Three Yankees free agents plan to leave the Bronx this postseason

New York Yankees They made it to the World Series for the first time since 2009. They made the postseason with the AL East Division title and had a first-round bye thanks to their superstars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Both stars were considered candidates for the 2024 AL MVP award, which will almost certainly go to Judge at the end of the season.

But Judge faced tremendous adversity in the postseason. The rest of the roster, including some future free agents, picked him up, leading the Yankees to beat the Cleveland Guardians and reach the World Series.

But these players are playing so well that they may actually push themselves out of the Bronx in 2025. It will be nearly impossible for the Yankees to retain Juan Soto, as well as bring back the other free agents who are making this World Series a success. possible.

For more news and rumors, check out the work of MLB insider Robert Murray. Baseball Insiders Podcastsubscribe to Moonshotour weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the latest information leading up to the MLB offseason.

One of the Yankees’ best pickups this year was also one of the Yankees’ most under-the-radar. I’m not talking about Mark Leiter or Jazz Chisholm. I’m talking about left-hander Tim Hill, who has been excellent for the Yankees this year after being a below-average pitcher throughout his professional career.

Hill had a 5.87 ERA in 23 innings with the Chicago White Sox before landing with the Yankees. In New York, Hill is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 0.4 HR/9 over 44 innings. He truly dominated as the lefty specialist in Aaron Boone’s bullpen.

In the postseason, Hill pitched seven innings to Boone, allowing six hits and one earned run. He was one of the best lefties on the Yankees bench, but he valued himself much higher than he was worth when the Yankees picked him up.

Hill made just under $2 million that year, and by the time the White Sox got rid of him, he appeared to be the pitcher who would sign at the league minimum in 2025. A team that is willing to pay Hill between $4 million and $7 million per season, which may be more than New York is willing to offer him.

Heading into the postseason, it looked like the Yankees had a decent but not great bullpen on their hands, which included heavyweight replacement Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle signed a two-year, $11.5 million contract after the 2022 season. When Kahnle signed this contract, he was considered a good, but not great, pitcher.

In 2024, he had one of his best regular seasons. He posted a 2.11 ERA and 1.14 WHIP while allowing 6.3 hits per nine innings and striking out nearly 10 hitters per nine innings. This year his performance has been consistent and dominant.

But his dominance continued long after the regular season, as Kahnle tossed 7.2 scoreless innings in the postseason this past October. He was one of the Yankees’ best players, despite having a high walk rate, while using only one pitch: his changeup. Kahnle’s switch was so successful that in October of this year he did it more than 50 times in a row. The attackers all know this is coming, but they can’t do anything about it.

But his play could be so good that his free agent contract could be worth $7 million to $8 million per season, which could put him out of the Yankees’ price range.

When the regular season ended, it seemed as if the Yankees would be quite willing to let their starting second baseman, Gleyber Torres, go into free agency. He had a very boring offensive campaign while being one of the worst statistical infielders in the league. For the season, Torres slashed .257/.330/.378, the second-worst single-season OPS+ of his career.

New York had the opportunity to let him go by moving Jazz Chisholm to second base and signing the star third baseman in free agency.

But Torres completely improved his game in the postseason. He’s slashing .289/.389/.422 with more walks than strikeouts. Torres was the ideal hitter for Boone’s team, setting the table for Soto and Judge better than anyone could have predicted.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine the Yankees won’t aggressively try to bring him back this offseason, but he may be looking to leave the Bronx. That’s not to say New York doesn’t have money to spend in free agency, but as they look to secure Soto for the next decade or so, they might invest too much money in Soto and run for Torres, especially given his prices. with this great postseason game.

In a dream world, the Yankees could bring Torres back, but if he continues in that direction, New York may not be able to pay him as much as another team after re-signing Soto.