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Lost in the shuffle of the Boston Red Sox‘s winter-meetings activity is the return of Pablo Sandoval to the lineup after he appeared in just three games last season.

Looking back on his lost 2016, Sandoval acknowledged in a joint interview with ESPN.com’s Scott Lauber and ESPN Deportes’ Marly Rivera that he started to take things for granted.

“My career had fallen into an abyss because I was so complacent with things that I had already accomplished,” Sandoval said. “I did not work hard in order to achieve more and to remain at the level of the player that I am and that I can be.”

Sandoval was able to squeeze a career’s worth of accomplishments into his first seven seasons with the San Francisco Giants. He was part of three World Series-winning teams in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He also earned a spot in two All-Star Games and was the World Series MVP in 2012.

His success did not translate to the American League when he signed with the Red Sox prior to the 2015 season, however. He hit .245/.292/.366 in 126 games during his first year with the team and lost the starting third base job to Travis Shaw in spring training ahead of the 2016 campaign.

His 2016 season ended before it began, as he had six at-bats over three games before being ruled out for the year with an ailing shoulder that required surgery in May.

“Things definitely happen for a reason,” Sandoval said. “[The surgery and rehab process] have helped revitalize that fire in me to win again.”

There is photographic evidence to suggest Sandoval is not just talking a big game, with Dan Roche of CBS Boston passing along this image from Alvaro Hernandez:

Sandoval touched on his new routine to get in better shape and keep the weight off:

I have been following a really strict routine that has taken a lot of dedication from my part. It has not been easy to wake up every single day at 6:30 in the morning to then head to the gym and start a full day of work. But you have to have that kind of dedication if you want to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

Weight has been an issue for Sandoval throughout his career.

During an April appearance on Toucher and Rich (via Samer Kalaf of Deadspin), CSN New England’s Sean McAdam reported the Giants made special arrangements at hotels so he couldn’t order room service.

Looking ahead to 2017—with the Red Sox among the favorites to win the World Series after securing the American League East title last year and adding Chris Sale to the starting rotation in a trade with the Chicago White Sox—Sandoval knows the task in front of him.

“I am not taking anything for granted,” Sandoval said. “I am here to work hard. I’m not thinking about the position or not. I am starting from scratch, and I am here to show what I can do on the field.”

In addition to extending his career by getting into better shape, Sandoval said the birth of his child earlier this year has also served as an inspiration:

Watching ‘Baby Panda’ grow up and that he gets the opportunity to see his father play in the majors for seven, eight more years, to get back to the success I had, that’s my motivation every day. The people that I surround myself with now and my family, they are the key to my success. This has been a life lesson.

Sandoval has been one of the most criticized and scrutinized players in Major League Baseball since signing with the Red Sox, which is one of the pitfalls of playing in one of the biggest baseball markets in the country.

Things fell apart for Sandoval in 2016, but the upside of rock-bottom is that it leaves nowhere to go except up. He’s taking the physical steps to be in position to contribute for the Red Sox next season.

The one big hurdle left for Sandoval to clear is mental, which won’t offer a definitive answer until the games start in April.

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The New York Yankees took a big step toward returning to contention once again by adding Aroldis Chapman.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported that the Bronx Bombers inked him to a five-year deal worth $86 million Wednesday. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports confirmed the news.

Heyman reported Thursday that Chapman will receive an $11 million signing bonus and $15 million in salary for each of the five years.

Rosenthal also said there is a no-trade clause for three years, and Marly Rivera of ESPN reported he can’t be traded to a team located on the West Coast. Rivera added that Chapman chose the Yankees over the Miami Marlins. The deal also includes an opt-out clause after three years and a limited no-trade option for the final two years, per Rosenthal. 

“I love the (Yankees) organization,” said Chapman, per Rivera. “They welcomed me with open arms, and that’s why I decided to go back; I was hoping I had a chance to go back, and it happened. Every player dreams of being a Yankee, and if they don’t it’s because they never got the chance.”

Chapman also explained why he chose to have a no-trade clause to California teams: “I just didn’t want to go that far from my family. I did have the opportunity to stay here near my house (in Florida, playing with the Marlins) but no, I leaned more towards (going to) New York.”

Buster Olney of ESPN reported Thursday that the Los Angeles Dodgers talked about Chapman “but never really got that involved.” Heyman added that the Dodgers were “nowhere close” in terms of landing the closer, as Chapman wanted to stay on the East Coast.

Spotrac broke down just how big a deal this is for a reliever: 

Chapman began last season with the Yankees, pitching 31.1 innings while posting a 2.01 ERA. He was also suspended 30 games at the start of the 2016 season due to a domestic violence incident during the offseason but became the team’s closer upon returning and totaled 20 saves.

He was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the deadline for four players headlined by top prospect Gleyber Torres.

At the time, he left a message to Yankees fans on his Instagram account that suggested he was open to a return.

“Last but not least, thanks to the NY Yankees fans, that from the first day, they made me feel at home. Thanks to the Yankees organization for the support they gave me. #newyorkyankees bye for now.”

His willingness to rejoin the team indicates that he enjoyed his time in New York, where he will likely resume his closer duties heading into 2017.

Chapman had a strong run with the Chicago Cubs, playing a huge role down the stretch with a 1.01 ERA in 26.2 regular-season innings. Although he had three blown saves and a 3.45 ERA in the postseason, his ability to pitch multiple innings and stifle opposing batters was invaluable.

He appeared in 5.1 innings and threw 97 total pitches in the final three games of the World Series as the Cubs came back to win their first title since 1908.

When the Cubs acquired Wade Davis to replace him as the closer, the opportunity arose for Chapman to end up back in New York.

The Cuban pitcher spent the first six years of his career with the Cincinnati Reds, where he posted a 2.17 ERA and was named to four All-Star teams. 

Chapman’s return will likely push Dellin Betances back to the setup role, where he had more success. Although Andrew Miller is gone, this is a bullpen that should once again be among the best in baseball while helping the Yankees’ bid to get back to the postseason.

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Following a career year in 2016, catcher Wilson Ramos cashed in this offseason, reportedly agreeing to a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, according to the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman. 

FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman confirmed the deal and provided the financial particulars:

Ramos and Miami Marlins backstop J.T. Realmuto tied for the third-highest WAR (3.5) among qualified catchers last season, per FanGraphs. Despite his success at the plate, there were some questions as to Ramos’ market value after a torn ACL ended his campaign in September.

Sherman reported the Rays’ offer is pending a physical, which remains a question mark for Ramos. Sherman added that the length of the deal could benefit the catcher:

Torn ACL aside, the 29-year-old picked a great time to have his best MLB season at the plate. In 131 games, he had a .307/.354/.496 slash line along with 22 home runs and 80 runs batted in.

In March, Ramos explained to MLB.com’s Cash Kruth how having Lasik surgery benefited his plate vision:

More comfortable and I’m seeing the pitch really, really well after surgery. Now I can say the surgery helped me to be better at the plate. …

It’s making me feel comfortable and making me feel excited, because before I was swinging at everything. Ball, strike, I was feeling very bad sometimes because I’d say, ‘That was a bad pitch, why did I swing?’ Now I feel more comfortable at the plate. It’s only four or five games after surgery, but I see the difference now.

Heyman reported the Washington Nationals had offered Ramos a three-year deal worth about $30 million during the season, and he turned it down. On Sept. 15, Heyman speculated Ramos could command $68 million over four years.

That was before the injury, though, which was the second time he had torn the ACL in his right knee.

While the torn ACL hurt Ramos’ value, he benefited from what was a thin talent pool in free agency. Teams looking for immediate offensive help didn’t have a wealth of options from which to choose. Ramos was also the best catcher on the market.

With that said, his signing comes with a few concerns.

In the likely event his torn ACL forces him to play less at catcher, he loses some of his value. Hitting 20-plus home runs and driving in 80 runs is great for a catcher but less so for a first baseman or designated hitter.

To a certain extent, it’s the same problem the Minnesota Twins have with Joe Mauer. Using Mauer at first base is the best way to keep him healthy, but the Twins can no longer expect a full return on the $23 million a year they’re paying him. According to FanGraphs, Mauer’s .389 slugging percentage was second-worst among qualified first basemen.

Whether Ramos can maintain last year’s production is questionable as well. His .327 batting average on balls in play was third-best among qualified catchers and 36 points higher than his career BABIP (.291), per FanGraphs.

He can attribute some of his improvement to the Lasik surgery—a factor that should carry over to next year. Ramos also had his fair share of good luck, which isn’t a given from one season to the next.

In 2014, Russell Martin had a .336 BABIP—a career high—which in part helped him post his highest WAR (4.9) since 2008, per FanGraphs. He turned his big season into a five-year, $82 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Martin’s performance leveled off a bit in his first two years with Toronto. In 2016, he batted .231 with 20 home runs and 74 RBI and finished with 1.7 WAR.

Ramos might have a similar decline in 2017. Still, the Rays are smart to take the risk.

According to FanGraphs, Tampa Bay had the third-worst collective WAR (minus-0.1) at catcher in 2016. Ramos will be the Rays’ best catcher since Dioner Navarro in the late 2000s, and he should be a significant upgrade over Curt Casali.

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The Chicago White Sox have taken the bold step of building for their future by trading ace starting pitcher Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.

The White Sox announced they have acquired Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz in exchange for Sale.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal initially reported the deal.

Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com also reported the Red Sox will pay the $31.2 million remaining on Moncada’s $63 million deal. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the Red Sox refused to include Jackie Bradley Jr. in any trade talk.

Boston beat out the Washington Nationals, who tried “hard” to land the ace by offering top prospects, per Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball. Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reported the Nationals weren’t willing to give up Trea Turner and that the Red Sox’s willingness to part with Moncada led to the swap.

Buster Olney of ESPN reported that a “popular theory in the industry” is that the White Sox pushed the Nationals to the brink of a deal to use as leverage to get the package they did from the Red Sox.

Ian Browne of RedSox.com and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe provided comments from Sale on Wednesday:

Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke with reporters on Tuesday, saying talks between the sides “accelerated” on Friday.

“Sale gives us a chance to win now…At this point, this gave us a really significant chance to win,” Dombrowski said.

The White Sox seemed to be moving toward dealing Sale or Jose Quintana shortly before the trade deadline this past summer.

Heyman reported on July 22 Chicago began taking calls on the pair, though he added the White Sox hadn’t “decided how seriously to shop their stars, and there’s no certainty that either will be traded, as they love both pitchers.”

Like most trade negotiations, the White Sox were waiting to get the best deal. It’s not an unreasonable position for them to take, even as they appear headed for their fifth straight losing season, because Sale’s contract is so team-friendly.

Recently retired Red Sox star David Ortiz is a fan of the move:

Sale, who is 27 years old, has one more guaranteed year on his deal at $12 million, with club options for 2018 and 2019 that total $26 million, per Baseball-Reference.com. His contract looks even better considering 43-year-old Bartolo Colon was among the top names of the available free-agent starters.

The White Sox have taken a short-term approach to fixing their roster, signing players such as Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu and trading for Todd Frazier, yet it hasn’t worked out. It’s time for the franchise to start acquiring as many young, cost-controlled assets as possible to avoid a total collapse.

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters he thinks Moncada can play second or third base, “but at this point we’ll have him playing second base” in the minors. Hahn added that the two sides had talked about Sale for over a year.

“If a team is interested in talented, controllable starting pitchers, we do have others,” Hahn told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox get the top-of-the-rotation starter they needed. Dombrowski has not been shy about making deals to improve the team since taking over late in the 2015 season, acquiring Craig Kimbrel in a trade with the San Diego Padres and signing David Price last offseason.

Yet things did not work out for Boston’s rotation in 2016, aside from Rick Porcello’s breakout campaign. The Red Sox finished eighth in the majors with a 4.22 ERA from the starting rotation, though, so there was upside even before acquiring Sale.

It also helps that their offense led the league in most major offensive categories last season, including runs scored, doubles, total bases, average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Sale is the horse Boston needs to get over the hump in October after a quick playoff exit last season.

Dombrowski has been making a lot of moves involving Boston’s prospects, but it’s such a rich farm system that he can get away with it and not leave the cupboard bare.

The White Sox could afford to move Sale because they still have Quintana to build a rotation around. This move will help them secure their future and start competing for a playoff spot for the first time since 2008.

Sale did everything in his power to make the White Sox a contender, finishing in the top six of AL Cy Young Award voting in each of the last five seasons. He’s never had a chance to show off his stuff in October, but he will have an opportunity to change that with his new club.

It’s never easy to give up multiple top-level prospects, but it’s also rare when a true No. 1 starter who is under team control for more than two months becomes available. That made it easy for the Red Sox to make the call.

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New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter will have his famed No. 2 jersey retired by the storied organization before the team’s game against the Houston Astros on May 14, 2017. 

The Yankees made the announcement official Tuesday morning:

New York selected Jeter with the sixth overall pick in the 1992 draft and, following a rise through the minors, he proceeded to play his entire 20-year professional career in Yankee pinstripes.

The New Jersey native earned 14 All-Star Game selections and helped the team capture five World Series titles during a career that will land him in the Hall of Fame once eligible in 2020. He also won five Gold Gloves, five Silver Sluggers and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting eight times.

The May ceremony will give Yankee fans another chance to show their appreciation for a player who proved himself worthy of being the face of one of the world’s most famous sports franchises for the better part of two decades.

Fan support is something he talked about in the Players’ Tribune after he retired in 2014:

In some ways the major change this year was that it felt like I played a majority of home games. As always, the New York fans were amazing; their response was overwhelming, but not surprising. Yankees fans have been great to me. It’s the reception outside of New York that really was the biggest difference this year. I’ll never forget how the baseball fans across the country have treated me. Ballparks I used to view as enemy territory were transformed with cheers, handshakes and hat tips. If I thought baseball was part of my family before this season, I know now that it’s truly the case. And I am grateful for that.

Of course, it’s also an opportunity to bring the “Core Four” back together. Jeter along with Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada were the stalwarts during the Yankees’ run of success from the mid-1990s until their most recent title in 2009.

Jeter also holds a special place in hearts of Yankees fans because he was a top-flight player who spent his entire career with the organization, a rare accomplishment in a world with free agency. He and the Atlanta Braves‘ Chipper Jones could be among the last of a fading breed.

That’s why the team is giving the longtime shortstop his rightful place alongside a star-studded group of retired numbers that includes the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle as well as all of his buddies from the Core Four.

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The Boston Red Sox won the American League East in 2016 under John Farrell, and the organization decided Monday to keep the manager around a bit longer. 

The Red Sox announced they exercised the club option on Farrell’s contract for the 2018 season.

Travis Lee of WMTW noted the Red Sox had already told Farrell he would return for the 2017 season. Monday’s news ensures the manager won’t have to worry about serving as a leader with lame-duck status as the team looks to win a second World Series title under his watch.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Monday at the winter meetings that Farrell’s “solid presence” and the fact the “players played hard for him” ultimately contributed to the decision, per Scott Lauber of ESPN.com.

The 2017 campaign will be Farrell’s fifth as manager of the Red Sox. The team is 339-309 under him in four years.

Things started as well as he could have possibly hoped with an American League East crown and World Series championship in 2013. However, there was a significant drop-off the following two seasons before a bounce-back effort in 2016:

Farrell also managed the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011 and 2012 and accumulated a 154-170 record before Boston hired its former pitching coach with one year remaining on his Toronto contract. The Red Sox sent infielder Mike Aviles to the Blue Jays as compensation (and received pitcher David Carpenter), per ESPN.com.

Boston was swept by the eventual American League champion Cleveland Indians in the divisional round of the 2016 playoffs, but Monday’s news means there will be continuity in the dugout for a club that has a number of young building blocks, including 24-year-old Mookie Betts, 26-year-old Jackie Bradley Jr. and 24-year-old Xander Bogaerts.

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The Toronto Blue Jays added a high-upside player to the roster Monday with the signing of Steve Pearce to a two-year, $12.5 million deal.

The Blue Jays confirmed the deal on Monday after ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported the agreement and terms. 

The 33-year-old veteran is coming off season-ending arm surgery to repair his flexor tendons, but when healthy, the versatile player is capable of making big contributions to the lineup.

Pearce finished last season hitting .288 with a .374 on-base percentage and 13 home runs in 85 games with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. His best season came with Baltimore in 2014 when he hit 21 home runs with a .930 on-base plus slugging percentage.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, he ranked ninth in the American League that season at 5.9 wins above replacement despite playing just 102 games.

Altogether, Pearce has spent time with five different teams across his 10 seasons in the major leagues.

In addition to providing quality hitting from the right side of the plate, Pearce also adds value with his positional versatility. He has experience at first base, second base and in both corner outfield spots over the past few seasons and can give his team plenty of options in the lineup.

While this isn’t likely the type of signing that will excite fans, the utility player could provide quality depth to the Blue Jays lineup throughout the season.

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A scant three weeks before Christmas, the New York Yankees signed Matt Holliday for one year and $13 million, per Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball. 

I will spare you the painfully obvious holiday/Holliday puns.

It’s a solid move for the Yanks, who are in the midst of a youth movement but also seeking to win now.

New York whiffed on outfielder/designated hitter Carlos Beltran when he signed with the Houston Astros for one year and $16 million on Saturday.

The Yankees dealt Beltran to the Texas Rangers at the 2016 trade deadline, but according to Heyman, they were interested in bringing the veteran switch-hitter back. 

Now, they have his ostensible replacement—a veteran bat with bona fide big-game credentials.

The Yankees’ emphasis is on shedding costly flotsam and adding cost-controlled depth. In addition to Beltran, they moved ace relievers Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller at the deadline and restocked a farm system that’s now No. 1 in the game, per Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter.

At the same time, they’ve got an unspoken mandate to stay competitive and dance back onto the October stage as quickly as possible. 

Holliday doesn’t guarantee that will happen. He posted a less than stellar .246/.322/.461 slash line last season for the St. Louis Cardinals in 110 games. Injuries limited him to just 73 games in 2015.

On the other hand, he’s a seven-time All-Star who won a ring in 2011 and has 302 playoff plate appearances to his name. The 20 home runs he cracked in 2016 suggest there’s pop residing in his bat. 

He can play the outfield and may see time there if New York trades Brett Gardner. His defense, however, has taken a serious dive.

At this point, he projects best at DH or first base, where he got nine starts last season. That meets the Yankees’ needs, especially with first baseman Greg Bird coming off major shoulder surgery.

Getting reps at DH and playing the bulk of his games in the hitter-happy American League East could give Holliday a late-career bump.

He also won’t cost New York a draft pick since St. Louis didn’t offer him arbitration.

“Our preference is to retain a draft pick if we can,” general manager Brian Cashman said, per George A. King III and Dan Martin of the New York Post. “We have a certain amount of money we want to allocate to allow us to do a number of different things.”

One of those things could be closer Aroldis Chapman, whom the Yankees acquired last December and dealt to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline.

“I would love to be a Yankee again,” Chapman told NY Sports Day’s Ray Negron in November. 

Chapman could command a deal in the vicinity of nine figures, which makes Holliday a more prudent signing than, say, Edwin Encarnacion.

The Yankees were “well-positioned to make a play” for Encarnacion, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. Now, with Holliday in the fold, they may pass on the 33-year-old slugger, who came with draft-pick compensation and an unavoidable jolt of sticker shock.

Ditching long-term monetary commitments aligns with a grander vision, as ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand spelled out:

Will [Holliday] be good in 2017? Who knows? Will the Yankees be good in 2017? No one knows that, either. But if Holliday is solid, it could be a big lift for this bridge year as the Yankees try to reload and rebuild toward 2019, which is when the Yankees’ next “uber” (trademark, Brian Cashman) team might be ready to add Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado and others.

Getting back to the here and now with Holliday, there are reasons for optimism that go beyond the DH and AL East. There were hints of bad luck in his 2016 stat line, per ESPN The Magazine‘s Buster Olney:

New York has work to do. It needs to add arms to a rotation that features Masahiro Tanaka and a heap of question marks. It needs to go hard after Chapman or explore other avenues to give Dellin Betances company in the late innings.

Holliday, though, can be the cherry on top of a sundae that includes catcher and AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Gary Sanchez, 24-year-old masher Aaron Judge and a host of MiLB up-and-comers. 

Whether the Yankees can win the division depends on what further moves they make and what becomes of their competition. The Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles all made the playoffs in 2016 and are looking to improve.

But, at the risk of straining the Holliday/holiday comparison, the Yanks just opened a nicely wrapped package—and checked an item off their wish list.

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. 

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Matt Holliday struggled to find his previous All-Star form throughout an injury-marred 2016 season, but the New York Yankees reportedly took a chance on him Sunday.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Bronx Bombers signed the slugger to a one-year deal worth $13 million. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports confirmed the signing. 

Heyman, citing Sweeny Murti of CBS New York, said Holliday will serve as the designated hitter for the Yankees. 

This comes after the St. Louis Cardinals declined the remaining option year on his previous contract on the heels of a 2016 season in which he played just 110 games and slashed .246/.322/.461 with 20 home runs and 62 RBI. He also fell short in the outfield and was responsible for minus-eight defensive runs saved above average, per FanGraphs.

Holliday played for the Colorado Rockies from 2004 to 2008, the Oakland Athletics for 93 games in 2009 and the Cardinals from 2009 to 2016.

He was an All-Star his final three years with Colorado, as well as his first three full seasons with St. Louis. The seven-time All-Star also made the team in 2015 and has four Silver Slugger Awards and the 2007 National League batting title on his impressive resume.

USA Today ranked him as the 46th-best free agent in this offseason’s class and pointed to some of his decline as he ages: “Once one of the game’s most consistent power hitters, Holliday has begun to show his age over the past two seasons as injuries have become more of a problem. His career-low .246 average and .783 OPS in 2016 confirm the decline.”

Holliday played just 73 games in 2015 because of a right quadriceps injury and dealt with a fractured thumb that required surgery and a facial abrasion after being hit by a pitch in 2016.

He still managed to reach the 20-homer plateau for the 10th time in his career:

In addition to his raw power, Holliday brings postseason experience to his new team. He has 72 playoff games and the 2007 National League Championship Series MVP under his belt and will look to help lead the Yankees to the playoffs in 2017.

He was confident in his abilities heading into the offseason, per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com: “I have a lot of good baseball left in me.”

That may be the case, but he will be 37 years old throughout the 2017 campaign. The power was still there when healthy in 2016, and he won’t be a liability in the outfield as a designated hitter.

Between his veteran leadership, postseason mettle and pop he brings to the order, Holliday can develop into an impact signing for New York.

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The New York Yankees need a starting pitcher. In past winters, that would have led to their going after only the best options, and damn the cost!

But since they need to be smart this winter, let’s help point them toward Rich Hill.

In truth, it can be hard to tell which direction the Yankees are leaning in. The offseason rumor mill has featured whispers about their continuing the sell-off they kicked into high gear over the summer. Other times, it’s featured whispers about their buying up the hot-stove season’s biggest names.

Hey, even general manager Brian Cashman doesn’t seem settled on a specific direction.

“We have been walking the tightrope for a few years, and now it is (making decisions for) 2017 vs. ’18, ’19 and ’20,” he told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. “Some decisions we make will be for the future and some for the present, and they might contradict each other. We are doing both.”

However, there are things that put the Yankees more in a position to add than subtract.

For one, they’re already loaded with young talent. They entered 2016 with a respectable farm system. After trades of Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran, Jim Callis of MLB.com was calling it arguably MLB’s best at the end of July.

Also, it’s partially thanks to that young talent the Yankees finished 2016 stronger than they started it. They went from 44-44 before the All-Star break to 40-34 after it. They got a big boost from catcher Gary Sanchez and smaller ones from first baseman Tyler Austin and right fielder Aaron Judge.

Those three are lined up for everyday jobs in 2017. So is first baseman Greg Bird, who missed 2016 following shoulder surgery. With veterans such as Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Starlin Castro, Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley rounding things out, the Yankees lineup is in solid shape.

The starting rotation, however, is a different story. It’s Masahiro Tanaka on top and then a series of age (see: CC Sabathia) and effectiveness (see: Michael Pineda) question marks.

This bring us, at long last, back to Hill. According to Buster Olney of ESPN, he’s on the Yankees’ radar as a potential fix for what ails them:

This sort of feels like classic Yankees. They’re used to targeting only the best free agents, and there’s little question Hill is the best starting pitcher on the open market. Nobody else even comes close to the 2.00 ERA the well-traveled left-hander has over the last two seasons.

But the caveats here are obvious.

Hill is talented, but he’s not durable. He’s 36 years old and has pitched just 626.1 major league innings, postseason included. He’s had everything from labrum surgery to Tommy John surgery to, most recently, lingering blister issues.

Hill is also the best starter on the open market in part because it’s a terrible market for free-agent starters—Craig Edwards of FanGraphs has the rundown on that.

This has gotten the trade rumor mill spinning at warp speed. A sampling of the biggest names supposedly available includes Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Chris Archer and Zack Greinke.

With only Tanaka and Ellsbury still under long-term, big-money contracts, the Yankees have enough financial flexibility to take on any of those names. For reasons referenced above, they also have the prospect depth to work out a satisfactory deal.

But the question the Yankees are facing is the same one the Atlanta Braves have in their own search for starting pitching: Is now the right time to abandon the long game?

The point of the Yankees’ sell-off was to give in to the reality that they were past due to try to build a winner from the ground up. And not a moment too soon. That’s how championship teams must be built in an era that, as Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight and others noted, is dominated by young talent.

After their summer sell-off, it’s already possible to see a perennial World Series contender in the Yankees’ not-so-distant future. But that vision would be disrupted if they were to take a good chunk of that young talent and send it to another team for an ace.

That would be fine if it made the Yankees a World Series contender right now. But that’s a stretch. FanGraphs has them projected as a .500 team in 2017. That puts them more than just one ace away from being favorites. To get where they need to be would require trading for an ace and then making more deals or big-money signings.

Either way, the bright future that exists now would go up in smoke. And if the Yankees’ efforts to win in the short term failed, they’d find themselves back at square one ready to rebuild all over again.

Which is why they should just sign Hill.

It’s going to cost good money to sign him. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports and the MLB Trade Rumors crew both have Hill pegged for a three-year, $50 million contract. But on one bright side, Hill isn’t tied to draft-pick compensation. Signing him will only cost money, which the Yankees have plenty of.

On another bright side, the risk of signing him does come with enough potential reward to justify it.

He hasn’t carved out that 2.00 ERA since 2015 by accident. He’s been among the league’s most aggressive strike-throwers with stuff that has featured more spin than any other starter’s offerings, per Baseball Savant. Thus, his rate of 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings and .507 opponents’ OPS over the last two seasons.

In the short term, adding Hill would give the Yankees a fallback ace in case Tanaka opts out of his contract after 2017. Whether or not that happens, Hill would also help stabilize a rotation that should be welcoming prospects such as James Kaprielian, Justus Sheffield, Chance Adams, Domingo Acevedo and Dillon Tate over the next two seasons.

In the longer term, Hill’s contract would come off the books at a convenient time. After 2019, Sanchez, Austin and Judge will be arbitration-eligible for the first time and due for big raises. Presumably, even more Yankees prospects will be ready for arbitration raises in ensuing years.

The one thing adding Hill wouldn’t necessarily do is put the Yankees in the World Series conversation for the next three seasons. But the attitude they must take is that staying relevant while keeping their dream of a long-term powerhouse alive would be good enough.

Hill may no longer be around by the time that powerhouse finally arrives. But if signing him proves to be instrumental in helping the team get there, the Yankees will be glad they did it.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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