year, $12.5 million deal with Gardner. Cole has to go through a physical in New York early this week to finalize the deal and Gardner's deal also has to be signed. The Yankees will have to make room on their 40-man roster and are looking to shed some salary _ most likely lefty J.A. Happ's $17 million.
And they are not necessarily done putting together their roster for 2020. Wednesday, GM Brian Cashman said that they had several simultaneous conversations going with their remaining available free agents and others.
"We're always exploring ways to make the make the team better. So we're constantly having conversations with other teams, with agents and seeing if there's something else that lines up," Fishman said. "So it's always hard to predict if there's something else but we're always trying. You never know when something lines up with another team that might make sense."
