The New York Yankees’ offseason has been a roller coaster.
They lost Juan Soto, but gained Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, Devin Williams, and Paul Goldschmidt. However, there is one free agent they cannot afford to take a chance on.
According to FanSided’s Thomas Carannante, the Yankees would not take the same risk on Walker Beuhler as the Boston Red Sox did.
“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,” Carrannante said. “They’ll happily let their rival foot the bill while hoping they can get some World Series revenge on the right-hander.”
Beuhler agreed to a one-year, $21.05 million contract with the Red Sox, which is the same value as the qualifying offer this offseason. Beuhler had a terrible regular season. He had a 5.38 ERA over 16 starts. Despite several injuries, he finished the postseason looking like his old self. 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?”
