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Cashman: Yankees “Optimistic” Judge Will Be Ready For Opening Day

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After months of uncertainty surrounding the status of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, general manager Brian Cashman said on a conference call today that the team is optimistic he’ll be ready for the rescheduled Opening Day (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler). The Yankees are also optimistic that Giancarlo Stanton will be ready to open the year in the DH slot. Lefty James Paxton is expected to be ready to go as well, and it’s possible that center fielder Aaron Hicks could be game-ready come Opening Day as well.

Judge’s entire injury saga has been bizarrely vague, but it seems an end is at last in sight. It took the club several weeks early in camp to diagnose a stress fracture in his rib, and only two weeks later did the team reveal that Judge was also found to have a collapsed lung. Near the end of March, Boone revealed that Judge’s injuries may have dated all the way back to last September. Even throughout the shutdown, updates on Judge lacked specific timelines and frequently pointed to additional imaging as the next step.

Stanton sustained a calf injury back in Spring Training, and Cashman indicated today that he’s quite specifically referencing a DH-only role with regard to the former NL MVP’s Opening Day readiness. The YES Network’s Jack Curry tweets that the club wants to evaluate Stanton in camp before making any declaration about his ability to play in the outfield.

Paxton is more than four months removed from back surgery and could be game-ready right now, according to Cashman. There’s a bit less certainty regarding Hicks, who is eight months out from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Hicks has already proclaimed himself ready to go for the season opener, though the organization is understandably taking a bit more reserved approach and will use “Summer Camp” (as the league has now termed it) to make its own evaluation.

MLB, MLBPA Still Discussing Vesting Options, Retention Bonuses

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The length of the season, prorated salaries and protocols for health and safety are finally all set in place, but Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are still negotiating the manner in which contractual options, performance incentives/bonuses and escalator clauses will be handled, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required).

Fortunately, an agreement is believed to be “within reach,” per Rosenthal. The league had initially sought to prorate the value of 2021 options using the same formula as 2020 salaries, although the MLBPA obviously pushed back against that notion. There’s still some debate over the handling of vesting options — particularly those that are triggered by reaching a set number of games pitched or plate appearances over the life of multiple seasons. The two sides also must determine how those options would be treated in the event that the season is canceled at any point due to health concerns.

There aren’t too many vesting options in MLB this year, although some of the notable ones include:

  • Jon Lester, LHP, Cubs: Lester’s $25MM mutual option ($10MM buyout) for the 2021 season would become guaranteed with 200 innings pitched in a normal season.
  • J.A. Happ, LHP, Yankees: Happ’s $17MM club option for the 2021 season would’ve become guaranteed upon making 27 starts or totaling 165 innings in 2020.
  • Andrew Miller, LHP, Cardinals: Miller’s $12MM club option for 2021 would have been guaranteed if he totaled 110 games between 2019-20. As Rosenthal explores, there are various ways to interpret how many more games he’d need to pitch to trigger that option — some more beneficial to Miller and others to the Cardinals.
  • Charlie Morton, RHP, Rays: Morton’s option is another that comes with a multi-year criteria. His contract calls for a $15MM club option in 2021 if he spends fewer than 30 days on the injured list between 2019-20. The option value decreases if he spends additional time on the injured list. Morton avoided the IL entirely last year. Unlike Miller, who surely hopes the number of appearances he needs to make in 2020 can be prorated, it’d be beneficial to Morton for that number (30) to remain as is. That seems unlikely, but the disparity between the clauses of Miller and Morton illustrates that this isn’t exactly straightforward for the player side. The value of his option
  • Kelvin Herrera, RHP, White Sox: Herrera, too, needed 110 games between 2019-20 for his $10MM club option to become guaranteed. He pitched in 57 games last year, leaving him 53 shy of his target.
  • Wade Davis, RHP, Rockies: Davis’ $15MM mutual option would’ve converted to a $15MM player option in the event that he finished 30 games. He’d only need to finish out 11-12 games in the shortened 2020 season if the two sides go with a strictly prorated interpretation of the qualifiers.
  • Bryan Shaw, RHP, Rockies: Shaw has the same 110-game target for 2019-20 that Miller and Herrera have. He pitched 70 times in 2019 and needed just 40 appearances in 2020 to lock in a $9MM salary for the 2021 campaign.
  • Jake McGee, LHP, Rockies: With 60 games pitched or 40 games finished in 2020, McGee would’ve locked in a $9MM salary for the 2021 season. His contract also allowed the option to vest with a with 110 games between 2019-20, but he only pitched in 45 contests last year.
  • Stephen Vogt, C, Diamondbacks: Vogt’s contract included a $3MM club option that not only vests but increases to a $3.5MM base upon starting 45 games and appearing n a total of 75 games overall.
  • Dee Gordon, 2B/SS/OF, Mariners: Gordon would’ve been guaranteed a $14MM salary for the 2021 season with 600 plate appearances this year. That, of course, was extremely unlikely in the first place, though.

Beyond those options, there are myriad escalator clauses throughout baseball that could be impacted by the shortened schedule. It’s fairly common for club options and/or future salaries to be boosted by steady performance — particularly among players returning from injury. Take Dellin Betances, for instance. His contract with the Mets calls for the value of next year’s $6MM player option to increase by $800K upon pitching in 40 games. He’d receive additional $1MM boosts to that figure for appearing in 50, 60 and 70 games apiece.

The league and the union are also still discussing potential retention bonuses for six-year veterans on non-guaranteed deals. In a typical year, any player with six-plus years of service who finished the preceding season on a 40-man roster qualifies as an Article XX(B) free agent. Such players must either be added to the 40-man roster, released five days prior to Opening Day or paid a $100K retention bonus to remain with the club in the minor leagues. Many players in that situation are released and quickly re-signed to a new minor league deal, but that won’t be possible in 2020 due to the fact that players who are removed from a team’s 60-man pool become ineligible to return to that team this season.

Yankees Sign Matt Duffy, Re-Sign Dan Otero, Place Luis Severino On 60-Day IL

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The Yankees announced their 60-player Spring Training player pool earlier today, a list that included a couple of new faces to the organization.  New York announced that infielder Matt Duffy and catcher Max McDowell were signed to minor league contracts, while righty Dan Otero was released from his previous minors deal with the club and re-signed to a new pact.  In addition, right-hander Luis Severino was officially placed on the 60-day injured list in the wake of his Tommy John surgery last February.

Duffy was most recently a member of the Rangers organization, though Texas announced earlier today that Duffy had been released.  It didn’t take him long to catch on with another team, as Duffy will now return to the AL East in the pinstripes after spending the last four seasons with the Rays.

Acquired in the 2016 trade that saw Matt Moore go from Tampa to San Francisco, the Rays had hopes that Duffy would become an everyday infielder, though Duffy was plagued by injuries.  Duffy did manage a solid .294/.361/.366 slash line over 560 PA and 132 games for Tampa Bay in 2018, though that performance was sandwiched between missing the entire 2017 season and only 46 games played in 2019.  Duffy has worked mostly as a third baseman, though he has enough experience at second base and shortstop that could provide utility depth for the Yankees if he cracks the MLB roster.

McDowell joins the Yankees after spending his five pro seasons with the Brewers, who selected him in the 13th round of the 2015 draft.  McDowell has hit .232/.335/.323 over 1417 career plate appearances in the minors.

It’s safe to assume that Otero’s new deal overwrites some type of opt-out clause in his previous minor league pact, signed back in early February.  The 35-year-old groundball specialist is looking to bounce back from a pair of shaky seasons in Cleveland’s bullpen, as Otero had a lot of trouble with home runs (1.8 HR/9) when batters did manage to get the ball in the air against him.  Otero’s 5.09 ERA in 88 1/3 innings over the last two seasons stands in sharp contrast to his 2016-17 numbers — a 2.14 ERA, 5.00 K/BB rate, and 6.5 K/9 over 130 2/3 frames for the Tribe.

Yankees Announce Initial 60-Man Player Pool

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Today marks the deadline for teams to submit to Major League Baseball their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.

Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.

The Yankees’ initial player pool consists of the following players.

Right-handed pitchers

Left-handed pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Yankees Sign First-Rounder Austin Wells

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The Yankees have signed 28th overall pick Austin Wells, he announced on Twitter. The catcher agreed to a $2.5MM bonus, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports. That just about matches the $2,493,900 recommended slot value of his selection.

The Yankees have long been after Wells, whom they drafted in the 35th round in 2018. But Wells elected to attend the University of Arizona, where he upped his stock by slashing .357/.476/.560 with seven home runs in 351 plate appearances. As a result, the 20-year-old went into this month’s draft ranking in the vicinity of where the Yankees took him, as Baseball America rated Wells 21st among available prospects, MLB.com placed him 27th, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel put him at 36, FanGraphs had him 40th, and he checked in at 44 on the list of Keith Law of The Athletic.

As his numbers with the Wildcats show, Wells thrived as a hitter in college, and MLB.com writes he “has power to all fields, with good timing and a simple setup at the plate.” There are questions over whether Wells will make it as a catcher in the pros, but his bat and athleticism could make him a viable first baseman or corner outfielder if he doesn’t stick at his current spot. MLB.com likens Wells to the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber, an ex-catcher who has become a slugging outfielder in the majors.

Chad Bettis To Retire

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Veteran right-hander Chad Bettis is retiring from baseball, Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets. The 31-year-old Bettis was on a minor league contract with the Yankees, who signed him in February.

“Today I am walking away from the game with my head held high, knowing that I pushed my body as far as it could go physically,” Bettis told Groke.

Bettis entered pro baseball as a 2010 second-round pick of the Rockies, with whom he topped out as Baseball America’s 86th-ranked prospect in 2012. He made his major league debut with Colorado a year later and went on to enjoy multiple solid seasons with the club, despite having to call hitter-friendly Coors Field home. Bettis peaked from 2015-16, a 301-inning stretch in which he recorded a 4.57 ERA/4.11 FIP with 7.06 K/9, 3.02 BB/9, a 50.5 percent groundball rate and 4.5 fWAR.

Unfortunately, Bettis’ effectiveness declined after those two seasons, thanks in part to serious health problems. Bettis underwent surgery for testicular cancer before the 2017 campaign, though he did make his return to the majors later that year and appear with the Rockies in each of the two ensuing seasons. But a hip impingement slowed Bettis last season, after which the Rockies outrighted him.

Bettis’ career, all of which was spent with the Rockies, concludes with 600 2/3 innings of 5.12 ERA/4.59 FIP ball. MLBTR wishes him the best in retirement.

Latest On Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton

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Had the regular season started when it was supposed to in late March, the Yankees would have had to go without the face of their franchise, right fielder Aaron Judge, for a lengthy period of time. A right rib fracture and a punctured lung slowed Judge during the first version of spring training this year, but the slugger now has a chance to be in the Yankees’ season-opening lineup in a month, Erik Boland of Newsday reports.

Judge, whose injury problems first cropped up in February, has finally returned to hitting off a tee, per Boland. While that doesn’t mean he’ll be ready for Game 1 of the Yankees’ season, it’s still a a positive development for the club, which would have opened a normal season without three of its best outfield options in Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks. Each player was shelved with injuries during the spring, though we now know Hicks expects to return from his October 2019 Tommy John procedure once the season starts.

Like Hicks, Stanton – who dealt with a calf strain during the spring – is a near certainty right now to be part of New York’s opener, according to Boland. Injuries have been a major problem dating back to last season for Stanton, whose second year as a Yankee consisted of a mere 18 games.

Aaron Hicks ‘Ready To Play’ If MLB Season Returns

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Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks would be “ready to play” if the MLB season returns in July, he tells George A. King III of the New York Post. Hicks underwent Tommy John Surgery last October.

It seems Hicks has progressed as hoped throughout rehab. The procedure initially called for an eight to ten month recovery time, and the 30-year-old looks to be coming in at the early end of that timetable. He has been taking batting practice for two months without issue, he tells King, and has progressed to throwing from 160 feet and taking outfield drills.

Myriad challenges (coronavirus upticks in certain states, a messy labor dispute) remain for there to be a season at all, of course. If MLB were to get games off the ground, the Yankees would certainly be thrilled to welcome Hicks back. A flexor strain helped limit Hicks to 255 plate appearances over 59 games last season, the first of the seven year, $70MM extension he signed last February.

Injury-plagued 2019 notwithstanding, Hicks had emerged as one of the league’s better outfielders over the prior two seasons. Between 2017-18, he hit .255/.368/.470 (128 wRC+) over 942 plate appearances with slightly above-average defensive metrics in center.

Four Members Of Yankees Organization Test Positive For COVID-19

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Four people in the Yankees organization have tested positive for the coronavirus, reports George A. King III of the New York Post. Training in Tampa, the Yankees are the latest team based in Florida to have reported positive tests, along with the Phillies (Clearwater) and the Blue Jays (Dunedin).

After administering tests on Friday, further results are pending and the number of cases in the organization could very well climb in the coming days. Needless to say, Yankees facilities in Tampa have been closed and private workouts held at George M. Steinbrenner Field have been suspended.

According to King III, at least three of the people who have contracted are staff members, two of whom work at Steinbrenner Field while the other two “have ties to the nearby minor league complex.” In March, two players in the Yankees minor league system tested positive for the virus shortly after Spring Training was put on hold.

Earlier today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that any potential continuation of spring training for the Yankees and Mets will take place in their home ballparks in New York rather than their typical stations in Florida. While New York has seen a lower infection rate than other states, Florida is in the midst of a substantial increase in cases.

It’s worth mentioning that the Mets have had one player test positive for the virus in recent months—as reported by Andy Martino of SNY—though that player was away from the team’s spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, so as of today there is no requirement for further testing of those at the camp. Nonetheless, they will transition their workouts back to their home ballpark, and quite soon: Cuomo stated that the organization will move forward with a “soft training camp reopening” next week.

Quick Hits: Spring Training Sites, James Loney, Alex Cora

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Given the spike of coronavirus cases in Florida and Arizona, the Mets and Yankees are both planning on moving their spring facilities to New York for the time being, per MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman. Any potential 2020 season is likely to be heavily dependent upon regional play, so it makes a certain amount of sense for both New York franchises to get settled into their home state (especially considering the rash of breakouts that caused all 30 teams to shut down their training facilities for the time being). The Mets and Yankees might not be the only clubs making this move, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that all MLB clubs will be moving their spring training to their home cities. Nightengale does add the caveat that the Blue Jays may stay in Florida for the time being, and there were as many as five teams on Friday with thoughts of staying in Florida (Twitter links).

Let’s check in on other news from around the game…

  • Former Dodgers first baseman James Loney has been hired by the GEM Agency in an advisory role, tweets Robert Murray. GEM launched in October 2019 based out of Dallas, Texas. They rep current big leaguers Justin Turner, Tommy Pham, and Roberto Osuna – which are all tracked in MLBTR’s Agency Database. Loney played 11 seasons in the big leagues, with his most productive years coming with the Dodgers from 2006 to 2012. He was eventually traded to the Boston Red Sox in the Dodgers’ monster deal for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto. Loney would play just half a season in Boston before going on to post a pair of productive years with the Rays. He finished his playing career in 2016 as a 32-year-old with the New York Mets. For his career, the southpaw first baseman put up a line of .284/.336/.410 with 108 home runs in 5,487 plate appearances.
  • Alex Cora will be eligible to return to Major League Baseball in 2021, and the former Red Sox skipper would love to return to the managing ranks, Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe writes. How soon there will be interest in Cora as a manager remains to be seen given his role in the investigations into both the Astros and Red Sox sign-stealing allegations. Still, he has a tremendous track record in his short time as the Red Sox manager. Like many of us, Cora remains in wait-and-see mode for the time being. Said Cora, “If this was a regular time and they were playing games, I would say yes [to managing in 2021]. I would love to be back in 2021 in some capacity. I love managing at the big league level.  But right now, I’m still kind of like putting my game plan together. It’s not where I want it to be. But obviously with everything that’s going on, with my daughter going into her senior year of high school, we as a family have to see what we want to do.”
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