Infielder Kevin Smith has a deal in place with the Yankees. The player posted on X a picture of a kid, presumably Smith himself, in Yankee gear. The picture came with the caption “Headed Home for 2024.” The client of The Bledsoe Agency was born and played high school ball in East Greenbush, New York. Jon Heyman of The New York Post confirms that the two sides agreed to a deal, which Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reports to be a minor league contract. Hat tip to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News for passing along the post from Smith.
Smith, 27, spent the past two years with the Athletics after coming over from the Blue Jays in the Matt Chapman trade. Between those two clubs, he’s received 333 plate appearances at the big league level over the past three years but has hit just .173/.215/.301 in that time. He exhausted his final option year in 2023. The A’s non-tendered him at season’s end even though he was still two years away from qualifying for arbitration.
He has hit much better in the minor leagues and that continued in 2023. In 183 Triple-A plate appearances, he put up a huge batting line of .324/.372/.653. That came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but it still amounted to a wRC+ of 137. He also stole nine bases in that time and lined up defensively at second base, third base and shortstop for the Aviators.
In the big leagues, his glovework at shortstop hasn’t received amazing grades but he has been given strong marks at third. He’s also seen some very limited time at left field and first base.
The Yankees project to have Anthony Volpe at shortstop and DJ LeMahieu at third base. There have been some rumors of Gleyber Torres trades, which would free up second for LeMahieu, but Torres is still on the roster. The club also has Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera and Jeter Downs on the roster as utility/depth options. If Smith is able to crack the roster at any point, he has just one year and 63 days of service time, meaning the Yankees could keep him around beyond 2024 if they would like.
Clerks across America!! Rejoice!!!!
Silent Bob is a Yankee!
Definitely had to read that twice…haha. I completely missed it at first.
In other news Craig Breslow is still in a coma…
Yes, season is over for the Sox, now that the Yanks signed Smith. He would have moved Devers to the bench!
I should have posted instead after NYY traded for Juan Soto then?
It definitely looks like the Yankees are working on some move, or they could be just trying to add more depth. It might be Dylan Cease, Jesus Lazardo, Shane Bieber or someone else on their way. We’ll see.
99CJ: From your mouth to the Lord’s ears. We sure need it to make the Soto acquisition a worthwhile trade.
Just adding depth.
Bunch of savages in this town
Snoochy Boochies!!!
I’m not even supposed to be here today…
Wonder if this means Oswald Peraza is more available in a trade now
Perazably?
Snoogans
More decent depth from Cashman here
cashman at the thrift shop as usual
Quick Stop, not the thrift shop.
“Quick” stop just sounds cheap and wrong. And a little dirty..
I’m sure Kevin Smith would argue with you about that, if he spoke.
Kevin Smith shows up in Scranton and says to anyone who will listen “I’m supposed to be here today”. As a bat boy chuckles to himself.
Yes, Way to go Cashman! To all the Yankee-hating naysayers, we just landed Yamam…no, Blake Sn…no, Dylan Ce… uhhh, hold on a second…Kevin Smith? Snooze button activated.
Rick Derris still gets all the ladies!
He seems like the type of player that wouldn’t be surprising to see signing in Japan or South Korea next year and then coming back stateside as an “intriguing” pick up after a couple of seasons there.
Jays92, I’ll set a reminder on my calendar for 2029 and make sure to keep an eye out for him.
Cashman of late only signs FA’s who hit under .200. It looks like it might be another long season…
Not true. He will sign a player that hits over .200, as long as that player is injured more often than he plays.
Clip, we are told batting average doesn’t matter, only launch angle,and exit velo!
Lol, you’re right Doc. And, my response to them is…. It’s hard to have a launch angle or exit velo when you don’t hit the baseball!
Now now, Willie Calhoun hit at least .230 last year!
Now he’s scraping the bottom of the barrel from the bottom of the barrel (A’s).
That’s his forte, Mr Judge. That’s why he gets the big bucks!
I bet the Dodgers will sign Francis Ford Coppola to a deferred contract in response to this
To film their last place finish for posterity?
That was cold blooded, MotorCity!!
Too many years of my Tigers playing golf come playoff time has made me crusty 😉
Bravo
Leave the NLDS. Take the cannoli.
Yankees might have struck a gold mine here
Yankees would probably be just as well off signing Kevin Smith the actor.
Hahahahahahah
Nah he’s a hockey guy.
Noice! Guy’s gonna rake. Future Hall of Famer. Book it!
It’s a minor league deal but still- is cashman a crack smoker? Maybe the Yankees need Kim Ng back!!!
And the Yankees sign a .173 hitter hahahahahaha the Yankees are just embarrassing.
@178iq
but… but… batting average doesn’t matter, the nerds all said. His BABIP is 0.230. Plus, he had his best season last year with Joakland, offensively. OPS+ of 54? He’s more than half the value of a replacement player! That’s worth something…
You can tell some people that a guy has a .000 BA and they will dismiss you and say that his advanced hitting metrics are stunning.
Not sure you can conclude he has signed with the Yankees from the picture.
Maybe he grew up in a pumpkin patch?
Article also states:
Jon Heyman of The New York Post confirms that the two sides agreed to a deal, which Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reports to be a minor league contract.
Thanks
I really thought the pumpkin patch theory was valid.
Good thing you could clear it up
wonder if he’s gonna wear number “thirty seven???!!!”
Hey no worries he’ll be playing a lot more then Wander Franco in 2024.
They’d be better off wuth Jason Mewes
Or Mew the Pokemon for that matter.
The Yankees just won the offseason!
I guess signing Chapman is not happening
This dude is a bum…not sure why this is even newsworthy on any reputable news source.
Lots of jokes and hating on this… but Smith was once a top ten org prospect for Toronto and rebounded in the minors after some struggles.
He can’t seem to figure out MLB pitching, but he sure as heck has hit very well at AAA. The last month of 2022, he put up quite literally the best slash line of any pro ball player (A-MLB), so I was hopeful he could break out finally in 2023. The A’s were the best chance to try and carve out an MLB role and he clearly didn’t rise to the challenge, so he seems destined to be a AAAA slugger.
Hope he figures it out though, but as far as depth infielders go, he’s a decent flier.
Exactly…he also grew up in upstate NY as a Yankee fan (obviously) so it’s simply a minor league deal for a “local” kid who always wanted to wear the pinstripes. Sheesh!
Looks like he hits as well as Silent Bob too. Good lawd, I didn’t think we could find a shttier Tyler Wade!
Who?
They’ll turn em into light hitting out of position CF now. Luv the backtrack on stroman, 4moment actually thought yanks had sum balls w/whole “nah” 2acquiring em. Pandering like a bad dog.
Trade one of the Oswaldo’s and go get Bieber.
Smootchie Bootchies!
They were short an infielder at AAA. Some people read too much into a simple minor league depth signing.
East Greenbush, NY
5 miles from Albany, NY
32 miles from Pittsfield, MA
157 miles from NYC
162 miles from Boston, MA
First mention ever on MLBTR?
Possibly, for East Greenbush, but the Braves’ Ian Anderson also grew up in the Capital District region of Albany, NY too. Although he was in Clifton Park which is about 20 miles north of it.
I live about 10 minutes from Clifton park. And about 15-20 from East Greenbush. Nice to see a local kid get a shot with the Yankees, kids living his childhood dream
You know, I had all the View Askewniverse jokes ready earlier, but couldn’t jump on. Now though, I’m more reverting to, come on already, Cash, let’s shore up that staff one way or another. You’ve got the money, ergo, you find yourself in a very actionable position.
Tell Em SteveDave!
Cole and Soto leave NY Overhypers in 2025…drought continues to 16th year…prediction