The New York Yankees have reached the World Series for the first time since 2009. They reached the postseason with the AL East division title and a first-round bye thanks to their superstars Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Both stars were seen as candidates for the 2024 AL MVP, which will almost certainly go to Judge at the end of the season.

But during the postseason, Judge has struggled mightily. The rest of the roster, including some upcoming free agents, picked him up, leading to the Yankees beating the Cleveland Guardians and getting into the World Series.

But these players are playing so well that they could effectively price themselves out of the Bronx in 2025. It will be nearly impossible for the Yankees to keep Juan Soto and also bring back the other free agents who make this World Series tick. possible.

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One of the best picks for the Yankees this year was also one of the most under the radar picks for the Yankees. I’m not talking about Mark Leiter or Jazz Chisholm. I’m talking about left-handed reliever Tim Hill, who has done very well with 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. With New York, Hill is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 0.4 HR/9 over 44 innings. He has been truly dominant as a lefty specialist in Aaron Boone’s bullpen.

In the postseason, Hill threw seven innings for Boone, allowing six hits and one earned run. He was one of the better lefties in the Yankees dugout, while also rating himself much higher than his worth when the Yankees picked him up.

Hill made just under $2 million this year, and by the time the White Sox lost him, he seemed like the kind of pitcher who would sign for the league minimum in 2025. But given this level of play, there will be a team willing to include Hill to pay the $4 million and $7 million per season, which could be more than New York is willing to offer him.

Heading into the postseason, it seemed like the Yankees had a decent, if not great, bullpen on their hands, including heavyweight Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle was tied to a two-year, $11.5 million contract that he signed after the 2022 season. When Kahnle signed this contract, he was seen as a good reliever, but not a great reliever.

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

But his dominance continued long after the regular season, as Kahnle threw 7.2 scoreless postseason innings in October. He was one of the best bullpen arms for the Yankees, despite having a high walk rate, while using only one pitch: his changeup. Kahnle’s changeup is such a good throw that he threw it more than 50 times in a row in October. The hitters all know it’s coming, but they can’t do anything about it.

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

When the regular season ended, it seemed like the Yankees would probably be okay with letting their starting second baseman, Gleyber Torres, walk in free agency. He put together a very pedestrian offensive campaign while being one of the worst statistical infield defenders in the league. On the season, Torres slashed .257/.330/.378, good for the second-worst single-season OPS+ of his career.

New York had the option to let him walk, move Jazz Chisholm to second base and sign a star third baseman in free agency.

But Torres has really stepped up his game in the postseason. He’s hitting .289/.389/.422 with more walks than strikeouts. Torres was the ideal leadoff hitter for Boone’s team and set 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 could be pricing himself out of the Bronx. It’s not that New York doesn’t have money to spend in free agency, but because they want to secure Soto for the next decade, they could overspend on Soto and miss out on Torres, especially since his price tag is high. with this great postseason game.

In a dream world, the Yankees can bring back Torres, but if he continues this way, New York might not be able to pay him as much as another team after re-signing Soto.