Yankees left-hander J.A. Happ needs 10 starts and 62 innings this season in order for his $17MM option for 2021 to vest. Happ isn’t on pace to reach either milestone – he has three starts and 12 2/3 frames thus far – and he suggested the Yankees are trying to prevent him from reaching those marks. “It actually doesn’t take too much to figure out sort of what could be going on,” Happ said of his usage (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). “I think I can help our team. I’d like to be out there every five days.” Even if Happ’s right, it’s hard to blame the Yankees for not wanting him around at such a lofty salary in 2021. After struggling in 2019, the first guaranteed campaign of a two-year, $34MM guarantee, the 36-year-old Happ has yielded nine earned runs on 10 hits (including four homers) with six strikeouts against 10 walks this season.
- Outfielder Kevin Pillar hopes to remain with the Red Sox, but the soon-to-be free agent understands he’s a trade candidate as the Aug. 31 deadline approaches (via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom informed Pillar that he’ll listen to offers for the 31-year-old in the coming days. It would be a surprise if Pillar’s still a member of the Red Sox on Sept. 1, considering their status as non-contenders, Pillar’s waning team control, and the fact that he’d be more useful to a playoff-caliber club. Since signing a one-year, $4.25MM contract with the Red Sox last winter, Pillar has lined up at all three outfield positions and batted a playable .257/.316/.419 in 114 plate appearances.
- As a pending free agent, Rangers designated hitter/outfielder Shin-Soo Choo realizes he could pop up in trade talks with Monday looming, as Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram writes. “Every year, it’s been, ‘Trade Choo, trade Choo,’ but this year I have a very strong feeling,” Choo said. From the Rangers’ standpoint, though, finding a taker for Choo would likely be difficult. The 38-year-old, normally a quality offensive player, has slumped to a .216/.306/.365 line with three home runs in 85 plate appearances this season. That’s unappealing production at any price, let alone the prorated $21MM Choo is earning. Regardless, as someone who has procured 10-and-5 rights, Choo has the ability to veto any trade.
- More on the pitching-needy Yankees, who seem likely to promote right-handed prospects Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia over the weekend for their major league debuts, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post suggests. Either Schmidt or Garcia could be trade bait for the club before Aug. 31, observes Davidoff; if not, they may be able to help the Yankees’ staff. The 24-year-old Schmidt and Garcia, 21, are regarded as a pair of the Yankees’ top farmhands, with MLB.com ranking the former second in their system and placing the latter at No. 3.
No JA you just suck i wouldn’t wanna pay you 17mil next year either
True. Short season. Every game is more important. Can’t have a guy like Happ pitching
No, Happ, you are just not performing well, and the Yankees have a better chance of winning if you are not pitching for them. Has nothing to do with your vesting option.
why would they start you if you have a ERA north of 6.00?
Yeah, J.A Happ deep down really had to know there was no chance in hell that option based on innings pitched was never going to be picked up. He’s a high character guy with “very little left in the tank” and would definitely be better off pitching elsewhere next season.
also its absurd to list Jasson above bith Schmidt and Garcia without a single pro game played.
*both
Not really. He’s a 17 year old phenom who could be a generational type player
Pillar is a good player n I do hope he’s not traded because I get attached to players, lol. He wouldn’t bring you a lot bk so I hope Chaim doesn’t give him away. Another thought is I wish Bloom would bring bk Holt to finish his career in Boston fir the fans who adore him too. The duo at second base cost more than him n they are horrible.
You need to look at the big picture:
1) BOS farm system still generally speaking stinks.
2) Pillar is a FA at season end. BOS can trade him now and sign him back if they want, and if he wants to return.
3) In NOV there’s two possible outcomes… either you’ve got whatever you could trade pillar for added to your farm or team, or, you’ve got nothing.
I’ll take whatever I can get in the trade, and then decide whether both team and pillar choose to reunite in the offseason.
Yep. Deal Pillar if you can. Hitting well against lefties. A good team with a lefty OF who can’t hit lefties would be the perfect platoon. Pillar is still making plays in the OF on D.
Will you please stop with the Holt romance already! It’s obnoxious!
I’m a Sox fan and I 100% agree with you. Bringing back Holt makes 0 sense… not only is he not even really a great player… he’s not young and would just be taking ABs away from a player who could actually be a part of the Red Sox future. So I completely agree… I wish all red Sox fans would get over the Holt obsession. Yes he is an amazing person off the field (Jimmy Fund work etc) but he just isn’t that great a player and certainly doesn’t fit on this roster!
In a lost year, why not appease fans who have supported the team? A mistake was made letting Holt go. No, he wouldn’t have saved the season and could have been replaced if he stunk up the joint the way he did with the Brewers (in limited at bats) but the way he left was another reminder that sports is business (on both sides) and fans who actually make it all possible are considered last. Finally, as to Rocky7, just ignore the post.
Because there’s at least better ways to use that roster spot by evaluating guys and seeing who pans out. Sure, they might end up not doing well, like Tzu-Wei Lin, but in a lost year it at least makes more sense to go through your roster and see exactly what options you have available for next year and beyond.
This environment is not in my view a fair test for anything.
Pash – “bring back Holt to finish his career”…..news flash…..his career is over as there are way better options than a 32 year old, often injured, no power, mediocre fielding, infielder who at best platoons at 2B. Every MLB team has a better option at this point and the cost is only $560,000 vs triple or quadruple that (although he might ask for less than that after a such a horrible 2020).
FYI.. Holt is one of the few utility guys who doesn’t stink it up at multiple positions with the glove, playing decent defense at a cpl in fact and generally has a decent eye at the plate, hits ok in short spurts, which is all can expect of part time players.
what are you talking about? this team is garbage right now
trade all you can barnes, pillar, bradley, JD or evolidi if someone will take the salary and get him to waive his opt out(in jds case). Id even move Benny injured as he is for the right price. team needs to regroup, have you watched this team this year? we are starting hart every 5th day and he barely scrapes 91 while throwing 30 plus pitches in the 1st inning. nevermind bringing back holt, what’s that gonna do? I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaching staff gets cleared out too, not that it’s all their fault. Valdez is the only one they have now who has looked even half way decent out of the pen. At this point I hope for a number 1 pick not bringing holt back…
oops I left moreland off hes the number 1 candidate. I like with the short season the sox kicked in money to get a deal done in that workman trade. may be the way deals get done this year with rentals, to pay for prospects/buy down contracts and still get a decent return or move the player at all…
The Yankees are in trouble. Their 330 Million Dollar Man can’t keep the ball in the ballpark. The remaining starting staff just plain suck to go along with the other Prom Queens on the IL. How long before we hear REBUILD in the Bronx?
Obvoiusly you don’t know the Yankees…they re-tool, never rebuild.
And yes they have had more than their share of injuries but injuries seem more integral to every team in the sport these days!
Don’t worry about Cole…he will be right up there when the season ends.
Correct about Cole, he just happened to run into a hot line-up that’s also one of the best FB hitting teams in baseball.
Cole will be more than just fine,even if henisngiving up 1 HR per start, he is still going to be dominant. 6-7IP, 4H, 1-2R, 1-2BB, and 8-10Ks..I would easily take that time and time again, and at the least that is typically what Cole is going to deliver.
I think you guys are wrong about Cole, yes he will be good but this contract is gonna make the Yankees look very dumb. 300 million for a starting pitcher is just absurd and Cole flat out just hasn’t looked that good. It’s not just the braves he’s been hit by quite a few teams this year. And I will laugh for years to come as this team turns into a payroll and overpaid “star” disaster
Cole and Stanton are a big long term nut. Bringing back DJ will be more expensive and they need starting pitching. Such will be costly in trades. I think the team is in the same place as Boston was last year. Will they absorb the top penalty or reset like they did in 18. Dodgers also reset then as I recall which helped shrink JDM’s bidding pool to basically just Boston. Sox reset the year before and are doing it again now. The Yankees may soon have big decisions to make of their own. Sox won in 18 so that helps with the sting. Being a bridesmaid so often however has to increasingly hurt when another club raises their champagne glasses with the championship pennant.
Only one thing matters with Cole’s contract.
DOES HE HELP WIN A WS?
If he gets them over the hump, success. If they stay mired where they were in ALCS appearances, or even a WS loss, then it was a failure.
If he’s gonna do it, it’ll likely be in the first 3 or 4 years.
Agreed given the salary.
Cole is a big baby, I see the love affair with him ending pretty quickly for fans.
Did Cole stop using pine tar after the checks started depositing? Uh oh.
Choo is having a very unlucky start to this season. His obp is still 90 points higher than his average, so he’s still chugging along in that category. Then you see the bad part… his babip is .245, the average is .293, and his babip last season was .333. And that doesn’t mean that he is just grounding out every time, in fact his LD% has risen from 24% to 29% from last season. His BB% has lowered from 11.8 to 9.9, though so has his SO% from 25 to 24.7. Plus, merely by watching him, he has had some long line drives that just get ran down, or have terrific plays made on them. He is the definition of unlucky right now, and I hope he improves… We need Kumar or Leiter.
agreed hard to move him especially with 10-5 rights, nice post
The best argument for trading Choo in his walk year is so Texas can open up the DH slot (primarily for Calhoun when healthy). It also provides opps for younger players in a rebuild. Choo won’t bring back a prospect of any substance, even if Texas picks up most the tab on his remaining salary this year.
I would love to see the Mariners steal Garcia from the Yankees for a couple months of Walker.
if cash does that Yankee nation should lose its mind…
We dont need gausman/walkers types (once highly touted but now middling at best and just around 30 years old)…..
I wonder if Happ would void next year’s option to facilitate a trade. At this point, it’s not going to vest anyways. I’d be more interested in getting an opportunity with New York or elsewhere to start regularly in hopes of getting a decent one-year pact this offseason. Being old and two years removed from a productive stretch of seasons typically doesn’t get healthy financial commitments.
Why would Pillar want to stick around on the Red Sox? I mean as a red Sox fan it’s nice to hear players want to be here… but personally if I were him id welcome the opportunity to be traded to a contender.
You’re not him. Maybe he likes living in the area.
Maybe his family is now there and he doesn’t want to leave or move them during the pandemic.
And maybe he enjoys playing in the field with the Cor players. Perhaps he’s waiting for Cora to return, cuz he may. Roenicke is a stop gap, nothing more. Apparently ownership n the players, n fans love Cora, n don’t speak about Houston, AJ threw him n everyone BUT himself under the bus. They , including the players are at fault, all of them, not just one or two.
Speak for yourself pasha.
I think Cora is a bum, his desire to be friends rather than be the authority figure led to the “nobody knows what’s going on cheating issue in ’19”, and, his lack of getting players actual reps and an actual spring training led directly to a failed 2019 season.
They started the year abysmally poor, and, if you removed the horrific start and had the team win at the same rate as they did for the final 120 games of the year Boston would’ve been in the postseason in 2019. And that is 110% ONLY on cora.
I hope the bum doesn’t return, and, JUST from what he did in Houston I think he should be out of MLB at least 10 years so he has time to learn from his mistake. Take 5 years off, maybe manage in the indy leagues. Then maybe, MAYBE, once he understands and learns something, then you talk about a return.
Cora was an absolute failure last season.
Cora comes back and I’m done as a fan and this is something I never thought I’d do. Cora was definitely involved in Houston never mind the Boston allegations. I’ve been equally hard on all involved. I predicted he could come back but I won’t be watching if he does.
Coo put that you’ll decline in writing and we will give you all the work you can handle
I wouldnt get too vocal if I were him, he isn’t too far away from DFA country
I like Pillar but if you can get some youth for him, Then go ahead! Boston isn’t going anywhere this year. We need pitching and some depth in the dark system. Dombroski gutted that for Sale. I say get rid of JD, JBJ, Nate, Buy out Pedrioia cause he’ll never suit up again. Castillo sitting in the minors making millions for nothing! Keep Zander, Verdugo, Devers, Chavis, Vasquez, Bring up some minor leaguers and see what they can do. Can’t hurt anything!
Farm system
Choo has quietly had a solid career since signing with Texas. He outperformed both Cano and Ellsbury which were the 2 other big names on the market that season. he may have been slightly overpaid, but reaching 529 PA in 5 of the 7 contract years in itself is valuable!
Quick Edit: just looked at Cano’s stats and their better than I thought too. Cano gets an extra $3mil per season and an additional 3 years on the contract, so I’d still go with Choo
They just paid way too much for him, Now they’re stuck with him, Great player, Just on the downhill slope!
Happ needs to suck it up. Hes played like crap since signing that contract and all of the sudden he’s surprised hes not going deep into games and getting every chance to see that hes over compensated for next year? Please. If you want the money, stop sucking and pitch better.
If Cashman thinks he is garbage he needs to cut him now why carry this BS around
Stop overpaying players and you wouldn’t have to worry about Happ reaching milestones.
correct- this contract is on cash who once again bidded against himself for an aging pitcher with a diminishing fastball….
cashman needs to work some major magic.sanchez and torres have become defensive liabilities who can’t hit their weight this year.and the pitching staff is a dumpster fire!!!also keeping gardner for another year was a mistake.
You can’t blame the Yanks for not wanting to activate the option on Happ and you also can’t blame them for not releasing him. They need pitchers and they’ve paid him well to do just that. If he intends to play again he’ll be a professional and give it his best effort. Options on contracts work both ways. Happ can’t say this one hasn’t worked out for him as agreeing to it got him more money for the first two years than he would likely have gotten without it. He signed it and needs to get over it. As for Cole, NY knew good and well that the later years of the contract would be a losing proposition but were willing to trade that for immediate success. Can’t blame them there because they have the nucleus to do something now and needed to take advantage. To an outsider like myself, the contract that looks like it’s killing them is Stanton’s. That was a head-scratcher from the start and looks worse all the time. He’s never been able to stay on the field for any stretch.
I wouldn’t completely hate it if Toronto brought back Pillar as the 4th OF. Grichuk’s bat has been hot but his CF defense isn’t spectacular, and Teoscar Hernandez’s defense has been poor until this year.
There’s room for a veteran who plays above-average defense if they really see themselves competing for a wild card.
I thought they didn’t end up prorating happs contract? That it was ruled exempt?
Happ may not be wrong, but when you are pitching the way he is, you can hardly blame the Yankees for not running him out there. I suspect there are going to be a lot of problems similar to this this year–options, service time manipulation, etc, especially with all this constant roster movement, optioning, etc.
This whole season is a mess. It’s nice to have some form of baseball back, but what we are seeing is incoherent.
As for the Yankees dealing their two top pitching prospects…I’d say that would be a poor move, both tactically and esthetically.
Choo seems like the kind of behind the scenes vet on expiring contract pickup the cards would make ala Will Clark or Larry Walker. Give him Carlson’s at bats or Fowler if he wants to keep sitting out. And keep Carpenter on the bench for sure against all lefties by DH’ing Choo. Brad Miller has done fairly well this year in spot DH duty but I would rather see Choo.
I could see Cleveland offering a non-top-30 prospect for Choo, if Texas basically picks up the remaining few weeks of his contract. Choo had a good career in Cleveland and of course they are in the pennant race, so I would think that he could get excited about making that move. Slide him into a LF platoon with Santana/Luplow and there’s a cheap upgrade to the bottom of your batting order.
Vesting options are, well, vesting options. The player—Happ—in this case needs to stay healthy and pitch well for the option to vest. He has not pitched well. He is not owed $17M.
I agree with everyone saying Happ doesn’t deserve the vesting option. Trust me if he was winning and helped the Yankees win a WS 17 Million is nothing to them. Start winning and stop complaining like a baby. Do your job your paid to win games.
Rangers should get as big a ransom as they can for Lynn and then use guys like Choo/Frazier/Chirinos/etc. to get lower ranked prospects with flashy tools that need refining. Commit to the rebuild and youth development.
I hope Shin soo choo signs a deal in the offseason with the Cincinnati Reds and gets optioned to double a so he can be the Chattanooga Soo Choo!!!
“It actually doesn’t take too much to figure out sort of what could be going on,” Happ said of his usage
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I’d be PO’d if I were the FO AND if I were a teammate. Basically, you’ve stunk, and have stunk for two seasons.
Bradley would be a better trade chip for the RedSox, he won’t stay next year.
Sell for pitcher.
AJ i think the fans speak out for them selves, you’re not earning those millions offer to you based on performance
As a Red Sox fan, the only people in my opinion that should be untouchable are Verdugo, Bogart’s and Devers, (maybe Benny too)I hope they sell everything else for young pitching, With the strength of the Yankees and rays, now is a good time for a full rebuild
I would hang on to Vasquez too