All offseason long the Yankees have said that they are more likely to try to improve the team by making a trade rather than a big money free agent signing and so far they don’t appear to be bluffing. New York entered the Winter Meetings having already added outfielder Aaron Hicks from the Minnesota Twins in a trade and the club has avoided any signings beside adding Pete Kozma on a minor league contract.

Acquiring Castro ends anymore talk of the Yankees going with a platoon of Dustin Ackley and Rob Refsnyder at second base and possibly makes the latter available (yes, more trades). Castro, 25, fits the Yankees goal of getting younger and more athletic, but because of the extension he signed with Chicago he’s not exactly cheap. He’s owed $38 million over the next four seasons with a team option for $16 million in 2020 and with no money coming from Chicago in the deal the Yankees will absorb the entirety of the contract. His addition also shows the Yankees reluctance to actually go with a rookie starter like Refsnyder, who turns 25 before next season, as Castro is close in age but is entering his seventh major league season.

Castro is a career .281/.321/.404 hitter with a career .259 TAv. He’s made the all-star team three times in six seasons with the Cubs. Castro was very productive in his first three years in the majors, but has since struggled badly in two of the past three years. In his first three big league seasons, Castro provided 10.4 WARP compared to just 5.1 WARP in his last three seasons. On the bright side, at least Castro had a strong finish in 2015 as he hit .295/.319/.464 in the second half.

Castro was the Cubs regular shortstop for years until the arrival of Addison Russell. He started 29 games at second base for Chicago in 2015. His ability to play shortstop gives the Yankees options when putting together the roster for 2016 as his presence made carrying a backup shortstop like Brendan Ryan unnecessary and likely prompted his inclusion in the deal. Depending on how comfortable the Yankees are with Ackley’s infield defense, he could be the lone backup infielder on the Yankees bench.

The Yankees parted with Adam Warren and Brendan Ryan in the deal. With Warren projected to make $1.5 million in arbitration this year and Ryan locked into a $1 million salary, the Yankees are only adding about $5.3 million to their payroll given Castro’s $7.8 million salary for 2016. $5.3 million is less than what it took for the Detroit Tigers to acquire Francisco Rodriguez, Cameron Maybin, and Mike Pelfrey individually. So the Yankees were able to fill the biggest opening in their lineup without really taking on a major financial commitment.

On the other hand, the Yankees had to give up Warren, which couldn’t have been easy. Warren’s 2.4 WARP in 2015 was higher than Castro’s 1.5 number. He did a remarkable job of filling in wherever the Yankees needed him as he started 17 games and appeared in 43 total games with a 3.43 DRA. While the Yankees had said previously that Warren would enter Spring Training as a starter, without him the rotation includes Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, Luis Severino, CC Sabathia, and Ivan Nova. Like Ryan, Warren was also very well liked in the Yankees clubhouse. Here’s what Alex Rodriguez said about Warren pitching in the playoffs this past season.

(Photo: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

According to Dan Martin and Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, citing industry sources, “the Yankees aren’t willing to spend as much as Zobrist likely will receive.” Joel Sherman, also of the Post, listed the Yankees as one of the teams he expects to be the most aggressive this offseason, though he anticipates the moves will come through trades rather than free agency. Sherman states that the Yankees want to get younger and have better athletes and defenders and also add long-term starting pitching pieces.

Essentially, the Yankees strategy doesn’t seem to have changed much from last offseason when the team traded veteran Martin Prado for Nathan Eovaldi and acquired Didi Gregorius in a three-team trade. Unless the Yankees completely change course, signing Ben Zobrist at age 35 for somewhere around $15 million per season simply isn’t in their playbook. Even though the Yankees have a gaping hole at second base, one of the many positions Zobrist can play, and that he’s a switch-hitter coming off a .295 TAv season and excelled down the stretch and in the playoffs with the World Champion Kansas City Royals and wouldn’t require the loss of a draft pick, he still doesn’t fit.

Sherman also notes that the Yankees trade for Aaron Hicks has made Brett Gardner “expendable” and that Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran “can be had.” The trade for Hicks shows that these reports aren’t smokescreens while the Yankees gear up for a run at the major free agents. In Hicks the Yankees acquired a tremendous defensive outfielder with more upside than John Ryan Murphy, who was expendable given the club’s depth at catcher.

Still, the Yankees aren’t going to make trades just to spin their wheels, the goal in every offseason is, of course, to upgrade the team. If Beltran is being made available, the Yankees are still going to need someone to play right field and perhaps Gardner becomes less “expendable” at that point. If Andrew Miller is traded it’s not going to be for a package of prospects like the ones the San Diego Padres received in exchange for Craig Kimbrel and someone will have to replace Miller in the bullpen. The return Brian Cashman receives in these potential trades will be of utmost importance because it doesn’t appear that the Yankees want to move Gardner for cheaper, possibly young pieces just to go out on the free agent market and spend big for another veteran. That kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul is how teams get in trouble, like when the Detroit Tigers traded Doug Fister for Robbie Ray to clear money to sign Joe Nathan.

While every team has a budget, and the Yankees budget is large, it hasn’t increased in recent years despite the new stadium and lucrative television contracts. Despite the fact that they have plenty of money coming off the books next offseason when they shed the contracts of Beltran and Mark Teixeira, they don’t appear interested in back-loading a big contract for a veteran this winter, when the free agent crop is plentiful compared to next year’s projected class.

Despite returning nearly everyone from a team that would’ve won at least 90 games if not for injuries down the stretch, the Yankees have needs at second base and in the rotation. It remains to be seen how exactly they’ll go about filling those needs, but Cashman is going to have to be just as if not more creative than he was last winter in pulling off trades because it appears that the club is no longer interested in catching a big old fish in free agency.

(Photo: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

Some years it can be easy to tell by the makeup of the roster if Yankees fans can look forward to an exciting or fascinating offseason. After 2008, the Yankees had plenty of money coming off the books and after missing the playoffs ownership had the incentive to spend on the free agent market. It was easy to envision New York pursuing Teixeira and CC Sabathia. They also signed A.J. Burnett just because they could.

It’s harder to see what the Yankees are going to do this winter. They don’t have the flexibility of big money contracts coming off the books, though it’s nice to wave goodbye to dead weight such as Garrett Jones, Stephen Drew, and Chris Capuano. That financial relief will come next year when Teixeira ($23.125 million) and Carlos Beltran ($15 million) become free agents. In fact, every Yankees regular position player, starting pitcher, and key bullpen guy is under team control for 2016 except for Drew (and Chris Young, who I don’t consider a regular).

BP Bronx’ own Nick Stellini recently wrote about the different possibilities of what the Yankees might do at second base next year. The club has Rob Refsnyder and Dustin Ackley under control for next year, so they could opt to platoon the pair if they offer Ackely arbitration, but that could also end up being a disaster of Drew-like proportions. The Yankees don’t seem sold on either Refsnyder or Ackley’s defense at the keystone—which would be one detriment to signing Daniel Murphy—and counting on each of them to duplicate their offensive production in a small sample down the stretch over a full season is risky. It would also leave the Yankees with no alternative option (Brendan Ryan?) so I expect them to address second base by going outside the organization and keep Ackley around as a utility man. His projected arbitration salary is cheaper than Jones’ $5 million salary was this year and Ackley can play all three outfield positions as well as first base and second base (and he should learn third base).

According to Baseball Prospectus, the Yankees 2015 payroll was $217 million and New York already has almost $184 million committed to 11 guys (one of whom is Brendan Ryan!?) for 2016. Using MLB Trade Rumors’ arbitration projections, the 2016 payroll will sit at $206.4 million for 18 players if everyone except Sergio Santos and Andrew Bailey are offered arbitration. If Ivan Nova isn’t offered arbitration, it goes down to $202 million.

I just went through the payroll math to show the Yankees lack of flexibility this offseason. While it’s technically possible for them to increase the payroll next year, it’s unlikely. The larger point may even be that unless the Yankees make a trade, the club doesn’t seem to have available playing time for an offensive player outside of second base. After the season ended, Brian Cashman discussed the trade deadline saying Ben Zobrist was the only position player the Yankees pursued. “I didn’t have any place to put anybody,” he said. Not much has changed.

This is a fairly large contrast from last off-season when the Yankees had the entire left side of the infield vacant after Derek Jeter retired and Chase Headley hit free agency, though he was ultimately re-signed. Second base has been a problem for the Yankees since Robinson Cano left for Seattle and it became an open spot when Martin Prado, who the Yankees are still paying $3 million, was moved in the trade for Eovaldi.

While Eovaldi proved worthwhile in the second half, the moves to both acquire Headley for Yangervis Solarte and then sign him to a four-year contract haven’t worked out. Neither player has been exceptional since the trade midway through 2014, but considering the production has been similar—Solarte has a slight lead in Fangraphs WAR and Headley has a slight lead in BWARP—the Yankees would be in better shape if they weren’t tied to the one that’s four years older and makes $13 million annually.

At the time, perhaps the Yankees thought that going with the veteran would be assuming less risk as they try to get back to the playoffs and that there was a chance for Headley to regain his power stroke in the Bronx.

The Yankees perhaps don’t have that same sense of urgency now, though fans would certainly appreciate if they did. There isn’t a two-year playoff drought to break this offseason, technically, though there is a three-year drought on winning a playoff game. With so much of the team potentially already in place and not much in the way of payroll flexibility it’s hard to see a very busy off-season on the horizon.

Ben Diamond of BP Bronx has already written about what the Yankees might do with Greg Bird next year and nobody seems to have a big problem with keeping the promising young hitter in the minors unless or until either Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez have another injury.

If the front office believes that what they have in place is actually better than an 87-win team because of the injuries they suffered over the last two months of the season, they aren’t likely to do a whole lot. But second base needs to be addressed. It’s been a trouble area for New York since Cano left, there are established free agent options available besides Murphy in Ben Zobrist and Howie Kendrick, the internal options leave much to be desired, and it’s the only position where regular playing time is available.

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Once again New York missed out on a chance to gain ground in the AL East as the Blue Jays lost 3-2 in Atlanta. The Yankees remain three games back of Toronto with time running out as the magic number to clinch the division is now 16.

The Yankees knew they’d need a lift from their bullpen to win Tuesday as right-hander Adam Warren was on a pitch count as he transitions back into the starting rotation. He completed four innings allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out four. He threw 65 pitches, 41 for strikes.

Nick Rumbelow came on in the fifth inning with Rays on the corners and one out, in relief of James Pazos. He was able to escape the jam and preserve the Yankees slim one-run lead for the time being with back-to-back strikeouts of Steven Souza and Evan Longoria. Rumbelow retired Longoria swinging on a changeup to end the inning, but wouldn’t fare as well when he was sent back out for the sixth inning. He allowed three hits to the next four batters, including an absolute moonshot off the bat of Nick Franklin, which was his first home run of the season and put the Rays ahead for good.

While Joe Girardi obviously can’t just bring Dellin Betances in to every close game–though he had Betances warming up late in Monday’s game, which would’ve been the first time all season he’s appeared in three consecutive games had he entered–it is perhaps a little curious that Rumbelow was given such a high leverage spot Tuesday. Another option might’ve been Justin Wilson, but he had pitched on two of the past three days. Chasen Shreve probably would’ve been the choice about a month ago, when his ERA was 2.01 after his August 11th outing, which was his last clean outing before Tuesday. In his previous 13 games, Shreve had a 4.22 ERA in 10 2/3 innings while allowing 14 hits, 12 walks, and batters were hitting .318/.464/.523 against him. Shreve’s performance of late and Rumbelow’s poise under pressure in the fifth inning were enough in Girardi’s mind to keep from making a change and ultimately that decision cost the Yankees the lead and the game.

The Yankees, of course, didn’t add to their bullpen at the trade deadline and with Warren going into the rotation have one fewer option to go to now. Girardi can’t be blamed for that, but it certainly doesn’t look good on his part when the bullpen coughs up a lead in a tight game considering Betances has been used multiple times to protect three and four run leads this month. Girardi has generally been praised for his bullpen usage during his tenure with the Yankees, but he hasn’t done much to garner that praise this year. Too often the Yankees have seen games decided with the likes of Rumbelow, Brandon Pinder, and Bryan Mitchell on the mound despite Girardi’s public edict that he’s sticking with the guys who got the Yankees to this position.

Every game is crucial to the Yankees at this point in the season as they chase the Blue Jays in their quest for the division and they need all the help they can get, including from the manager. New York will be back at Tropicana Field for the series finale against the Rays at 7:05 Wednesday as a pair of young right-handers square off as rookie Luis Severino (3-3, 3.35) is set to face Chris Archer (12-11, 2.95 ERA).

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Wednesday night, it was Adam Warren, still pitching out of the bullpen, who was victimized by a home run late in the contest while Betances wasn’t used yet again. In the eighth inning, former Yankee Steve Pearce drilled one deep to left field giving the fourth-place Orioles another late lead for their lights out closer Zach Britton to preserve. Warren, however, can’t be blamed for this loss because the game never should’ve reached that point.

In the fifth inning, the Yankees led 3-1, but the Orioles had loaded the bases with two men out. Jonathan Schoop hit into a fielder’s choice that would have ended the inning with no damage done, but a missed catch error by Stephen Drew allowed two runs to score. Drew also botched a perfect double play ground ball in the first inning and the Orioles would score first on a two out RBI single to right field by Davis. Starter CC Sabathia officially gave up one earned run in his 4 2/3 innings, but really all three of the runs that came across were Drew’s fault. Just a brutal night in the field for the second baseman.

It was a bad time for the Yankees to drop back-to-back games at home to a floundering Orioles team as the Blue Jays make their way to the Bronx for a four-game series starting Thursday. The Blue Jays also lost to the Red Sox Wednesday night, but the Yankees of course weren’t able to make up any ground as they still trail Toronto by 1.5 games in the AL East.

It goes to show just how important every game and every decision is this time of year. After getting out to a 12-1 lead in Boston last week, the Yankees bullpen collapsed and Joe Girardi decided to bring Betances into a six-run game with the bases loaded. Andrew Miller was also used in the eventual 13-8 victory. I’m not saying Girardi should go all Matt Williams on everybody and stay away from his best relievers until he absolutely has to use them, but they really could’ve used Betances in there in these tight games the past two nights and it’s worth noting he was used to protect leads of three runs or more in two of his last three outings.

This takes us back to the trade deadline where the Yankees didn’t make a move to bolster the bullpen or the lineup, which it seems like they really could’ve used. As other BP Bronx writers have said this week, it’s great that the Yankees have good young players in their system and some depth. New York wouldn’t still be in this position without the performances of Luis Severino (2.04 ERA in six starts) or Greg Bird (112 wRC+ in 94 plate appearances) over the past few weeks, which is wild because nobody should expect rookies to step into a pennant race and immediately flourish. Each has done a remarkable job and you could even say that as a whole this Yankees team has overachieved, which only makes it even more maddening that the “big” acquisition they made at the trade deadline turned out to be Dustin Ackley.

Every decision matters this time of year, but even more than Girardi’s usage of his best reliever is the problem of finding offense with Teixeira out and Gardner banged up. In 11 games since sitting out with a hip injury, Jacoby Ellsbury is hitting .186/.255/.279 with one home run, three walks, and 10 strikeouts. That won’t cut the mustard. At least Alex Rodriguez is heating up again as he has four home runs in his last six games.

It doesn’t get any easier tonight as (if it doesn’t rain) the Yankees will square off with Blue Jays ace David Price in the Bronx. The Yankees have gotten to Price a few times in the past two years, most notably two eight-run shellackings while he was with Detroit (both were at Comerica Park). Gardner might even be in the starting lineup after pinch-hitting last night. New York hopes his return can help boost what has been a good, but inconsistent offense this year. If they could pick a series to breakout in, this would be the one.

(Photo: Andy Marlin-USA Today Sports)

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand the Yankees’ decision to essentially stand pat at the trade deadline, especially in contrast to what the Blue Jays did by acquiring David Price, who the Yankees had reported interest in, and Troy Tulowitzki. In the last nine games, New York has played like a team that could use some upgrades. Three areas that stand out are second base (obviously), the bench, and pitching (either starting or relieving).

The Yankees were in talks with the Padres to potentially acquire reliever Craig Kimbrel and second baseman Jedd Gyorko, but a deal never materialized. Despite Gyorko’s hefty and lengthy contract, he would’ve been a fine platoon option with some pop at the keystone. Craig Kimbrel is Craig Kimbrel. He’d be just fine wherever he goes.

While the Yankees pitching has been good, Ivan Nova’s return to the rotation bumped Adam Warren to the bullpen and manager Joe Girardi hasn’t found a way to use Warren effectively out of the bullpen. Last night’s appearance in a tie game in extra innings broke a streak of seven consecutive games Warren entered with a Leverage Index below 1.0 and instead of letting the former starter work multiple innings he was pulled after just one (likely necessitating a roster move for a fresh arm today).

The Yankees can’t afford to keep wasting Warren in low leverage situations. The most egregious recent example came last Saturday when a clearly gassed Nova, who was above his season high pitch count and had allowed three consecutive base runners, faced Justin Smoak with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning. It was time to use Warren before the Jays scored in that inning, but he came in after the grand slam with the Yankees already down 4-0.

As Kenny Ducey wrote in his last BP Bronx post, it isn’t time to panic yet. When the team is losing, it’s easy to criticize them for their shortcomings, especially when Ackley and Garrett Jones are the bats coming off the bench in extra innings. Still, the pitching has been very good for the most part and that’s very important. They could use some more runs, though, and that starts with the top of the order making some noise.

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If we are to take this stance at face value and while putting any faith in a team’s public posturing can be dangerous just bare with me, it seems like the Yankees want to have their cake and eat it too. The Yankees want to add a big pitcher as they’ve been linked to both Price and Cole Hamels before that, but they weren’t kidding when they said the Phillies were asking for more than they were comfortable with parting with as Philadelphia ended up accepting a package of six players from Texas for Hamels. While the Rangers didn’t have to part with their very best prospects Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, Chi Chi Gonzalez, or Dillon Tate, Hamels still cost them a hefty package of players that the Yankees deemed too steep of a cost.

If the Yankees aren’t able to find a deal that suits their needs over the next two days, then it’ll really be time to start asking some questions. The Yankees are in first place with a sizable lead and unbelievably we’re actually asking the question of what to expect when your team didn’t expect to contend this year? The Yankees don’t want to part with their top prospects for a player set to hit free agency at the end of the season and that’s understandable because those deals hardly happen anymore. Hamels has three years left on his contract after 2015 and required significantly more talent in return than, say, Johnny Cueto, who is a free agent this offseason (though it’s also worth noting that the Phillies also sent Texas money and took Matt Harrison’s contract to offset Hamels’ remaining contract).

Still, if the Yankees were so worried about hanging onto their prospects and keeping the future in tact, why didn’t they spend their money on an ace this past offseason? It’s one thing to be shopping for an ace now that the team is two months away from its first division title since 2012, but even with Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda both surrounded by question marks coming into the season, New York’s big offseason move to add pitching was getting Nathan Eovaldi and they created a major hole at second base when they gave up veteran Martin Prado (as well as David Phelps) to do it.

While there’s still time for Brian Cashman and company to get a deal done and we all know how perfect Future Yankee David Price would look in pinstripes (and the Yankees and Tigers are familiar trade partners and Detroit also a productive but expensive second baseman), this entire dilemma could’ve been avoided had the Yankees addressed their needs better this past offseason. Retaining the services of Chase Headley was the Yankees big move while they let reliever David Robertson walk and never made a play for Max Scherzer. Each of those players would’ve only cost the Yankees money and now the club finds itself in a bind where they should be adding talent, but might ultimately resist the high prospect cost in this seller’s market.

Spending money to add talent isn’t the oldest trick in the Yankees’ book, but it was once the most popular. Here, it looks like management actually undersold this roster on their preseason outlook and now they have to deal with that fallout and decide whether or not giving up some of their future to take a shot at winning the World Series is worth it when it means topping the Dodgers’ offer for Price. Same old Yankees, huh?

(Photo: Matthew Emmons-USA Today Sports)

Key Moment: Sabathia got into some trouble in the top of the fifth inning. After allowing back-to-back singles to leadoff the inning, the Mariners had catcher Mike Zunino sacrifice bunt. Then Austin Jackson singled to plate the Mariners only run, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead and runners still at the corners with only one out. With the heart of the Mariners lineup due up, it was time for Sabathia to dig deep and he did exactly that striking out Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano to strand the runners. The Mariners would go on to tally just two hits over the rest of the game.

Up Next: The Yankees have a home off day Monday before the Baltimore Orioles come to town Tuesday. It’ll be Wei-Yin Chen (4-5, 2.78 ERA) against Nathan Eovaldi (9-2, 4.50 ERA) as the probable starters in the Bronx for game one of the series.

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Bottom WPA Play: With the tying run in scoring position after a bit of a shaky ninth inning in Andrew Miller’s return from the disabled list, Ben Zobrist grounded out to third base to end the threat and the game. Miller had already allowed two hits in the inning, including the Marcus Semien home run that narrowed the gap to 5-4, but he was ultimately able to prevent Oakland’s comeback attempt.

Key Moment(s): There was a Stephen Drew sighting in the eighth inning and it was kind of magical. Brought up as a pinch-hitter with two outs and facing a left-handed pitcher, Drew hit a 3-2 curveball over the wall in right field for his 12th home run this season. The run extended the Yankees lead and gave closer Andrew Miller some extra breathing room, which it turned out he needed.

Another key moment happened late in this game and involved Teixeira’s glove rather than his bat. With two outs in the top of the eighth, Josh Reddick rocketed a ground ball down the first base line when Teixeira made an incredible diving stop to his left to snare it and then beat Reddick to the bag to end the inning. The Yankees were up by two runs at the time, but you never want to give other teams more opportunities late in the game like that and Teixeira’s glove brought that inning to a screeching halt.

Up Next: The Yankees series with the Athletics concludes this afternoon at 1:05 P.M. in the Bronx. The probable starter’s for Thursday’s game are Masahiro Tanaka (4-3, 3.94 ERA) and Jesse Chavez (4-8, 3.20), who was dominant in a win over the Yankees the last time he faced New York.

(Photo: Adam Hunger-USA Today Sports)

Key Moment(s): Despite adding five earned runs to Cole Hamels’ resume, the Yankees weren’t exactly crushing the ball as a lot of weak contact led to base hits and Phillies fielding follies. The top WPA play of the game was a fielder’s choice and throwing error with the bases loaded that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead early, so we’ll just move along.

The key moment of the game came in the third inning as after retiring the first two Phillies he faced, Nova allowed a single to Ben Revere and walked Cesar Hernandez. It was at this point that big bad Maikel Franco, who had torched the Yankees in the first two games of the series knocking in five runs in each, stepped to the plate. With two strikes, Nova almost had his first strikeout of the season when Franco appeared to have went around on a check swing. First base umpire Alan Porter disagreed, however, and that prompted a reaction from Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who was ejected quickly before running out to first base to continue the discussion briefly. After the game, Girardi said that Porter told him to knock it off and that he said he would if Porter had gotten the call right, which apparently enough to get thrown out. Girardi almost seemed like he was more upset with getting thrown out quickly than the actual call on the field.

Anyway, Nova came back with a curveball to strikeout Franco for his only punch-out of the game. He cruised for most of the game and left to a standing ovation while waving his hat to the crown. The Yankees have been an up and down team so far this season, but the offense has come around even in the absence of Jacoby Ellsbury. If Nova continues to give the Yankees outings like this every fifth day, it would go a long way towards stabilizing the rotation.

Up Next: The Yankees are off to Houston, where they’ll face the American League West leading Astros. Adam Warren (5-4, 3.62 ERA) is set to face left-hander Dallas Keuchel (8-3, 2.35 ERA) on Thursday night at 8:10 eastern.

(Photo: Andy Marlin-USA Today Sports)