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Aaron Boone To Return As Yankees Manager In 2023

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The Yankees are planning to keep Aaron Boone in the manager’s chair for 2023. That’s according to owner Hal Steinbrenner, who spoke to Mark Didtler of the Associated Press today. “As far as Boone’s concerned, we just signed him and for all the same reasons I listed a year ago, I believe he is a very good manager,” Steinbrenner said. “I don’t see a change there.”

Boone, 49, first took over as the skipper in the Bronx prior to the 2018 season and the club has qualified for the postseason in each of his campaigns at the helm. As the 2021 season was winding down, he and the Yanks agreed to a three-year extension that covered the 2022-2024 seasons plus a club option for 2025.

Boone has been successful in the regular season thus far, earning three Wild Card berths and AL East division titles in both 2019 and 2022. However, the postseason track record isn’t as strong, with the club failing to reach the World Series in any of those campaigns. On the heels of a four-game ALCS sweep at the hands of the Houston Astros here in 2022, some frustrated Yankee fans might have been hoping for a shakeup. But the disappointing conclusion to the season evidently isn’t going to lead to any rash decisions in the dugout. If the club had any thought of moving on from Boone, they would have to fire him with two years remaining on his deal.

Boone will go into 2023 with a managerial record of 427-281, looking to add another winning season to that total. The offseason will determine what kind of roster he will be in charge of, with the major unanswered question being what happens with impending free agent Aaron Judge.

13 Players Elect Free Agency

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With the World Series kicking off on Friday, we’re only a couple weeks from the opening of the offseason. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

In recent weeks, we’ve provided periodic updates on players qualifying for minor league free agency. Here are the latest, courtesy of the MiLB.com transactions tracker.

Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Dodgers Expected To Pursue Aaron Judge; Mookie Betts Reportedly Open To Move To Second Base

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The Dodgers are annually mentioned as possible suitors for the best players available on the open market, and they’re likely to be in the mix for the upcoming offseason’s No. 1 free agent. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports that L.A. could make a run at Aaron Judge, which he suggests could be tied to a willingness to move star right fielder Mookie Betts to second base more regularly to accommodate Judge.

Judge is coming off a historic, likely MVP campaign in 2022 where he set the AL record for home runs and slashed a comical .311/.425/.686 (207 wRC+) after rejecting a seven year, $213.5MM extension offer from the Yankees this spring. The Yankees figure to prioritize retaining Judge this offseason, but if there’s any team that can play in the same financial stratosphere as New York, it’s the Dodgers, who posted a luxury tax payroll just under $290MM in 2022 and will see significant salary come off the books this season thanks to possible impending free agencies of players such as David Price, Trea Turner, Justin Turner (whose contract has a $16MM club option for next season) and Craig Kimbrel.

Per RosterResource, the Dodgers have an estimated luxury tax payroll of around $176MM headed into 2023, though this doesn’t include contracts for their arbitration-eligible players. Still, that should leave them with plenty of space before they even get to the level they hit this year. Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, the Dodgers have just under $74MM locked up for 2024, a hair above $70MM for 2025, and just over $61MM committed for 2026. This payroll flexibility in the future should give them plenty of room to offer free agents multi-year contracts this offseason.

Judge played quite a bit of center field in 2022, where the Dodgers currently have potential non-tender candidate Cody Bellinger and utilityman Chris Taylor as their primary options. However, Judge is widely not seen as a long-term center fielder and considered a better fit in right field, where he’s spent the majority of his career and rates out as among the best defenders at the position in the sport. The Dodgers, of course, have their own elite right field glove in Betts, a five time Gold Glove award winner at the position.

Betts, however, came up as a second baseman and initially only moved to the outfield to accommodate then-Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Betts has continued to play second base sporadically throughout his career following the position change, even logging 46 innings (five starts) at the position in 2022. Both Betts and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts have spoken positively of the possibility of Betts playing more second base in the future, and accommodating a player of Judge’s caliber could be just the reason the Dodgers need to make the switch full time. Feinsand reports that Betts is open to moving to the infield regularly at some point in his career, although it’s not clear whether that’d be conditional on the team signing Judge.

Any pursuit of Judge would surely complicate whatever attempts the Dodgers may make this offseason to retain Trea Turner, another top free agent on the market this offseason. Signing Judge and retaining Turner may be more of a financial commitment than even the Dodgers can stomach, with both likely to seek average annual values well over $30MM on contracts of eight-plus years this offseason. Furthermore, with at least some possibility of Betts moving to the infield more regularly, the Dodgers may be content to simply plug Gavin Lux in at shortstop and use leftover money from a potential Judge signing to focus on other areas, such as fortifying a rotation that will have to retain or replace impending free agents Clayton Kershaw, Andrew Heaney, and Tyler Anderson.

Marlins Down To Four Managerial Finalists

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11:30am: Heyman tweets that the Marlins have narrowed the group down to four and expect to make a decision soon. Heyman tweets that the Marlins have narrowed the group down to four and expect to make a decision soon. Raul Ibanez was interviewed early in the process but is not among the four, Heyman adds.

Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald reports that former Mets skipper Luis Rojas, who’s currently the Yankees’ third base coach, also secured a second interview, suggesting that he’s the fourth (and apparently last) finalist in the mix for the job.

9:37am: The Marlins are continuing to narrow the field in their search for manager Don Mattingly’s successor and have deemed a handful of names to be finalists in their search. Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro and Astros bench coach Joe Espada are among a “small field” of finalists in Miami. Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds Cardinals bench coach Skip Schumaker to the list of finalists.

Both Quatraro and Espada were considered finalists in last offseason’s Mets managerial search, before the team ultimately hired a more experienced option in the form of veteran Buck Showalter. The Marlins, it seems, are taking a different approach; the entire group of known candidates to have interviewed in Miami would be first-time managers at the big league level. Quatraro and Espada have both interviewed with at least five teams for managerial vacancies in recent years.

Schumaker, meanwhile, is a fast-rising name in the coaching ranks himself. The former big league utilityman was playing in the Majors as recently as 2015 and landed his first Major League coaching gig when the Padres named him first base coach in the 2017-18 offseason. San Diego eventually elevated him to the unusual title of “associate manager,” before the Cardinals, for whom he played eight Major League seasons, tabbed him as their new bench coach a year ago. Along the way, Schumaker has also interviewed for managerial vacancies with the Mets and Red Sox.

Other names known to have interviewed thus far include Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol and Phillies third base coach Dusty Wathan. Braves bench coach Walt Weiss reportedly declined an opportunity to interview, though the fact that there was even interest suggests that the Marlins aren’t dead-set on hiring a rookie skipper. Weiss spent four seasons as the Rockies’ manager from 2013-16.

Nestor Cortes Leaves ALCS Game 4 Due To Groin Injury

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Yankees starter Nestor Cortes was removed from Game 4 of the ALCS after two-plus innings of work due to what the team described as a left groin injury.  Cortes allowed only a single and a walk in his first two frames, but walked his first two batters of the third inning and then allowed a three-run homer to Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena.  Cortes was replaced by Wandy Peralta after the Pena home run.

Manager Aaron Boone and a team trainer briefly visited Cortes on the mound after the initial walk, but elected to leave the southpaw in the game.  Later, during an in-game interview with TBS reporter Lauren Shehadi, Boone said that Cortes had been dealing with a groin problem throughout the postseason.  Cortes made two starts against the Guardians in the ALDS, with a solid 2.70 ERA over 10 innings of work.  The Yankees won the second of Cortes’ outings, the series-clinching Game 5.

Cortes missed a little over two weeks on the 15-day injured list with a left groin strain in late August and early September, so it would seem like this current injury may have been a recurrence of that original problem.  Further roster maneuvers may soon be a moot point for the Yankees since they trail the Astros by a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS, though if they force a Game 5 and have to replace Cortes on the roster, the left-hander wouldn’t be eligible to participate in the World Series if New York did launch a miracle comeback.

Eduardo Nunez Announces Retirement

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Former major league infielder Eduardo Nunez announced his retirement from professional baseball today in a post to his Instagram. “Today, it is with mixed emotions that I officially announce my retirement from professional baseball,” Nunez wrote. “I had the opportunity of a lifetime to play the game I love for more than a decade while competing for five amazing MLB teams.”

Nunez, 35, played for the Yankees, Twins, Giants, Red Sox, and Mets during a career that spanned 11 seasons in the majors. His last season in the majors was 2020, when he appeared in two games for the Mets. He played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2021 and did not play professionally during the 2022 season.

He made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2010, the first of four seasons spent in a utility role in their uniform. During his time in the Bronx, Nunez slashed .267/.313/.379 (86 wRC+) in 270 games while logging time at second base, third base, shortstop, and both outfield corners. Nunez’s career as a member of the Yankees ended when he was traded to Minnesota in 2014, where his career would begin to improve, with the highlight of his Twins tenure being the 2016 season that earned Nunez not only his only career All-Star appearance, but a deadline trade to the Giants. That season, he slashed .288/.325/.432 (101 wRC+) while splitting time between second base, third base, and shortstop.

Nunez would remain with the Giants until the following year’s trade deadline, when he would be swapped to the Red Sox. He re-signed with Boston during the 2017-18 offseason, and split time between second and third base while batting .265/.289/.388 (78 wRC+) in 127 games as the Red Sox won 108 games en route to a World Series championship. Nunez remained with Boston in 2019, appearing in 60 games before being designated for assignment in July.

Altogether, Nunez spent parts of 17 seasons playing professional baseball and batted .276/.310/.404 (90 wRC+) in his 3008 major league plate appearances, collecting 776 hits, 142 stolen bases, and 1136 total bases along the way. MLBTR wishes Nunez the best in his future pursuits now that his playing career has officially come to a close.

Oswald Peraza, Frankie Montas Added To Yankees’ Roster For ALCS

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The Yankees announced their roster for the ALCS, with infielder Oswald Peraza, right-handers Frankie Montas and Greg Weissert as new additions from the ALDS. They will take the place of outfielder Aaron Hicks, who is done for the year, as well as utility player Marwin Gonzalez and left-hander Lucas Luetge. Also of note, infielder DJ LeMahieu and outfielder Andrew Benintendi, both out with injuries, have not been added.

Here is the full roster for the Yankees, as they get set to take on the Astros:

Right-Handed Pitchers

Left-Handed Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated Hitter

The injury sustained by Hicks has led to a domino effect, necessitating some of today’s switches. For the last two games of the ALDS, Hicks started in left field with Oswaldo Cabrera at short, bumping Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the bench. After Hicks was injured yesterday, Kiner-Falefa was eventually installed at short with Cabrera going out to the left field. Without Hicks, it seems possible that the Yanks will use Aaron Judge, Harrison Bader and Cabrera as their regular outfield mix. That subtracts Cabrera from the infield picture, which Peraza will now step into. Gonzalez is capable of playing anywhere, though he hit just .185/.255/.321 this year. It seems the Yanks would prefer the rookie Peraza, who hit .306/.404/.429 in his 18-game debut this year.

Benintendi underwent hamate surgery in early September and has recently been working out, trying to get healthy enough to rejoin the club. However, recent reporting indicated he’s been experiencing continued soreness, leading to an injection in his wrist. With him not able to return, Cabrera could be in line for regular outfield duty. Giancarlo Stanton could theoretically be an option, having played 38 games in the outfield this year, though the Yanks might also opt to keep him as the designated hitter.

Similar to Benintendi, LeMahieu has been out of action for a while and has been trying to get healthy enough to return. His absence has been due to a ligament issue with the second toe of his right foot. It appears that he hasn’t recuperated enough to get a roster spot. With LeMahieu’s lingering issue, Cabrera likely in the outfield and Kiner-Falefa struggling, Peraza has been swapped in for Gonzalez to contend for shortstop playing time.

As for Montas, he was the Yankees’ big deadline acquisition for the pitching staff. However, he struggled badly after coming over from the A’s. He had a 3.18 ERA with Oakland but then a 6.35 ERA after the deal. It’s possible that shoulder issues were hampering him, as he missed a few starts prior to the trade and was eventually placed on the IL by the Yanks due to shoulder inflammation. He hasn’t been fully stretched out and won’t be a candidate for a starting job, though manager Aaron Boone recently said Montas could throw some multi-inning outings.

With the additions of Montas and Weissert and the subtraction of Luetge, the Yankees are left with Wandy Peralta as the only lefty in their bullpen. The Astros are very right-handed, having just two lefties in their lineup, though the two are Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker. It seems the Yanks have a bit more faith in some of their right-handers to face the middle of the Houston lineup, with Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loáisiga and Miguel Castro perhaps in line to try to quell Alvarez and Tucker.

MLBTR Poll: Who Will Win The ALCS?

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The Yankees knocked off the Guardians by a 5-1 margin this evening, taking two elimination games to advance past Cleveland. New York is back in the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2019.

Awaiting them tomorrow: an Astros juggernaut that has had one of the better runs of playoff success in recent history. Houston has gotten to the ALCS in six straight seasons. The first of those seasons was their now-infamous run to a World Series that was later revealed to be aided by a sign-stealing operation. Houston has barely missed a beat in the half-decade since then, though, playing for the pennant every year. The Astros claimed the pennant in both 2019 and 2021 (eliminating the Yankees during the former season), and while they’ve not managed to win a World Series since 2017, they’ve joined the 1990’s Braves as the only teams to reach six consecutive Championship Series.

Houston has home field advantage after a 106-win regular season, claiming the AL’s top seed in the second half after an historically great first few months by the Yankees. The ’Stros swept their division-rival Mariners last week, earning three off days in the process. Their pitching staff should essentially be lined up as desired, and they’ll turn to presumptive Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander tomorrow evening. The Yankees will answer with Jameson Taillon for Game One after using top two starters Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes on Sunday and today, respectively, to survive the Guardians.

The Yankees, anchored by an all-time great season from Aaron Judge, led all American League teams with 807 runs scored. Houston finished third in that category, plating 737 runs. New York finished second in the Junior Circuit behind the Blue Jays in on-base percentage at .325, while the Astros placed fourth at .319. The Yankees finished second in slugging (again behind Toronto) at .426, while Houston was just behind at .424.

While New York had a slight advantage offensively, the Astros were clearly the best pitching team in the American League. They led the league with a 2.95 rotation ERA, a half-run better than the second-place Rays. New York came in third at 3.51. Astros and Yankees starters each fanned 24.8% of opponents (with the Astros leading the league by a fraction of a percentage point). Houston’s bullpen was also number one in strikeout percentage at 28.3%, while the Yankees checked in sixth at 24.2%. Houston (2.80) and New York (2.97) finished first and second, respectively, in bullpen ERA.

It’s a battle of the two teams that have looked to be the best in the American League, in some order, from start to finish. Yesterday, MLBTR readers weighed in on an NLCS that took the exact opposite form. In a battle of the Senior Circuit’s fifth and sixth seeds, the readership gave a 56-44 edge to the Padres over the Phillies.  We’ll now put forth the same question for the American League. Which team is headed to the World Series: Astros or Yankees?

(poll link for app users)

 

Aaron Hicks To Miss Remainder Of Postseason

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The Yankees kept their season alive this evening, knocking off the Guardians 5-1 to take their Division Series in five games. They advance to the AL Championship Series to take on the reigning pennant winners in Houston, starting tomorrow.

While New York is obviously happy to advance, they didn’t come out of today’s contest completely unscathed. Left fielder Aaron Hicks was knocked out of the game in the top of the third after colliding with shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera in pursuit of a shallow fly ball off the bat of Steven Kwan. Hicks left the field with just slight assistance from skipper Aaron Boone, but he suffered a left knee injury that’ll end his playoffs. After the game, Hicks told reporters he’ll need around six weeks to recover (via Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record). Specifics of the injury aren’t clear, but the Yankees announced he was headed for an MRI.

It’s the conclusion of what has been a disappointing season altogether for Hicks. The 33-year-old hit .216/.330/.313 across 453 regular season plate appearances, his second straight below-average campaign. Hicks had been one of the game’s better center fielders from 2017-20, but he’s seen his power production take a sharp downward turn over the last two years. He also got subpar marks for his defense in center field, leading the Yankees to turn to Aaron Judge quite a bit more up the middle than they had in prior years before acquiring Harrison Bader from the Cardinals at the trade deadline.

Hicks was on the bench for the first three games of the Division Series, but he did draw into the lineup for the final two contests. He started in left field for both Game 4 and 5, going hitless with a walk in four plate appearances out of the nine-hole. Cabrera, who’d been the left fielder for the first three games of the series, moved up to shortstop for the final two contests. That pushed Isiah Kiner-Falefa out of the lineup after some defensive miscues in Game 3.

With Hicks out, the Yankees could move Cabrera back to left field and pencil Kiner-Falefa back in at short. They also have Matt Carpenter as a corner outfield option, although Boone indicated before the ALDS he preferred to keep Carpenter as a bench bat during his first action back after a two-month absence due to a foot fracture. Utilityman Marwin González drew an at-bat in relief of Hicks this evening, but the Yankees aren’t likely to give him a playoff start after a .185/.255/.321 showing in the regular season. Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is also a possibility to assume some left field work, although it’s not clear whether the Yankees would run the risk of him playing defense for the first time since mid-July.

The Yankees acquired Andrew Benintendi from the Royals to solidify left field, but he’s been out since early September surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his right wrist. Boone indicated after tonight’s win he doesn’t anticipate Benintendi being active for the ALCS (via Andy Martino of SNY). The Yankees will have to formally announce their ALCS roster tomorrow, but it seems they’ll have to make due with their in-house outfield options against Houston.

It doesn’t seem likely Hicks’ injury will significantly affect his offseason routine. He’s under contract through 2025 and will presumably get a chance to compete for a starting job next spring, as the Yankees will have a hard time shedding any notable chunk of the $29.5MM that remains on his contract.

Injury Notes: Robertson, Benintendi, Means

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Phillies right-hander David Robertson threw a bullpen session yesterday and went through fielding drills, tweets Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s the first baseball activity for the veteran closer since sustaining a calf strain while celebrating Bryce Harper’s home run during the team’s Wild Card win over the Cardinals. Robertson was left off the roster for the Phillies’ NLDS showdown with the Braves, but throwing off a mound and running through some fielding drills Monday at least opens the door for him to be reinstated for Philadelphia’s NLCS date with San Diego. The Phils will make a formal announcement on their NLCS roster by 10am PT this morning.

A few more injury items of note…

  • Yankees outfielder Andrew Benintendi received an injection in his wrist this week after experiencing continued pain in his ailing right wrist, tweets MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Benintendi underwent surgery in early September after suffering a hamate fracture in his wrist and has not appeared in a game since. There’s been hope that, if the Yankees advance beyond today’s ALDS Game 5 against the Guardians, that he could potentially return for the ALCS, though the latest update on him casts plenty of doubt on that possibility. If the Yankees were to advance, they’d have to announce an ALCS roster by 10am CT tomorrow. Benintendi hit .304/.373/.399 with five home runs in 521 plate appearances prior to his injury — including a .254/.331/.404 output in 131 plate appearances with the Yankees (following a trade from the Royals).
  • Orioles lefty John Means underwent Tommy John surgery back in late April, and just shy of six months later he’s resumed throwing. Means shared video his session yesterday, labeling it “day one” of his return to a throwing program. There’s still a long road back from this point, as Means isn’t throwing anywhere near 100% at this juncture and will have plenty of milestones to clear as he rehabs his new elbow ligament and eventually builds up strength to return to a Major League mound. An early summer return in 2023 would be a good outcome, though each pitcher’s recovery from Tommy John surgery varies. Means, who’s pitched to a 3.81 ERA in 356 2/3 innings since making his big league debut with the O’s, signed a two-year, $5.925MM deal covering the 2022 season and 2023 season but is under club control via arbitration through the 2024 campaign.
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