Gutted to hear the Ohtani news. Right before free agency when he's been amazing for the last 3 years. And Trout going back on the IL too...
Best thing for the Yankees (other than Hal cleaning house perhaps) is their young players getting a shot now. And good news for them that Jasson Dominguez has been destroying AA pitching and is up to AAA now. A power-hitting switch hitter? Yankees could use that youth and athleticism. Their team has just been so old and broken down. Time for them to see what Pereira and Pereza can do and a Dominguez 2024 call-up seems possible. The rotation on the other hand.... the Rodon contract does not look promising so far. They need a lot of work and really need their prospects to develop well. The Yankees have a lot of money tied up in contracts already, and they don't have the overwhelming payroll advantage they used to. Prospect development is crucial. Cashman's assembly of the team has received a lot of criticism (rightly so). The lack of left-handed hitters stands out immediately (this is the Yankees! Where are the power-hitting lefties?). The old nature of the team and the lack of flexibility (Stanton can't really play the field these days, and Judge will need to be cared for, and there's only 1 DH spot) is a problem.
For the Mets, at least Cohen's plan seemed to make sense. They overperformed last year, and they had short-term options in Scherzer and Verlander to bolster pitching. It didn't work this year, but they were never eating long-term contracts, just short-term pain and were able to get 3 good prospects from the Rangers and Astros in return. Not a bad result from a failed all-out push. The big question now is the player development side. Alvarez is very good, but the Mets have had a ton of other young prospects hyped about (Baty, Vientos, Mauricio, and the like). They're typically the masters of young pitching, but they haven't found the next generation of great starters (the likes of Megill have not worked out). Like the Yankees, they can't solve all pitching woes in free agency. Mets are low-key very good at finding some value outside the org in general to supplant their typically strong rotation (e.g. Bassitt, Walker), so they just need one or two youth prospects to work out and add an arm or two in FA.
For all the talk on the Dodgers' stars and payrolls, their starters (though injured) of Kershaw, Buehler, Gonsolin, May, Urias, Miller, etc are home-grown. They can always supplant with a reclamation project (e.g. Heaney, Anderson, Lynn) but have a lot of their own developed pitchers, so they don't always need to overspend in FA.
