NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 03: Brett Gardner #11 of the New York Yankees in action against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on October 03, 2021 in New York City.
On Thursday evening, we got our first bit of real New York Yankees free agency news that actually carried some magnitude.
In the end, Gardy took home $1.15 million and O’Day pocketed $700K after the decisions were made.
But more importantly, what does this all mean? The easiest takeaway here is that O’Day will not be returning, and his baseball career might be over.
Gardner, though? Is there any doubt he’ll be back? Maybe! But his second-half resurgence might be enough for the Yankees to keep him around, especially given their uncertainty in center field.
Perhaps the Yankees are ready to part for a more formidable upgrade? If they do go after a center field in free agency or via trade, we can assume they won’t be able to unload Hicks’ contract, which may turn him into a fourth outfielder by default.
To be honest, this feels like a 50/50 scenario given the Yankees’ need to make a few overarching changes this offseason.