Oh come on. They are not signing more than one of those players, and none of them preclude signing tucker or vlad if they become available.
I said they would spend more than 50. Let's say one of those players costs 20 - 30, they're left with 20-25 to compete a lineup, bench, and bullpen.
My prediction:
One of the top pitchers, likely Fried.
Teoscar Hernandez
Trade for second/third base (move jazz to the other)
Sign a short term 1b - two years max.
So we agree that they won't sign any of the 4 on your list, but they're still going to spend. Going in to the season trying kids is fine. But trying kids at a majority of positions is just crazy talk
We're talking a bit past each other because the strategy (what "should" the yankees do) is downstream from the budget, and we simply don't know their target salary number or willingness to go past the CBT threshold every year. I'm not disagreeing with anything you're saying if the assumption is they are comfortable blowing past the CBT again and don't want to take this opportunity to reset.
Like I said before I think you're right with what they'll do, but it's a non-zero chance that they choose to stay under CBT which means very limited adding unless they get creative. And I don't think it would be that "crazy" in the sense that we've pretty much seen this before, in '23 right before soto. Lineup stunk and they went 82-80. The past few years haven't been the George Steinbrenner yankees that buy a star at every position. Now, maybe they are trending back in that direction somewhat - we are seeing big market teams caring way less about the CBT threshold than they used to, which totally changes the economics of the sport. In which case, sure, sign the guys you listed. We'll find out soon enough - as soon as they make their first big splash and guarantee they're ok going over for max penalty 2 years in a row.
Which 1B do you want for 2 years? And why 2 years with Vlad hitting FA next year?
If you have Stanton at DH and a 1B locked up, you're not making a play for Vlad, which is unfortunate. And yeah I get not having 1 specific guy in mind, since Steve or the Dodgers can always swoop him too.. but I do think that is how you have to play the FA game. There is a massive difference between these 26 year olds and these 30+ year olds. Like you mentioned Judge having 1 or 2 good years left (i think he has a few more than that) - he's 32. Walker is actually 33. Bregman is also 30 and at least he's athletic and can move around the infield but how long before he loses a step. Santander has obp risk and is also 30. Alonso is 30.
BTW - Cole, Rodon, Gil, Schmidt, Stroman/Cortes, who are you bumping for Fried? He's not an ace. Sure, he's an improvement over a bunch of those guys, but to me, that would be a waste of money (again, assuming money matters). Unless paired with a trade, I don't think it's a good idea. Sasaki would be amazing (but has nothing to do with money or strategy it's all up to him) or Crochet but other than that, sp isn't where I'd focus at all