While we wait to learn more about a possible earth-shaking swap from the AL East — participate in our poll while there’s still time! — let’s check in on a few other storylines from the game’s eastern divisions.
- Mets utilityman Jeff McNeil anticipates settling in a bit in 2020, as Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News reports. It was largely evident just from looking at the New York roster situation, but McNeil confirms that he’s preparing to spend much of his time at the hot corner. “I think I’ll be playing a lot of third,” he said over the weekend. The 27-year-old says he’ll be a full go when camp opens. While a late-season wrist injury bothered him until late in 2019, McNeil says he’s over it now and has more or less had a normal offseason.
- Speaking of winter recoveries, Yankees first baseman Luke Voit says he’s fitter than ever after undergoing core surgery, as George A. King III of the New York Post writes. That’s good news for him and for the club after Voit experienced a subpar, injury marred 2019 effort. He’ll need to prove in camp that he deserves a job. As King further explores, the club could lean on left-handed-hitting Mike Ford (perhaps in conjunction with Voit) and will also see how third baseman Miguel Andujar handles the other side of the infield.
- It remains surprising that we haven’t heard more trade chatter this winter surrounding Orioles reliever Mychal Givens. That’s just fine with him. The 29-year-old says he’ll continue to “bleed black and orange” unless and until he is put into another uniform. With two full seasons to go until free agency, Givens is at the mercy of the team — except that his own performance is a major factor in his trade candidacy. Givens expressed optimism at his ability to bounce back from a rough showing last year; if he can do so, he could be a significant trade chip at the 2020 trade deadline. “Some great things have really been going on and are going to happen in the near future,” Givens says, “so hopefully I can stay here if I can. If not, it’s been a good road, but right now, like I said, I’m an Oriole.”
Some straight shots at Luke. The guy had over 440 at bats with 21 dingers and a .260 batting average. Sorry NY that everyone on your team doesn’t hit .400 and hits 50 homers. He’s a pretty good fielder and another fearful bat in the lineup.
My bad, 429 at bats.
Lol seriously. I thought the same thing, Voit without a doubt is a league average 1st baseman. Considering the revolving 1st door since Teixera left I’ve been pretty pleased with Voit. Oh and 90 percent of the roster was injured at some point last season…
His average was a little higher too until he got hurt and tried to play through it late in 2019. He is a big part of why the offense was able to weather all those injuries as he carried the team at times. I don’t see him fighting for a spot other than proving is healthy.
.378 obp over that many at bats too. I’ve hated the yankees my whole life but I agree. Power & obp, good with me.
He’s not a good fielder, but he knows how to hit.
The fake ball giveth (voit) and the fake ball taketh away (Givens). MLB poops itself. Sad.
Voit’s 130ish at bat cup of tea with the Yankees in 2018 was pretty damn good… and that wasn’t with the 2019 baseballs.
Taking away the juiced ball isn’t going to make Luke Voit go from big time slugger to pre-Yankees Voit. He’s probably going to still be extremely productive, maybe a .250/.360/.500 line, 25 home runs.
Which I would gladly take considering he hit only .208 with no power in the second half, despite having a great first half. Also, despite making their playoff roster, he did not play a single game.
Remember when whyhazy was lamenting the HR’s Betts hit because of the “fake ball?” Me neither. He saves that for the Yankees. Only the Yankees’ HR’s can be attributed to the “fake ball.”
Me whyhazy. See something about Yankees, must insult. Whyhazy has an evil 11 year old Red Sox fan trapped inside him and it rules him. Absolutely rules him.
So what’s inside of you? A 65 year old Italian guy from the bronx? Vinny is that yous?
I’ll bet Voit has a better year than Cora.
Voit and Ford make for a pretty good 1B platoon for the Yankees.
Also good if you need a soccer ball or a pickup truck.
What does this even mean?
Voit = brand of soccer balls
Ford = brand of trucks
Why can’t it be both? They need to be driven to reach their goals.
This comment deserves more love.
McNeil needs to be in the lineup hitting 1st or 2nd everyday. 3b would appear to be the only real fit for that to happen.
You know the Yankees are stupidly good when Luke Voit’s season is described as “subpar”.
C’mon now… He was down like 70 points in OPS+ from his 2018’s 193.
Injury marred from June on but he still managed a 124 OPS+.
Voit got injured and tried to play through it… Only reason his second half sucked. Even if he’s a tick below first half… He’s still awesome. Once he got injured in London it was game over… But he’s not a quitter and his stats suffered… If the medical staff saw this maybe he wouldn’t have came back so fast… Healed up.. And had a monster second half.
The NYY have a tremendous team hitting n pitching. They have excellent players n management. They deserve any accomplishments they get this yr. This coming a diehard RS fan, but I just love to watch good players play the game.
But I do dislike Bregman.
As another diehard Red Sox fan I agree. It’s hard to hate on this group of Yankees. They have no real obnoxious instigators. I mean how could you hate Judge, Torres, Severino? I can’t and it’s really conflicting. Lol.
Have you seen Gardner and his hysterical antics?
Yankee fan. Gardner kind of sucks sometimes.
Voit always seems like the odd man out in a crowded Yankees INF/DH. Voit can hit. He can hit outside of Yankee Stadium. So many guys for Boone to shuffle.
Givens will be traded when he has trade value. He had a shaky year so why would anyone trade for a struggling bullpen arm? There’s plenty of them out there that you don’t have to trade for. Over valuing their guys just a bit.
Winner! Comment by Captain Obvious!