They aren't under the cap
I stand corrected, I was under the incorrect impression they were under the luxury tax, perhaps because of how much lip service the front office has devoted since October to the importance and goal of Staying Under The Luxury Tax. DJ put them over, but they're only in the first tier, ie paying the least amount for being over the tax.
Heard an interview with Cashman on one of the radio shows and he said Kuechel never got back to them after the Yankees initial offer. Not even to jack up the Braves offer. He said when something like that happens it means the guy already knew where he wanted to go.
Of course everyone wants to jump on the Yanks and call them cheap but I'll take Cashman's word.
Also Kuechel was a Cy Young a few years ago and hasn't been the same since. He is not an Ace anymore.
Back in the 80's Steinbrenner had a habit of grabbing guys who had been All-Stars or MVP's but were a few years past their peak. Don Baylor, Ken Griffey Sr, Roy Smalley, Toby Harrah to name a few. You wind up with a high priced third place team.
The Yankees had an opportunity to sign him in the off-season, prior to the Braves bidding on his services. Again, he only signed a 1 year deal with the Braves, so it's not like the Yankees had to throw a brink truck at him to sign him. They decided to wait until June to have this negotiation with Keuchel or whenever the time to not have to compensate Houston with draft picks expired, and that was their decision and their decision alone. For a team with $620M in revenue, they certainly make some interesting decisions with their checkbook (especially as team salary as a percentage of team revenue has
declined throughout the decade.
As for Keuchel's performance, he was a Cy Young in 2015, an All Star with great numbers in 2017, and had a subpar (but not bad) season last year. In fact, I would
gladly take his 2018 season to any of the Yankees starters this season. Are any of them even close to his 3.74 ERA last season?
As for his current performance, bear in mind he didn't have to the advantage of Spring Training this year. I always felt like that impacts pitchers (starters in particular) moreso than position players.