The Yankees are looking to bring in some extra catching depth, according to Erik Boland of Newsday (Twitter links).
The club’s primary backstops last year were Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka. Both of those players are still with the team this year and both are healthy. However, the depth options below that tandem have been banged up recently.
Ben Rortvedt recently required shoulder surgery and will be shut down for at least a month. It was reported yesterday that Austin Wells has a broken rib and will be out of action for six to eight weeks, per Marly Rivera of ESPN and Chris Kirshner of The Athletic. Today, Josh Breaux was added to the pile with reports that he has an elbow injury and won’t throw for a few weeks, per Kirshner and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Given all those injuries, it’s not surprising that the club is looking to bring in a fresh body, especially for Spring Training. There are often many split squad games, side sessions, intersquad games, live bullpens and so on, in order for the entire pitching staff to get up to speed for the season. In addition to the injuries, Higashioka is set to depart soon to participate in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA.
The idea of the Yankees pursuing a catcher might have some fans dreaming of a reunion with Gary Sánchez as the former Yankee is clearly the top catcher still available in free agency. However, Boland throws cold water on that, suggesting the addition would be someone more like Rob Brantly, who was with the Yanks last year. Brantly is in camp with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal, but that veteran journeyman is more the kind of player the Yankees are looking to bring in.
Aside from Sanchez, there are still a few catchers that remain unsigned, such as Robinson Chirinos, Chris Okey, Beau Taylor, Deivy Grullón, Joseph Odom and Ryan Lavarnway, though Lavarnway is slated to play for Team Israel in the WBC and is presumably less available than the others.
Chirinos makes a lot of sense. Still good defensive catcher, would make a great coach when no longer needed to be active.
Mick – I say wait a few months until the Twins are out of contention, then trade for Vazquez. That would be an excellent move by the Yanks.
In a couple of months the Yankees will likely have a lot of their catching depth back. I think they are looking for someone for depth now
Unless Minnesota pays the freight for a prospect or two, it won’t happen. The Yankees will not spend for a catcher. Not with their payroll where it’s at currently.
They messed up by not signing Tomoya Mori when he was a free agent last year. He’s only 27 and probably the best hitting catcher in Japan. His swing is tailor made for their short porch. They should have signed him, then Senga this year while avoiding Rodon and gone all out for Ohtani next year. What a mistake…
He would have to be the best fielding catcher in Japan, since it’s unlikely he’s developed MLB-level framing skills. He’d have to compensate with exceptional plate blocking and a bullet arm. Or be an extremely good hitter, not just a “good hitter for a catcher, but in Japan”.
They’d have to wait for a few years then, as the Twins appear to be a contender for a while. The Deivi Garcias and Miguel Andujars, despite the big hype, couldn’t come close to what MN has in their farm system.
Actually, the Twins are thin at catcher too, so they won’t be moving what they do have. But if you’re still looking for a left fielder…
Yeah Chirinos is the guy that would make the most sense.
Was Chirinos on the Cheaters championship team or did he come the following year? I prefer no Houston Cheaters on the Yanks.
Well thankfully they didn’t acquire JT Realmuto when he was a FA because that would be….. another….. wait, no, nope. On second check JT Realmuto isn’t injured and he’s arguably still the best catcher in the Bigs. Never mind.
Can’t IKF catch? Oh, that’s right, he’s still starting at SS and we can’t lose him there.
That’s a pretty lame list of what’s left Clipper. I think you’re going to have to make a deal for one.
Nailed it. IKF stays on the roster. Sorry, Dodgers.
They lost me at “some Yankee fans are dreaming of a reunion with Gary Sanchez”
Yeah, those are called “other team’s fans”
That is correct clipper. We finally got rid of the dude, I’m sure the Yankees are not interested in bringing him back. And besides, we had to pay a steep price to rid ourselves of him, taking on Donaldson‘s contract for example, being part of it.
No thank you.
Doc: the part that is highly irritating to me is Boone’s double talk already.
For example, just the other day Boone spoke about how they have the ST competition for SS & LF, while also saying ST performance/stats “don’t really matter.” Well, which is it?!
Also, he seems (to me) to be setting up his choice players to “win” the positions in question and here’s why: he’s playing IKF at SS much more than Volpe and Peraza. Also, he’s rotated Cabrera, Volpe, and Peraza at 2B & 3B; yet, he hasn’t rotated IKF at all. That’s noteworthy.
Last, he’s allowing Hicks/IKF to get far more playing time at those positions, while also trying to cover their ST play by stating ST doesn’t matter. So, either they perform better because they started nearly every game, or they perform worse but it doesn’t matter, according to Boone.
One may ask: why do Yankees fans care abo it ST and how these guys hit at this stage? It’s a valid question. The answer is critical: because Boone has misdirected and misstated information so many times that Yankees fans don’t trust anything he has to say, including his evaluation of players’ performance on the back fields.
The worst part about all of this is Boone is creating another Yankees fan-player confrontation by what he’s doing, while concomitantly setting IKF, Hicks, Donaldson up for total failure. It reflects what a poor, out of touch manager he really is.
I’ll toss you Miguel Amaya and an MRI machine for a decent prospect. You’ll need it.
I think Gary Sanchez is still waiting outside Yankee Stadium
For the hot dog vendors obviously 🙂
And Jesus Montero is out there with him, looking for ice cream sandwiches.
@Big Smoke- Yeah well hopefully Brett Gardner’s not with him.
Boom box above head
Hello Yankees, interested in Rafael Marchan or John Hicks?
C’mon Cashman, you know you want to call Gary Sanchez and ask him to come home
Where’s Antony Siegler the highly touted draft pick that the Yankees went crazy over?!? Austin wells needs to be converted into a 1B already. Way to many Injuries.
Siegler hasn’t even played in AA yet, but he’s looking like a backup as a ceiling. Wells is definitely a 1b/DH, I can’t seem him being a passable catcher at the MLB level.
Remember when NYY was going nuts over Seigler. They passed on Nico Hoerner, Tristan Casas, catcher Bo Naylor and Shane McClanahan
Totally agree. I think the Yankees stepped in it when they found Trivino. Now they can wait for the next kid to develop. Wells would make a nice replacement for Rizzo in a year or 2
Why not? By every defensive measure he made great strides in his glove work last year.
He may never be a great defensive catcher, but I’d settle for somewhere around the Posada level.
Siegler? Maybe his defensive matrics are better but the dudes been in A+ for the last 2 years and still has a .780 OPS. And that’s not even comparing him to other players that were drafted in the same class like a Bo Naylor whose already in AAA
Posada was a much better catcher than people realize. I think he should be in the hall of Fame but that’s a different discussion.
Why not bring back Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird while they’re adding Sanchez? Maybe they can flip the three of them for Ohtani at the deadline. Angels would have to throw in some top 10 prospects though. /s
Thanks for the /s, I wouldn’t have known it was sarcasm otherwise.
That’s a pretty standard Stankee Fan trade scenario. I wanted to make sure you nincompoops understood.
They’d need Frazier to be sure they could lock up an Ohtani type.
Sanchez isn’t an option because they are looking for a catcher.
Remember when Cashman chose Rutherford instead of Will Smith in 2016? The same year he also chose Nick Solak instead of Sean Murphy.
Cashman is a bum
I didn’t realize Rob Brantly played for 11 teams, at least in the minors or on a contract. 100 MLB plate appearances in the past nine years! Yeah, Cashman, quick go get him before he retires!
For some fans, a reunion with Sanchez would be a nightmare. – Yankees pitchers
Someone get Matt Nokes on the phone
Yup, I was thinking Mickey Tettleton
Casual batting stance with a wad of chew in the cheek. What a legend.
I’d like to see Rick Cerone get another chance. He had a great season with the Yankees 43 years ago.
baseball-reference.com/players/c/ceronri01.shtml
Tettleton had such a cool stance. As a kid, I thought he was going to homer every time up.
I say go all in. Trade some of your top prospects and keep Trevino as a backup. I d be askin the AAA Reds about Tyler Stephenson. The Reds can’t keep players. They eventually walk. They are run by a asshat owner and a hand cuffed manager. So let some other team develop them, then resign them when they amount to something. If they do. The Reds are playing for 1-2 seasons of potentially play off caliber baseball. Then, it always falls apart (like 2015). The Yankees are building Dynasties, not like the Reds Pirates and A’s … play off berth every 10-15 years.
What Yankee fan is dreaming of a reunion with Gary? I don’t know any, including myself
If they sign Sanchez they might as well extend Aaron hicks and Josh Donaldson.
Where’s Jesus Montero?
Enjoying ice cream sandwiches 🙂
Apparently my comments require moderation. Weird. I haven’t said anything offensive. Whatever. I’ll just get a new user name.
You obviously need to change your name to something more appropriate like my account name 🙂
Saratoga- have you gotten into fight with either Mendozaline215 or Clepto lately? They’re the two biggest floggers and flaggers on here. They would flag Mother Theresa.. Mendoza will even tell you he’s a moderator on this site, Like anybody would believe that. If you add their IQ’s together you wouldn’t hit double digits. Clepto even posted that he muted me without explainig how he knew I posted at all. I guess Jesus told him.
At the end of spring, several of the NRI Cs will be cut and the Yankees will have their choice of depth options. In the meantime, another team gets to prep them.
The Tigers stocked up on catching depth. Give Scott a call…
It’s time for IKF to earn his money as the 3rd string catcher.
I’m available! If the Yankees are looking for a chubby, over 30 guy who couldn’t get the starting catchers job for his division 3 school I am just their guy!!
Let’s hope there is a thunderstorm!
Interested in adding a catcher but not interested in beating the Astros.
IKF can catch, which would seem to increase the likelihood that he won’t be traded. He’s likely to be a better utility man than Tyler Wade anyway. He’s worth keeping, IMO. I think WAR undervalues how his skill set plays in the Yankees lineup.
As long as IKF is on the roster, they’re going to run him out there over Peraza. Addition by subtraction.
I don’t understand how preferring IKF over Peraza, who likely has more upside, amounts to addition by subtraction.
IKF is awful and will likely block Peraza because the Yankees prefer veterans over rookies. Move IKF to prevent that from happening.
So you meant that moving IKF off the roster would be addition by subtraction, is that it?
IKF was fifth in runs and sixth in RBI on the Yankees last year. That doesn’t equate to “awful” in my estimation. He had a .327 BA with RISP. He’d be a viable player off the bench, especially with his versatility.
Sucks for the career minor league guys…..
The Yankees have bigger problems than third catchers.
Haha. But can they afford it? I guess a third string catcher could fall in their budget.