The Yankees agreed to a minor league deal with utility man Marwin Gonzalez, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll earn $1.15MM if he reaches the Majors, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Gonzalez, 33, has struggled with the bat over the last two seasons with the Twins, Red Sox, and Astros, posting a 62 wRC+ in 506 plate appearances. Gonzalez came up with the Astros, establishing himself as a versatile oft-used utility player capable of above average offense, particularly in 2017 when he put up a 144 wRC+. He has experience at all four infield positions as well as both corner outfield spots.
Though he fell back to Earth in 2018, Gonzalez was good enough after that season to rank 16th on MLBTR’s top 50 free agents list. He set out looking for a four-year deal, but landed a two-year, $21MM pact with the Twins. After the 2020 season, Gonzalez signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Red Sox. He was released by August 2021, returning to the Astros and cracking their World Series roster.
Ultimately, Gonzalez represents nothing more than a harmless minor league deal for the Yankees. Every team signs at least a half-dozen of these every spring, to little consequence. However, it’s difficult denying the poor optics and timing of the Gonzalez signing for the Yankees. While the Yankees have found their 2021 shortstop in Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Gonzalez minor league deal comes about a day after the Twins landed Carlos Correa on a three-year, $105.1MM deal, and minutes after the Red Sox reached a six-year, $140MM agreement with Trevor Story.
The juxtaposition with Correa is particularly stark. Both Correa and Gonzalez were heavily involved in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal of 2017 and ’18. In Tony Adams’ research of 58 home games from the ’17 Astros, no player had more correct trash can bangs (signifying what type of pitch was coming) than Marwin Gonzalez. It had been reported that at least one of the reasons the Yankees were cool on Correa was his involvement in the scandal, with the club having lost the 2017 ALCS to the Astros. Now the Yankees have added perhaps the chief perpetrator to the organization.
Of course, a no-risk minor league deal for Gonzalez is not analogous to the ten-year commitment Correa initially sought, but it’s still a bad look. Throw in Story’s surprising megadeal with the arch-rival Red Sox, who already had an excellent player at shortstop in Xander Bogaerts, and this morning’s Gonzalez signing may represent more for Yankees fans than a minor depth addition.
Ultimately that’s all it is, and Gonzalez isn’t guaranteed a spot on the big league team. Having traded Luke Voit, the Yankees are set up around the infield with Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Josh Donaldson, with DJ LeMahieu filling in at first, second, and third as needed. LeMahieu has never played the outfield and has almost never played shortstop. But the Yankees also still have Miguel Andujar on the 40-man roster, and the 27-year-old has experience at both third base and left field.
World Series here they come!
Cashman and Hal just wanted to sniff on me. Sad times for Yankees fans. The big adds are a aging Donaldson (my old friend), IKF, and bringing back Rizzo. All while subtracting Dirty Sanchez their starting catcher, and Urshela.
You’re not funny.. at all.
Well that makes up for Trevor Story
240 million dollar poverty franchise
dougdeb
he’s struggled ever since the trashcan weren’t involved
Ca$hman dumpsta divin again
Correction:. trashcan diving (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
Cashman introducing Marwin Gonzalez, “This is our new starting shortstop. He will lead us to our 2nd World Series since 2000!….”
“F Altuve!” – the Yankees
“Hey, where can we get the man who actually benefited the *most* from the 2017 Astros cheating scandal?” – also the Yankees
Keep on contradicting, boys. Well done.
“F Altuve!” – Yankee Fans
“hey, where can we get the man who actually benefited the *most* from the 2017 Astros cheating scandal?” – Hal and Cash
Fixed it
No, Alkie had it right the first time, no need for fixing.
Did Yankee fans sign Gonzalez, Pete?
No, but Alkie’s second quote doesnt say Yankees Fans. The only portion that says Yankees fans is the F Altuve part. So, as you obviously thought and alluded too, Alkie did not say Yankees fans did/wanted to sign Marwin, but The Yankees themselves. Maybe you should proof read before tryin to be smart.
Was it the front office chanting “F Altuve”? No. Did the fans sign Gonzalez? No.
His post makes no sense, and, sorry, but neither does yours. There’s no contradiction.
BTW, “proofread” is one word.
Yankee fans are clueless, Beltran came up with the whole camera scam and guess who he played for while doing it???? That’s right, the Yankees. Beltran did that same thing on their team, but they overlook that along with all their players who used steroids.
How do you know when he came up with it? Is there some evidence of that?
The Astros had a special camera positioned in center field. The Yankees never did.
he s got his blue tooth in his picture..reviewing trash can signals!
Yawn
Yummy.
So this is the Yankees move to Boston getting Story. God help me if Yankees bring back Gardy.
That will happen momentarily. And Encarte did a brutal job on the first long fly ball of the Spring. Is he known for his glove?
I guess he will impress us with a scary bat.
I’d say the Sox getting Story was their move to the Yanks getting Rizzo and Donaldson. Story is the first addition the Sox have made all off-season
*Rizzo/Donaldson/IKF
Story was a knee reaction to Bososx fans screaming do something. Story is a over pay by the Bosox. No way he is a $25 million a year player. Average defense and Offense. Must hit 35 plus homeruns for it to pay off which no way he will in the last years of his contract.
Story is also an insurance policy if Xander opts out at the end of the season. Red Sox are just thinking ahead.
Story was a very good addition for Boston.
Bench depth. No huge deal
Yeah and therein lies the problem. BAD “depth”.
The goal is to not have him being called up lol
Then why sign him at all while he takes valuable development at-bats from others? Gonzalez’ upside is pretty low.
The term depth is mis used the moment they mention Andujar as their backup in LF and 3B. At least Marvin can play the field.
2017 stats, just painful.
The Yankees should of signed Correa/Seager instead of planning to bring back Judge.
‘We’re going to get younger and more athletic’. Proceeds to acquire another mid 30s player.
Hal and Cash are just a complete embarrassment.
Welcome to Knicksville.
It’s really a problem of budget allocation than budget in general. Do the Yankees look like a team with a payroll of nearly $236 million? They have 4 players that make up nearly 45% of their payroll (Cole, Stanton, Donaldson, Chapman). You look at the Dodgers and they have no player that takes up 10% of their payroll and their 4 highest paid players only make up 32.57% of their payroll.
To be fair, the dodgers also have a 270 million payroll and 9 people who are making 15 million or more this year, 5 of which who are making over 20. It’d be tough for anyone to take up 10% of that payroll with so many others helping to run it up
In Tony Adams’ research of 58 home games from the ’17 Astros, no player had more correct trash can bangs (signifying what type of pitch was coming) than Marwin Gonzalez.
More correct trash can bangs?
Is this the new Sports Analytics terminology?
CTCB?
It’s hard to keep up with the modern game.
It’s a minor league deal that means nothing, everyone acting like they just gave him $150 mil over 6 years. Calm down
Announced the same hour after our biggest rival goes BIG on a non “minor league deal”, It’s a salt-rub into a wound. We are in the toughest division in MLB. And Marwin is our answer to Story? LOFL.
The Yanks acquired Donaldson, IFK and Rizzo, I think those move make up for the Sox signing an average player on an over pay.
and Beltran in the booth…
LOL take that Boston!
And here I thought Tampa Bay was the team to beat. Evidently Yankee fans are confused.
I think Hal and Trash are trying to compete with the Birds of Baltimore.
“It had been reported that at least one of the reasons the Yankees were cool on Correa was his involvement in the scandal, with the club having lost the 2017 ALCS to the Astros.”
Cashman explicitly stated that the sign-stealing wouldn’t affect their decision. And as if to underscore that, he signed Donaldson, who ripped Cole to the press last year. So much for the clubhouse chemistry excuse.
I didn’t want Correa because I don’t trust his health to hold up over the long term if he stays at short, and his asking price was too much. But Yankee fans know that it was the money.
Hal doesn’t care about winning as long as the money’s good, so incompetent Cashman has a permanent job.
This team will never win another championship with Cashman at the helm.
That JD-Cole thing was overblown. They’re both fierce competitors whom are vocal with their opinions. There is no right or wrong and both played with the cards they were dealt. Why are fans deciding to stand on high moral grounds regarding signing players? Every team has their a-holes. The league doesn’t seem to care with Cora, Hinch, Beltran, Springer, Correa, etc. re-hirings. Trevor Bauer may be a piece of garbage but there are probably worse guys we root for.
The point is, Correa’s cheating never mattered to the front office. Any suggestion that they were concerned about clubhouse chemistry went down the toilet when they signed Donaldson. Clearly, the front office didn’t care about chemistry. These players are professionals doing a job. Fans might take the animosities seriously, but for the players it’s a job where you don’t pick your coworkers and you’re all there to further your careers.
BTW, at the price the Twins got Correa, of course I’d have wanted him. Not being locked into a long-term deal would’ve been a benefit.
Did it ever occur to you that the feeling was mutual? That Correa didn’t want to be a Yankee? Maybe that’s why he said what he said about Jeter.
Gonna be a long season.
God this article is DRAMATIC
I guess it’s unrealistic to expect that he will ever rediscover his stroke. It would be nice to see one last hurrah for him though
Not a Yankee fan. I like this guy as a potential bounce-back who can play multiple positions.
I agree with you about Gonzalez’s defensive versatility being a plus, and I don’t think this is a terrible signing, but I’d argue that his bounce-back potential at the plate is extremely low unless the Yankees get the trash cans set up. I think it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that Gonzalez’s gaudy 2017 numbers were mostly the result of knowing what pitch was coming that year.
EDIT: After posting, I read Fink Ployd’s comment below about Gonzalez’s 2017 splits, so maybe my conclusion isn’t as strong as I thought. I still don’t see Gonzalez bouncing back, though, based on his post-2017 performance. I’ve been wrong before tho…
Don’t get me wrong, MW. I don’t like this acquisition at all, and I don’t see Gonzalez as a strong bounceback candidate either.
I mean, come on: “I’ll see your Trevor Story and I’ll raise you a Marwin Gonzalez”?
If they needed a versatile bench player, they had Tyler Wade for less money, with speed this team could use, and a higher OPS+ than Marwin’s.
Back with Beltran.
Why? He can’t hit.
He didn’t just all of a sudden start struggling with the bat. He stopped cheating and got exposed for the player he actually is.
In 2017, the year of his uncharacteristically high 146 OPS+, his numbers were much better on the road. That doesn’t seem to support your theory — which I also assumed to be the case before I checked his splits.
Food for thought: maybe the road buzzers were more effective than the home bang-bangs?
Very possible. Who knows?
Gonzalez was the first Astro to apologize for cheating, so that’s not an issue for me anymore, except to the extent that it might mean he can’t hit without cheating. Like Pappy O’Daniel said: “I’m a forgive and forget Christian.”
Move on from Cashman, sell the team Hal! $250 mil 4th place team. What a joke!!!
Cashman is not a great GM he doesnt know how to handle the budget, the young players regressed under his watch, he is constantly over-reaching when it comes to evaluating a player and he will never give in to letting the young kids make the roster he has to always justify that veterans have more experience and what has that gotten them signing one veteran after another? It has now forced them to be over the cap and penalized yet he still has holes at catcher, 1B (Rizzo-Not vaccinated), CF-Hicks (Liability), LF (Gallo-Human Windmill), DH (Stanton-Alergic to grass), SS (IKF-can field nothing else), 3B (Josh-consistent leg issues & Age). Will sign Gardner stating he is a great clubhouse leader but their was animosity between Gardner & Cole when Gardner paraded over the clubhouse with Pine Tar on his hat right after the spat between Josh & Cole.
This team is not constructed at all and that falls on CAshman , Hal lets him spend Hal’s problem he is too attached to Cashman for whatever reason it may be. We then have Boone resigned after having a loaded squad past three years and nothing to show but some idiocy moves IN-Game.
Cashman has preached about getting more athletic yet acquired a 3B that is known for pulling hamstrings amongst other leg injuries, has a CF that the minute the word Baseball is thrown around gets hurt, wants to resign Gardner for another eventual farewell tour but wont give any guys below in the minors a chance to compete, Sold low on Luke had the chance to trade him past winter sold low on Gio could have offered him instead to A’s especially after Chapman was traded. Has no starting pitching to rely on with the exception of Cole, annointed Higgy the starting catcher yet when he received normal playing time last year was one of the worst catchers offensively and defensively. List goes on and on.
“Not a great GM” is too kind. He’s an incompetent GM. I agree with your entire post.
A’s didn’t want Voit or Gio or Gleyber… they’re trying to shed salary, not add to it. The
Only way they would have ended up there is if we ate the contract and/or added Volpe
Gallo looks to me like he put on some pounds. I wonder if it was in the weight room or in the kitchen.
Weight room. They mentioned on a radio show he put on 15 lbs. muscle over the offseason.
He ate Velazquez and Wade
Once again ninja Cashman strikes again. This is the move that brings us to the World Series lol. Actually I remember when Gonzalez was a hot commodity and many Yankee fans wanted him several years back, of course he’s lost his luster since then, and that’s when Cashman gets him ,when he’s cheap as his his wont.
I just wonder if the signals the Yankees intend to move either DJ or Gleyber ,since many thought that dJ would back up all the infield Positions ,and if Gonzalez is being considered for that,well then maybe they don’t need DJ to do that.
OK – What if Donaldson goes on the shelf and either LeMahieu, Torres or Rizzo experience their normal aches and pains. Marwin Gonzalez quickly becomes the Million Dollar Answer.
Cashman got schooled by the Twins. The Red Sox showed they were more capable of creating a more flexible market place. We are still short on starting pitching and our starting center fielder is a career.231 hitter. By the way, Boone still can’t manage.
Bottom Line: 2022 Yankees screw the pooch and miss the playoffs with Tampa, Toronto and Boston finishing in front of them. Thanks Hal.
Not to mention the .231 career hitting CF will bat 3rd in the lineup.
I’d bring up Oswaldo Cabrera, they Yankees OTHER minor league SS prospect that doesn’t get the attention of 1st round picks Volpe & Sweeney and big time international free agents Peraza & Arias. They moved him to 2B to get more playing time with Park and Holder at SS and hit 20/20 in minors last year and can play 2B, 3B or SS and is closer to the bigs than the others with more AAA experience and already on the 40. Think Tyler Wade but with power.
The way Cashman holds down young talent in the minors and loads up on aging, costly veterans, I can’t see him bringing up a guy with only 9 games at AAA. But I’m with you on this one — I’d do it. Between AA and AAA last year, 21 jacks, 31 doubles and 21 stolen bases.
I wish Hal cared enough to fire Cashman and hire a GM who’s not so risk-averse that he won’t give young players a shot. Maybe if someone told him he could save money that way, he might give it some thought.
Rick, they do need starting pitching. They have Gerrit Cole and a bunch of lost souls.
Hopefully he will bring his video equipment like he did in 2019 when he joined Minnesota and they coincidentally doubled their homerun output overnight
A.L. East
1st – Jays
2nd – Rays
3rd – Bo Sox
4th – Yankees
5th – Orioles
The only sure thing is your 5th place prediction. I’m looking forward to an exciting season.
Underwhelming and bizarre move by the Yankees. I don’t really blame Cashman for the Donaldson trade when Correa was willing to take when he did-how could he know that? Give credit to the Twins for being creative and a bit slick. But I we should also be surprised at the lack of a coherent plan. for the off season.. They are now well over the CBT, having just added age and not athleticism.
mike, maybe the question should be — why didn’t he know that?
YanKeEs WoUld NeVer sIgN a CheAtEr
I’m a Yankees fan and I’m ok with them not spending. Once some of the large contracts are off the books they can build a team that can compete for years to come. Develop a core and build around that. I’m so tired of other Yankee fans crying about not overspending or trading away prospects for crap contracts.
By the way, the only thing left of a CORE is Judge and the clock is ticking on him.
To have a meaningful core, you need some apple to go around it. Without the apple, the core is meaningless.
Who says they’re NOT spending?! 3rd highest payroll in MLB behind only the Dodgers with TWO televisions networks as big as YES and the Mets with a new owner with unlimited resources trying to buy a championship but making many, many mistakes outbidding himself and overpaying for marginal stars and older pitchers playing on borrowed time. They’re over the luxury tax and the next highest AL team (White Sox) are spending $52 million less than the Yankees are.
It’s not that they’re not spending. It’s that Cashman is spending badly when he does spend, and Hal doesn’t appear to care.
“ particularly in 2017 when he put up a 144 wRC+” = when trashcans were involved
Writer def not like this sign. Lol ⚾️
Marwin seemed mostly disinterested in playing during his time in Boston last year, he was only on the roster as long as he was because of Cora until Cora couldn’t protect him any longer. Yankees might actually be better with Jose Peraza as the utility guy than Marwin
Peraza can’t hit either.
This is another indication that Cashman doesn’t know what he’s doing until it’s done. He traded Tyler Wade “for future considerations.” Now he’s short on backups at shortstop so he gives a minor league contract to Marwin Gonzalez, who rates -5 Outs Above Average at short since 2018, while Wade rates 0 OAA since then; in other words, Wade’s a better shortstop, not to mention younger, cheaper, faster, and a better hitter last year.
It’s like signing Pete Best to play for the Beatles. Bang that drum slowly.
Only reason Cashman is still around is he has naked pictures of Hal’s wife………
This is it right here. This will put us over the top, and we will win it all now.