The New York Yankees offseason has been a roller coaster. They lost Juan Soto but added Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, Devin Williams and Paul Goldschmidt. However, there is one free agent they couldn’t afford to take a gamble on.
FanSided’s Thomas Carannante noted that with their current rotation, the Yankees were not going to take the risk the Boston Red Sox did on Walker Beuhler.
“Our guess is that Buehler ends up putting together a good enough 2025 campaign to rebuild his value, but it’s very much up in the air, and it wasn’t something the Yankees were going to gamble on at that price,” wrote Carrannante. “They’ll happily let their rival foot the bill while hoping they can get some World Series revenge on the right-hander.”
Beuhler signed a one-year, $21.05 million deal with the Red Sox, the same value as the qualifying offer this offseason. Beuhler had an abysmal regular season. He had a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts. However, he closed out the postseason looking like his old self after a slew of injuries. His final two postseason starts spanned nine scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. He even got the title-clinching save on one day of rest.
The Yankees already have some risky investments in their rotation. A $21 million gamble was simply not in the cards with Marcus Stroman currently on the team as well. Stroman is just one of the Yankees’ risky starters.
“They’re already overpaying Marcus Stroman ($36.5 million owed through 2026) and Carlos Rodón ($27 million per year for four more seasons). Clarke Schmidt has proven to be unreliable to varying degrees,” wrote Carannante. “Gerrit Cole is coming off a concerning elbow issue. How much more can the Yankees get out of Luis Gil in his second full season?”
More MLB: $260 million All-Star hints at Yankees trade on social media
