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Yankees Claim Owen White, Designate Allan Winans

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The Yankees have claimed righty Owen White off waivers from the Reds, per a team announcement. It’s their second waiver claim in the past 20 minutes, as New York also claimed infielder Braden Shewmake from the Royals. The Shewmake claim brought their 40-man roster to capacity, so the Yankees have designated righty Allan Winans (another waiver pickup) for assignment in order to open a roster spot for White.

Like Shewmake, White is a former top pick — No. 55 overall to the Rangers in 2018 — whose original club has moved on. He ranked among the game’s top-100 prospects head into the 2023 season but has seen his stock tumble in the years since. White posted a 4.22 ERA with a middling 17.2% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate in 108 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. He spent most of the 2024 campaign back in Triple-A and was tagged for a 5.64 ERA in 99 frames with slightly improved strikeout and walk rates.

The 25-year-old White has pitched in the majors, but with exceeding brevity. He’s tossed a total of seven MLB frames and been clobbered for 13 runs in that time. His velocity ticked up a bit when the Rangers moved him to the bullpen last year, but Baseball America noted in this year’s scouting report on him that his stuff had dropped in general relative to the point at which he was drafted. For a pitcher whose pro debut was delayed for about three years due to Tommy John surgery and the canceled 2020 minor league season, a loss in stuff and step backward in development is unfortunate but not necessarily shocking.

Baseball America also notes that after a midseason grip change, White’s slider sharpened; the Yankees could well be betting on some in-season changes that are obscured by his broader struggles. White still has a minor league option remaining, so they can afford to take a gamble on the former top prospect and see if they can unlock some of those gains over a larger sample and convert White into a viable relief option.

Winans, 29, pitched in the majors with the Braves in both 2023 and 2024 but was hit hard. Opponents tagged him for a 7.20 ERA in 40 innings. The Yankees claimed him off waivers about two weeks ago.

Winans sits 90-91 with his four-seamer and 89-90 mph with his sinker, so he’s not the prototypical power arm that today’s front offices covet, but he does have a strong Triple-A track record and a minor league option remaining. In 256 innings of Triple-A work, he carries a 3.26 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. Between that performance and the remaining option, another club could look at him as a worthwhile depth addition. The Yankees will have five days to trade Winans, after which he’d have to be placed on outright waivers, which last for 48 hours.

Yankees Claim Braden Shewmake

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The Yankees announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Braden Shewmake off waivers from the Royals. He’ll bring their 40-man roster to capacity, meaning New York will now need to make a roster move once lefty Tim Hill’s deal is finalized. Kansas City designated Shewmake for assignment last week. They’d claimed him off waivers from the White Sox earlier in the season.

The 27-year-old Shewmake spent the 2024 season with the White Sox after being acquired in the trade that sent left-hander Aaron Bummer from Chicago to Atlanta. The former first-round pick has appeared in parts of two big league seasons but has posted a bleak .118/.127/.191 batting line in 71 plate appearances between the Braves and Sox. He hasn’t offered much more offense in the upper minors, where he’s a .240/.299/.395 hitter in 866 Triple-A plate appearances.

Shewmake clearly doesn’t hit much, but he’s regarded as a surehanded infielder with strong defensive tools at multiple positions. He’s spent the bulk of his career at shortstop but has experience at second base and third base as well. Statcast credits him with better-than-average sprint speed and arm strength, though he’s not plus in either regard.

The addition of Shewmake is a depth play for the Yankees and surely not intended to address the hole in their lineup at either second base or third base (depending on where Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays). Shewmake has a minor league option remaining and could provide depth at multiple spots around the diamond if he sticks on the 40-man roster into the season. However, with a move needed to open space for the aforementioned Hill, Shewmake could find himself designated for assignment once again, with the Yankees hoping to pass him through waivers and keep his glove in Triple-A as a non-roster depth piece.

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

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Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.

Angels: Robert Stephenson

Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.

Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa

Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.

Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk

Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.

Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah

The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.

Braves: Joe Jiménez

Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.

Brewers: Robert Gasser

Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.

Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson

Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.

Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan

Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.

Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan

Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.

Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar

Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.

Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez

Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.

Mets: Christian Scott

Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.

Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson

Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.

Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells

Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.

Padres: Joe Musgrove

Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.

Pirates: Dauri Moreta

Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.

Rangers: Josh Sborz

Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.

Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim

The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.

Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy

Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.

Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson

Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.

Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long

Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.

White Sox: Jesse Scholtens

Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.

Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga

Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.

Yankees, Carlos Carrasco Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran righty Carlos Carrasco, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network. Presumably, he’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee this month. Carrasco, who’s represented by ACES, would earn $1.5MM if he makes the roster and can push that salary to $2.5MM via incentives, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Carrasco, 38 in March, spent the 2024 season with the Guardians after returning to Cleveland on a minor league pact last offseason. He was hit hard for a second straight season, following up on 2023’s 6.80 ERA (90 innings) with a 5.64 ERA in 103 2/3 frames. Carrasco’s 91.6 mph average four-seamer and 91.1 mph average sinker, per Statcast, were both career-low marks.

Carrasco, of course, was one of the game’s premier starters during his peak in Cleveland, finishing fourth in 2017 American League Cy Young voting. From 2014-18, he tossed 856 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with plus strikeout and walk rates. He ranked seventh among all pitchers in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement metric during that span and was sixth among all qualified pitchers in terms of the differential between his strikeout and walk rates (22.6 K-BB%).

At this stage of his career, Carrasco is no longer a borderline ace and is a pure depth addition for the Yankees. His last productive season came with the Mets in 2022, when he tossed 152 innings of 3.97 ERA ball with a strong 23.6% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate.

Carrasco has had an ERA of 5.64 or worse in three of the past four seasons, but he still shows good command and misses bats at a passable enough level to think he could produce better results. He’s been far too homer-prone, however, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for a fit in Yankee Stadium — though he’s actually been far more susceptible to long balls versus righties than versus left-handed opponents.

The Yankees’ rotation is already deep enough that the club has traded Nestor Cortes and is likely to move Marcus Stroman if general manager Brian Cashman can find a trade partner. Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt will take the top five spots in the roster. Stroman and his $18.5MM salary are on the trade block. Other depth options on the 40-man roster include JT Brubaker, waiver claim Allan Winans and prospects Will Warren, Clayton Beeter and Yoendrys Gomez.

Yankees Win Arbitration Hearing Over Mark Leiter Jr.

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The Yankees defeated reliever Mark Leiter Jr. in an arbitration hearing, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.  Leiter will earn $2.05MM for the 2025 season, rather than the $2.5MM salary he was looking to land.

New York picked Leiter up from the Cubs at the trade deadline, and the right-hander posted a 4.98 ERA over 21 2/3 innings in the pinstripes over the rest of the regular season.  Overall, Leiter finished the 2024 campaign with a 4.50 ERA in 58 combined innings with Chicago and New York, along with a very strong 33.6% strikeout rate and some of the best chase and whiff rates of any pitcher in baseball.

Beyond the big strikeout numbers and a 46.2% grounder rate, however, Leiter had a below-average 8.6% walk rate, and his homer rate spiked after the trade to the Bronx.  On the plus side, Leiter got on track for the Yankees during their playoff run, delivering a 1.69 ERA over 5 1/3 innings across six appearances in the ALCS and World Series.

Leiter turns 34 next month, but he is only in his second trip through the arbitration process due to the late-breaking nature of his MLB career.  The righty didn’t make his big league debut until age 26, and it wasn’t until his age-31 season with the Cubs that Leiter started to emerge as a solid bullpen arm.  Leiter has earned 43 holds over the last two seasons, but since arbitration panels generally favor saves as the primary counting stat when gauging reliever salaries, it perhaps isn’t surprising that this panel ruled in the Yankees’ favor.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz predicted a $2.1MM salary for Leiter in 2025, so the right-hander’s final salary clocks in just slightly below that projection.  The Yankees’ control over Leiter runs through the 2026 campaign, and today’s decision officially closes the book on all of the Bombers’ arbitration business for the offseason.

Yankees Checked In On Enrique Hernandez, Yoan Moncada

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As the Yankees continue to looking for infield help, the team has shown some degree of interest this offseason in Enrique Hernandez and Yoan Moncada, the New York Post’s Mark W. Sanchez writes.  Regarding Moncada, Sanchez writes that the club asked for Moncada’s medicals “early in the offseason,” but a source tells Sanchez “the Yankees have [since] not re-engaged” on the former White Sox third baseman.

This isn’t the first time that the Yankees have been linked to Hernandez, as New York was a finalist for the veteran utilityman’s services when he was a free agent last winter.  Hernandez instead re-signed with the Dodgers to a one-year, $4MM deal, and the decision paid off in the form of another championship ring.  The Yankees got a direct look at Hernandez during the postseason, when he hit .278/.316/.389 over 20 plate appearances during the Dodgers’ five-game triumph over the Bronx Bombers in the World Series.

There hasn’t been any public buzz about Hernandez’s free agent market this offseason, which could be due to the perception (as Sanchez notes) that a reunion with the Dodgers is inevitable.  Today, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “The door will never be closed on Kiké” at DodgerFest.

Los Angeles could be waiting until Spring Training opens and roster space can be created when players are shifted to the 60-day injured list, but until that happens, another team could theoretically be able to swoop in and make Hernandez a more attractive offer.

For instance, New York could offer Hernandez more playing time than he might find on the crowded L.A. roster.  The right-handed hitting Hernandez could complement Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Cody Bellinger (both left-handed bats) on the infield or in center field, or complement the switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez in left field.  Hernandez’s versatility gives the Yankees even more flexibility in figuring out Chisholm’s eventual position at either second base or third base, and in deciding how DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza all fit into the roster picture.

Hernandez’s offense has tended to ebb and flow over the course of his 11-year MLB career, balancing out at a .238/.308/.405 slash line and 93 wRC+ over 3896 career PA.  Come October, however, Hernandez has surged to hit .278/.353/.522 in 259 postseason PA with the Dodgers and Red Sox, earning the 33-year-old a reputation as a big-game player.  This kind of production from an unheralded spot on the roster could be just what the Yankees need to take that final step towards another title after falling short to Los Angeles this past season.

Moncada hasn’t played second base since the 2018 season, so he would more directly slot into the third base mix if he indeed ended up in New York.  Sanchez’s note about the Yankees’ seeming lack of follow-up about Moncada might indicate that the Bombers were simply doing a due-diligence ask and have since moved onto other targets.  The Mariners, Cubs, and Blue Jays are among the clubs who have also been linked to Moncada this offseason, as he begins a new chapter in his career after the White Sox declined their $25MM club option on the infielder last fall.

Chicago’s decision came as no surprise given how Moncada played in only 12 games in 2024 due to a left adductor strain, though that total could’ve been bumped up by a few games had the White Sox not sparingly used Moncada after he was activated from the 60-day injured list in mid-September.  It marked a tough end to an up-and-down eight-season run for Moncada on the South Side, as he hit .254/.332/.425 over 3122 PA in a White Sox uniform.  Much more was expected given Moncada’s past status as an elite prospect, and the five-year, $70MM extension he signed with the Sox prior to the 2020 season.

Now looking to rebuild his value after a few injury-marred seasons, Moncada might have to settle for a minor league contract given this increasingly late date in the offseason, or a low-cost one-year guarantee.  The amount of interest Moncada has received indicates that multiple teams believe he might have some change-of-scenery potential once removed from what became an increasingly dismal situation in Chicago.

Max Scherzer Hosts Workout For Several Teams

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It’s been a relatively quiet offseason with regard to chatter on future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. The three-time Cy Young winner was limited to nine starts of 3.95 ERA ball for the Rangers in 2024. He missed time early in the year while recovering from offseason back surgery and was also sidelined by a nerve issue in his hand, shoulder fatigue and a strained hamstring. It’s a length list of issues, particularly for a pitcher who turned 40 last summer.

Still, Scherzer has been preparing to pitch in 2025 and recently held a workout for scouts, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. SI.com’s Pat Ragazzo reported recently that the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Braves, Red Sox and Cubs were among those who were represented at the showcase. (That’s not necessarily an exhaustive list of teams.)

The Blue Jays have been the team most prominently linked to Scherzer thus far in the offseason, and Feinsand indeed suggests that Toronto has been the most serious suitor for Scherzer. Ragazzo adds that the Mets have “some level of interest” in bringing Scherzer back on a one-year deal. Time will tell whether the right-hander’s recent showcase for scouts drums up any new bidders, but Feinsand quotes one showcase attendee who suggested that Scherzer looked good — not up to his prior Cy Young standards but still “good enough to be an effective starter.”

At least in the 43 1/3 innings Scherzer managed amid all those maladies in 2024, that looked to be the case. In addition to his previously mentioned 3.95 ERA, the right-hander fanned 22.6% of opponents (roughly average) with a terrific 5.6% walk rate. His once-95-mph fastball sat at a career-low average of 92.5 mph in 2024, however, and he dealt with home run troubles for a second straight year (1.65 HR/9 in 2023, 1.45 in 2024). The righty’s swinging-strike rate (14.6%) remained excellent, but most of those whiffs came off the plate. Scherzer’s opponents made contact on 83.1% of swings within the strike zone — his highest level since 2011.

For the Jays, Scherzer wouldn’t need to reprise his status as an ace, however. Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios have the top three spots in the rotation. Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodriguez follow, but Francis has minor league options remaining and Rodriguez could move back into the bullpen. Toronto’s pitching depth, in general, is somewhat shaky with Alek Manoah on the mend from elbow surgery and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann missing most of the 2024 season due to injury. Rotation candidates beyond the top five include prospects Jake Bloss and Adam Macko as well as non-roster invitees Adam Kloffenstein and Eric Lauer.

The Mets have a more crowded staff, but president of baseball operations David Stearns is known for hoarding depth. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn and reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes make up the starting staff right now. Swingmen Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill could get looks, too, as could top prospect Brandon Sproat. Fitting Scherzer into the puzzle is a bit of a challenge, particularly given the 110% luxury task the Mets are facing.

Yankees Planning To Play Jasson Dominguez In Left Field

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone appeared on WFAN with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata this afternoon. He fielded a few questions about the team’s position player mix.

Boone indicated that his starting outfield was likely to comprise Jasson Domínguez in left field, Cody Bellinger in center, and Aaron Judge in right. Trent Grisham is ticketed for a fourth outfield role. The eighth-year skipper suggested he hoped to keep Domínguez mostly in left field while using Bellinger a bit more flexibly. He noted that there’ll be days when Judge serves as a designated hitter while Giancarlo Stanton gets a day off. In those instances, Grisham would likely draw into center field with Bellinger kicking over to right.

The most notable aspect is that the Yankees are preparing for Domínguez to get everyday run. Owner Hal Steinbrenner made similar comments in an interview with Meredith Marakovitz of the YES Network this afternoon. “I see him as the starting left fielder,” Steinbrenner replied when asked about Domínguez’s role. “There’ll be a lot of meetings and discussions in Spring Training obviously and we’ll see how he performs and how he feels, but everybody’s very excited about him.”

Domínguez, who turns 22 next month, should be ticketed for his first extended big league audition. He drilled four homers in eight games as a 20-year-old back in 2023. An elbow injury then ended his season and required Tommy John surgery that shelved him into the middle of June. New York seemed reluctant to give Domínguez regular run fresh off the injury. He bounced on and off the active roster for the final six weeks of the season, though the Yanks stuck with Alex Verdugo as their everyday player in left field. Domínguez got into 18 games and struggled to a .179/.313/.304 slash.

The switch-hitting outfielder remains one of the game’s top young talents. Baseball America ranked Domínguez as New York’s top prospect and among the sport’s 30 best prospects on their updated Top 100 list. He has been a strong performer in the minors. Domínguez has a .253/.360/.430 line across parts of three Double-A seasons and carries a huge .325/.391/.495 mark in 230 plate appearances with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Boone added that with the current roster makeup, he views Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the starter at second base. He named DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza as players who could battle for playing time at third base. New York has been linked to free agents Jorge Polanco and Brendan Rodgers, so there’s still a chance for an acquisition to push Chisholm back to the hot corner.

Chisholm has only started two games at second base since 2022. He played there regularly with the Marlins early in his career before moving to center field. Miami brought him back into the infield shortly before last summer’s deadline in a thinly veiled effort to expand his versatility to trade partners.

The Yankees acquired him and installed him at third base in deference to Gleyber Torres. Chisholm played his first 400 career innings at the hot corner in the Bronx. Statcast graded him highly in that sample, though Defensive Runs Saved had him slightly below average. Both metrics have given Chisholm plus grades for his second base work. He has a little more than 1300 career innings at the position, most of which came between 2021-22.

Steinbrenner: Yankees Plan To Discuss Extension With Aaron Boone

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Aaron Boone is headed into his eighth season as Yankees manager. He’s on track to enter the year in a lame duck capacity. The Yankees exercised their club option on Boone’s services in November. That’s the extent of their activity thus far, as Boone said a few days later that there’d been no talk about a long-term deal.

It seems that’s only a matter of time. Owner Hal Steinbrenner tells Meredith Marakovitz of the YES Network that they plan to open extension talks with their manager in the near future. “We will be talking with him in the days and weeks to come. … There’ll be conversations had with him about potentially staying longer,” Steinbrenner told Marakovitz. He declined to specify a timeline but left open the possibility for discussions to take place during the season, though he added generally that talks “will happen sooner rather than later.”

Teams typically prefer to avoid having managers or top front office personnel working on expiring contracts. That’s not a uniform rule, though, and the Yankees themselves allowed Boone to manage as a lame duck for nearly the entire 2021 season. With his deal set to expire at the conclusion of that year’s World Series, the sides hammered out a three-year extension in the middle of October. That included the aforementioned club option on which Boone will manage the upcoming season.

Like any manager of the Yankees, Boone has found himself under scrutiny from the fanbase over the years. The organization has maintained faith in his ability throughout his tenure. Boone has led the team to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons, with their 82-win showing in 2023 as the lone exception. They reached their biggest heights of Boone’s tenure last year. They knocked off the Guardians to win their first American League pennant since 2009. A five-game defeat to the Dodgers in the Fall Classic extended their title drought to 15 seasons.

While the season ended on a sour note with the Yankees relinquishing a five-run lead in the World Series clincher, it seemed inevitable they would maintain continuity on the coaching staff. Their only change came at assistant pitching coach after Desi Druschel departed to take the same job with the Mets. Boone is the second-longest tenured manager in the AL behind Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash. He’s the seventh longest-tenured manager in the majors. The Yankees have topped 90 wins in five of his six full schedules at the helm. Boone holds a 603-429 record (58.4% win percentage) overall.

Poll: Will The Yankees Be Able To Trade Marcus Stroman?

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When AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil established himself as a foundational piece for the Yankees’ rotation, that left the club with an interesting dilemma: the club had more starters than space in the rotation. While trading Nestor Cortes to the Brewers in the deal that brought closer Devin Williams into the fold helped to unclog the rotation somewhat, the deal only came after the Yankees had already added Max Fried. With Fried joining Gil, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman in the rotation mix, the club still has more starters than rotation spots available.

That’s led to plenty of speculation that another trade could be coming down the pipeline for the Yankees, with Stroman sticking out as the likeliest to move. The club has reportedly been shopping the veteran righty throughout the winter, and is said to be willing to pay down a portion of the veteran’s $18.5MM salary in order to get a deal done. It’s a sensible goal for the Yankees, given thatt those dollars could be reallocated to help bolster second or third base. Assuming Jazz Chisholm Jr. moves back to second base, some combination of DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza project to man the hot corner.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Stroman is coming off the worst season of his career. The veteran posted a decent 4.31 ERA (95 ERA+) in 154 2/3 innings of work. That’s serviceable production for the back of a rotation, but a look under the hood reveals some worrying trends. Stroman posted career-worst numbers in terms of strikeout rate (16.7%), walk rate (8.9%), groundball rate (49.2%), and barrel rate (6.7%). That across-the-board decline in skills combined with his fastball velocity being nearly two ticks down from 2023 left him with a FIP that was 10% worse than league average and a 4.74 SIERA that was better than only Griffin Canning, Tyler Anderson, and Chris Flexen among all pitchers (min. 150 innings). While Stroman has been a fairly consistent three-WAR player throughout his career to this point, the wide-ranging decline in peripherals reduces optimism for a substantial bounceback in 2025 — his age-34 season.

Recent deals for veteran back-of-the-rotation arms suggest Stroman is overpaid, but perhaps not egregiously so. Alex Cobb landed a $15MM guarantee after making just three starts in 2024. Tomoyuki Sugano is 35 years old and has never thrown an MLB pitch; he commanded $13MM nonetheless. His 41-year-old rotation-mate in Baltimore, Charlie Morton, secured a $15MM guarantee of his own. It shouldn’t be all that difficult for the Yankees to find a taker for Stroman if they were able to pay down his salary to, say, the $10-12MM range that more well-regarded back-end veterans like Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and others have been able to find in free agency in recent years.

That would seemingly allow the Yankees plenty of flexibility to sign an infielder, but one other obstacle to a Stroman deal is the veteran’s 2026 vesting option. If the right-hander pitches 140 innings in 2025, his 2026 option will vest and become an $18MM player option for the 2026 season. It seems unlikely that Stroman would turn that option down without a major bounceback season, meaning that an acquiring team that wishes to avoid that outcome would have to find a way to limit him to just 140 innings this year. That’s far from impossible, seeing as the righty posted back-to-back seasons with fewer innings than that benchmark with the Cubs in 2022 and ’23, but barring significant IL time, Stroman’s new club may need to move him to the bullpen at some point.

How do MLBTR readers think things will shake out? Will the Yankees be able to get a Stroman deal done? And if so, how much of his salary will they have to pay down to make a trade happen? Have your say in the poll below:

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