As the baseball world starts to wake back up, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day:
1. 1B Market Update
There was some movement on the first base market yesterday, as Dominic Smith landed with the Nationals and Eric Hosmer appears to be headed to the Cubs. While many corners of the free agent market are running low on both suitors and options at this point, there are still several recognizable veteran names at first base. Trey Mancini is the top option remaining, but the likes of Luke Voit, Brandon Belt, and Miguel Sano all remain available to teams looking to make an addition. While both the Cubs and Nats were among the most obvious clubs for a first baseman, other teams still remain. The Orioles were known to have interest in Hosmer, while the Rays and Royals were in on Smith. The Marlins, Mariners, and Tigers are other teams for whom it could make sense to add another bat, though such an addition for any of these clubs would not necessarily need to come at first base.
2. Could the Yankees stand pat in left field?
The Yankees came into the offseason with the outfield as their most obvious hole, and while they’ve succeeded in retaining Aaron Judge, there’s still plenty of room for the club to make a second addition. Judge, Harrison Bader, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Aaron Hicks are the team’s current outfield options, and Giancarlo Stanton could potentially contribute on days he isn’t the team’s DH. There’s been a lot of talk throughout the offseason about who the team could add to play left field, but is it possible they’re content going into opening day with their current options? Cabrera was solid in a 44-game cup of coffee in 2022, batting .247/.312/.429 (111 wRC+) while splitting time between both outfield corners and all four infield spots. Meanwhile, Hicks is under contract for the next three seasons, so they may prefer to see if his value can bounce back in more of a part time role after a difficult season in 2022.
In addition to the options currently on the 40-man roster, the Yankees have loaded up on veteran outfield depth on minor league deals. Outfielders Michael Hermosillo, Willie Calhoun, and, most recently, Rafael Ortega have all landed deals to play in Scranton to start 2023. Any of them could prove to be plausible bench pieces for the big league club if the current position player mix suffers any losses, whether via injury or trade, before Opening Day. Ortega, in particular, posted a .265/.344/.408 line (108 wRC+) across 701 plate appearances with the Cubs during the 2021-22 seasons, and his left-handed bat could provide balance to a Yankees hitting corps currently dominated by righties.
3. MLBTR Chat Today
Yesterday, MLBTR’s Steve Adams fielded questions during a live chat (transcript here). If you still have unanswered questions about this offseason or the direction of your favorite team, you’re in luck, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco will be hosting another chat today at 5pm CT. You can submit a question in advance here, and you can use the same link to check back in this evening and participate live once the chat begins.
I don’t see a clear home for Mancini if the Cubs pass on him. Rangers or Giants perhaps?
Maybe Padres if Kim is dealt and Cronenworth plays 2B?
The Padres make a lot of sense even without other moves. Their opening day left fielder is currently projected to be Jose Azocar, and even when Tatis comes back their current bench depth is pretty thin. Matt Carpenter might be overexposed DHing against lefties too. Mancini would add a lot to that team
This makes sense, gives them some left field help between carpenter and Mancini. Along with dh/1b help that’s right handed.
Voit to a certain degree does the same with carpenter getting some time in left.
Carpenter worries me. He lost it in the latter part of his stay with St. Louis, then hit a little better for the yanks. One thing I will say about him, he’s a cub’s killer.
He didn’t just hit a little better. He went from a 63 OPS+ in his last year in St. Louis to a 217 OPS+ in New York. That’s unheard of.
There’s a reason he made such a huge improvement, he basically refused to use analytics/technology to improve his ailing swing and stubbornly stuck to old school methods. Which didn’t work at all. Prior to signing with New York, he went to a specialized hitting clinic and completely revamped his swing using the newer methods for the first time ever. It clearly worked, this was a complete fundamental change for him and suggests it was much more real than a fluke good year after a string of bad ones.
He tweaked his bat and approach quite a bit re-inventing himself and had success at AAA before NYY went and got him.. this version of Carpenter is not like the one StLouis had in those last 2 yrs.. so???
Mancini is a great story ..and a great guy.. he would be a great add to San Diego.He knows Manny and would feel comfortable from day 1.. can split DH/LF/1B with Carp especially when Kim sits vs tougher righties… having Vets like Mancini and Carpenter on the bench “extending” the lineup makes a ton of sense..for Padres
I’m not saying Carpenter won’t be a good hitter next year (I think he’ll hit well), but he also had a highest single-season slugging percentage 2004 Barry Bonds in at least 150 plate appearances. It would be completley unreasonable to expect him to do anything close to what he did in 2022, especially given it was a small sample size.
Carp will absolutely not be 2x as good as a league average hitter again. That’s an absurd number.
What everyone is saying that with last year’s swing change—Carp is a new player.
If he regresses down to a 125-130 OPS+ guy that’s a tremendous player still.
I don’t think you want Trey playing a whole lot of outfield for your team. He can put on a glove and play there but he has no foot speed and a below average arm. More of a temporary fill in if your starter goes down as far as being an OF.
Carpenter is not like the one StLouis had in those last 2 yrs.. so???
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There could be others reasons. I’d buy that a player could improve himself by tweaking his approach. What I have a problem with is someone tweaking his swing, and turning into the best hitter in baseball, at age 36. His wRC+ was 217. Judge was 207, Jordie Alvarez was at 185, and Carpenter was at least 20% better than anyone else in baseball.
Just for some fun stats, in the last 100 years, for an age 36 player, at a minimum of 150 PAs, Carpenter had the 2nd highest wRC+, trailing only Barry Bonds. Draw your own conclusion.
No San Fran is still circling and zeroing in on Arson Judge and Carlos Correa.
Aaron Judge, who’ll be injured for half the season like always now that he’s gotten paid.
Wow dog.
You just can’t get enough of yourself with this same old post.
Go ahead and thumbs up yourself.
@gfan- being a Giants fan your used to that already. (Thumbs up yourself) Enjoy!
That was funny.
See you can do it !
@gfan- sounds very exciting being a Giants fan in 2023? You must be continuing to jump up and down? I could just see you doing so; enjoy!
If the Yankees don’t address their LF situation it would be an absolute failure of an offseason. They shouldn’t get credit for resigning players. Sure they bolstered the rotation and it’s probably the best in baseball, but that wasn’t the reason why they got bounced from the playoffs last year (and years prior) it’s been their offense and they are worse on paper right now than they were at the end of 2022. Aaron Judge isn’t hitting 62 HR again. You can’t expect someone to turn into 2004 Barry Bonds for 200 PA like Matt Carpenter did. You can’t expect much from Donaldson at 3B and Trevino at C. Stanton had an OBP of .296 last year. The offense is BAD.
There isn’t much of anything out there left to address it. My guess is they sign Peralta, allowing Cabrera to have the Marwin Gonzalez role. Collectively, they improve the team, but also totally uninspiring.
I’m a Red Sox fan, and I don’t think the Yankees are worse than they were last year. Cabrera and Peraza are a lot better than the human shrug emojis they were running out at left and short in 2022. Bader is a better option than risking Judge’s health in CF.
I agree that Stanton looked pretty toast though. And I don’t know why your FO loves Donaldson so much, DJLM is better with the bat and about the same with the glove, just play him.
However, you guys might have some weakness, but you’re still East favorites. “Failure” seems a little harsh
Human shrug emoji’s – best description I have heard about those two positions.
Agreed – @yankees98 the Yankees made non-star improvements. They do not need all-star caliber at every position (as nice as it would be). Their offense did not get any worse, and they had one of the best last year. Yabkees need a defensive minded LFer with an average to slightly above average wRC+ (even 95-99 would be fine).
While I do not fully support playing or retaining Donaldson – his defensive metrics in 2022 (UZR, OAA, RAA) were the best they have been since 2016 and his offensive numbers were slightly below average. If your expecting early 2010-15 Donaldson, I see the complaints – but he was an upgrade compared to Gio last year.
@luclusciano, on balance, Gio vs Donaldson was a wash, with Urshela delivering more value with the bat, and Donaldson with the glove.
Donaldson’s offensive drop last year was pretty dramatic and it got progressively worse, especially after he returned from the IL. I think the Yankees will give him the first month, if not two, to show if has anything left at the plate. It’s possible he was masking an injury. Despite his perceived a**hattery, he’s regarded as a good teammate and a hard worker who studies hitting. He might bounce back some, although my bet is Father Time tapped him on the shoulder last year. The Yankees will give him the start of the year to show if there’s anything left at the plate. That will give Volpe a couple months in AAA and it will allow them to assess if LeMahieu’s foot is better. LeMahieu, btw, was even better defensively than Donaldson at 3B, and he was on pace for a six rWAR season until he injured his foot at the start of August. He’s the in-house replacement for Donaldson if he’s healthy.
I don’t disagree with anything you mention D99. I am not a fan of Donaldson or is antics – in fact I think it is negative for the team. Just pointing out that most think he was horrible – but he played his part on the field and did ok at the plate. I would rather see DJLM (with a good foot) as our starting 3B and pay down Donaldson’s contract and package him with some other for bullpen help or a proven mlb left fielder.
“Failure” seems a little harsh
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Not only harsh, but kind of ridiculous. They basically replaced Taillon with Rodon. That has to be considered an upgrade.
“Failure” is ridiculous.
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Only a Yankee fan could say the off-season is a failure after (re)signing the #1 positional player and the #1 pitcher (Rodon). C’mon man.
It’s Cashman. He’ll find the team a LF. Guys like Profar are sitting on the FA list because teams are waiting for the ridiculous pricing to settle after Steve Cohen treats the MLB like a Yahoo Fantasy Team.
Agreed with both of you. Reynolds is too much…I’m not speaking to what his value should be, I’m simply saying the Yankees won’t (and shouldn’t, imo) pay what is being asked because it will cost players they need, thus creating another hole (MIF).
So, I’m left with Ian Happ at the trade deadline. He won’t cost as much as Reynolds and shouldn’t take anyone in the top 4 or 5 as a half-year rental.
Peralta is really intriguing, but he’s older and his offense has clearly gone regressed over the past couple seasons.
I don’t think Kepler is viable – if he was, I believe a deal would’ve been done already. I also don’t care for his Hicksian stats, although his defense is very good.
The DBacks guys are completely unproven.
Solution?: Could they be avoiding someone now because of the “Volpe excuse”again? In other words, they have a prospect who seems to be moving quickly through the rankings in Spencer Jones who was launched up to the #3 MLB Yankees prospect already; so could Cashman be buying his stock fully?
I’d hold off any expectations on Jones for a while. He only shot up the rankings like that because he’s their first round pick. We’ll see what he looks like at the end of the season.
Joe: Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply I had any expectations whatsoever….. I did mean to infer that Cashman may internally be assigning LF the same lame excuse of waiting for the next Mickey Mantle to grace the Yankees………….. Blech.
I still say, Ian Happ: Overpay a little bit of you have to. We have a boatload of prospects and nowhere to put them with which we can sweeten the pot.
Clipper Happ would definitely be nice. Even if they overpay a bit it shouldn’t cost the top prospects.
Unfortunately it’s looking more and more like they are going to try to catch lightning in a bottle with the minor league deals they’ve been handling out.
As long as they don’t have Hicks, I can deal with it.
I don’t think prospects like Dominguez and Jones have anything to do with next season in the Yanks minds. They will most likely have upgraded the position if they stand pat, since Gallo was in left field last year. A platoon of Hicks/Cabrera might be good enough for this team.
Happ will get extended in Spring training. Watch.
That’s entirely possible, and if Happ does get extended, obviously they’re not trading him. The premise of my statement is if they are not in contention for the playoffs/division & he hasn’t signed an extension. I just think he’s the best option outside of Reynolds.
PaulyMidwest, the Cubs seem to be low-key competing this year. I don’t see a Happ trade. An extension more likely.
Agreed, the Yanks would have to overpay big time to get him!
They also have Periera almost ready. I think he’ll be the real deal. As a Cubs fan. I’d swap Happ for Periera right now. You could probably get Schmidt or Sweeney added, too.
Periera is a very intriguing prospect. I think he will be a contributor at the major league level. I could see why you’d want him and I think the Yankees would do that trade.
Agreed, I think we see Periera sometime this year, if Cabrera can play a good outfield last year, why not Periera.
As far as I’m concerned they have until July 31st to address LF, if they need to. Much more concerned if Peraza can’t nail down SS and/or DJL and JD can’t provide at least average production at 3b.
I’m not at all a Yankees fan, but I see your point. First, I hope Judge doesn’t resort to PEDs like bonds did, forever tarnishing his statistics. Second, you’re right about Donaldson, but I wouldn’t mind Stanton on my team. All you can hope for is the rotation staying strong and that the better hitters will pick up the weaker ones.
Have an odd feeling Calhoun is going to make the team and be productive. Probably not Carp status, but still.
same about ortega, he could spell the rh bats in the of and pick up 300+ pas for these yankees given he does well in that opportunity
Did my post disappear? SMH
@Yankees98- the Yanks should be a lot more aggressive trying to trade for Bryan Reynolds who is definitely available via trade, they definitely have the depth in their organization to make a trade for him. An offer of Gil, Schmidt, Vasquez, Pereira, and Dunham could likely bring him to NY. The Pirates should consider a trade like this to move Reynolds now before things get worse in Pittsburgh truthfully.
According to Baseball Trade Values your about 30 points short. No way the Pirates trade Reynolds for that package.
Noice! Didn’t know of that site before, thanks. Pretty cool site!, I’ll be messing around w/ it for hours. Thanks??! 🙂
O’s, Don’t bother. Their trade values are complete BS.
Yeah, the values are odd. Crazy high values for prospects…but that does seem to correlate to what clubs value in prospect capital though.
It’s interesting nonetheless, grain of salt for sure.
@I speak a lie: The Pirates act just like you “unreasonable” Congratulations! Only they would keep an unhappy player. Gotcha and Good Luck! I could care less about Baseball Trade Values. That trade offer is fair.
@I speak the truth I’m not defending Captain’s trade proposal. He can defend his own proposals but BTR is garbage. They showed the idiotic trade proposal sending Grisham to the Yankees for Montas and Torres to be an equal trade.
*BTV
So when a site doesn’t give you the results you want is garbage? Gotta ya.
I was just giving one very recent example. The site is known to change values of players who have been traded for one another to make themselves look better. It’s nothing more than a play toy and not a very good one at that.
I don’t treat it as gospel either. Just pointing out that the Captains proposal isn’t in the ballpark. Reynolds value is elevated by his years of control and relative low salary. His production would greatly increase in Yankee Stadium. Not to mention the protection he’d receive in that line up.
I only use BTV for fun, but that proposal isn’t close.
Working backwards, Dunham is a 24 y.o. AA player, Pereira is a 21 yo AA player with a 37/9 K/W, Vazquez is a 23 yo AA player with some promise, Gil is maybe an RP if he can get his control together, and Schmidt is an RP for NYY.
Even if Yankee fans want to think that’s good value, every team in the league can provide a more attractive package. Vazquez is ranked #90, and the rest unranked.
@I speak I’ll leave that to you and Captain. I don’t propose trades myself and I won’t defend others. As many trade proposals as I’ve seen, from MLB insiders to the dumbest fanboys, nobody is ever right.
@I speak a lie: Why would anybody want to ever play for the Pirates? Look how they’ve disrespected their “Franchise Player” (Brian Reynolds) over $50 million dollars. Smh. The Pirates should either move to another City, or just close shop all together. Smh
Captain, you sound like you’re twelve. Troll on.
@I speak a lie- I’m a Yankee’s fan, so how am I trolling? Please explain? You can stick Baseball Trade Value where the sun don’t shine. Sounds like something you would really enjoy. Good luck with all of that.
Yankees need another top bat in that lineup. A left fielder that can hit will be a huge upgrade on that offense. I thought for sure Michael Brantley would be a perfect fit. Not sure what they can get now.
Winker was an option they missed out on.
Seth Brown of the A’s would be the best option available now.
If trying a young unproven player is an option, I would try and get Michael Busch from the Dodgers… a young left handed bat that can play LF and 2B. They could use Hicks as the 4th OFer and Cabrera around the infield and OF.
They need more options because Hicks has a injury history and Bader has some trouble staying in the lineup due to injury also.
I wouldn’t expect any of those guys to out-perform Cabrera. He’s no lock, but had a good AA, AAA, and now MLB season.
For a really good team, the Yanks have a lot of moving parts, they need to find out about Peraza and Volpe before they can settle in on what they went to do elsewhere. Those too are the keys to the future of this years team. If both can play everyday in the infield it opens up many good options for the Yanks. If neither is major league ready, then Yanks can be the same team as last in which they won 99 games. They have better starting pitching!
I cannot see Brandon Belt playing anywhere but in SF.
Aguilar. An old 32? Has something left? Cheap. If he was a lefty stick, I could’ve pictured him back with the Orioles.
Why not gamble on Moustakas?
For the league minimum someone should.
Still plenty of room for Yankees? They are $2 million from the Cohen tax line.
Yuli Gurriel not even mentioned in an article about first base options?
I was so surprised by seeing Miguel Sano’s name I didn’t even notice Yuli was missing haha