With Griffin Canning starting for the Mets in today’s Subway Series matchup, Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that his own club met with Canning and explored a possible signing this past offseason. Instead, Canning wound up in another corner of the Big Apple, signing with the Mets for $4.25MM in guaranteed money on a one-year contract.
The deal was the culmination of a busy winter for Canning, who was dealt from the Angels to the Braves as part of the Jorge Soler that was essentially a salary dump on Atlanta’s part. Indeed, Canning found himself non-tendered just a few weeks after the trade was completed, and he caught on with the Mets a month later. That deal is now looking like one of the better under-the-radar contracts of the offseason, as Canning has blossomed to a 2.36 ERA over 42 innings with the Amazins.
Signing Canning obviously wouldn’t have prevented the Yankees from their big-ticket pitching acquisition of Max Fried, but it could be that if Canning was in the fold, minor league signings Carlos Carrasco or Jake Woodford might not have wound up in the pinstripes, or the Yankees might not have claimed Allan Winans on waivers. Who knows if Canning would’ve enjoyed the same early success with the Yankees that he has with the Mets, but having an extra starter on hand would’ve been helpful for a Bronx Bombers rotation mix that has been thinned by injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Marcus Stroman, and JT Brubaker.
Boone’s pregame media session (with Hoch, the New York Post’s Greg Joyce, and other reporters) also included some injury updates. Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in 2025 due to a right elbow flexor strain sustained during the offseason, and the reliever’s recovery process has been further delayed by a pec injury that developed during a recent live bullpen session. Boone doesn’t think the pec issue is “anything serious,” but it was enough for the Yankees to shut Cousins down for 4-5 days to monitor the situation.
Cousins is on the 60-day injured list and was already expected to be out well beyond his first eligible activation date in late May. Joyce writes that Cousins was aiming to return to New York’s bullpen by the middle of June, “but this shutdown will almost certainly delay that timeline.”
The first of Cousins’ live bullpens came facing Giancarlo Stanton, as part of Stanton’s own rehab from torn tendons in both of his elbows. Boone said that Stanton’s workload has included running on the field and facing a high-velocity pitching machine, in addition to some live at-bats against the likes of Cousins.
Stanton is also on the 60-day IL and can be activated in a little over a week’s time, though it isn’t clear exactly how close the slugger is to even a minor league rehab assignment, let alone returning to the majors. Boone did note that Stanton’s rehab process may not follow a standard path, as since Stanton is a DH-only player, he won’t have to take any reps in the field.
Canning would’ve been a scrub on the Yankees. The Mets lab fixed him.
He would be out for the season if the Dodgers signed him.
The Mets lab that broke generations of pitchers?
Yes fathers and sons of Mets pitchers were broken in the pitching lab before it existed.
Lav sounds more appropriate.
Smacky:
Who exactly would you be referring to? The lab he’s citing would be from the time since Cohen and Stearns have been involved. I think the lab thing is overrated, but I don’t know exactly what you’re talking about.
Miken31: Smacky doesn’t know what he’s talking about either.
He’s talking about 30 years ago when the Mets had Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson and Jason Isringhausen. It was when the Mets were a mess and Dallas Green ran them out when they weren’t ready. He’s going way back.
Chris from NJ:
Yeah, I got his reference but was questioning because of how ridiculous it is. Like you said these guys are from many many front office generations ago and have no bearing on current standing.
Exactly.
Smacky….that’s ancient history
Mets fans continue to be the most clueless
Ronk325:
Yeah, and I’m sure you a member of Mensa.
I like how you didn’t refute what I said. Soft is another word to describe Mets fans
Ronk325:
OK, I’ll refute it now, you clown. Consider it refuted.
Ronk325: Pot, meet Kettle.
An unbelievable amount of irony coming from arguably the worst poster on this site
There was one dude named Jacob deGrom. And then the Dork Night guy (his arm fell off).
Ronk325: “…the worst poster on this site.”
Good on you for demonstrating self-awareness and understanding your role.
wouldnt yankee fans that believe this to be true be the clueless ones?
The yankees were in the process of unloading stroman as they had too many starters and were willing to eat some of the money to trade him. Their bullpen was pretty much set since canning signed after the williams trade. At best this would have been a minor league depth signing for the bullpen not as starter. This was the obligatory check in at most.
Samponite: The Yankees have turned around several pitchers and gotten more out of them than their previous teams. One current example is their closer, Luke Weaver. But he is among several good examples.
I don’t think the Mets have nearly the positive track record that the Yankees do with pitchers as of late. Obviously, they may be getting there, but to say they redevelop arms so much better than the Yankees is a bit disingenuous.
Yankee Clipper: Clay Holmes says hello.
Blue, the Yankees are first ones to have fixed him when he came from the Pirates. Mets simply tried him as a low-cost starter.
I’m admitting the Mets seem to be doing well with arms, but to say he would’ve been terrible with the Yankees if Canning signed there is to dismiss the Yankees obvious success with arms.
for relievers yes 110% but for starters im trying to think back the last few years and every starter they acquired (FA or Trade) was just as good or better before yankees with many of them being worse with the yankees. Gray, Montas (still think it was a mistake the mets got him and hope he proves me wrong), Kluber, Tallion. I could be wrong and please correct me if i am, but i cant think of one in recent history.
Hm, that’s a good point too, flyby. I mean, I’d say they’ve developed good starters (perhaps not trades) like Schmidt, Luis Gil, and fixed Nestor Cortez. But as far as trades, i can’t think of any others. The one that stands out to me as a failure is Sonny Gray.
Montas came over from Oakland already injured, and Oakland is much more pitcher friendly, so I don’t put a lot of stock into his poor performance. Likewise, Kluber was much, much older and already declining.
Speaking of Kluber, it is one of the former Cleveland pitching coaches, Matt Blake, who is doing so well with the Yankees pitching. I’m pretty confident that if it weren’t for Blake the staff wouldn’t be as successful.
But I agree, I think they are much better at developing relief arms than starters. Thankfully, Fried is pitching like a Cy Young winner so far.
But giving a 31yo pitcher eight years is nuts.
What the Yankees actually do is burn them out.
Blue: I agree with you. But honestly, they needed him, so in this instance, I’m okay with it. Yankees would be in dire straights right now if not for Fried; but yeah, it probably won’t be a good second half contract.
Yankee Clipper:
What Yankee pitchers are you talking about? Who did they rehabilitate? I heard Luke weaver. OK that’s good. Who else?
Mike31: Holmes, Cruz, Weaver, Tim Hill, Hamilton, Cortez (SP, but whatever), Michael King, Lucas Luetge…. And there’s more. And it’s total development, not just rehabilitation, imo.
Yankee Clipper:
Manaea, Severino, Canning, Kranick, Peterson, Megill, Nunez, Garrett, Holmes (yes I do count that for the Mets because he’s a starter for the Mets and he was pretty broken with the Yankees last year). Any team can come up with a list of guys it’s developed or helped fix. It’s not just a Yankees thing.
Mike: I never said it was just a Yankees thing. I said the opposite. But, I disagree with the OP that Canning would have been terrible with the Yankees. Matt Blake is widely regarded around the league for his ability to get the most out of his pitchers.
I’m honestly not sure where you’re getting that from. It wasn’t a slight against the Mets, it was an opposing viewpoint about the Yankees.
Yankee Clipper:
“I don’t think the Mets have nearly the positive track record that the Yankees do with pitchers as of late. Obviously, they may be getting there, but to say they redevelop arms so much better than the Yankees is a bit disingenuous.”
It’s nothing personal, I’m just responding to this comment. I don’t know if what you’re saying here is true. Maybe it is, but it might just be your perspective as a Yankees fan. I just think a lot of teams do this, but some teams are better than others. The Mets and Yankees are probably better than most at this. Yeah, I don’t agree with what the original person saying that Canning wouldn’t have been successful with the Yankees. Obviously, we have no proof of it either way.
Miken31: I would hold off on including Megill on that list until he shows greater consistency.
Blue Baron:
I agree Megill is not great, but he is at least a useful major league pitcher.
This is an absurd take just based on the track records of the respective pitching “labs” of the two teams.
mattmonteith:
What do you mean? What exactly are you talking about? Who are the pitchers you’re talking about that the Yankees turned around and rehabilitated?
Hey, you know WE were ALSO interested in this player who popped thos year against everyone’s expectations!
DarkSide830: Who are WE, and what position do you play?
Maybe Matt Blake could have worked his magic and made Canning into a solid pitcher? It’s a possibility, which is why the Mets snagged him, they saw the potential.
It’s great to see what Blake has done thus far, especially after all the years I’ve seen so many starting pitchers come to the Bronx and collapse or leave the Bronx then thrive. Vazquez, Wright, Pavano, Johnson, Burnett, Kennedy, Heaney, ect.
Craven: Sonny Gray and Frankie Montas say hello.
Blue Baron,
Not everyone does well in Yankee pinstripes. Devin Williams is going through that right now.
BB
Tbh my fellow New Yorker I am not interested in any greetings with those 2 individuals
I do wish them all the best in their future endeavors
🙂
I’ll give you Sunny Gray (pre Blake though). Montas, although a terrible trade, was hurt when he got here and rally hasn;t been healthy since. You really can;t put this on pitching coach.
Those were both during the Larry Rothschild years
I used to call Larry Rothschild “the old man in pajamas” every time I saw that dude shuffle out of the dugout for a mound visit.
Mets lab is a miracle worker
I thought canning was cooked
Pitching like an AS for mets
The Mets “lab” pretty much annihilated Error in Judgement. Looked helpless on that last pitch.
It was a good game today. Good for baseball.
Brilliant move non-tendering him Alex Anthopolous. Another one of your recent moves that hasn’t worked out.