Battle Lines Drawn: Yankees’ GM’s “NO Retreat” Message Sets Stage for Epic Free Agency Clash
After striking out on the biggest free agent on the market, Juan Soto, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman was ready to jump back into the offseason free-agent and trade battles.
The first step was nailing down a front-end starter in lefthander Max Fried and the GM indicated on the third day of the MLB Winter Meetings that there is more of that to come.
“No retreat, no surrender. We’ll get back after it, we want to get back to the World Series and try to win it,” Cashman said on the MLB Network.
Cashman had been defensive about losing Juan Soto to the Yankees’ crosstown rivals after Juan Soto signed a historic deal with the New York Mets. The Yankees had reportedly offered Soto $760 million to stay in the Bronx, while the Mets won him over with a deal that can be worth $805 million.
The Yankees “went above and beyond our comfort level” in bidding for Juan Soto, Cashman told reporters in the wake of the disappointing news that Soto was gone.
Two days later, however, Cashman landed one of the top arms available in Fried on an eight-year $218 million deal and is reportedly in hot pursuit of a trade that would bring Houston Astro’s slugger Kyle Tucker to the Bronx.
The Yankees GM has to be aggressive because he still has a lot of work to do if they are going to contend in 2025.
The Yankees need a first and third baseman with some power after declining to bring back Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres. They also need to rebuild their bullpen after losing former closer Clay Holmes to the Mets as well. The Yankees need another left-handed power bat as well.
