All things being equal, Justin Wilson seems to prefer a return to the Mets, but the Metropolitans have only just begun conversations with the veteran southpaw, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). It’s not difficult to imagine a deal coming together quickly, however. Wilson does appear close to signing somewhere, notes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Coming of a strong 3.66 ERA/3.04 FIP over 19 2/3 innings in 2020, he certainly presents as a useful arm.
In fact, the Yankees are among those clubs said to negotiating with Wilson, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The Yankees are close to the first luxury tax threshold, and the assumption has been that they intend to stay under it. That doesn’t give them a lot of room for Wilson, who is one of the more attractive arms in a southpaw market that includes a fair amount of depth with T.J. McFarland, Oliver Perez, Tony Watson and Sam Freeman among the remaining lefties. The Yankees still probably have about $7MM or so to spend before surpassing mark, however, so another acquisition is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Much because of those financial realities, whether or not they reunite with Brett Gardner, for the first time this winter, seems like a coin flip. The Yankees really don’t need him given where their roster stands today – especially with Jay Bruce brought in on a low-risk minors pact. That said, he’s a fan favorite, their longest-tenured player, and he is said to want to return. That should make this easy, but as Rosenthal notes, Gardner’s production last season could theoretically line him up for quite a bit more than $7MM over one season. Gardner’s 110 wRC+ in 2020 and 114 wRC+ over the last two seasons marks him as a potentially superior option to just about every other outfielder remaining on the market.
That said, he will be 37-year-old this season, and he’s long been viewed as a Yankee loyalist, which could have tempered his market. At this point, the question probably boils down to exactly how much Gardner wants to remain in New York. Otherwise, he’s pretty well out of leverage.
Mets need him now more than ever. Humongous blow today.
Relax, Lugo will miss the first month of the season and it’s a minor issue. The surgery is just to clean things up and remove a bone fragment, there’s nothing structurally wrong with his arm.
Technically there is in that he’s been pitching w a partly torn ucl for like 4 years…but mostly agree w the assessment though it’s probably worth noting that this is the procedure that began John Maine’s career downfall
No one does a Chicken Little impression quite like a Mets fan.
But our sky usually IS falling…
Fair enough…but Lugo having a spur removed from his elbow before the season starts is not an example of such a time.
Move out of the way for the Red Sox fan
I could see the Mets pivoting to Trevor Rosenthal now. He makes too much sense and is much better than even Wilson
Love seeing the Yanks in on Wilson. I’m so sick of all the retread lefty relievers that Cashman has been cycling through.
Why not just sign a decent one? This is the year to do that, man.
It appears that the Yankees are dead set on getting payroll below $210 mil.
I’m a little annoyed by it. But then again, it is what it is.
If the dabloons are really that tight, I’d rather have middle relief help than Gardy.
I agree, getting a stable lefty again for the pen will be nice (other than the closers, Britton and Chapman of course)
Ready to move on from Gardner. His bat is slowing down and with MLB dejuicing the ball, his short porch homers will be flyouts. I will miss his fielding and leadership though.
Man, I like Gardy. He usually cobbles together an above average offensive season, while providing really good outfield defense & base running. He’s a total pain in the rump at the plate, & chief banger of the dugout ceiling.
That’s a decent collection of skills.
I’m going to have a tough breakup. & so soon after Hiro. Who absolutely should have been re-signed. Add Tanaka to this club & this would have been a decent off-season.
Alas.
Joe Says… As long as Gardner is comfortable in a bench piece veteran leadership/mentor role, there’s not much reason not to bring him back. Judge and Stanton are huge injury risks, even Hicks. Need an OF other then Frazier to rely on.
Gardy is a fine enough option to help keep bailing them out in stretch’s of games that Judge, Stanton, or Hicks miss. Tauchman doesn’t seem any more reliable then Gardy after last season either.
They should bring Gardner back, but they should have also brought Tanaka back. Because, as one writer put it, for some reason management wants to get under the cap. The timing is bad; now the success of the Yankees off-season hinges on Kluber’s arm.
Anyway, it’s Wilson OR Gardner for some (probably no good) reason. I mean, Hal can afford it.
Kevin.. They can’t keep sending out the same lineups and expect different results. It’s time to shake things up. I admit it’s worrisome to pin hopes on Kluber and Taillon but Tanaka has been headed downhill the last couple of years now. And it sucks because Tanaka and Gardner are gamers and will be missed. But still it’s time to move on.
Some kind of shake up may – indeed – be have been called for. I can buy that argument.
But I don’t think this off-season has necessarily been about that. Yanks lost 3 starters from last year. I think Kluber/Taillon just fit the budget.
Ya know?
Tanaka would have really helped stabilize the rotation. & man, I feel better with Gardy than Tauchman/Allen.
Like a Colt Commandwr under the pillow, those guys just make me feel secure.
Yeah I would have liked a more sure bet with the acquired pitchers, like Darvish for example. But I like the upside of Kluber and Taillon.
Unfortunately at this point of Tanaka’s career, he’s more daisy bb gun than colt commander.
This..we won nothing with tanaka.. And nothing with Gardner since 2009. It’s been long enough.. Move on
“I’m so sick of all the retread lefty relievers that Cashman has been cycling through.”
Wilson has been on the Yankees already, he is literally a Cashman retread, who traded Cervelli for him in 2014.
& was later traded to Detroit for Greene & Cessa.
So what does that have to do with anything?
In the last two years the Yanks have signed/traded for; Tyler Lyons, Luis Avilen, Rex Brothers, Danny Columbe, & Ryan Ruchter (some of them more than once). I think I’m missing at least one more. Hence, “cycling through” & “retread”.
Pay close attention to this part:
Wilson is actually good. He’s an established reliever & former closer coming off a solid season.
I know you are not the fastest boat in the fleet, but to not understand the difference between the afforemationed pitchers & one like Justin Wilson is jarringly idiotic for a supposed “baseball fan”.
Ya know?
Pretty sure that boat comment was not needed. He was just mentioning Wilson was a retread. Which is true.
Retread: a tire that has been given a new tread.
Typically, that term is used to describe lesser players that one hopes to catch lighting in a bottle with. MiLB guys & waiver wire claims.
That’s not the type of player Wilson is. Acquiring (or reacquiring in the Yankees case) will require – from whomever – a MLB contract.
I went to a Gardy party
To reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories
And play some ball again
When I got to the Gardy party
Brett was nowhere to be found
Ole Hal said we ain’t got the dough
So Gardys Philly bound
But it’s all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see ya can’t please everyone
So ya got to please yourself
you get an A for trying, but it wasn’t all that good, sorry.
No worries, you take your swings, sometimes you go yard, sometimes it’s, one, two, three strikes you’re out…
Ricky Nelson. One of the great rockabilly singers of the 60’s.
Underrated. Gram Parsons is always given credit for the development of country-rock, but Nelson kinda did it first. There’s a reason why Parsons brought in James Burton and some of the other musicians Nelson was using.
Did you clear that with Ricky Nelson’s estate?
@Gotham. I love your easy going attitude that doesn’t get offended quickly, especially on these comment boards. Please stick around. We need more of you.
Thanks “Salary” appreciate the kind words, just trying to have a little fun pal.
A reunion with Wilson already made sense for the Mets, so hopefully today’s news on Lugo pushes them to get it done.
yeah i would think they wanna get this done with Wilson. He’s a decent player.
I know it probably won’t happen but maybe the Cardinals could bring in Gardner? They have a young outfield that could use some leadership…plus Gardner fits the cardinal way and would be a left handed bat the cardinals could use in the lineup
“plus Gardner fits the cardinal way”
What in the world does this even mean?
The “Cardinal Way” is to nickel and dime your ace to the point he wants to be traded.
I knew I was going to get some butt hurt people over the saying the cardinal way
It means that the cardinals have a certain standard…sorry if your team doesn’t…you know winning and all
While Gardner has indeed slipped a bit , he’s always there to bail out an often injured yankee outfield. Add to the fact that he a lefty of which we have few, a one year 3 million contract should be offered, even if just out of respect for his loyalty. Keep in mind he already received a 2 1/2 million buyout so plus 3 million is 5 1/2 for the year
Wilson and Osuna should be the RP targets for the Mets.
Yes, get both
How about Trevor rosenthal as a replacement for Lugo? The Mets don’t really need another lefty in the pen. Although Wilson would certainly be a nice addition
I think Loup is the only lefty at this time, so Wilson would be a good (re)addition. He threw the ball very well after he came back and even picked up 2 mph.
The Mets bullpen is already overcrowded. They need to trade Familia and Betances, but no one wants them.
Osuna should be a target for zero MLB teams. Can’t have riff raff like that in the game. Stop rewarding bad people, let him learn to code if he doesn’t respect the profession enough to know not to hit women.
Should the Yanks immediately release Chapman too? You know very little about Osuna and you have no idea what challenges he’s had in life or what he has done to make amends. Take your SJW BS somewhere else please.
The Mets won’t touch Osuna with a ten foot pole based on PR considerations alone.
@Kirk Nieuwenhuis For MVP I agree with the sentiment, but the Mets welcomed back Reyes and Familia in recent years. Different ownership now of course, but two recent examples.
@VonPurpleHayes
Absolutely, that’s part of what I was referring to, along with the Porter and Callaway situations. Their recent track record is very poor, and signing Osuna would only further the issue.
Ahh. Now I got you. Yea. Faur point.
VonPurpleHayes, how do you think the Phils will ultimately handle the Herrera situation? He is still on the 40-man roster.
@Cey Hey It’s a tough situation for sure. Despite desperately needing a CF, the Phillies haven’t touched Herrera since the incident. He served his suspension, went to consuling with his partner, and said all the right things, but it’s a hard thing to forgive. The Phillies may invite him to spring training, but there will certainly be media backlash against it.
Oh yeah, there’s no better way to signal the new organizational culture your owner and president promised after your GM and former manager were revealed to be sexual predators than to sign a guy who beat up his girlfriend …
Gardner to Boston just to show up the Yankees.
lol yeah that would show them up alright huh . MLBTV is only $53 this year discounted from the 60 game season Nice !!!!!
Tim Tebow!
Tebow is the reason why the current Mets will always have bad luck. That’s a perfect example of karma – he’s done absolutely nothing to warrant a roster space on any team, he should have played indy ball to show he was worth it, but the Mets saw a cash grab and grabbed it, but are still holding the big bag of bad karma for some reason.
Tebow is nothing more than minor league depth at best.
His MiLB performance thus far would indicate that he shouldn’t even be considered for MiLB depth at this point. If his presence is what makes the difference, he should become a coach or move to the FO side.
@mcrae –
This is absolutely one of the stupidest “takes” I’ve ever seen. Karma? Tebow is the mets biggest problem?
Holy cow.
You can’t actually believe this drivel. Can you?
I’ve been reading the comments on this site long enough to no longer be surprised by drivel.
@Marty. I can tell you this, people still buy tickets to see him play, even in away minor league stadiums. He may also be one of those ‘good clubhouse’ guys who is helping younger players with his perspective. It’s not like the Mets have minor league outfielders being blocked by Tebow at this time.
Tebow made the Mets money. The karma was positive. Another poor take Marty.
Gardner is never coming back! GET REAL!
Re-sign Gardy to 1 year/$4.5M, spend $2.3M on a reliever, stay a couple hundred thousand under the luxury tax and lets gooooooo 2021 baby.
I’d be all for that.
But I don’t think the Yanks’ll cut it that close. When they dipped below the first threshold in ’17, Cashman left ~ 4-5 mil for in-season additions.
So going off precedent, I’d think one more small (2-3 mil) major league deal is still in play. That’d put them in the 205-6 MM range for payroll. That would afford Cash with the same amount of room as he had in 2017.
Now.
Why exactly the Yankees are doing all these financial gyrations is an entirely different matter.
We all know why they’re doing them. Hal Steinbrenner thinks that by being more creative financially (i.e. cheaper) they’ll put a better team together than if they throw money at every big name and trade for every expensive guy because that hasn’t worked out for the last 11 years, even though that’s exactly what we did in 2009 and it worked out perfectly. Granted, it was a steep decline afterwards and the guys that worked out in year 1 of those deals did not work out much going forward. Trading for Stanton was always a massive head scratcher to me and now it looks even worse. Again, granted, he has so many years left on the contract that if he stays healthy he could pay off…. Jacoby Ellsbury may go down as the biggest waste of money in baseball if not sports history- not counting Prince Fielder, though that wasn’t really his fault, whereas Ellsbury…well, is it Ellsbury’s fault he was massively overpaid and then pushed out of the team’s plans?
Either way, I get what Hal is TRYING to do. And it might work out. But it won’t be because he cut the budget.
That’s an interesting take, @TTO.
I wonder if it’s really as well thought out as that. I figured it was simply an aversion to unnecessary taxes.
Which I get.
I think Stanton is going to have to be a part of a successful Yankee season. The guy’s always hit for us. It’s just the injury stuff the last couple years that’ve been the problem.
Ya know?
& his performance in the playoffs was eye opening. He damn near dragged us to the LCS.
I guess – to me – the staunch frugality is a bit silly. Look. Say that the Yankees brought back Tanaka for MLBTR’s prediction (3/39). If you add that to the current payroll Hal would incur a tax bill of ~ 3 mil.
I just see it as sketchy from a business perspective. A playoff series is worth ~ 20 MM to a baseball franchise. That’s in immediately available, above & beyond all other profits, cold, hard cash.
When I start to think about a 3 mil investment to make 20 (or more) mil I start to question the business strategy of *not* acting as such. That seems to be a prime example of being penny wise but pound foolish.
Article titled “New York” and 99% of the article is about the Yankees.
In an alternate universe they’d be the Bronx Yankees and the Queens Mets.
Flushing Mets.
@BobGibsonFan- the Yankees are the #1 team in NY. Why should it be about anything else? Should we talk how the Mets failed to sign Springer and Bauer?
The Mets’ rotation is far better than the Yankees. Not nearly as many potholes.
@Cey Hey- with that all said let’s see who has the better year. That’s all that really matters. The Mets are definitely not getting to the World Series this season, when the Dodgers and Braves are so much better then they are.
The American League is the weaker of the two leagues. If you listed the top 20 starting pitchers in MLB, at least 16 would be in the NL. Btw, you can’t say definitely anything when it comes to predicting baseball.
@Cey Hey- hey I think that’s great. I hope it stays that way. Who are the top 3 teams in the NL right now? Dodgers, Braves, and the Padres. The Mets seem like a distant 4th, despite their excellent starting pitching.
The Yankees didn’t sign them either. Took them most of the off-season to sign DJL and he wanted to sign with them as his first choice. Sad.
@stymeedone- why would the Yankees have to run after Bauer? We have Gerrit Cole. Why would they have to run after Springer? We have Aaron Judge. No real need for Springer or Bauer. DJ wanted to come back, he loved playing here so much he took a discount to stay. Mets will always be 2nd fiddle to the Yankees. Sad
A bit sadder that Yankees fans always have to say that. You sound like a 12 year old
Amen
@andremets- Amen? About what being the 2nd best team in NY?
@Bill M- careful now you sound salty. Not my fault your rooting for the wrong team. Your problem though.
I’m just grateful that I was raised properly. Ya know? Yanks, Jints, Knicksies, Rangers.
But not everyone in NYC had that advantage & – hey – everybody makes mistakes, man.
There ya go, young fella! Don’t let those big guys get to ya!!
The Yankees got to take the $5 million that they would of given to Gardy and offer it to lefty Justin Wilson to keep him from going back to the 2nd best team in NY now. Not bad Bruce and Wilson instead of Gardy.
I’m surprised no one has jumped on Gardner before the Yanks inevitably re-sign him to a bargain deal.
I think that he doesn’t want to sign anywhere else. I also now think there’s a good chance he signs back with them. I love Gardy but I don’t know how I feel about this. If it means we never see Greg Allen, I’m all for it. If Sanchez rebounds, they may trade him to upgrade the team this summer to stay under the LTT. Lots of ifs…
The White Sox are plenty loaded already, but they could do worse than adding Gardner. He would give them another LH bat, a better defender than Jimenez, and Brett would see plenty of playing time at all three OF spots and DH.
1. Anderson, SS, (R)
2. Moncada, 3B (S)
3. Abreu, 1B (R)
4. Jimenez, DH/LF (R)
5. Grandal, C (S)
6. Gardner, LF (L)
7. Robert, CF (R)
8. Eaton, RF (L)
9. Madrigal, 2B (R)
Wow, that Sox lineup is good though I think Gardy might be the worst hitter of the bunch and should bat last.
I fully expect Gardner to return to the Yankees, but I think he would also be an exceptionally good fit for Oakland rotating with Canha, Laureano, Piscotty, and the DH spot.
The Yankees signing of Bruce has little to do with Gardner. Bruce is replacing Mike Ford as a lefty bat off the bench. He can back-up Voit at 1B, and unlike Ford, he can also play the OF. Also, unlike Ford, he has a MLB track record of hitting. Ford had a nice month back in September 2019. He offers nothing else. Bruce isn’t all that great, but he is better than Ford.
They will pay 6 players nearly $116 million who have no yankee history to speak of but they can’t cough up some decent cash for someone who has given his heart and soul to the franchise over his entire career and is still productive. Typical yankees, they $UCK.
Those 6 players have less than 1,000 games in a yankee uniform while Gardner has over 1,500. Thanks for nothing Brett.
Don’t pretend you care that the Yankees haven’t signed Gardner. You’re just using it as an excuse to bash the Yankees.
Well, yes. Any excuse will do. But this is low hanging fruit. So easy to pick and enjoy.
This is probably the year to move on from Gardner even though I love him. Cashman should have been absolutely clear about his intentions to bring him back though as you don’t let someone like Gardner wait around in limbo.
Now if you move on from Gardner you better have another solid 2-3 outfielders you trust to play everyday. If there is no plan in place for that, a legit plan not just a “next guy up” mentality, than this front office really doesn’t plan to contend this year. This might just be a reset year.
Wildcard Yanks, who will they bow to next?
Toronto and the Ray’s will probably be 1 and 2… can the Red Sox come in at 3?