The Yankees announced that they have designated infielder Thairo Estrada for assignment and optioned right-hander Michael King to their alternate site. They made those moves to clear space for newly acquired infielder Rougned Odor.
This could bring an end to a long run in the Yankees organization for Estrada, who first joined the club as an international free agent from Venezuela in 2012. Estrada eventually became a prospect of note with the Yankees, topping out as Baseball America’s No. 8 farmhand for the team in 2018, but he hasn’t been a particularly productive hitter during his time in the pros. The 25-year-old has put together a .280/.337/.389 line with 26 home runs and 52 steals on 81 attempts in 1,949 plate appearances in the minors, and he batted .214/.267/.348 over 121 PA as a Yankee from 2019-20. Still, with another minor league option remaining, it’s not that far-fetched to think another team could take a chance on him in the next week.
King could return to the Yankees’ pitching staff sometime soon. However, after he threw six shutout innings in relief against the Blue Jays on Sunday, it was logical for the Yankees to send him down on at least a temporary basis and use fresher arms in the meantime.
so they gave up 3 legit prospects for…Rougned Odor? yeah, dont see it.
well Estrada is technically not one anymore but same difference.
Da YANKEES are ALL IN this year.
When you can get a Rougned Odor this early in the season, ya gotta go for it!
Rays pitchers are quivering in their spikes. Rumor has it that so far 7 of them have called their agents demanding to get them out of the ALE.
Might be something to that.
But that was in play before the Odor trade. Ya know?
Yanks lineup is so stacked, @Samuel.
They’ll be one of your elite scoring teams in MLB.
Ya know, again. Like always.
You do seem pretty taken by the Yankees, btw. It’s cool if you wanna jump ship & root for a good team, man.
We won’t judge you.
I promise.
That’s the gamble you make when the team is hellbent about not spending pass the ceiling.
Rather have Estrada than Odor. King should have went down yesterday or kept up;he will be back momentarily.
I’ve never questioned Cashman’s moves. But they could have had Odor at league minimum if they waited.
@dave frost nhlpa- trading for Odor makes zero sense. Yes, I agree I would rather have Estrada then Odor. Watch how fast someone picks up Estrada, he can play all over the infield and in left field. I don’t care if the Rangers pay his whole salary. This was a horrible move.
The “could” have had Odor for league minimum. That’s assuming he would choose to sign with them. Doing this guarantees they get him.
Not saying it’s a good or bad deal, but it did eliminate other teams from signing him.
They did get him for the league min. And he’s signed for two more years with option on 3rd year/buyout.
Cashman has clear marching orders from ownership to stay under the tax line. This sucks and it’s ridiculous, but it’s his reality.
He therefore has to be creative with his moves.
The league minimum is near $600,000 and that would be a lot of his remaining buffer which is between $2 and $3 million.
They did pay the league minimum. Where the Rangers made out was getting cash and two players back. However none of this counts against the luxury tax. Still under a little to take on a role player/ rental before the deadline if needed.
Yankees did get him at league min.
Damn. Didn’t expect King to move down but it makes sense to get him regular reps.
He’ll probably be back as soon as possible. He can’t pitch for the next few days anyway
What do they need him for??
The thinking here is can he pull the ball enough to accumulate a few more homers. Similar to Curtis granderson who was a mid 20 home guy then came to the Bronx and had consecutive 40 Homer seasons
You could have odor okay second and move dj over to first for the time being but hate to waste DJ’s glove at first
Granderson was always well more talented then Odor.
The Grandy man was all class and an excellent player. Odor merely festers, Grandy was sweet.
I had a man-crush for Grandyman. Perfect baseball “makeup”, intelligent, articulate, etc.
Estrada > Wade, Odor
Not based on his major league performance.
Estrada, while able to play multiple positions, never distinguished himself as anything else but an emergency fill-in at all of them, and while he experienced a bit of success at the plate, the lure of getting a lefty hitting guy with pop was too tempting especially since the Rangers are paying most if not all of Odor’s salary.
Trust Cash as he’s earned it with moves that got players like Urshela, Voit, and Tauchman for next to nothing!
Puhleeze, we are taking about Rougned Odor, not Joe Morgan.
@rocky. I wouldn’t call giving up Giovanny Gallegos “next to nothing”. He’s been outstanding for the Cardinals.
@FredMcGriff for the HOF- unfortunately Gallegos always had a “live arm.” He didn’t show too much of it when he was with Yankees though. I guess you can say the same thing regarding Voit. He had talent, but he didn’t really get to show it in St. Louis. Fred McGriff was definitely one of my favorite ball players as a kid. What couldn’t he do? Seems like one thing. Not get in the Hall Of Fame, which is insane. He belongs in Cooperstown. He was a great example of playing the game right and clean, a lost art in the game today. Smh.
Odor OBP stinks
Ha
Should have gotten rid of Wade.
OMG the Yankees have lost their Fing Mind giving up on Estrada. The Yankees don’t need Odor another all or nothing hitter mostly nothing.
You simply can’t fall in love with “prospects” who year after year just don’t do enough to make the big club…..he probably will get picked up but he just wasn’t good enough to displace anyone on the big club permanently.
Odor is a lefty on a club in dire need to lefty pop…even if you have to put up with his K’s….we put up with Hicks, Stanton, and even Judge that way so why not Odor?
To be fair to Estrada though, the yanks haven’t given him anywhere near as many chances as wades gotten. For whatever reason they aren’t patient with him. I wanted Estrada to be called up over wade in case of an injury to Gleyber and wouldve rather Wade DFA. But o well we’ll see how it plays out. Odor is strictly penny pinching and I’m hoping just a back up plan to Dietrich if Bruce doesn’t pan out
@rocky7- I understand what your saying, you make a good point regarding prospects not panning out. It just makes no sense acquiring Odor to be a pinch hitter, and his defense is lousy. I hate designating Estrada for assignment, wish it could of been Wade instead. Lol. Watch how fast Thairo is claimed, he will help someone out there. Yes, the Yanks definitely need left-handed pop for sure. Just wish it wasn’t Odor, only good thing about this is Texas is paying $30 million dollars for the 2 years he will be here.
Cashman’s biggest weakness strikes again. He loves the long ball and is hoping Odor can run into a few more than Estrada could with that short left porch. Other than that potential power, Estrada is the better player and has proven he can play Yankee baseball too. They also gave up their #18 overall prospect in the deal? Odor had better put up some solid numbers quickly…no idea what Cash was thinking with this deal.
Lol what do you mean he’s proven he can play Yankee baseball? I like the guy a lot but he hasn’t proved much of anything
Yankee baseball = wildcard
If by “biggest weakness” you mean his ability to assemble a top 3 MLB scoring offense then you sir are correct.
Hey.
You okay after how pathetic your team looks?
Jeeez, you guys sure do suck.
Stay away from the balcony, bro. It’s just sports.
Does anyone here really believe they are a better judge of what is best for the Yanks than Cashman ?
If he thinks Odor is worth a top 20 prospect, then yes, I believe I know more than cashman.
Puzzling. Estrada has real talent and some upside. Odor is already a failed player. Is this a favor to his agent? The move makes no sense.
Watch Estrada move on to a rebuilding organization, where he quickly becomes a major league starter.
This could be the best thing to happen to Thairo Estrada.
@GarryHarris- I was thinking the same exact thing. Don’t the Reds need a shortstop? No telling the kind of #’s Estrada could put up playing everyday in Cincy, and Thairo isn’t going to hurt you defensively like Odor will. I obviously feel different regarding Estrada then others do.
Thought Estrada looked decent in spring. Maybe a rebuilding team will give him some playing time.
I’m a Thairo fan and was hoping that regular AAA ab’s would get him going and displace wade as the 5th INF. That being said, Odor probably gives greater possibility of an impact bat, right now, than Thairo, wade, dietrich or Bruce. And I’ll give Cashman the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
IMO, losing Estrada will be minor compared to what Whitlock might do this year.
I know the homerun has lost a little value since everyone hits now, but Odor would of easily hit 30+ homeruns at his pace last year over a full season. That would of given him 4 out of the last 5 years of 30+ homeruns. How many second baseman have accomplished that. I don’t think he hurts with his glove does he? Besides he will sock up anyone with a negative comment! Goo Angels!
What I am most surprised by is that Yankees brass hasn’t discovered one of the “experts” on this forum and moved them up to the big team working on prospects. Wouldn’t it be safe to say the NYY have some of the best people in the sport looking at guys like Odor to find the hidden value as they did with Luke Voit? Maybe they change his stance and he unlocks that long hidden potential? I liked Estrada but if you take the time to visit his stats you will see that he cratered in 2020 and wasn’t much better this spring. Another casualty of the idiotic pandemic. GO YANKS!
Did you look at his actual stats or just assume the year end tells the whole story? If you actually looked at his stats being game logs you would see he never plays a full game and gets sporadic at bats.
Also would those be the same people that wanted Sonny Gray on the team and traded a lot of the upper talent to get him. The same group that had Frazier kept down instead of hiring Cameron Maybin? Also the same group that signed Jacoby Ellsbury, but of course they know what they are doing and are never wrong.
Odor on the other hand has not played any other position in his mlb career but 2nd base (3 of those who play the position better and better bats) and DH. Where is he getting at bats playing time? He going to be just a ph while you now have no real backup shortstop, short a pitcher (sent one down), and will only play if you put everyone out of position.
Also what happens when you need that reliever again and have to kick someone off the 26 man or when voit comes back in a couple of weeks off the IL? Is Odor more valuable than bruce off the bench who has been doing pretty well so far in the early season? Did you just give up 4 people for 2 weeks of odor?
For better or worse yanks have now committed themselves to Odor over Estrada, Bruce, Wade and possibly Tauchman. One thing for sure you can’t have Gardner, Tauch and Bruce at the same time. Going to have to trade one, release one or retire one.
Why not option Wade?
They did option him but only 40 people on the 40 man roster with 26 on the active roster .with Odor coming to the team.
Thairo was let go for the 40 man … Wade sent down for the active roster.
Thairo Estrada, come on down! Your the next contestant on Anthopoulos middle infield stock up!
Estrada to the Pirates!! They need talent in that organization and willing to take Yankees’s rejects.
Hopefully the Yankees get someone for Estrada. Disappointed he wasn’t given a chance.
Lotta emphasis on the 26 man I must say
To me, this is simple, Cash chose upside over stability….
While ida preferred a more gritty do the small things versatile player like Sogard as the 26 man: I can see the the reasoning to wanna take a small roll of the dice here. I think him showing the ability to play 3b this spring is probably what put Cash over the hump here to make the move –
Odor got his smelly odor from the big contract, not that’s he’s worthless…..Its the old fantasy baseball adage “Hate the price not the player”