The Yankees announced following today’s game against the Cardinals that they’ve optioned catcher/first baseman Ben Rice and right-hander Will Warren to the minor leagues. It appears likely that Rice’s demotion to the minors is related to the impending return of veteran first baseman Anthony Rizzo from the 60-day Injured List, as Brendan Kuty of The Athletic was among those to report that the Yankees are “likely” to activate Rizzo from the IL tomorrow. The club will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster to accommodate Rizzo’s return.
An active roster move like optioning Rice wasn’t necessary to accommodate Rizzo, as rosters are set to expand from 26 to 28 as the calendar flips to September tomorrow. With that being said, the return of the 35-year-old from the injured list seemed all but guaranteed to wipe out the playing time that Rice has been afforded since Rizzo went down with a broken arm back in June. In 175 trips to the plate since then, the rookie has struggled at the plate with a slash line of just .175/.259/.356 (75 wRC+) capped off by a brutal month of August where he’s hit just .057/.171/.057 in 13 games.
Those numbers are worse than even the figures posted by Rizzo in what was a career-worst campaign prior to his injury. The veteran slugger struggled to a .223/.289/.341 slash line with a wRC+ of 80 in 70 games prior to his placement on the IL back in June, by far the worst offensive performance of he’s posted since a 49-game stint with the Padres during his rookie season back in 2011. The Yankees are surely hoping that the decorated veteran, who made three All-Star appearances and posted a 131 wRC+ in his decade-long run with the Cubs from 2012 to 2021, will be able to return to form down the stretch and post numbers closer to the .238/.337/.446 (116 wRC+) line he’s posted since the 2021 season when he first donned a Yankees uniform.
Looking ahead, New York holds a $17MM club option on Rizzo’s services for 2025. Barring an otherworldly performance from Rizzo down the stretch and in the postseason this year, it seems all but certain that option will be declined in favor of a $6MM buyout, allowing Rizzo to become a free agent for the third time in his career. Rizzo’s performance over the next month, now that his broken arm is healed and he’s more than a year removed from the concussion that derailed the latter half of his 2023 campaign, figures to be of great importance to his prospects on the open market this fall.
Also departing the Yankees’ roster alongside Rice is Warren, a rookie right-hander who made his fifth start with the club earlier today. Warren’s first stint in the big leagues ends with a 9.55 ERA in 21 2/3 innings of work, and the righty will return to Triple-A in hopes of sorting things out in an environment with less pressure. Warren’s departure leaves a vacant spot in the club’s rotation, but with a day off on Thursday the club won’t need a fifth starter again until September 10 against the Royals. Warren’s departure creates room for the Yankees to add two pitchers to the active roster tomorrow alongside Rizzo and a second hitter: one to replace Warren and one to occupy the expanded roster spot created tomorrow.
Martian sighting please
Nope. Cashman wants to bury the kid — even though he’s the organization’s top prospect. There has been a big disconnect between the front office and Dominguez’s reps.
It’s a shame. The Yankees will regret trading him this coming off-season for another of Cashman’s “proven pros” (think Donaldson, LeMahieu)….
“Cashman wants to bury the kid”…Yeah,because Cashman wants to take high drafts picks and then “bury” them until they’re no longer useful. Bro, Talk about tinfoil conspiracy theories. I’m hardly a Cashman apologist, but he does have information that you and I are not privy to.
If the Yankees were going to trade Dominguez it would have happened by now. He’ll be up very soon. They are just keeping him down long enough to retain ROY eligibility for next year
The Yankees don’t care about the ROY. Cashman is infatuated with Verdugo, who has been useless since May..
They absolutely care about the ROY, otherwise Dominguez would have been up for good by now. The award itself isn’t necessarily what the Yankees would care about. It’s the incentive draft pick they would receive
Nah, that’s a strange interpretation. They’re not going to write off even a month of productivity just to have a lottery ticket for the ROY bonus pick, that would be a bad bet, Cashman is still trying to justify Verdugo and his $8.7M (which is actually 1.5X because of the luxury tax) and hope he gets hot again.. When in his 25 years has Cashman shown any indication that he cares about draft picks?
Is this a good or bad thing?
Rizzo can’t be much worse than Rice. Rice looked good when he first came up but has been terrible lately.
Well Rizzo has -.5 WAR and Rice -.3 WAR. Any decent first baseman and the Yankees would have been golden this year.
DJ should be DFA’d that should be the next move.
Yankees getting healthy and ready to crush the competition on route to their next championship.
Sometimes I think you just say things just to say them, Old York. Nothing wrong with that, that’s what these places are for.
The M’s have really let my predictions down and there aren’t a lot a good teams out there this year.
Next years infield
Alonzo- 1b
Volpe- 2b great range, weak arm
Jazz-ss
Third base?
Wells-catcher
They are not moving Volpe off of short. If they sign Alonso that means they lost Soto.
>>If they sign Alonso that means they lost Soto.>>
Hal’s not paying any player $500mm or more — especially since he’ll have to tack on another year to retain Cole.
Soto will have his choice of suitors. I’d bet on the Dodgers.
The Yankees will not give Cole another year. They will call his bluff. Hal would be thrilled to have $36mil open up for 2025.
Cole wont be a Yankee if he dares trying to opt out after a crap season he had. I decline the option and go after a younger starter
And you spoke to Hal about it when?
Soto in the lineup makes Judge worth $100s of millions more, if that is even possible, and the Yankees are well aware of that fact. He’ll get paid, and they’ll probably make his AAV less than Judge but give him term. He’s not rushing off to the Mets because they offer him $1 more.
I would bet everything I own on his AAV being higher than Judge’s.
Yes he is. He wouldn’t have traded for him if he didn’t plan on signing him especially after the season he is having. Hes staying in the Bronx.
Yanks might be better to sign Alonzo and Adames for the same price as Soto!
Not really. Alonso’s heading out of his peak years and isn’t freakishly athletic enough to make up for it. He’s a nice player, sure, but anyone signing him for more than 2 years is going ti be paying extra for his decline years, which may be gradual or may be Ryan Howard.
It’s in Volpe’s contract that he must play every game and at SS only.
Who will they play at first?
They should move Volpe, his arm isn’t strong enough for SS.
Objectively, he’s one of the best defensive SS in the game.
Watch Ezequiel Tovar, Masyn Winn, Orlando Arcia play SS. Volpe’s a 2b that is capable of playing SS. Is Trevor Story and Xander Bogarts got moved off SS, Volpe definitely shouldn’t be SS long term. He’s been fine, he won’t embarrass himself but he’s not a true gold glove defender.
It would make sense to have Spencer Jones take reps at 1st, but the genius GM would bring in another over the hill “proven pro.” Maybe Jose Abreu will be available for 2025.
The Yankees have a lot of subpar players for being such a good team. Judge and Soto really carrying them.
You are right, but they also have the top 2 rookies in Gil and Wells.
Yanks need to forget rizzo and move Wells to first base next year
Trevino is not a bad catcher at all, most fans just have no clue when evaluating talent
It doesn’t make much sense to move an above average catcher in Wells (121 OPS+) to 1B to be an average firstbaseman. That’s one of the easiest position players to sign or acquire via trade. Cashman will tender Trevino an arb contract to be backup.
Trevino is really good except he can’t throw out runners. Great framer, acceptable hitter
Rizzo returns….pinch me. Third year, they’ve gotten virtually nothing from him. 1470 PA, 2..7 B WAR. Over $50M. Classic Cashman
Rizzo returns to Wrigley! I hope he lasts that long. LOL Can he stay healthy for 4 games?
Probably time to call it a career.
Alonzo and Walker are major upgrades for teams looking for a first basemen. Both will be free agents.
Glad Warren finally got sent back down. It’s like before each of his starts the Yankees already knew they were going to have to play with an early 4-5 run deficit.