Why this Yankees offseason has seemed boring compared to past seasons

It has been over three months since the Yankees played their last baseball game of 2015, and the offseason seems to be dragging on at this point. In the past, the offseason has been an exciting time of trades, free agent signings (and departures) and rumors. However, the Yankees have been fairly quite over the past few months aside from a handful of trades and minor league deals. Why has the offseason felt so boring?

1. The Yankees have stuck to their word. Brian Cashman said early on that the team was unlikely to sign any free agents, and so far that has been the case. In fact, the Yankees haven't signed a Major League player in over a year now (unless you count that weird situation with Garrett Jones where he was released, re-signed, then released again over a short period of time during the season). Other than that, the Yankees last real free agent signing was Stephen Drew's one-year deal back in January of 2015. The Yankees did not sign any big free agent names last offseason either, but they did add the likes of Drew, Chris Capuano and Chris Young. We should probably get used to the lack of free agent signings, too, since it appears that the Yankees have no plans to sign any free agents until some of their large contracts come off the books in the next season or two.

2. There have been fewer rumors than last season. Since the Yankees have been so adamant about not signing any free agents, the Yankees have not been connected to as many players as they have been in past years. The team would have benefited from adding an arm to the rotation, but the Yankees were never linked to Zack Greinke, David Price, or any of the other top names. Maybe it would have been better not to know that the Yankees weren't going to sign any free agents this offseason, so that we could still have the fun of speculating.

3. The Yankees have made fewer impactful trades than last season. Last year the Yankees swapped Francisco Cervelli for Justin Wilson, and were part of the three-team deal to acquire Didi Gregorius and send Shane Greene to the Tigers. They also sent Manny Banuelos to the Braves for Chasen Shreve and David Carpenter, and traded David Phelps and Martin Prado to the Marlins for Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Jones and Domingo German. They also acquired Chris Martin from the Rockies, and traded Shawn Kelley to the Padres. Comparatively, this year the Yankees have traded for Aaron Hicks, Starlin Castro, Aroldis Chapman. The Yankees also traded Jose Pirela and Justin Wilson for minor league players, and made a similar swap with the Dodgers, but none of those trades netted anyone expected to make an impact at the big league level this year. While it is important to build up the farm system, it isn't quite as exciting to acquire players who won't help be able to help the team soon. Although the Castro and Chapman trades were exciting, the Yankees just haven't done as much as they did last year.

We're a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting, and there is still plenty of time for the Yankees to make a few more trades. As of now, the offseason feels somewhat underwhelming, though. Maybe it's the lack of free agents, maybe it's because there have been fewer trades and rumors, generating less overall content to talk about. We might have to get used to it if the Yankees don't plan on spending until some of the big contracts come off the books.

Has the offseason felt less exciting than previous years to anyone else, or is it just me?