The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries both in the lineup and the rotation this spring, creating new needs on top of the existing lack of a clear option at one of third base or second base. (Jazz Chisholm Jr. can play either spot.) Concern over both of Giancarlo Stanton’s elbows and a calf strain for DJ LeMahieu have subtracted a pair of veteran bats from the lineup.
That’s likely paved the way for Dominic Smith, who’s enjoying a productive spring, to potentially make the club despite entering camp as a non-roster invitee. Erik Boland of Newsday reports that Smith’s chances are indeed improving, but the Yankees are still scouring the market for a right-handed bat to add to the mix. SNY’s Andy Martino also wrote this week that the Yankees are in the market for a righty bat.
One potential candidate to fill that need, outfielder Everson Pereira, was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre yesterday. Pereira went 7-for-20 with a pair of homers during Grapefruit League play, perhaps making the decision to option him amid multiple injuries a bit surprising.
Pereira, 23, is coming off a solid .265/.346/.512 performance in 182 Triple-A plate appearances last season. The former top prospect missed the final two-thirds of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, however. While his spring output was generally encouraging, Pereira did fan in seven of his 25 plate appearances (28%). That’s not a big enough sample to worry about in isolation, but for a player who punched out at a 32.4% rate prior to that elbow injury in Triple-A last year (and in nearly 29% of his plate appearances the year prior), it’s not ideal. Injuries could always push Pereira back into the big league equation early in the season, and he seems likely to get some major league looks this year at some point, but for now the Yankees will get him regular at-bats in minor league camp and plan for him to open the season with Scranton.
At this point, the free agent market is largely picked over. Veterans Whit Merrifield, Adam Duvall and switch-hitting Robbie Grossman are all unsigned but are all coming off poor years at the plate. (Grossman did at least hit well from the right side of the dish.) The Yankees have had some contact with J.D. Martinez, but he’s a tough fit unless the injury to Stanton proves long-term; both are DH-only players.
As we enter the latter stages of spring training, the market figures to change, however. Veterans who are non-roster invitees with other clubs will be released or opt out of their current deals to seek new opportunities. Others will make their teams’ respective rosters, forcing those clubs to clear space by way of small trades or DFAs. Either could produce some right-handed bench depth for the Yankees if the team wants to avoid further spending with budget near its limit. Then again, Gerrit Cole’s 2025 salary is partially covered by insurance. That won’t reduce the Yankees’ luxury tax number, but they’ll get some money from that policy which could be redirected to a low-cost bat to round out the roster if an opportunity to their liking presents itself.
How long before Hal starts a GoFundMe page to sign another bat?
Billionaires are having a hard time making ends meet. For as little as a dollar a day you can give hope to poor MLB owners like Hal. Won’t you please help?
::cues Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”::
I seriously don’t think you should be joking about our billionaire overlords.
They’re literally billions of magnitudes smarter, harder working and better at everything than you idiot peasants.
ALL HAIL THE 1%!
“All Hail the 1%”…Aren’t you the same guy who worships the ground walked on by Hollywood and Silicon Valley billionaire elites?
Mlbfan
Genuinely dk where you got that
“Where you got that”..Because I hear the same people who bash billionaires also functioning as spokesmen and supporters of the Hollywood & Silicon Valley elitist billionaires. Their messaging is practically identical.
I don’t care where they’re from, they’re a blight on all the rest of us.
Steve Cohen included; but at least he’s not hording his mountain gold like Smaug.
A blight on the rest of us. Right, because what billionaires do with their money has ever directly impacted your life in any way (except to perhaps give you a job). To the rest of the world, YOU are the 1%. When are you going to give up your relative wealth and comfort to them? I’ll answer that for you. You never will. The politics of envy is the real blight on society.
Matt
Billionaires don’t pay taxes but benefit from publicly funded endeavors. They lobby politicians to change laws to suit their needs, regardless of who gets screwed, and often after they’ve already profited aka pulling up the ladder behind them.
These people don’t spend that money either, it gets parked in long term assets and they live on the loans against those assets. So that money never circulates and gets back to you, it’s just removed from the economy.
“Give up your relative wealth and comfort”
That’s weird bro nobody said that.
Btw you’re MANY MANY MANY multitudes closer to the homeless than you are to a billionaire. Why are you defending them?
Rather the Aerosmith version.
Matt,
Your tax dollars literally go to support billionaire’s corporations in subsidies. Billions of dollars every year go to oil companies, banks, pharmaceuticals and farms from the government. When things go south with bad or risky investments, they’re the first ones with their hands out for a bail out. So yes, what they do with their money is of public concern because their business benefits from public money. If we truly had a free market, many of these companies would have imploded over a decade ago. Rugged individualism for us, socialism for them.
Ryno
I can’t believe Americans are defending the very people screwing them. This is such a bizarre timeline.
Like Matt can go look this stuff up himself. He can go and verify how detrimental they are to the economy and our nations stability, but he won’t. He’s satisfied with his opinion and people like Peter Thiel just go on destroying a once great nation.
“The politics of envy is the real blight on society”
No it’s ignorance, stupidity and ambivalence.
It’s a lie. The NYY aren’t looking for a RH bat, there would have to be one available for that to be true. The NYY died with George and were reborn in LA.
Piazza,
Agreed. I don’t see how anyone who was alive for the 2008 bailouts could be remotely pro-billionaire, but here we are…
If you donate now, you will receive a “love to the rescue” blanket!
lol!
Can I interest you in a Nick C. and Taijuan Walker combo platter.
Does Pepto-Bismol come as a Beverage?
Hold on I’ve got a slightly used George Springer on line 2
Obviously the Yankees aren’t taking on that much salary, even if the Phillies eat some dollars. …. But as a Phillies fan, I wonder how this hypothetical scenario even works at this stage, with all the free agents signed? Who’s playing the outfield for them after this? Also, much as Castellanos can be hot and cold, his full absence would put that lineup one hamstring injury away from being very mediocre. … Maybe the Phillies put Schwarber in LF and sign JD Martinez, lol. Or add that former Yankee Verdugo.
1 step back to take 2 steps forward. Yes, I’d sign JD Martinez or Verdugo and then evaluate at deadline and make a run at Roberts or whomever is available.
Castellanos is now very mediocre.
@Cambo – Walker & Nic C are known as the Pepe Le Pew Platter.
What’s the price? If it’s DJ LeMahieu and Jasson Dominguez, the Yankees say yes.
The Cambo Combo?
Anthony Rendon would be a great addition to your team. We would only need a washing machine and two tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters in return.
“We would only need”…Here’s my offer: nothing. And I would appreciate you delivering a brand new washing machine/dryer set to my sister’s house. The Globetrotter tickets you can just bring by the office.
we are all part of the same hypocrisy…
Don’t ever think it applies to my family, Senator.
Oh it applies. You can take that to the bank.
Still too much. Make it a Savannah Bananas game, and you gotta a deal.
I’d take a shot on whit with the short porch, guy might have abit left in the tank.
The Phillies learned this lesson. The tank does not, in fact, have anything left.
Tankless!
Grumble.
The Yankees had to realize going into the offseason that Stanton and DJ couldn’t be counted on to be healthy; that Cole was still having problems; that neither Oswald or Oswaldo is a full time starter; and that they clearly have no confidence in Stroman. I like the additions of Fried, Williams and Bellinger, but they had many needs to still fill even before the recent injuries. If they had $700 million or so to offer Soto, why are they suddenly shopping in the bargain bin?
Yankees fans, in your opinions who is the problem behind all of this: Steinbrenner, Cashman or both?
George Steinbrenner. The Yankees have never recovered from laying off George Costanza. The dynasty in the late 90s – early 2000s was all his work.
i fear no reprisal!
“Why are they suddenly shopping..bargain bin”…Even the richest of teams have limits and everybody’s a genius with benefit of hindsight.
“why are they suddenly shopping in the bargain bin?”
A 26 man roster doesn’t have 26 all stars.
@ Stuart
Both Oswaldo and Oswald are having nice Springs. Yes I know ST stats don’t matter and blah blah blah, but I’d rather see a player with a good Spring than a bad one.
700M+ over 15year is about 50ish Mil per year assuming no deferral …. Fried and Bellinger is what averaged out to 55M per year? sounds like they spent over soto money to me without the long term commitment but hey maybe the math not mathing.
I guess they could go and sign JDM for 10M (really 20 after tax) and cut him if stanton returns unless carrying two DHs is worth it to the team.
cashman holds most of the blame. hal spends plenty of money it’s just poorly allocated. hicks/djlm contracts are eating a lot of payroll and cashman passed on harper because there was “no place to play him”
dasit: Come on man… Hal is giving the budget to Cash, and he’s the guy who loves stretching out deals to lower the AAV. Hal wanted Stanton because he saw a cheap way to acquire a “star.” He LOVED that the deal’s AAV was only 25 million per even if everyone knew it would end with Stanton being old and injured. You can also blame DJL on Hal, as he couldn’t let him walk. Everyone had the deal pegged at around 60 mil over 4 years but Hal managed to get him to take money over more years.
i think you’re overestimating hal’s input/interest in roster building. there were reports he stepped in to help close the judge deal but i have a hard time picturing him ordering cashman to do whatever it takes to to extend dj lemahieu
right again ! But Steinbrenner tolerates his misappropriation of funds every year, so they are both to blame.And Harper was blocked by the corpse of Beltran, Clint frazier, and Brett Gardner, that was his flimsy excuse
I highly doubt Cashman cares about the luxury tax. When he says the luxury tax penalties prohibit any major acquisition then someone is giving him a budget to adhere to. Plus Hal has said multiple times that his current payroll isn’t sustainable.
With that being said, Cashman is the one who extended DJLM, Hicks, etc, and signed Stroman, traded for Stanton, etc.
So it’s both.
Who should they get right now?
The time to get a 3B and bench depth was in the offseason…
It feels like they’re completely discounting Chisholm. Look- I thought Chisholm was a kind of neutral/break even acquisition- that he’d be fine, but not amazing. He’s been pretty great so far, far as I can tell.
I follow him on IG and he’s definitely a unique, quirky guy with some other personal interests that he’s passionate about and indulges during the off season…. but he’s human and I think that’s healthy.
He’s fun and loose-y goose-y but he’s got raw talent and enough discipline that I think he’s the real deal and I am not sure he’s this extra piece we just kinda have, the way he’s been discussed this off season.
I think Chisholm is an underrated internal solution that’s already in the line up, already can be plugged into the various defensive positions.
**I just realized this was about right handed bats and Chisholm is a lefty… Whoops.
you are still right about his potential to be quite good for us, yet underrated.
Rengifo
Is also injured
he’s at least taking at bats
Yankees need a bat to protect Judge and Rengifo isn’t it. I’m not sure if JD or Arenado are at this point either but another utility player isn’t going to help
Instead of a stopgap righty bat, they should be using this moment to pivot toward long-term lineup versatility—a strategy that teams like the Dodgers and Rays have mastered.
I would agree with you about the Rays, but the Dodgers are stuck with some bad deals just like the Yankees. These two teams continue to thrive because of their money, not their management. Kershaw, Gonsolin, May, Taylor and Muncy are all huge question marks. Lucky for them they can afford to buy replacements as needed.
The Yankees probably need to just chalk up Stanton as missing the whole season at this point. Him maybe returning in July shouldn’t be a deterrent to signing JD Martinez (and yes, I realize that pounding the table for the team to sign JD isn’t a good sign of where things are). Platoon at DH with Rice and JD, who still hit LHP pretty well last season seems like the best thing you can do right now.
Worst case scenario is that you release JD when/if Stanton is back if he’s struggling. best case, you don’t have to rush Stanton back if JD is performing.
The Yankees are probably better off just releasing Stanton altogether though. The worst move the Yankees made in the last 15 years. Clogged up the DH spot, meant they were never going to pursue Harper, who would have solved all of their problems.
Walls: Stanton was Hal’s discounted cover for not signing Harper or Machado. He absolutely loved the fact the Marlins contribution made Stanton a 25 million AAV player. I disagree on releasing him, though. Assuming he misses the year there’s probably some kind of insurance policy on his deal and Hal would hate to jeopardize any possible revenue. We can cut him next year if needed. DJL now that’s a guy who should just be cut.
Releasing accomplishes nothing as he’s not taking up a roster spot on the 60-day IL.
Rice is also not very good. JD would be a reasonable addition, but Rice should be in AAA.
Rice’s projections are pretty good.
Arenado, say no more. Just a matter of time.
That’s starting to look like a better idea every day. At least he doesn’t have much of an injury history.
Arenado doesn’t hit well against lefties so he wouldn’t solve this problem. Plus the obvious financial issues with him
Arenado say no.
Hope they give Smith a shot on the opening day roster. Sentimental reasons.
he’ll come off the bench, meaning a dom is also a sub
Hal really wears on the fanbase. I get it; the team spends big but we’re dropping payroll after a WS appearance. Cole’s insurance will indeed help the teams bottom line, which is all Hal cares about. They theoretically should have about 12-15 million to play with, accounting for the tax rate doubling any additional payroll. Perhaps it’s time we circle back on Arenado, The Cards want salary relief more than players so perhaps Peraza and some random B-list guy from the farm would do it.
they refuse to cross the tax threshold so just save the money for the trade deadline. whit merrifield is not moving the needle
They’re already above the highest tax threshold. It’s purely to save money. Every dollar is taxed at 110% right now
And Buster Olney said on the Michael Kay Show that they have insurance on Stanton and Cole, which will refund them approximately 3/4 of the total salaries.
So, although for CBT purposes they will still be penalized the same, they’re actually spending $260MM on payroll as of right now. That gives them approximately $40MM for acquisitions to get them back to where they planned on being this year.
Clip I heard the same, but wouldn’t the insurance only apply to Stanton if he misses the season?
Persky: yes, sir, I believe you are right – thanks for bringing that to my attention. So, I guess as of right now that would put them at roughly… $25MM or so? I guess Stanton’s will depend on whether he ends up with that elbow surgery.
Yes indeed. Hopefully they get some clarity before the season starts. But you’re right they will have extra money to spend even if just with Cole insurance plus renting out Steinbrenner field.
If they are serious about winning, they go get JD.
Or they could just be Hal’s ca$h cow.
Hard to tell.
Go home, Andy Martino, this bar is closed.
After yesterday, seriously this is all I got today.
I don’t get why this happens every year. They do nothing for a major position and end up scrambling through the garbage to find a starter or major depth piece while Spring Training is ongoing
I would prefer eating $’s for Arenado than taking a flyer on a J.D. Martinez. NA would still have long term spot on the team whereas JD is similar to Rizzo expecting to be paid $5-10 mil. only to show that their careers are over. Wells and Volpe will need to step it up and Dominguez needs to at least can average everyday player.
Marte is available and now playing spring training games.
How long will he be stuck in S.T. mode after the season starts?
The Yankees need cotton uniforms and a new owner.
They made over $100M for going to the Series. They will get $27M in Cole insurance and Cashman says finances stop them from acting. Stupidity prevents them from seeing spending money makes far more.
Cashman already blew the whole wad on more free agents. The vault is closed.
blew it is right . If funds are limited, did Cashman have to blow 5 million on a perpetually injured Johnny L, and another 5 on a 4th or fifth no hit outfielder in Grisham?
Take you pick of anyone on the Mariners except Raleigh and JROD !
How about Kody Clemens? Can play 1B or 2B vs. RHP, allowing Goldy to get most of the DH reps during Stanton’s absence. Kody Clemens for Mark Leiter Jr. or Luke Weaver straight up?
Absolutely no way….Luke was out closer last year…and Leiter is probably going to play an important role in the bullpen…..for Clemens…..LMAO……
3 words
“Out of loot”
Pitiful..
Miguel Vargas and Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox could be trade options.
I’d love to get a primer on contract insurance.
Who underwrites it, how much are the premiums, what are the typical terms, and more….
I’ve tried to research it and can’t find any information.
nfp.com/about-nfp/newsroom/nfp-and-major-league-ba…
Among others: LongBall Capital & Insurance Services, United Specialty Insurance Company, K&K Insurance
@John Dan
I couldn’t find anything using a standard Google search. Needed to use Gemini AI.
If yankees doesn’t sign anybody ,why not give DH to Pereira ?
He has options (was just optioned as well). I guess they figure they can try out Dom Smith, who they can’t send down, before going back to Pereira.
That will make lineup too many left handed batter.
Jeimer Candelario is yours for a song. One verse, no royalties needed.
I’m sure you have some old Yankees memorabilia lying around somewhere you can send in return.