TAMPA — When the Yankees cross the state to play the Astros on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla., they’ll see two familiar faces looking to get Houston to the AL title, in Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann.
If the plans laid in late 2013 and early 2014 had worked out differently, the Yankees might not look the way they do heading into the 2017 season.
That’s when they invested nearly $500 million into free agency, with the most significant splurges on Masahiro Tanaka ($175 million), Jacoby Ellsbury ($153 million), McCann ($85 million) and Beltran ($45 million), with Robinson Cano leaving for Seattle.