The Yankees have signed left-handed pitcher Joely Rodriguez to a one-year contract, per a team announcement. Just three days ago, the club paid him a $500K buyout and declined their $3MM club option for the southpaw, but have now quickly brought him back into the fold. Joel Sherman of the New York Post relays that the new deal is for $2MM, meaning the club saved themselves $500K by letting him reach free agency for a few days. Although Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that there’s also $250K of incentives in the deal.
When the Yankees first acquired Rodriguez as part of the Joey Gallo trade, he had an ERA of 5.93 through 27 1/3 innings with the Rangers. Despite that high ERA, there were reasons for optimism, as he had an excellent 63.9% groundball rate, to go along with average-ish strikeout and walk rates of 23.4% and 9.4%, respectively. After coming to the Bronx, he logged 19 more innings with an ERA of 2.84.
This year’s left-handed relief market doesn’t have a lot of standouts, with Aaron Loup, Brooks Raley, Andrew Chafin and Tony Watson representing the cream of the crop. The Yankees have acted quickly and scooped up one of the options that they saw up close and clearly liked enough to bring back, as long as the price was right.
This acts as a sort of early birthday present for Rodriguez, as he will be turning 30 in four days. He’ll slot into a Yankee bullpen alongside other lefty options such as Aroldis Chapman, Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge. The club’s 40-man roster is now full.
You can never have enough pitching!!
Makes sense to me given the cost has to be less than the option. Strange how they couldn’t have gotten this done for optics reasons before hand. I guess JR wanted to first speak to other clubs.
They can’t like him too much if they risked losing him to save 250-500k
Must be for less than $2.5M because they already paid him a $500K buyout on a $3M option.
Lol
Rangers were responsible for the $500K buyout so they saved themselves $1M
A handshake deal and a few days’ time for him to take his physical.
If Stephen Ridings is lost in the Rule 5 because Rodriguez took his spot on the 40 man…
Guy would’ve been called back up if they really saw what most Yankees fans saw, gotta admit other than whitlock and gallegos can’t remember a bullpen piece that has gotten away the last 5 years from us…
The reason he was sent down was because he was a covid replacement and not on the 40 man roster.
…and another reason he was never recalled is he went on the IL in the minors.
Potentially Trevor Stephan also. He seems to have some potential despite some red flags. He has a great arm but we shall see.
How many do they have to lose for nothing for you to stop assuming players like Ridings must not have value just because the Yankees don’t see it?
Who really cares about a team’s scouting when the results are there anyway?
That would be typical of Cashman, who chronically disrespects and undervalues the organization’s prospects.
Compared with the Dodgers’ signing of Andrew Heaney, this is a genius move!
Time will tell but I’m guessing Heaney will throw many more productive innings for LA. Friedman rarely makes a quick signing and he often sees something other overlook.
You’re right, time will tell. I just don’t see Heaney as fixable in MLB. If he takes a sabbatical and goes oversees, I could envision a successful return, like many have done. He misses too much in areas where the ball is absolutely crushed.
It’s kind of odd that LAD struck so quickly and for the relatively high-price that they paid considering that they’re over the LTT. Hope that the Dodgers can fix him.
Especially with him, and at that price point. It just seems strange all around to me. But hey, what do I know?
Thats what everyone said about Robbie Ray too…..
Bigger parks, better defense and, possibly, no DH should fix him.
Great gamble for a really good arm with home run problems to go from the AL east to the nl west.
Guy was pretty solid for us, at the very least he can eat a bad inning when we throw in the towel given how we rely on our contact heavy offense!
You’re worse im sorry but you’re just worse than the original
Seems I have a fan 😀
They save more because they will probably be over the tax threshold.
Don’t see the need for a fourth lefty when this one has trouble with righty hitters. He is basically a LOOGY at at time when pitchers have to face three batters. Maybe he is shipped off in a trade?
There are between 6 guys I would protect from Rule 5 like OF Everson Periera, INF Oswald Cabrera, SP Randy Vazquez, RP Ron Marinaccio, RP Stephen Ridings and CF Brandon Lockridge. It still leaves RP Greg Weissert and SP JP Sears.
Guessing Nick Nelson, Chris Gittens and Roughned Odor are goners. Albert Abreu, Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier don’t have roles. And Britton should really be cut as he is expected to be out all of 2022.
Still waiting for Sanchez to be traded or released. That’s priority number one
Mlbnyy: You really don’t like Sanchez, do you? Lol. I want a replacement too bro, but it’s got to be the right one – ie, Contreras, Grandal, Realmuto, maybe Zunino. An under-the-radar guy I’ve always liked has been AZ’s Carson Kelly.
@Yankee Clipper- yeah count me in on a replacement for Sanchez. I love Higgy as a back up. Realmuto would be perfect. I wonder if the Phillies would take Joey Gallo and Gary for JT? Nobody could help Sanchez turn it around better than Girardi. Makes some sense for salary relief for Philly also. Wilson Contreras is one of my favorite catchers in baseball. I can definitely see the Cubs having an interest in Domingo German, Deivi Garcia, Miguel Andujar and a Gary Sanchez for Contreras. The Cubs need young pitching and they need power in that lineup. I don’t know that much about Carson Kelly in Arizona. Thanks for sharing though. Hope your doing well.
Britton will be placed on the 60 day IL once the pre-season gets underway or when MLB allows it as he is expected to be out all of 2022 as you mentioned in your post.
Andujar, Nelson, and Gittens can be traded. I’d like hold on to Abreu a little longer. Frazier and Britton are on the 60-day IL so they’re off the 40.
There is no Il in the off-season. Britton and Frazier will need to be carried on the 40 till the start of next season.
@YBC- yeah great call. I love Abreu. But if the Yankees try to acquire a Matt Olsen or a Luis Castillo, then Abreu will probably be a piece going to either team unfortunately. Power arm with power stuff. Any team would want him.
You forgot Kriskie
Meh
A bit surprised. They Yankees used him properly so he was effective, yet he’s still a LOOGY in an age of the three-batter rule. Definitely worth the money, but I didn’t think the Yankees would want to use their last 40-man spot for him. Obviously, more moves are coming. (BTW By dropping him, they actually saved about $1M, with the 500K the Rangers kicked in and the 500K on top of that in his projected arbitration salary.).
Yeah, that’s a good point about the savings. I don’t agree with Sands taking a spot either, especially over Breaux as the latter seems closer to MLB-ready. But I’m sure they know better than I do, I just see some other guys that should probably be protected.
Hopefully this does indicate trades are underway which will free up spots in the 40-man. It’ll be interesting to see.
So the Yankees got a couple of Joey’s from Texas. In the Northeast, that’s a punch-line.
Cashman.
He has become the league’s premier copycat, man. A Big 3 bullpen endgame wins a World Series? Cash replicates it. He sees the success (both regular & postseason) that 6+ deep ‘pens (A’s & Ray’s) are having & he moves on to that. Saw how the Braves hit you with & wave of LH relievers…&, well, copies that.
On & on it goes:
– The Astros were starting to win & using analytics (amongst other things – ahem) & he puts together the biggest analytics dept in the game.
– When the ball was all juiced out & teams were taking advantage of that, he built a lineup packed with TTO guys. Went all in on that.
-The ball changes & he moves away from it towards more well rounded ballplayers; look at his deadline deals for proof.
-His starting staff mirrors what Bloom did with the sox.
He may not be the most innovative GM in the game. But the man is excellent at identifying what works & then incorporating it into his roster. I wish he’d stay the hell outta the dugout. But he puts good to excellent rosters together every year. Has for almost a quarter century.
@Ducky Buckin Fent- it’s funny how you can acknowledge all of this that your boy Ca$hman does, and you are right on. Why can’t you become his replacement? The Yankee fans like and trust you to improve the roster. Will hiring you get you to leave Minnesota? Lol. Hope all is well, fan favorite/ future GM of the New York Yankees. I always enjoy your comments.
Awww, you’re makin’ me blush, bro.
I may move from MN. My son graduates this spring & I am getting absolutely clobbered on taxes here. But: won’t be back to The City. Probably be IA, or the Dakota’s.
& you say that now. Trust me. You guys would hate me as GM. Although…well, at least we would finally figure out if Aaron Boone is actually a good manager or not, as I wouldn’t interfere with him.
Ducky Buckin Fent3 hours ago
He has become the league’s premier copycat, man.
================================
That’s a heck of an attribute. There is a not person on the planet that is as smart as 29 of their peers. But, if you are capable of adding all the good ideas from the other 29, then you can do pretty well.
The problem is that when you run home to change your clothes you wind up being late for the dance. All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Yeah, but if your clothes are so out of fashion that you’d be leaving alone anyway, why not change your duds up & hope for a wild card.
Story of my life. I don’t think I was ever all dressed up. I just learned to run with it. Eventually it works. Thirty five years later, still dressed awkwardly. My wife just kind of rolls her eyes at my outfits.
shhhhhhhhh, @Brady.
You have now broadcast the exact key to how my partner & I have grown our company to it’s current state. Everybody in our industry knows that I am completely shameless when it comes to ripping off the ideas of my competitors.
But that’s ok. In baseball, it’s constant adjustment. An approach might work for awhile but not against the teams that can adjust quickly. Then you have to go to something else. The feedback loop is very fast in baseball compared to business. Not that you can sit on your hands in business though. Evolve or die.
At some point this off season Matt Olson will be a Yankee with Voit going the other way in the deal. Obviously prospects will be going to Oakland as well, probably Volpe or Peraza along with a couple more mid to lower level youngsters. It appears that the Yankees are also serious about Corey Seager leaving Volpe or Peraza open for that trade for Matt Olson. With the LTT in the rear view mirror I say why not try to sign a mid rotation arm as well. You can never have enough pitching that’s for sure. I’d love to see them sign Marte but I believe that would be over doing it a bit although you never know I mean Aaron Hicks is about as far from a reliable option in CF as it gets in MLB he’s hurt so much and clearly Judge and Stanton need to be coddled like delicate little flowers getting their days off so another high output OF is in need. They have to do something to beat out the Dodgers because clearly L.A. couldn’t care any less about the LTT.
@Mystery Team- I think you could be right about Olson being traded to the Yankees in a package that includes Voit, Peraza, Deivi Garcia or Clarke Schmidt. Unless the Yankees sign Rizzo for 2 years at $15 million a pop. I hope they don’t end up spending like the Dodgers have. I don’t want a salary cap in baseball. As far as a luxury tax, I have no problem for a team to go slightly above it though. I wish more teams we’re forced to spend more $ on their teams. It would definitely make the games more exciting and more watchable during the season.
Lol, good move Yankees. Screw a player over 500K because that amount means so much to your organization.
Yeah, because other teams don’t turn down options and re-sign players for lesser amounts. Nor do they care about CBT levels.
Big news! Now I know the Yankees are going for it this season….
The Yankees sure must be desperate. Joely is 56 years old and hasn’t been in a good movie since 2000’s “The Patriot” with Mel Gibson….
@Yankeesclipper. IMO Sanchez is done in NY. It’s time for him to move on. The Yankees can’t continue to keep him because he’s on a cheap deal. Sanchez plays horrible defensive and doesn’t make any adjustments at the plate. Once Sanchez gets 2 strikes he’s done. I’m fine with another back up and split time with Higgy 50/50. Sanchez is a liability in more ways than one
@mysteryteam/yankee
Agree Olson is a good fit to the Yankees but no way the A’s take Voit (for @ half the projected annual cost) in the other direction. The A’s will want near MLB ready, six year cost controlled prospects at minimum salary. The 31 year old injury riddled Voit (who I like as a hitter when healthy) is miles from that
The A’s will take the prospect not the cast off.
I disagree. I think it would be very smart for the A’s to take Voit back as part of the package because he’s cheap and a prime candidate for a bounce back season. He would then be a great trade chip at the mid season trade deadline and net them more prospects.
I would gladly trade Voit in the Olson package but why stop at Olson trade for Chapman too. Voit, Peraza, Ushela, Frazier, Andujar, Sanchez, Schmidt, Garcia and anyone else not named Gil, Volpe or Dominguez.