A Major League Baseball roster is a roster of players allowed by league agreement to play for their respective Major League team. There are two types of rosters in general, the “active roster” of 25 players and the “expanded roster” of 40 players.
According to the players you sent in your post, those nine players constitute a lot less than half of the roster. When the roster is expanded to the 40 amount, they will have the 15 free agents I mentioned sitting at different levels in the organization. If only half of them are called up, 8 of the 15, that will mean that the amount of non-home grown players will reach 24 at a minimum. And that still constitutes more than half of the roster at that time.
And if you don’t take into consideration that the club has been taking action to get into the cattle call for the upcoming free agents, then you are missing the actions. For years the Yankees have been sniping players and having to delve out large numbers to get them. Most stayed for a short time. Players like Rodriguez and Teixeira from Texas and Ichiro from Seattle. And they’ll have to make decisions on committed contracts ending this year from former free agents Sabathia, Tanaka, Chapman, Holliday, Sanchez, Severino, Solano, and Choi still in the system. Buying them out is going to cost a mint. But right now, they fill a slot. I mentioned Jon Niece. They signed him as a free agent on February 16 this year, released him on March 26, then re-signed him as a free agent on March 28. Maybe it’s a compulsion?
The Yankees are supporting more than half of their roster according to Rotoworld and your identifications with free agents. They are far from home grown. And if they jump into the feeding frenzy they have set up to do for the free agency crop this year, the amount will get bigger and they will bust the league’s luxury tax and thumb their nose again at the league’s efforts to trying to balance the power to protect the smaller markets. And it all comes down to the media market protection, even to the point of liquidating their own to get there, YES.
rwood
I went over the 25-man active roster. Those are the guys currently playing. (BTW, Tyler Austin went down and homegrown Greg Bird came off the DL, so the numbers don’t change in that regard.) If you want to break down the 40-man roster, you’ll find an even larger contingent of young players and homegrown players. The Yankees have taken a new direction in the last couple of years. (And Yankee fans love it, BTW.)
Almost none of the players you mention are in the organization. I showed you the link for the AAA Scranton Wilkes Barre roster, as well as that for the 25-man roster. I’ll enclose the link for the 40-man. You can look it up yourself. (But you won’t.)
The Yankees have been very open about their new direction. They have talked repeatedly about getting younger and more athletic (and getting under the luxury tax threshold.) There are reasons they haven’t gone after big free agents, and other than the possible Japanese transfer Shohei Otani, I don’t expect them to go after any major ones. They don’t need to. There is real depth and youth in the organization.
Watch when the rosters expand. The additions will mostly be younger guys, some with a bit of experience. A couple of veterans are on the DL, but they will be the only veterans added.
Sanchez and Severino are homegrown. They have never been in any organization but the Yankees. Ji-man Choi was an emergency pickup to help with a depleted 1B situation. He’s at SWB, and he’s a decent enough player, but nothing special. He was a minor-league free agent after getting released. Any team could have picked him up. Donovan Solano is the kind of veteran depth every team has in its farm system. he hasn’t has any major-league at bats this year, and I don’t expect him to. He’s not even on the 40-man roster. Someone would have to be released (or designated for assignment) to bring him up. Again,every team has a few depth players like that stored in AAA. It protects you from injuries and other situations.
Chapman is under contract for a few more years. Sabathia, Holliday, and Todd Frazier are free agents. I don’t expect them to sing more than two of those. Possibly just one. Tanaka can opt out. Let’s see if he does, and if the Yankees work at re-signing him if he does, or if they “go young” with Chance Adams and/or Jordan Montgomery (both homegrown.) I expect that Sabathia won’t make nearly as much next year as he is making this year — certainly not from the Yankees. Maybe if a team like the Giants is desperate enough.
Jaime Garcia, acquired at the deadline, is also a free agent. A rental player to help the playoff run. Again, something every contender does. (Yu Darvish with the Dodgers is one example.)
I expect that the Yankees won’t be too active in the free agent market, other than trying to retain some of their own. That’s how they’ve behaved the last couple of years, and with outstanding young talent such as Montgomery, Adams, Clint Frazier, Miguel Andujar (homegrown), Gleyber Torres, Tyler Austin (homegrown), Tyler Wade (homegrown), Giovanny Gallegos (homegrown), Ben Heller, Jonathan Holder (homegrown), Bryan Mitchell (homegrown), Jake Cave (homegrown), Billy McKinney, Mason Williams (homegrown), Kyle Higashioka (homegrown), Garrett Cooper, and others, they have the depth on hand to avoid having to go heavily into the market for outside talent. I know this will disappoint the Yankee haters.
I don’t see Niese on any roster, either, BTW, although he could probably contribute. (The Yankees released him on June 7. He apparently has not signed elsewhere.)
They are a very homegrown team which will be getting moreso.
Yankees 25-man roster: http://m.mlb.com/nyy/roster/
Yankees 40-man roster: http://m.mlb.com/nyy/roster/40-man/
Scranton Wilkes Barre RailRiders roster: http://www.milb.com/roster/index.jsp?sid=t531
Trenton Thunder roster: http://www.milb.com/roster/index.jsp?sid=t567