3 Questions The New York Yankees Front Office Must Answer in 2017

While the New York Yankees look to maximize the win column in 2017, the men upstairs will be dealing with lingering questions that can define the organization’s future.

Whether they win 75 games and finish in fourth place or win 90 games and grab a wild card, Joe Girardi will field a team with a look the higher-ups haven’t been comfortable unveiling in years.

Evidently, there are obstacles that could prevent the Yanks from going through another 162-game season in a rebuild-in-disguise. Just as easily, those obstacles could turn into positives — making the team a real contender for the first time since 2012.

If and when that happens, the same group of men who put the franchise on the right path must avoid the temptation that has been holding the franchise back for the past decade.

With that said, the idea of winning — and winning a lot — is not the only temptation which, if fallen for, can derail the masterpiece general manager Brian Cashman has been working on for the last nine months.

There are several question marks the organization will face, and address, while the pinstripes embark on one of the most pivotal transitional years in team history.

Is Compromising the Farm ‘OK’?

If a few of the question marks destined to tamper with the win column suddenly turn into answers, the Yankees have the potential to be a tremendous threat in the American League.

Being that it is a transition year, though, where coaches and management need to evaluate and assess the young talent throughout success and growing pains, contention may not actually be the best thing.

If New York is within spitting distance of first place in the AL East by the all-star break, it will be on the front office to decide whether it is worth sacrificing young talent in exchange for a deep postseason run in 2017. It’s a problem that has always lingered with the organization, and it is not necessarily detrimental. After all, look at the championship total.

But, for now, keeping the foot off the gas pedal has to be the way these executives approach each and every situation. The time will come where the Yanks will be a substantial move or two away from their 28th title.

That time is not now.

Dellin Betances‘ Future in Pinstripes

Let’s just say the front office, or one individual by the name of Randy Levine, created this problem. After a messy arbitration case, the Yankees’ president took it upon himself to bash one of the game’s best relief arms and his representatives.

Given that Dellin Betances, who has been nothing short of superb in each of his last three seasons with the club, will once again fall short of everyday reps as a big league closer, his future outlook with the team could not be more clear.

When the man hits free agency in 2020, he is as good as gone. Even if Levine decides it’s time to mend old wounds, a flamethrower with the effectiveness of a Betances should not be spending his career setting up Aroldis Chapman.

What Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner need to decide is whether, depending on the team’s state of contention, the right-hander is best served in the Bronx. There is certainly no doubting the value New York would receive for the perennial all-star, who is dynamite in virtually every big-time situation.

This may not be a problem that waves its hand in the Yankees’ face early in the campaign, but the conversation will be had. Besides, as an organization, it is far better to know where situations like these stand sooner rather than later.

Starlin Castro‘s Stability vs. Gleyber Torres‘ Intrigue

This has the potential to be one of the more prominent questions of 2017.

There is no denying the upside of Gleyber Torres, the Yankees’ top prospect who was acquired from the Cubs in the midseason Chapman swap last year. The kid is tearing the cover off the ball in spring training and, if it wasn’t for developmental concerns, absolutely no one would have a problem with him breaking camp with the big league squad.

As a matter of fact, Brian Cashman even made it clear that two-level (Double-A to the bigs) promotions are not far-fetched.

Starlin Castro, who is coming off a steady first year in the Bronx, looks like the guy who is headed out the door, but the organization needs to consider two angles before anything transpires:

• Are they ready to part ways with a young middle infield hit machine?
• Are they willing to rush Gleyber Torres into uncharted territory?