The Yankees on Tuesday selected the contracts of outfielder Spencer Jones and righties Elmer Rodriguez and Chase Hampton, per a team announcement. They’re now on the 40-man roster and ineligible to be selected by another club in December’s Rule 5 Draft.
There are no surprises in this trio of additions. Hampton, Rodriguez and Jones rank among the Yankees’ top prospects and were sure to be protected. Jones is the most recognizable of the bunch thanks to a prodigious power display this summer. The 24-year-old popped 35 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A combined and turned plenty of heads when he swatted 13 round-trippers in his first 19 games after moving up to the higher of those two levels.
Jones is immensely strikeout prone, however, and fell into a deep slump after that jaw-dropping hot streak. Over his final 48 games and 183 plate appearances, Jones hit just .219/.289/.383 with a 42% strikeout rate. He could get a look at some point in 2026, but he’ll need to radically cut down on his strikeouts if he’s to become a productive big leaguer. Jones’ huge raw power and hulking 6’7″ stature have led to plenty of Aaron Judge comparisons, but even the strikeout-prone Judge punched out in just 23.9% of his plate appearances during his final Triple-A season. Jones was at 33.7% in Double-A and 36.6% in Triple-A.
Rodriguez, 22, came to the Yankees in a rare trade with their archrival Red Sox, sending catcher Carlos Narvaez the other direction. It has serious win-win potential. Narvaez became a prominent part of Boston’s catching corps in 2025, while Rodriguez climbed to Triple-A and posted a 2.58 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 150 minor league frames.
Hampton, 24, missed the entire season due to Tommy John surgery. He pitched only 18 2/3 innings in 2024 as well. That said, he’s a former sixth-round pick and touted prospect who tossed 106 2/3 frames with a 3.63 ERA while climbing to Double-A as a 21-year-old back in 2022. Scouting reports tout his plus curveball and slider. If he’s back to full health in ’26, he’ll begin the year in Double-A or Triple-A and could pitch his way into consideration for a big league look late in the summer — though he might be a more realistic 2027 rotation candidate.
The best of times and the worst of times for Spencer Jones. Being added to the 40-man roster is great news; Grisham returning is bad news for him. Not that I think he’s ready.
I wonder what’s going to happen with Spencer Jones. He’s very valuable trade piece, or maybe they’ll trade Trent Grisham?
He’s an interesting prospect, but his K rate remains a bit alarming. He’ll likely return to AAA to see if he can tighten his swing. The Yankees like him but I don’t think they’d hesitate to include him in a deal.
I saw that at the deadline, but one of the Yankees fan got mad when I said to maybe trade a prospect.
Fans can overvalue their team’s prospects, believing all prospects are equal.
They said Elmer Rodriguez for Paul Skenes
Speaking of prospects, I got bad news. I was hoping Alimber Santa and Jose Fleury got spots. Brian McTaggart said,”
The Astros left two of their Top 30 Prospects unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft, which is Dec. 10 at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.: right-handed pitchers Alimber Santa (No. 13) and Jose Fleury (No. 17).”
I guess I overvalued Santa and Fleury, but now I’m trying to stay optimistic and hope they don’t get selected by telling me that Fleury isn’t ready and Santa has horrid control. So I get it. What team do you like?
They said the same thing about judge in 2015
I wasn’t following baseball back then.
Jones is most definitely not Judge. The Yankees were not interested in trading Judge; I don’t get the impression at all they view Jones as a must-keep. He’s interesting, but for now he’s going to serve as the OFer they call up when there are injuries, and he’ll get a chance to show he can be part of their future…unless they trade him.
They also said judge wasn’t what he was in 2015. They almost traded him to the braves for Jason Hayward. He was talked about in trades. Glad they didn’t
@LordD99 Who’s your favorite team?
Grisham can not be traded until June. Qualifying over works same FA. Gives Jones a chance to show something.
Unfortunately Grisham can’t be traded until June now.
@Yankee
Bro he’s a free agent. He couldn’t be traded in any other scenario. I just don’t get the hate? Yes, he’s being paid $22 mil. It’s not your money and I doubt he’ll keep them from spending elsewhere. But fact is, him being a 30+ homer guy might be me less fluky than signing Christian Walker, Jurickson Profar or Anthony Santander last year.
Chase must be making progress on return.
didn’t want to lose him like how we lost Garrett Whitlock… but now we’ll lose Lalane
That’s not true, he can be protected also.
Lalane is injury prone and has never pitched above A ball. I highly doubt he gets taken
Or if he is taken, he gets returned.
if he gets injured you stash him on the IL and return him to the minors next year to continue developing as a starting pitcher – worst case scenario, you send him back to the Yankees for $50K
It’s not that simple. The Phillies tried to do that a couple years ago and wound up returning the guy later in the season. A garbage team like the Rockies or White Sox would have to be the one to take the chance on Lalane and I imagine they would be looking for a safer bet
Lalane isn’t really plausible. Facundo, maybe, but it would probably be asking quite a bit to expect him to stick the whole season on a major league roster.
All future Hall Of Famers. Trade one of them for that Skenes guy. Next year is the Yankees year. Blablabla.
What r the Yanks gonna do with Jasson? He available?
Hopefully.
@seam
Why would he be available? he’s only 23, had a good rookie year LF is currently open and he could be kept a a 4th OF for a year. Let’s not act like it’s a crime to have too much talent. Injuries have a way of opening up spots. Look at Ben Rice when Stanton went down.
But you also have to note the number of injures. There likely are enough spots (unless the Yankees have something I don’t know) for the players even factoring injures. But if you have 7 outfielders, that’s a problem.
@Astros
That’s my point. Even if they’ve signed Grish and bring back Belit they can still find at bats for Dominguez.
Wonder how the Yanks do it. We’ll see. Us fans don’t have insight, and right now, there’s a lot of ifs. Dominguez will likely be ranked more highly than Spencer Jones. I would worry about Jones, but there’s as you said, injures.
Don’t count out trading Jdom too. That is of course if they re-sign Belli or add some other OF
Maybe the Jones people in some crazy scheme to turn a profit made more than one. Aka wrong Jones
I didn’t know Jones could pitch.
Actually… I take that back. This Spencer Jones from Washington State can’t pitch either.
It’s crazy that the Rule 5 deadline is before the Non-Tender deadline. Seems like it makes way more sense to have them in reverse order. Now the Yanks are poised to lose multiple top 10 players from their minors because of spots being held by guys like Leiter Jr., Effross, etc. who are likely to be released in a few days.
Agreed the timing seems off, but they also should know who they’re non-tendering, so they likely aren’t planning to non-tender them.
technically they can non-tender anytime after the end of the season with a DFA, the non tender deadline is just when they no longer can or they would be on the hook for 2026
Not sure why they didn’t keep Harrison Cohen.
I saw him pitch in a couple outings in AAA. He has a good slider but his control is not too good and he’s not overpowering. Doesn’t mean he can’t become a good MLB reliever, but I don’t think he’s a must-keep by any means..
You have to respect Cohen’s results so far, but he’s a 26 year-old minor league reliever with a light fastball. The minors are full of those guys. He could turn out, but he’s likely a shuttle guy at best and that’s not somebody you need to protect in November. If he gets picked, good luck to him.
Here is the correct link to Spencer Jones’ stats….baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=jon…
Would have liked to see lalane protected. Some roster shuffling needs to take place. Why effross is still here beats me.i also thought between cousins, bird and Ian hamilton 1 would be released by now (granted they should be a throw in to any trade as all are capable of having a bounce back year. Maybe they are going to collect a lot of cheap bullpen guys and not spend hopefully after they sign belli
Feels like Lalane would be more of a punt of a 26-man roster spot than your average Rule 5er. The likeliest scenario for him sticking is that he’s injured a lot. But if he spends a lot of time injured yet again, how good a prospect is he, really?
Like judge struck out almost half his plate appearances when arod retired in 2016, why don’t they try jones out it’s not like hitters aren’t three true outcomes already in the majors, he’s comparable to Richie sexson and Aaron judge the power is real from the kid but again the Yankees hold on to these guys for way to long because either want the Yankees to spend on free agents or hold out for someone to trade them for. Like they have Stanton with two years left of his contract which are going to be his 19th/20th season unless they can offload his contract or release him so a spot can open up. The Martian I really want to see extended playing time for him since his hit tool is great and he had 20 plus SB in limited playing time. Me personally they should trade these guys for guys already established and signed to contracts that already performed.
I said they should look at Kwan/Jram or Marte/carroll since I neither team holding onto to them for cost reasons.
Ramirez has a no trade clause which he took millions less to get. He is not going to waive it. It also makes absolutely no sense for Cleveland to trade him anyway.
By Grisham coming back i think may limit what the yankees do however I still think bellinger is in the cards and here is why. He gives you insurance at 1b also Oswald Cabrera may see time as a back up 1b with rice getting the starts mainly. That leaves the need for potential 4th outfield , starter and bullpen. I can see a free agent signing of a reliever to replace devin williams / Luke weaver and then a trade. If bellinger is resigned I think the Martian will be traded as 4th outfielder spot will go to Spencer Jones and spot duty utility type player. Trading the Martian and another minor league will bring you another reliever and back up catcher that is right handed. No ace type pitcher will be brought in as the yankees will wait for cole to come back and roll out guys like yarborough, schilltler and Elmer Cruz for starts
Cashman should be shot if he traded Dominguez for a relief pitcher because he was a 4th OF behind Grisham who is signed to a 1 year deal off of 1 year of success. Bringing up Spencer Jones to be a 4th OF utility guy would he the 2nd fireball offense. Why would the idea of having Dominguez as a 4th OF at age 23 on a team that has injury prone Stanton create ANY thought of trading him? Dominguez is only 23, is cheap has immense talent, had a good rookie showing and is under control for 4 more years at least. The only reason he should be traded is of he’s bringing back an impact 3b, SP or SS, although I’m more than happy with Volpe.
Yes we are sooo happy with Volpe i love huffing paint and thinking DRS inflating WAR matters
Yes. I said I…I….I…I was happy with Volpe. Couldn’t care less how you feel about him. If the team isn’t looking to hand out huge contracts to every position player them is prefer they spend the money at more crucial areas like 3b, SP and the bullpen. If Volpe can return back to a GG caliber SS with 50 extra base hits and 25 SB, or comes into his own and gets better than that then I’m happy with his floor. Maybe a few big bullpen arms and take a shot on Bregman if he takes a 4 or 5 year deal.
Yes you post many comments on an online discussion board because you dont care about other peoples opinions on baseball or your comments. Whatever bro lmao
Volpe is trash, 3 straight years of a sub 90 OPS+. His WAR is inflated by the terrible metrics that are advanced defensive stats like DRS. The most crucial area this team needs right now is SS, pretending SS is not crucial is such a “i dont know ball” double down lmao
Trash ? He’s a kid who played hurt all year,with everybody but the Yankee brass ( who mishandled his injury) calling for his head . The kid still went out there every day, never getting a chance to heal and played hard every minute he was on the field as well as conducting himself properly off the field. Trash he’s not! He’s not Jeter either. Let’s see what he does when he’s healthy.
So you would keep Dominguez to sit on the bench? He is not good defensively and won’t play over bellinger, Grisham and judge. With Spencer Jones coming Dominguez is expendable. Im not saying to trade him for a 6th inning pitcher but if you can get a shut down 8th inning type and a depth guy like a backup catcher ibwould explore a trade
Bellinger is a free agent and Yanks keeping Grish signals theyre not going to keep Belli more than it signals theyre done with the 23 year old rookie
They are in record saying they still want to resign belli. And they can it just hampers what they do from there. Which goes back to my original post that I think they will resign belli but you will see more signings like ryan yarborough a veteran type on a short term low salary type of contract and that they will use the martial for a position of need
Theyre on record saying a lot of stupid stuff. Hal wants to be under 300MM and just spent half of what theyre likely willing to spend on Grisham. You can refer back to your original post all you want, this signing still makes bringing Belli back more unlikely than simply moving on from a 23 year old who just had his rookie season like you suggested.
With expiring contracts Grisham at 22 belli around 30 that gives the yankees around another 18-22 million to come in at 300 mill and if the opt to make more moves they may have a little more
Ultimately I think 30 to 35 for belli is fair and the yankees will shoot for that or less. And after that they will spend up to 299 mill on the books. With more holes to fill i don’t think you will see major signings but more depth guys hoping to catch lighting in a bottle with a vet like they did with Goldie. With potential losses of weaver and williams I can see them signing guys like a andrew chafin type who may sit on free agency and fill their bullpen with them as they always find pieces like hamilton, bauers, hill, etc