The Yankees have claimed left-hander Yoan Aybar off waivers, the team announced. The Rockies designated Aybar for assignment two days ago, in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Kris Bryant.
A longtime member of the Red Sox farm system, Aybar spent his first four pro seasons as an outfielder before converting to pitching in 2018. He has a 5.06 ERA over 131 2/3 innings of minor league mound work, including a 6.22 ERA over 46 1/3 innings with the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate in 2021. As one might expect for a player relatively new to pitching, control has been a particular issue for Aybar, as he has a 14.62% walk rate during his 131 2/3 IP.
Aybar does bring plenty of velocity, however, and the Yankees will now get a closer look at the 24-year-old to see if his stuff can be harnessed. Double-A Somerset seems the likeliest destination for Aybar to begin the season, though the southpaw could potentially be headed back to DFA limbo if the Yankees make another roster move and need to make room on their own 40-man.
Any Rockies fans want to give a scouting report?
Came through the Red Sox system, converted from center field to reliever. That delayed his progress. Not much of a hitter and has control issues. Worth a shot, he’s probably a good athlete. You never know.
He is not Whitlock
He has no minor league options. I doubt he pitches well enough for the Yankees to call him up, but if they want to send him down he would have to clear waivers.
How can he not have options? He has no mlb appearances and has not played above AA.
@StudWinfield- That definitely sounds like a player the Yankees would have interest in. It’s time for the Yankees to acquire a starter like Luis Castillo or Frankie Montas and also trade for a catcher like Willson Contreras or Luis Campusano.
Not a Rox fan (thank god), but he’s a lottery ticket. Converted from the outfield and struggled in Double-A. Locating his pitches has been his biggest issue, but overall he throws extremely hard, and his slider has some potential to be an above average pitch. He’s a high ceiling, low risk depth arm, and if he can get his control down (huge if) he could be a very decent lefty reliever. I’d say it’s more likely that he makes a few cameos here and there. He’s still young at least and has a minor league option, so there’s definitely some value.
The Rox have been to the playoffs more often than the Phils the past 5 years. Just saying.
You could have said 11 years.
A lefty who can hit 98 with an option year and a decent slider is definitely worth a flyer. Especially for a team who has one lefty pitcher on the roster not expected to break camp with the club.
Yoan Aybar
Positions: Centerfielder and Relief Pitcher
So, a discounted version of Ohtani?
Old York – lol….very, very deep discount…..less than 1 cent on the dollar or you could say 99.9 percent off.
Well, There’s your big move folks. Now you can all stfu!
Well, Casman had to counter the Sox signing Story.
@bobtillman- no Ca$hman signed a over-the-hill Marwin Gonzalez today to counter the Sox signing Trevor Story.
Gonzalez …… the new Yankee starting shortstop
My apologies.
Can he hit though?
Does it matter? That not part of the pitching game anymore.
Well, ya got me there, @hiflew.
Was more of commentary on the Yanks lack of offense. Wasn’t meant to be taken literally.
Hey Aybar! Sorry couldn’t resist.
Getting more frustrated by the day. Continue to wait for the Yankees to make some sort of a significant move ,that might put them more in par with the rest of the teams in their division, but All theyve been doing lately is these crappy pick ups.
I don’t know if we could expect anything else though realistically, they’ve already probably spent all their willing to spend, and they’re not willing to give up anything that anybody might want so that leaves us in a difficult situation to improve.
Yessir.
Our offense is in trouble, man. Hard not to see that. Too many glove first/glove *only* guys. We really lack high end firepower &/or length in our lineup due to Cash’s crazy overreaction in remaking us.
I am starting to think we are done with outside additions. Our solutions will have to come from within or be added at the deadline most likely.
Hopefully it’s enough for some kind of postseason appearance to line Hal’s pocket (insert Yacht joke here; _________________). & this way Cashman gets to hang on to his precious, precious “value”.
I am not a fan of all this.
I am also a lifelong Yankee & Giant fan who cannot fathom rooting for any other baseball or football teams. So; I will watch no matter what.
My brand of fandumb is Skipper Hal’s favorite.
Ducky, I remember your optimism during the season when I was in full panic mode. I will return the favor. There have been some very good moves made. They just aren’t flashy. I admit the need for another starter and preferably a catcher, but it ain’t over yet. We’ll be fine.
I am unused to being a Negative Nellie.
& I should – at the very least – wait until Opening Day before casting judgement. We are counting on a lot of stuff working out right though.
Maybe a couple of; Higashioka, Rortvedt, Kiner-Falefa, Florial et al can break through offensively. That just seems fairly sketchy for a team with viable postseason aspirations.
& I like every single move Cash has made since at least Tauchman for Peralta. That includes what he has done this winter.
What am I kicking back on is the volume.
Just doesn’t seem like we have really done enough to keep pace in the East.
@Ducky Our offense is particularly tepid in comparison to our divisional foes, hoping for IKF to really come into his own (he’s only 26), and comebacks by Hicks, LeMahieu, and Torres. That’s a lot of if’s. With you I’m not changing my allegiance at this stage. I’m 73 and w hen they won in 2009 I thought I’d live to see 3 more championships, at this point I’d be happy with 1.
I like Kiner-Falefa out of the 9th spot. Good speed & puts the ball in play. I do not like him anywhere else.
To be fair, we really only need one of LeMahieu/Torres to bounce back.
Hicks will help the lineup. The big question there is (obviously, uh?) his ability to stay on the field.
& here’s the thing, Mick. The Braves won the Series as an 88 win team. $250 mil won’t buy a championship. Ask the Dodgers. It *should* be enough to buy a playoff appearance though.
#winitforMickey777in2022
I agree with you ducky, and it will take a lot of the players to make a rebound at the same time and or stay healthy.
IKF had 172 Hits last Season and hit .271…come into his own…Really?
If he does that for the Yankees, they will be in a Good Place.
That .271 BA accompanies a .670 OPS. Which is pretty bad. Offensively, Kiner-Falefa is essentially a speedy Ronald Torreyes. & there is not a whole lot to indicate he will ever amount to much more than that.
DBF,
You’re confusing me. No Fire Power in the Line_Up, too many Glove first or Only Hitters. What Roster are you looking at?
We have:
Judge
Stanton
Donaldson
Gallo
Rizzo
That’s our Fire Power
We have
Geyber
DJL
IKF
That’s our Contact orientated Hitters
The seeming Weak Link is Catcher
Then we have Hicks…somewhere in the middle
That seems like a pretty strong Offense to me.
What am I missing?
I like our 1-6. It is solid if unspectacular.
Dj*
Judge
Rizzo (here is where we could have done much better)
Stanton
Donaldson
Gallo
But. We are an Aaron Hicks injury away from a bottom 3 (Locastro/other CF junk on the roster, catcher platoon, & Kiner-Falefa) that might legitimately struggle to *combine* for an OPS over 1.700. That’s…pretty bad.
That is giving away far too many outs. Defensive contributions be damned. The bottom third of our lineup seems to be comprised of 3 #9 “hitters”. (Unless Hicks can stay healthy. Which is – sadly – a poor bet. & I like Hicksy)
Check out Toronto, the sox, & the Rays lineups, man. We don’t come close to those teams.
* gotta hope it was the injury. I think it was. If it wasn’t…that’ll make things really difficult as we don’t have any other viable leadoff hitters.
As I posted in the Story story, I figured the money, and for nearly what the Yanks are paying now for payroll, we could’ve substituted the following:
-Harper
-JT Realmuto
-Story
-Olson
In place of:
-IKF
-Stanton
-Rizzo
Donaldson
-Hicks
-Miscellaneous wastes trying to fill for the above in between
I’ve read this thread and you guys covered everything. I’ll add one point – Byron, the one thing is that although the offense may even be good this year, it doesn’t seem that it will be good enough to bring us beyond a fight for third, which after the Story signing, just became a bit more tipped in favor of the other side.
Just JT Realmuto alone may have won us more games due to pitcher staff handling & defense. Brantley?! Are you kidding me?!
Thanks for the re-post.
I was thoroughly disillusioned when the sox signed Story & we countered with signing Gonzalez. Didn’t read either of those besides the article’s title.
For some reason Cash tends towards extremism when putting our rosters together. As you have posted before: how about some balance, bro.
Yes.
We had far too many RH TTO guys. When the ball was de-juiced, our flaws were illuminated. We played atrocious defense, struggled to score without home runs, & had nothing from the LH box which left us vulnerable to RH power relievers.
& now – well – I am pining for Cash to add… a RH TTO guy.
Yeah, but that’s not ‘just’ a RH TTO guy… that undersells it… this dude is an elite defender, incredible on the base paths, & yes, TTO. But we can mitigate TTO with balance. It only exploits TTO without a C, without defense, & with only other TTOs in lineup who have no speed, & can’t hit with any semblance of consistency (a la Sanchez). Too many strikeouts with guys on base, too many fly outs with guys not in scoring position, not enough HRs.
You’ve said all of it before, man ‘ you’re right. It’s not TTO that’s the problem. Gallo isn’t the problem. With Harper, Realmuto, Machado in that lineup, who cares if Gallo strikes out 200x per year, as long as he plays GG defense
& hits 40+ HRs per year. He would complement the offense.
I also forgot, if they truly wanted to save money on both Story & Correa insert T. TURNER’S name into SS. Talk about a true game-changer for inexpensive?! But Cashman failed there too. Trea Turner changes that entire lineup…. He’s like all the best parts of Story’s offense that the Yankees truly need but to a much greater degree. Think….
T. Turner
A. Judge
B. Harper
M. Machado
A. Rizzo / M. Olson
A. Hicks
JT Realmuto
J. Gallo
G. Torres
Think about that for a minute. That’s if they made no moves to upgrade Gio or Hicks & doesn’t include a bench player. Judge gets plenty of rest and prevents wear/tear/injury, Hicks gets rest, they all get better.
Don’t even have a specific player in mind, Clipper. Just one that can play some CF or is a C & can hit us some home runs. LH, RH, no matter. & if he can contribute any other way, well, that’s just gravy.
In Cash’s defense MLB screwing around with the ball has been some BS. I see & understand what he was doing. But he swerved awfully hard in the reboot. I feel a little too far. We’re the Bronx Bombers. Not the Bronx Slick Fielders.
Defense is great! However, games are still decided on which team *scores* more. I don’t foresee that changing.
Killin’ me with that lineup, man.
Sorry, bro, but that with the same money they currently have committed…. What could have been, man. Ugh – that’s a dynasty in the making. You’re right though, & now his passing on T Barnhart looks worse since he’s gone back to switch-hitting too, which makes for a better at-bat, presumably.
Anyway, he passes on the big stars, then overspends to compensate – it’s mind boggling. And like you point out – this is reminiscent of the 80’s Yankees that were defense-heavy, but lacked a heavy punch in several positions… I remember the Claudelle Washington CF days, the Tolleson/Espinosa SS says, man.
This is the late 80’s roster makeup all over again. Don’t know if anyone told CashHal, but just because they compare Volpe to Jeter, it doesn’t mean we have to redo the pre-Jeter decade.
Yankee Clipper,
That’s because our current Yankees are cheap and like to sign has beens and Cashman is the eternal dumpster diver. Utterly pathetic offseason. 4th Place in the AL East likely, 3rd place at VERY best. Time for Lightweight Hal to sell the team to someone who wants to win. I have zero interest in this coming season. Yawn.
@Ducky- poor guy. I am a Yankee’s fan, Cubs fan, a Cowboys and a Jets fan. Lol… Nice to see your loyalty sticking with your teams. You and I got to talk about football, one of these days obviously. I haven’t given up on the pursuit of a catcher. Willson Contreras and Luis Campusano come to mind, one or the other. I really wanted Campusano in a Voit deal. Oh well. A starter like Luis Castillo or Frankie Montas would be nice, but definitely not expected. The Yankees have pieces for at least 2 of the players mentioned. Deivi, Schmidt, Pereira, Vargas, King, and Andujar are all players the Cubs, Reds, Padres, or A’s would all have some interest in. My preference is Castillo and Campusano. But I feel Contreras would be cheaper than Campusano. This are needs, but not expecting anything to happen unfortunately. I don’t look at the A’s as a trading anymore. Oswald Peraza looks like a no-go as far as a trade, since passing on Trevor Story unfortunately.
Bro, Cowboys? Ugh – what happened dude? NYG / NYY / NYR is the only way to go!
@Yankee Clipper- you’re so right bro! Sounds like you root for all the right teams. Lol. I’m so cursed. I like the Islanders as my hockey team. Now you definitely feel sorry for me. The Jets are so horrible, it hurts watching them a lot of times I’m either yelling, cursing or crying. I definitely need a great deal of therapy and prayers for me and my teams. As a child it was either watch the Jets and the Cowboys or the TV goes off. (The worst case of child abuse ever) Lolololololol
Giants, Yankees, & Boxing.
In theory, I am also a Rangers & Knicks fan.
I will certainly watch & root like hell for them. *If* they are playing in the Stanley Cup or NBA finals. That’s as far as my loyalty & interest goes, though.
My son somehow wound up a Seahawks(??) fan. He routinely changes his favorite NBA team. & he chose tennis over baseball. I definitely chalk all that up to poor parenting. As I am a single parent, the fault lies entirely with me.
I am going to ignore whom you root for in football. It will be for the best. I dislike the cowboys more than I do the sox. So. Let’s all just stay friends here & never speak of this again.
@Ducky- agreed all sounds good. But if the Yankees are really bad this season, could our new favorite sport be women’s volleyball? Those Brazilian women are just gorgeous. Definitely can’t watch them with the wifey around, gotta do that totally solo. Not trying to lose my life or anything. Watching Story sign with Boston today, I was trying my best not to be close to any bridges today. So far-so good.
Their beach volleyball teams. Good heavens.
You guys crack me up, man. I do feel for you: Jets and now, the new Mets (Yankees)…ugh. At least the Yankees were your reprieve from football. But the NYI we’re always decent off and on. I just always liked the Rangers because growing up, Mike Richter (Goalie) was one of my favorite players.
Ducky: Cowboys hated *more* than the Sawx? Whoa! That’s pretty deep man. I don’t know I could’ve ever gone that far… Granted, Cowboys was always a heated rivalry, especially during those 80s-90s championship contention years, but we also had the Eagles to hate on. And, I’m a way, Cowboys always reminded me of a football version of the Yankees in a way.
I grew up in the North Bronx. As such, I was given absolutely no choice about whom I would or would not root for.
I’m sure it is because of how fewer football games than baseball games there are, but I find losing to the cowboys is more of a drag than it is losing to the sox.
Did you see Brantley behind the plate today? That’s almost bad enough to make you okay with having Sanchez back for his bat… there were a few missed pitches, dropped foul tip, & the arm of a wet noodle.
Caught bits & pieces of the game. I won’t start watching seriously until the last week or so of Spring Training.
All the catchers on our roster are average to good at framing & blocking. Phat Sancho is not. However: none of them can hit or throw. Gary can.
Wish the Twins had wanted Higashioka instead, man. Alas: that front office is really bright & will deploy Sanchez properly.
Yes, and hopefully ours does not deploy Brantley. I’d rather let Wells flounder & learn than watch Brantley painfully remind us why he’s a lifer in the minor leagues. But, Ender has been looking good, man. I think he looks better than Hicks, honestly. Crisp swing, running well, good defense.
I have caught Inciarte. He does look decent.
So, I guess I will just hope:
Hicks stays somewhat healthy. I still see him as more of a 4th outfielder but I have never questioned his skill or talent.
– or –
Florial overcomes his contact issues. We have been dreaming on him for awhile now.
-or –
Inciarte can bounce back. @McGriffHOF, @bhambrave speak pretty highly of him.
At least Cash took somewhat of a volume approach in center.
& we also need one of Higashioka or Rortvedt to emerge as a viable power threat.
______________________________________________
Like you, I would have preferred much more. When I think about it, I guess I really only have two concerns. The first is that our lineup will be short like it was last season. We also don’t have much of a safety net for the rotation.
We won’t be running roughshod over the AL. But: this is a playoff caliber ballclub. Which is sort of the deal now.
Yeah, good points & you caught my post that German is reportedly out until June at least, right? Per CBS Sports… this shoulder injury occurred last year btw. Rortvedt was hurt in the Twins as well, and apparently we knew that when he came over.
I also assume you saw Cabrera’s grand salami? That was awesome. Kid has some pop on the left side.
I realize that last year’s scoring problem has skewed my perspective. There were far too many games where we had 3 or 4 above average hitters throughout our entire lineup. In short: Absolutely Untenable. & the result of 19th in scoring was well deserved.
If just one of the above happens, our lineup should be ok. I really wanted some overengineering done with the lineup/bench. Doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards, though.
Missed the German update. Honestly, this off-season has left me feeling rather flat in re the Yanks. For the last 4 off-seasons I have felt we just didn’t do quite enough. As this was the most important of those, it’s a drag feeling unfinished.
Saw a replay of the slam.
This move will be irrelevant
As a Yankee fan, I have to say that this off season is so filled with adrenaline I might have difficulty getting to sleep tonight.
@mike156- I hear you. I feel that Seager was the player for the Yankees to get all along. He could of played shortstop for a year or 2, then move to 3rd base. I never wanted Correa, but could have lived with Trevor Story playing shortstop this season and moving over to centerfield next season. I’m okay with IKF, but didn’t want Donaldson at all. The Yankees blew it this off-season.
Either Cashman misread the market, or Hal leashed him, but they still are spending a fortune. I wonder whether it’s a bit of both…Hal wanting to drop below the CBT levels every third year, which means they have to look at when contracts expire.
@mike156- to be idle as far as free agency made no sense this season especially with Chapman, Britton, and Gallo all coming off the Yankees payroll next season. I’ve had it with Ca$hman. I would truthfully rather have you, the Clipper or Ducky be the GM instead of him. In Ca$hman I don’t trust.
I agree with everything noted above. I will just add that it’s The Yankees obsession with avoiding long-term contracts, which has put us in the current mess. They are willing to spend a lot of money per year on short-term contracts, but still by doing so they’re unable to get the best players on the market.
I respectfully disagree – Cole, Stanton trade, Hicks extension.
@Dr2022- not sure what I’m more angry about today? Either the Yankees not signing Trevor Story, or the Red Sox signing him. It’s another bad day for Yankee fans today. Seager was the way to go at lst. No Seager, okay then sign Story. Smh. Still upset about trading for Donaldson, because I wanted Story instead. Oh well. Expecting 2nd or 3rd place in the AL East this season, and just getting in as a wild card team. Nothing more.
It’s not even the RS for me. I’d feel the same way if the Rays got him.
@YankeesBleacherCreature- yes, if the Rays signed him or even the Blue Jays signed Story it would be almost just as bad as the RS signing him. Agreed.
I agree completely. But I think they’ll actually be lower in the standings unless everything breaks right and what are the chances of that.
@Dr2022- just think about the Yankees future. I got Austin Wells at lst base, Volpe at 2nd, Sweeney at 3rd, Peraza at shortstop, Florial in leftfield, Dominguez in centerfield, and me playing right field. I have Antonio Gomez catching. Roderick Arias looks like the real deal. We’ll see.
Let’s hope, if everything falls right.
I’m still hot and bothered more than I’d like to admit. Fking BS Story is wearing a RS uni for that contract.
@YankeesBleacherCreature- you’re 100% correct my friend. I didn’t want Boone or Ca$hman back. Seeing Story in that RS uniform is going to make me really sick and it’s total BS! DJ’s best friend. Smh. Do you have interest in being the Yankees new GM? I’m blaming Ca$hman for all of this, and wish Hal would sell the team to a die hard fan like us. Hal is definitely not George.
Agreed. The problem though is the Yankees are so adverse to long time contracts that they go through genuflections to find creative ways of avoiding it. As we see, this has resulted in shortter term contracts with inferior players ir older players, hence the Donaldson contract or the Rizzo contract when they were better options out there.
I can see their reluctance somewhat, since they’ve been burned a number of times on these long-term contracts. But it was obvious to everyone that they should not have signed ellsbury who is never been a very good player, except for one outlier of a year, or Hicks who is perpetually injured, and etc. So that’s on them.
And this is magnified by the fact that they’re pinning all their hopes on the second coming of Jeter , In the guise of Volpe, but we see how these overhyped Yankees prospects often end up, after a couple of years of ineptitude ,getting traded for no value to another team.
But even if Volpe works out he’s not gonna be Jeter his first year anyway ,it’s going to Take a couple years and by that time who would be left to play on the team who is not geriatric, all the prime years of Judge Stanton Cole even Donaldson and DJ will be long gone, I don’t think they care enough to have thought this thing out completely.
Atta boy.
Feel the burn.
Right with you guys, man. These guys passed on everything good and spent the same amount of money for half the talent. Numbskulls ….
I actually like what we have done.
Just seems incomplete to me. The offense needs (at least) one more power hitter. The rotation needs one more solid, *proven* mid-rotation arm. Had we added those, I wouldn’t care about missing out on Story, Freeman, Verlander, etc. & maybe we can find that stuff laying around on the roster somewhere. That’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Just looked at the top 50 free agent list. Pickins be slim. Cueto? Pham? I have a feeling we’d be outbid by the {ahem} Twins for Cueto & Pham probably isn’t even on Cash’s radar.
@Ducky We’re going to be OK. I’m more offended by Cash’s mantra of addressing SS. Usually that kind of organizational PR spin is reserved for teams that aren’t actually try to win – Angels and Colorado. I’ve stuck with him through and through wanting to stay below the CBT because the Yankees have a plan. It doesn’t seem like they have one this off-season. We have JD and IKF only bc the Twins outplayed him. Still time left until Opening Day so one can hope.
Yeah, for sure. We will be.
This is a 90+ win club. It is a playoff caliber club. & – yes – Falvey & Levine are good, man. They straight out-hustled Cash.
& it isn’t Opening Day yet.
Cash had a pretty good deadline for us last summer. So – no matter what we look like Right Now – it’s the roster you finish the season with that is the important thing.
Ducky, the next time you go hunting, consider the pillow-making business. You create comfort.
Ducky, don’t forget catcher, my man. We NEED a catcher.
Yes annoying
With another offseason flop by the Yankees, the Bleacher Creatures need to have a chant for Cheapskate Hal and the Trashman!
Hicks has 9 years MLB experience and a .233 hitter. While we are busy reclaiming someone else’s junk, can we pick up a center fielder?
He has a career OB% of .330. & a career OPS of .729. Both those numbers are fine.
The problem isn’t his BA or talent/skill. It is his inability to remain on the field. A healthy Aaron Hicks goes a long ways towards providing offense out of the bottom of the lineup. Which it looks like we probably need.
However, it’s hard to think *this* is the year he finally stays healthy. We’ve been down this road before, man.
Spot on man. I’d be surprised if he makes it out of spring training. To expect anything else is foolhardy especially by the Yankees who should know better by this time.
{sigh}
Tyler Naquin… Yankees-level cheap, offensively proficient, fast, & available…and plays CF.
The Yankees lineup is a little old but that is the yankee way. There will be bombs and IL visits for sure. I’m okay with the lineup but not okay with the starters past Cole.
If King George knows what’s going on, he’s turning over in his grave. God bless that man. He didn’t always make the right decision but he ALWAYS swung for the fences and it resulted in several World Series Championships. Win or lose, George went for it and I respected that. Hal Steinbrenner is a cuckold. He needs to sell the team to the Trump family. Love them or hate them, they would not put up with this absolute BS dumpster diving and 45 and 47 would put the best possible team on the field and would laugh at any stupid luxury tax. This situation is absolutely disgraceful and needs to be fixed. We have become the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Celtics. All time great franchises who crapped their pants and have become laughable. That’s us right now.