The Giants have yet to talk contract with free agent righty Mike Leake, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links). That doesn’t mean that he won’t be a target, of course, but Schulman explains that it does suggest he’ll be fully testing the market before making a decision. Generally, says Schulman, San Francisco has indicated it will be more tight-lipped about its pursuit of pitching than it was last offseason, when the club openly chased Jon Lester.
Here are some more notes as the free agent market begins to take shape:
- While the Yankees might not go after the biggest free agent names, the club could be active in the second base market, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch writes. New York has a variety of in-house options to be considered there, of course, but will also look at players such as Daniel Murphy, Ben Zobrist, and Howie Kendrick, per the report.
- It remains to be seen how active the Yankees will be, but adding to the rotation figures to be one area of focus. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com writes (in a broader notes column) that Jeff Samardzija and Wei-Yin Chen are two names that have come up in internal discussions.
- The Royals have interest in a reunion with righty Chris Young, Heyman adds. The 36-year-old delivered plenty of value to the club after signing late in the offseason last year, of course, though he’ll figure to draw wider interest after contributing 123 1/3 frames of 3.06 ERA pitching in a swingman capacity.
- New Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has made clear that bringing back Hisashi Iwakuma is a priority for the club, and Bob Dutton of the Seattle Times explains that his status will be important for determining the rest of the club’s winter. Re-signing the veteran would allow the team to approach the rest of the rotation market with patience while focusing elsewhere. If not, Seattle may be forced to spend more in adding another starter.
Why would the Yankees be looking for a second basemen when they have Future Hall of Famer Refsnyder? Unless they are going to use him to trade for an Ace?
Lol yesssssss
I realllly hope you are kidding.
They also have future HOF Dustin Ackley.
I could see the yankees targetting zobrist for sure.
It would be foolish to go 3-4 years for Zobrist at big money so Cashman probably will. Just kidding. No way they spend big this off season, Hal is not George. With George, the bottom line was winning. With Hal, the bottom line is money, and the Yankees are raking it in with the moderately competitive team they have now. They are the Atlanta Braves of the new millennium, just making the playoffs is good enough. Just keep that money rolling in, baby.
If Bucholz can get 13m per season, the Iwakuma should be able to also, even over a couple of seasons with a 3rd year team option and being a couple years older. I’d rather have Iwakuma even.. like any day of the week.
Murphy would be a great Yankee
I see zero chance of the Yankees paying for Murphy, especially if the Mets offer him a QO. Even without a QO he does not fit the team. They stuck with Drew for so long because they wanted a more sure-handed defensive player than Refsnyder, so no way they add the Butcher of Queens to their roster at the cost of a draft pick and what will probably be at least a $50 million commitment. If they’re going to surrender a draft pick they’ll probably look at Kendrick, who is a solid fielder and more importantly brings a righty bat. Zobrist next. They love switch hitters and he can play second while giving roster flexibility. Overall, though, I don’t think they sign any of them.
I believe the Yankees trade away Gardner to get another bullpen arm, then try to sign Upton or one of the FA outfielders