The Blue Jays had interest in right-hander Jake Odorizzi before he came off the market by accepting the Twins’ qualifying offer Thursday. Now that Odorizzi’s out of the picture for Toronto, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet lists several free-agent starters who remain on the team’s radar. They have some level of interest in Zack Wheeler, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kyle Gibson, Jordan Lyles, Tanner Roark, Michael Pineda, Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Dallas Keuchel, according to Davidi. Of course, some of those names are more realistic than others for the rebuilding Blue Jays, whose inability to pry Odorizzi from Minnesota “shows their restraint from previous winters remains strong and steady,” Davidi argues. On the other hand, though, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet has heard from multiple agents who, in discussing their clients with the Jays early this offseason, “have noticed a change in tone compared to years past.” One thing appears certain: The team’s casting a wide net as it seeks much-needed rotation help.
- Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar was an offensive standout as a rookie in 2018, but a shoulder injury dragged down his production this year and ended his season in mid-May. However, according to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, Andujar’s adverse 2019 hasn’t diminished teams’ enthusiasm for the 24-year-old. “I’m definitely getting a lot of interest in Miguel Andujar,” Cashman revealed to Michael Kay and Don La Greca of 98.7 FM ESPN New York (audio link). That doesn’t mean the Yankees will trade Andujar, though the defensively challenged slugger has at least temporarily lost his hold on third. Cashman suggested Gio Urshela, who posted an out-of-nowhere breakout season as Andujar’s replacement, is the favorite to continue as the Yankees’ top option at the hot corner. With that in mind, the Yankees are at least considering trying to make Andujar a multi-positional player – someone who can also line up at first and/or in the outfield. Whether or not that comes to fruition, Cashman continues to regard Andujar as “an exciting young talent.”
- Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said at the beginning of October that the club’s not going to trade right-hander Noah Syndergaard this offseason. A month and a half later, Van Wagenen hasn’t changed his mind. Teams have called about Syndergaard, but Van Wagenen has rebuffed them, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. The Mets, if they plan to contend in 2020, don’t seem to be in position to trade Syndergaard. After all, they’re already likely to lose one of their best starters in Zack Wheeler. And Syndergaard’s projected to make an affordable salary ($9.9MM) next year, which is crucial for a New York team that appears to lack financial flexibility.
- Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier has been popular in trade speculation for years, though the club has held on to him despite a logjam in the grass. Could the Yankees finally part with Frazier this winter? Ken Davidoff of the New York Post discusses Frazier’s trade value with multiple anonymous executives, who unsurprisingly opine that the 25-year-old’s appeal has dipped somewhat. Defense has been a problem for Frazier, who spent a good portion of 2019 in the minors working to improve in that area. He did, however, collect a career-high 246 MLB plate appearances in 2019 and bat an adequate .267/.317/.489 with 12 home runs. Cashman admitted Frazier “took a step backwards” in 2019, though the exec’s encouraged that Frazier has “already proven he can play in New York.”
Yankees would probably want a starting pitcher for Andujar.
Wonder who the likely targets are if they do decide to trade him?
That list of secondary tier pitchers is going to get a club burned. Ryu and GIbson will fare well moving forward but I don’t like the rest.
Re the Blue Jays: I have an interest in Taylor Swift. Doesn’t
mean it’s happening…..
so they’ll put out an angsty album about it?
sounds about right.
Well of course because she’s mine.
Two names not on Shi’s list: Strasburg, Cole.
Step your game up Rogers.
Even if the jays offered them the most money they still wouldn’t come to Toronto so stop calling into the fan 590 with these ludicrous suggestions. The top free agents don’t want to come to Toronto for a variety of reasons. Never will. Just stop.
Clemens did it.
And he took it after they said they would put a good team together, n see where he ended up?
Iver, nobody listens to the Fan 590..
The richest owner, or close to the richest, in baseball should be shooting for the stars. Toronto is a Top 5 market in size and population. Time to play with the big boys with Vlad Jr and company or do not play at all. You pay the men, they will play in Toronto. Take your defeatist attitude back to the Maple Leafs.
We’ve seen the list of starters that the Jays are after about 10 times from various outlets now. Regrettably, it’s highly unlikely the front office will get the message. Thumbs down.
They wouldn’t unless they had a brain fart, trading him before he shows he’s healthy makes little sense
The Jays could have had Odorizzi easily, all they had to do was outbid a QO which they chose not to do. Does that mean they are shopping free agents with dumpster diving prices?
Shapiro said that the Jays were going to play at all levels of FA even the high priced levels. They didn’t outbid a QO do what’s next? Definitely no Cole or Strasburg?
Sounds about right. I can’t see the Jays landing Cole or Strasburg. Maybe Dallas/Pineda is more realistic if this is the approach.
Not outbidding the QO for Odorizzi isn’t the same as being cheap. It might be that they dont view him as being worth more than the QO plus loss of a draft pick.
Not having Cole and Strasburg on the radar when they have plenty of money is being cheap when the targets aren’t aces.
Why would those guys want to pitch in Toronto?
Money. Only reason. An amount of money they can’t refuse. Not gonna happen, of course. But you asked why…
Jimmy, let me educate you some more. Free agents don’t want to come to Toronto. Not unless you dramatically overpay. Let’s say the jays were willing to offer Jake 20 mil next year. Guess what that 17 and change from Minnesota is still more because of taxes.
Don LeGreca with EJ Hradek was the peak era of NHL Live.
I’m not as sold on Ursheia repeating his offensive performance in 2020. No reason to trade Andujar, unless it’s for an impact pitcher. Andujar is the type of hitter the Yankees missed in the playoffs…one that could put the bat on the ball.
Guy had 47 doubles in 2018. He’s young and cheap. Looking forward to watching him again, next season.
correct- urshela’s track record for success is exactly one year, his 3 prior years were horrific.
100% agree though Miggy only gets moved for an impact SP, if not having both of em makes sense.
personally, i’d like to see the yanks gets a contact hitting lefty defensive 1B, use torres at ss, dj at 2b, and let miggy and gio battle for 3b with the loser and wade be the utility guys….
Andujar’s track record for success is also one year, and his defense is horrific. Just stating more facts.
Andujar serves little purpose.
maybe, so keep both unless andujar fetches an impact sP. which is the point here.
nonetheless the fact remains that gio had 3 crap years and 1 good one, whereas miggy came in guns a-blazing and no crap years
AnglesAdvocate; Guess it takes one to know one….what a mindless comment!
Incorrect – Gio….in his prior 3 years he always displayed stellar defense and batted around the .225 mark…..which if was hitting 20 home runs would be considered terrific with today’s analytics in mind…..We’ll have to see what one year of high success will do for his offense in this season to come.
As far as a contact hitting 1st baseman…Voit’s power is to right center and right field. primarily so splitting time based on righty-lefty would be a waste of a bench seat.
Andujar’s fate will be determined by the potential package the Yankees can put in front of somebody for a front line pitcher…otherwise, they’ll wait until Spring Training to see how things sort out…..you can always make a trade in the Spring when older players go down with injuries or wait until the trade deadline in July for the best deal.
But he wasnt hitting 20 HR while batting .225. The ball was juiced this year, dont put all your chips in that Urshela will repeat his performance. Its possible that he maintains his 2019 production, sure, but Andujar’s non-juiced 2018 had more pop than Urshela’s juiced 2019.
Defense is also something that can always be improved too. Just look at Semien
@Begamin
The “juiced” ball doesn’t make a 5 homerun hitter a 20-25 homerun hitter. More to it.
You’re right. But it probably does make a 53 HR hitter a 40-45 HR hitter. Which means that Rookie HR record wouldn’t have fallen. That’s the kind of thing that bugs me about the juiced ball. The impact of everyone and their brother hitting 30+ HR’s and the impact on season and career ERA’s.
+south
Im sure he did change his swing and that the changes he made were improvements. But almost everyone and their grandma had a surprise breakout year last year. Regardless, Andujar’s non-juiced ball 2018 had more pop than Urshelas juiced ball 2019.
I can’t see Cashman selling low on Andujar.
all of these morons clinging to “player potential” are why the Yankees are not winning. demand results, not sentimental rookies.
huh? 100+ wins in back to back seasons is winning you actual goof. just because they got beat by a cheating Houston team (where even if they didnt cheat, they are still a very good team) doesnt mean that the team isnt putting up good results.
The point is the Astros are cashing in on their prospects to get the pieces that put them at an advantage over the Yankees in the playoffs. The Yankees are gun shy when it comes to making the bold moves that they used to make in the past, and are coming up just short because of it.
Just because they arent dropping fat contracts to old vets on the decline doesnt mean the Yanks are gun shy. The Yankees just shipped off their at-the-time top rated pitching prospect Justus Sheffield for Paxton last offseason. To say they are gun shy is silly, and its also not the reason they came up short this year. They came up short this year because the playoffs are a glorified crap shoot where two elite teams basically have a coin flip to see who moves on.
The Yankees have cashed in on high rated prospects like Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, Blake Rutherford, Justus Sheffield & more. Just because they didnt want to move a kings ransom to the Jays for Stroman when the Jays asked for Gleyber or Garcia (and in the end took two prospects nowhere near their caliber) or when the Pirates asked for Gleyber and Andujar+ for Cole (and in the end took Colin Moran and Joe Musgrove + a crappy pitcher that im not sure is even on the team anymore) doesnt mean the Yanks are gun shy.
I think the example of gun shy was the trade deadline when they didn’t come back with the essential pitching pieces they clearly needed (and the Astros did). They then went on to lose home field advantage in September and the ALCS in October. What they need is a #1 starter. Not another #2 or #3. Just a #1. Will they get one? Reading the things Cash has been saying the last few days, I have no confidence that they are intent on getting a #1. I don’t think Hal will support it. Hence the notion: gun shy.
And yet pitching wasnt the weak spot against the Astros. They wouldve lost whether or not they got Stroman
Some people like Cashman say that but the Yanks would have won if the Stros had scored fewer runs, too. Two ways to look at it. Cash blames hitting in part because he doesn’t want to admit responsibility for failing to win a WS, again.
And Hal/Cash appear to be lining up to gamble away another postseason by failing to acquire the necessary pitching pieces: Cole and Betances.
@nymetsking
Not quite. First off, the Astros tanked to get quite a few of their star players. bBergman, Springer and Correa were all drafted early in the top 5. Secondly, Yanks, like the Astros, knew which players to keep (Springer, Bergman, Correa, Severino, Judge, Torres, Sanchez) and which ones to trade for pieces they needed (Verlander, Cole, Paxton. Happ, Voit, Hicks, Didi, etc). Both teams take the same approach except for the tanking part.
In case you missed the early showing of Sheffield in the Bronx, it was worse than Happ! Sheffield got shellacked everytime he pitched in Yankee Stadium! They dumped him while they could still find someone to give them something. Sheffield will prosper in the bigger domain in Seattle, Paxton is more of a groundball pitcher which better suits Yankee Stadium. The Yankees took a bigger contract to free up space for Seattle and gave them a quality piece for their stadium. Win-win for Seattle.
100+ wins is nice but not a ring. the astros cheated. thats bad. but not securing A+ pitching negates our offense. bad coaching for pitchers didnt help. betances isnt welcome back. yankees need to let him go as a business move.
Personally I think Frazier and/or Andujar are very likely to be traded.
I could see the pair going to Cleveland for Kluber. Makes sense on paper.
Why would Cleveland want to make their defense even worse?
Did he say where they would play? There is a spot called DH. You new?
There is only one dh spot and two players that are likely dhs.
Not in Phillies’ mind when he made the comment.
Phillies, as usual the NYY fans think the flawed players will bring the team bk players that are excellent. Bad move that Cleveland would never do.
The reason for that deal is that in addition to getting Andujar and Frazier Cleveland would dump Kluber’s expensive contract, giving them more spending room…
Why is that so hard to understand? Happens all the time.
These moves are on the back burner, Cashman is more focused on Cole or Strasburg at this point. I’m sure if a deal is out there he will make it. for Frazier or Andujar.
I don’t see Cashman making high offers on Cole & Strasburg, he will make low ball offers, if that fails i think he will make trades and then go for low tier starters.
@angelsfan4life412
Yanks have Severiino, Paxton, Tanaka, Happ, German and Monfomery. They don’t need more 3-5 starters.
His focus will be on top line pitching which certainly is Cole or Strasburg, but that also includes Kluber or Carasco if Cleveland makes them available and their “getting” price is less.
Cleveland will not trade Carlos Carrasco. He has signed two, very team friendly deals. Carrasco wants to finish his career as an Indian.
“His focus will be on top line pitching…”
Kluber is a high risk version of “top line pitching.” They already have Severino, German and Paxton as risky top line pitching (are they #1’s? Maybe some year but probably not; hence risky).
They need Cole or Stras. Period. That having been said I think there’s about zero chance they will sign either. Just as they passed on the pitching available at the trade deadline because it was deemed too expensive–and then they proceeded to forfeit the home field advantage in September and the ALCS in October–Cole and Stras will be deemed too expensive and we’ll wind up with yet another #2 or #3 that cannot face a true #1 in the postseason. And why? Because Hal won’t support acquiring a #1. Too close on the heels of Stanton…
Cashman blew it before with Cole.
Last time Cole was a 4.26 ERA pitcher. Nobody could have known he would pop some magic beans and become a 2.88 ERA flamethrower in Houston overnight. I’m quick to dump on Cashman but I didn’t really blame him for not seeing that coming.
@Mo4ever
What you’re referring to is “context” and sadly, that’s the problem with the world today.
Cole had the stuff but so does Nathan Evoldi. Cole wasn’t THAT bad but he had 3 consecutive years of a 2.60 to 3.88 to 4.26 ERA. Cash still should’ve done it if it were just Frazier and Adams but his transformation was overnight going from Pittsburgh to Houston.
perfect time for a team to try to acquire both Andujar & Frazier from Yankees. I’m thinking a team like the Indians could benefit from getting Frazier back to play LF & Andujar 3B/DH with Jose Ramirez 2B/3B
Terry Francona talked with Jose Ramirez at the end of the season. Francona asked him about playing 2nd or 3rd. Ramirez told him that it did not matter which position he played, but that he did not want to move back and forth. Ramirez will either be at 2nd or 3rd depending on who they acquire for the other spot.
There is definitely a pitcher out there to trade with. I can see Clint Frazier and Andujar for Klueber
Another crazed NYY fan who thinks they deserve yo get the best of a trade, but not equal.
You seem to think Kluber is still a dependable #1. He’s not. He may never be a #1 again. Ever. He’s damaged goods.
If Cleveland needs to dump salary, then this would be a perfectly good way to do it. Why is that so hard to understand? Happens all the time.
That being said I have no idea if dumping salary is on their mind. If it is, this would be one way to do it.
Kluber is not a dominant pitcher any more. At least, he can’t be traded as one.
If Cleveland wanted to dump salary, they could have just declined Corey Kluber’s option. They did not do that. He is part of their plans.
Anybody who’d trade Andujar over one season of production off of a waiver claim in Urshela should probably stop.. Urshela is likely production of steroids going to the Bronx, or just was the beneficiary of first time production, which pitchers will definitely make adjustments to. I promise you, pitchers had enough to worry about in the Yankees lineup, didn’t go into a game worried about how they’d get out a waiver claim in Urshela. A bunch of players can put together a good season in baseball… very few are consistent. And if you trade Andujar, and Urshela falls off the face of the earth, then what? You go and invest another 20-30 million to filing that position all because you let go Andujar, a guy under control for a long time, and has way more upside than an “Urshela”.
Oh stop with the “likely production of steroids” crap. You’re a child with this wild, unsubstantiated slander. Your other point of pitchers making adjustments, sure, that’s likely. And I don’t disagree that he’s not a sure thing. There’s certainly room for regression. And the larger point of keeping Andujar for a fallback, yeah, I agree with that. But the baseless roids comment is just sickening. You sound like a 9-yr-old Sox fan.
It is quite easy to fall back on steroid allegations given the rise of homeruns and injuries, and especially for a guy like Urshela who was putrid offensively in Toronto last year.
It is no different than someone accusing Houston of cheating based on an allegation, a “he said-she said” scenario. What Mario said isn’t that much different from your comments on the Houston story.
There is only one dh spot and two players that are likely dhs.
One thing for sure Miggy can hit, so at least I see him as a DH and part time player at 3rd.. He finished second in the rookie of the year honors.
Miggy is not slouch for sure. Even when playing with a torn labrum his swing stayed through the zone and he was just barely missing the ball. There is obviously some concern about how he will do when he comes back from such a big injury/long layoff but I imagine he’ll be able to bounce back in enough time. Fearless hitter.
Problem is, they don’t need a DH. They have a number of players who share time there, especially Stanton.
It doesn’t seem like the Yankees have any real position player trade chips for impact players other teams value — unless you include Gleyber Torres, who the Yankees are obviously not trading. Maybe Voit? The Yankees will probably have to empty the farm to get back top talent. The Yankees waited too long to trade Frazier and now it looks like Andujar too.
Andujar has very little trade value… almost as little as Frazier. Together they might bring back a guy like Adam Conley from the Marlins.
That’s why you package them with a salary dump. Assuming you want to trade them.
@Melchez
I can always count on you to say something stupid. Andujar had wRC +130 and you’re saying a trade of him for a 29 yo who went 2-11 with a 6.53 ERA and career ERA of almost 5?
You’re a joke dude. Even with his poor defense. Even with him recovering from an injurt, is worth far more than Conley. In fact, it’s absurd that any team would be knocking down the door to get Conley at all.
Yankees = All talk no action