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Yankees Checked In On Enrique Hernandez, Yoan Moncada

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As the Yankees continue to looking for infield help, the team has shown some degree of interest this offseason in Enrique Hernandez and Yoan Moncada, the New York Post’s Mark W. Sanchez writes.  Regarding Moncada, Sanchez writes that the club asked for Moncada’s medicals “early in the offseason,” but a source tells Sanchez “the Yankees have [since] not re-engaged” on the former White Sox third baseman.

This isn’t the first time that the Yankees have been linked to Hernandez, as New York was a finalist for the veteran utilityman’s services when he was a free agent last winter.  Hernandez instead re-signed with the Dodgers to a one-year, $4MM deal, and the decision paid off in the form of another championship ring.  The Yankees got a direct look at Hernandez during the postseason, when he hit .278/.316/.389 over 20 plate appearances during the Dodgers’ five-game triumph over the Bronx Bombers in the World Series.

There hasn’t been any public buzz about Hernandez’s free agent market this offseason, which could be due to the perception (as Sanchez notes) that a reunion with the Dodgers is inevitable.  Today, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “The door will never be closed on Kiké” at DodgerFest.

Los Angeles could be waiting until Spring Training opens and roster space can be created when players are shifted to the 60-day injured list, but until that happens, another team could theoretically be able to swoop in and make Hernandez a more attractive offer.

For instance, New York could offer Hernandez more playing time than he might find on the crowded L.A. roster.  The right-handed hitting Hernandez could complement Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Cody Bellinger (both left-handed bats) on the infield or in center field, or complement the switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez in left field.  Hernandez’s versatility gives the Yankees even more flexibility in figuring out Chisholm’s eventual position at either second base or third base, and in deciding how DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza all fit into the roster picture.

Hernandez’s offense has tended to ebb and flow over the course of his 11-year MLB career, balancing out at a .238/.308/.405 slash line and 93 wRC+ over 3896 career PA.  Come October, however, Hernandez has surged to hit .278/.353/.522 in 259 postseason PA with the Dodgers and Red Sox, earning the 33-year-old a reputation as a big-game player.  This kind of production from an unheralded spot on the roster could be just what the Yankees need to take that final step towards another title after falling short to Los Angeles this past season.

Moncada hasn’t played second base since the 2018 season, so he would more directly slot into the third base mix if he indeed ended up in New York.  Sanchez’s note about the Yankees’ seeming lack of follow-up about Moncada might indicate that the Bombers were simply doing a due-diligence ask and have since moved onto other targets.  The Mariners, Cubs, and Blue Jays are among the clubs who have also been linked to Moncada this offseason, as he begins a new chapter in his career after the White Sox declined their $25MM club option on the infielder last fall.

Chicago’s decision came as no surprise given how Moncada played in only 12 games in 2024 due to a left adductor strain, though that total could’ve been bumped up by a few games had the White Sox not sparingly used Moncada after he was activated from the 60-day injured list in mid-September.  It marked a tough end to an up-and-down eight-season run for Moncada on the South Side, as he hit .254/.332/.425 over 3122 PA in a White Sox uniform.  Much more was expected given Moncada’s past status as an elite prospect, and the five-year, $70MM extension he signed with the Sox prior to the 2020 season.

Now looking to rebuild his value after a few injury-marred seasons, Moncada might have to settle for a minor league contract given this increasingly late date in the offseason, or a low-cost one-year guarantee.  The amount of interest Moncada has received indicates that multiple teams believe he might have some change-of-scenery potential once removed from what became an increasingly dismal situation in Chicago.

Max Scherzer Hosts Workout For Several Teams

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It’s been a relatively quiet offseason with regard to chatter on future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer. The three-time Cy Young winner was limited to nine starts of 3.95 ERA ball for the Rangers in 2024. He missed time early in the year while recovering from offseason back surgery and was also sidelined by a nerve issue in his hand, shoulder fatigue and a strained hamstring. It’s a length list of issues, particularly for a pitcher who turned 40 last summer.

Still, Scherzer has been preparing to pitch in 2025 and recently held a workout for scouts, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. SI.com’s Pat Ragazzo reported recently that the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Braves, Red Sox and Cubs were among those who were represented at the showcase. (That’s not necessarily an exhaustive list of teams.)

The Blue Jays have been the team most prominently linked to Scherzer thus far in the offseason, and Feinsand indeed suggests that Toronto has been the most serious suitor for Scherzer. Ragazzo adds that the Mets have “some level of interest” in bringing Scherzer back on a one-year deal. Time will tell whether the right-hander’s recent showcase for scouts drums up any new bidders, but Feinsand quotes one showcase attendee who suggested that Scherzer looked good — not up to his prior Cy Young standards but still “good enough to be an effective starter.”

At least in the 43 1/3 innings Scherzer managed amid all those maladies in 2024, that looked to be the case. In addition to his previously mentioned 3.95 ERA, the right-hander fanned 22.6% of opponents (roughly average) with a terrific 5.6% walk rate. His once-95-mph fastball sat at a career-low average of 92.5 mph in 2024, however, and he dealt with home run troubles for a second straight year (1.65 HR/9 in 2023, 1.45 in 2024). The righty’s swinging-strike rate (14.6%) remained excellent, but most of those whiffs came off the plate. Scherzer’s opponents made contact on 83.1% of swings within the strike zone — his highest level since 2011.

For the Jays, Scherzer wouldn’t need to reprise his status as an ace, however. Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios have the top three spots in the rotation. Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodriguez follow, but Francis has minor league options remaining and Rodriguez could move back into the bullpen. Toronto’s pitching depth, in general, is somewhat shaky with Alek Manoah on the mend from elbow surgery and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann missing most of the 2024 season due to injury. Rotation candidates beyond the top five include prospects Jake Bloss and Adam Macko as well as non-roster invitees Adam Kloffenstein and Eric Lauer.

The Mets have a more crowded staff, but president of baseball operations David Stearns is known for hoarding depth. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn and reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes make up the starting staff right now. Swingmen Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill could get looks, too, as could top prospect Brandon Sproat. Fitting Scherzer into the puzzle is a bit of a challenge, particularly given the 110% luxury task the Mets are facing.

Yankees Planning To Play Jasson Dominguez In Left Field

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone appeared on WFAN with Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata this afternoon. He fielded a few questions about the team’s position player mix.

Boone indicated that his starting outfield was likely to comprise Jasson Domínguez in left field, Cody Bellinger in center, and Aaron Judge in right. Trent Grisham is ticketed for a fourth outfield role. The eighth-year skipper suggested he hoped to keep Domínguez mostly in left field while using Bellinger a bit more flexibly. He noted that there’ll be days when Judge serves as a designated hitter while Giancarlo Stanton gets a day off. In those instances, Grisham would likely draw into center field with Bellinger kicking over to right.

The most notable aspect is that the Yankees are preparing for Domínguez to get everyday run. Owner Hal Steinbrenner made similar comments in an interview with Meredith Marakovitz of the YES Network this afternoon. “I see him as the starting left fielder,” Steinbrenner replied when asked about Domínguez’s role. “There’ll be a lot of meetings and discussions in Spring Training obviously and we’ll see how he performs and how he feels, but everybody’s very excited about him.”

Domínguez, who turns 22 next month, should be ticketed for his first extended big league audition. He drilled four homers in eight games as a 20-year-old back in 2023. An elbow injury then ended his season and required Tommy John surgery that shelved him into the middle of June. New York seemed reluctant to give Domínguez regular run fresh off the injury. He bounced on and off the active roster for the final six weeks of the season, though the Yanks stuck with Alex Verdugo as their everyday player in left field. Domínguez got into 18 games and struggled to a .179/.313/.304 slash.

The switch-hitting outfielder remains one of the game’s top young talents. Baseball America ranked Domínguez as New York’s top prospect and among the sport’s 30 best prospects on their updated Top 100 list. He has been a strong performer in the minors. Domínguez has a .253/.360/.430 line across parts of three Double-A seasons and carries a huge .325/.391/.495 mark in 230 plate appearances with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Boone added that with the current roster makeup, he views Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the starter at second base. He named DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza as players who could battle for playing time at third base. New York has been linked to free agents Jorge Polanco and Brendan Rodgers, so there’s still a chance for an acquisition to push Chisholm back to the hot corner.

Chisholm has only started two games at second base since 2022. He played there regularly with the Marlins early in his career before moving to center field. Miami brought him back into the infield shortly before last summer’s deadline in a thinly veiled effort to expand his versatility to trade partners.

The Yankees acquired him and installed him at third base in deference to Gleyber Torres. Chisholm played his first 400 career innings at the hot corner in the Bronx. Statcast graded him highly in that sample, though Defensive Runs Saved had him slightly below average. Both metrics have given Chisholm plus grades for his second base work. He has a little more than 1300 career innings at the position, most of which came between 2021-22.

Steinbrenner: Yankees Plan To Discuss Extension With Aaron Boone

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Aaron Boone is headed into his eighth season as Yankees manager. He’s on track to enter the year in a lame duck capacity. The Yankees exercised their club option on Boone’s services in November. That’s the extent of their activity thus far, as Boone said a few days later that there’d been no talk about a long-term deal.

It seems that’s only a matter of time. Owner Hal Steinbrenner tells Meredith Marakovitz of the YES Network that they plan to open extension talks with their manager in the near future. “We will be talking with him in the days and weeks to come. … There’ll be conversations had with him about potentially staying longer,” Steinbrenner told Marakovitz. He declined to specify a timeline but left open the possibility for discussions to take place during the season, though he added generally that talks “will happen sooner rather than later.”

Teams typically prefer to avoid having managers or top front office personnel working on expiring contracts. That’s not a uniform rule, though, and the Yankees themselves allowed Boone to manage as a lame duck for nearly the entire 2021 season. With his deal set to expire at the conclusion of that year’s World Series, the sides hammered out a three-year extension in the middle of October. That included the aforementioned club option on which Boone will manage the upcoming season.

Like any manager of the Yankees, Boone has found himself under scrutiny from the fanbase over the years. The organization has maintained faith in his ability throughout his tenure. Boone has led the team to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons, with their 82-win showing in 2023 as the lone exception. They reached their biggest heights of Boone’s tenure last year. They knocked off the Guardians to win their first American League pennant since 2009. A five-game defeat to the Dodgers in the Fall Classic extended their title drought to 15 seasons.

While the season ended on a sour note with the Yankees relinquishing a five-run lead in the World Series clincher, it seemed inevitable they would maintain continuity on the coaching staff. Their only change came at assistant pitching coach after Desi Druschel departed to take the same job with the Mets. Boone is the second-longest tenured manager in the AL behind Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash. He’s the seventh longest-tenured manager in the majors. The Yankees have topped 90 wins in five of his six full schedules at the helm. Boone holds a 603-429 record (58.4% win percentage) overall.

Poll: Will The Yankees Be Able To Trade Marcus Stroman?

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When AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil established himself as a foundational piece for the Yankees’ rotation, that left the club with an interesting dilemma: the club had more starters than space in the rotation. While trading Nestor Cortes to the Brewers in the deal that brought closer Devin Williams into the fold helped to unclog the rotation somewhat, the deal only came after the Yankees had already added Max Fried. With Fried joining Gil, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Marcus Stroman in the rotation mix, the club still has more starters than rotation spots available.

That’s led to plenty of speculation that another trade could be coming down the pipeline for the Yankees, with Stroman sticking out as the likeliest to move. The club has reportedly been shopping the veteran righty throughout the winter, and is said to be willing to pay down a portion of the veteran’s $18.5MM salary in order to get a deal done. It’s a sensible goal for the Yankees, given thatt those dollars could be reallocated to help bolster second or third base. Assuming Jazz Chisholm Jr. moves back to second base, some combination of DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza project to man the hot corner.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Stroman is coming off the worst season of his career. The veteran posted a decent 4.31 ERA (95 ERA+) in 154 2/3 innings of work. That’s serviceable production for the back of a rotation, but a look under the hood reveals some worrying trends. Stroman posted career-worst numbers in terms of strikeout rate (16.7%), walk rate (8.9%), groundball rate (49.2%), and barrel rate (6.7%). That across-the-board decline in skills combined with his fastball velocity being nearly two ticks down from 2023 left him with a FIP that was 10% worse than league average and a 4.74 SIERA that was better than only Griffin Canning, Tyler Anderson, and Chris Flexen among all pitchers (min. 150 innings). While Stroman has been a fairly consistent three-WAR player throughout his career to this point, the wide-ranging decline in peripherals reduces optimism for a substantial bounceback in 2025 — his age-34 season.

Recent deals for veteran back-of-the-rotation arms suggest Stroman is overpaid, but perhaps not egregiously so. Alex Cobb landed a $15MM guarantee after making just three starts in 2024. Tomoyuki Sugano is 35 years old and has never thrown an MLB pitch; he commanded $13MM nonetheless. His 41-year-old rotation-mate in Baltimore, Charlie Morton, secured a $15MM guarantee of his own. It shouldn’t be all that difficult for the Yankees to find a taker for Stroman if they were able to pay down his salary to, say, the $10-12MM range that more well-regarded back-end veterans like Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and others have been able to find in free agency in recent years.

That would seemingly allow the Yankees plenty of flexibility to sign an infielder, but one other obstacle to a Stroman deal is the veteran’s 2026 vesting option. If the right-hander pitches 140 innings in 2025, his 2026 option will vest and become an $18MM player option for the 2026 season. It seems unlikely that Stroman would turn that option down without a major bounceback season, meaning that an acquiring team that wishes to avoid that outcome would have to find a way to limit him to just 140 innings this year. That’s far from impossible, seeing as the righty posted back-to-back seasons with fewer innings than that benchmark with the Cubs in 2022 and ’23, but barring significant IL time, Stroman’s new club may need to move him to the bullpen at some point.

How do MLBTR readers think things will shake out? Will the Yankees be able to get a Stroman deal done? And if so, how much of his salary will they have to pay down to make a trade happen? Have your say in the poll below:

Yankees Claim Roansy Contreras

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The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras off waivers from the Orioles. Baltimore designated Contreras for assignment last week. He’ll now return to his original organization. The Yanks signed Contreras as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. He spent nearly five years in their organization and emerged as one of their better pitching prospects before being included in the trade netting righty Jameson Taillon from the Pirates in Jan. 2021. Coincidentally, today’s claim comes on the eve of that trade’s four-year anniversary.

At the time of the trade, Contreras was quite well regarded. His first season in the Pirates organization did nothing to dull that reputation. In 13 starts between Double-A and Triple-A, he logged a 2.64 ERA with plus strikeout and walk rates. The Bucs game him his MLB debut late in the season, and he fired three scoreless relief innings that December. In 2022, Contreras looked like he’d grabbed hold of a long-term rotation spot in the Steel City. He appeared in 21 games, 18 of them starts, and notched a 3.79 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. Both of those rates were a bit worse than average, but for a 22-year-old in his first big league season, it was hard not to be impressed.

The following season, however, Contreras lost more than a mile per hour off his fastball and saw opponents ambush him for a 6.59 earned run average across 68 1/3 MLB frames. He was hit hard in Triple-A, too, barely keeping his ERA under 5.00 in eight trips to the hill.

Out of minor league options and losing his grip on a roster spot, Contreras was designated for assignment by the Pirates back in May. The Angels picked him up in a cash swap and leaned on him for 52 innings of low-leverage relief. Contreras held his own with a 4.33 ERA and more questionable rate stats (17.9 K%, 10.6 BB%).

Since the end of the season, Contreras has bounced from the Angels to the Rangers to the Reds to the Orioles and now to the Yankees — all by way of waivers. On the one hand, the constant DFAs are surely a point of frustration. On the other, the fact that he’s yet to make it through waivers and has been with one-sixth of the league since the end of the season alone illustrates that clubs still believe there’s at least a competent MLB reliever to be unlocked.

If he lasts on the 40-man roster, Contreras will compete for a bullpen spot this spring. He’s out of minor league options, so he’d have to make the Opening Day roster or else be yet again jettisoned from a 40-man roster by way of DFA/waiver placement or perhaps a small trade.

Yankees Claim Allan Winans

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The Yankees have claimed right-hander Allan Winans off waivers from the Braves, who designated him for assignment earlier in the week, as first reported by Chase Ford of MiLB Central.

The 29-year-old Winans saw big league time with the Braves in both 2023 and 2024. He’s been hit hard in the majors, yielding a 7.20 ERA in 40 frames, but has a strong track record in Triple-A. Through 256 innings at the top minor league level, Winans sports a 3.26 ERA, 21.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. He has a minor league option remaining, making him a candidate to give the Yankees some depth in the starting staff or length out of the bullpen.

Winans sits just 90-91 mph with his four-seamer and 89-90 mph with his sinker, coupling those offerings with a low-80s changeup and upper-70s slider. He’s excelled at limiting walks and piling up weak contact throughout his time in Triple-A, which has helped to offset below-average velocity and bat-missing capabilities. Major league hitters haven’t made hard contact with much frequency, but the hard contact he does allow tends to be quite loud; he’s averaged 1.80 homers per nine frames and allowed 10% of his batted balls to be barreled up, per Statcast.

The Yankees have multiple open spots on their 40-man roster, so they won’t necessarily need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Winans. He’ll compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster this spring, but with a crowded rotation that could lead to a trade of Marcus Stroman and a generally veteran bullpen, the Yankees seem likelier to open the year with Winans in Triple-A — assuming he remains on the 40-man roster for the rest of the offseason.

Lou Trivino Works Out For Teams

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Free-agent righty Lou Trivino threw a bullpen session for interested clubs down in Florida yesterday, reports SI’s Pat Ragazzo. The incumbent Yankees were on hand to take a look, as were the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Reds, Royals and Guardians, per the report. That’s not an exhaustive list of the teams in attendance, but it speaks to a decent level of intrigue surrounding the 33-year-old Trivino, who’s on the mend from a series of arm injuries that have kept him off a big league mound since 2022.

Trivino was traded from the A’s to the Yankees alongside Frankie Montas back in 2022 and posted a pristine 1.66 ERA in 21 2/3 frames following his cross-country move to the Bronx. His 2023 season was torpedoed by an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, however, and lingering elbow inflammation as well as a shoulder issue prevented Trivino from returning to the majors in 2024. He pitched 11 minor league frames as part of a rehab assignment before that shoulder issue popped up and shut him down.

At his best, Trivino throws hard, misses bats and picks up grounders at a well above-average rate. He averaged just shy of 96 mph on his four-seamer and sinker alike in the three seasons prior to his elbow troubles, and Trivino has whiffed nearly one-quarter of his MLB opponents while keeping 47.4% of batted balls against him on the ground. His command has never been great, evidenced by a 10.6% walk rate in the majors, but he was a key late-inning arm both in Oakland and more briefly in New York. He sports a career 3.86 ERA with 37 saves and 52 holds.

Ragazzo notes that Trivino was hitting 94 mph on his sinker in the workout for clubs. Obviously, that’s a ways shy of peak velocity, but spring training hasn’t even begun yet. It stands to reason that with a ramp-up period, Trivino could gain a bit more of that velocity back. A return to his 97 mph averages from early in his career — or even the 95.8 mph he averaged in ’22 — isn’t a certainty, but it’s at least relatively encouraging that he’s already within reach of his pre-injury velocity before even getting to work with a team.

Any of the clubs mentioned could make sense as a fit for Trivino, though if he’s looking for a clear path back to the big leagues, the Dodgers’ veteran-laden bullpen probably doesn’t offer that. (That said, L.A. has a knack for maximizing pitcher performance, which surely does hold appeal to a rehabbing veteran like Trivino.) The Yankees traded for Trivino once and re-signed him to a major league deal after non-tendering him post-2023. They clearly like him, though they only have three optionable relievers at the moment: Jake Cousins, Ian Hamilton and Fernando Cruz. The former two had strong seasons in the Bronx in 2024, while the latter was just acquired in the trade of Jose Trevino.

Yankees Hire Preston Claiborne As Assistant Pitching Coach

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The Yankees announced their full 2025 coaching staff this morning. The only change from last year is the hiring of Preston Claiborne as an assistant pitching coach. Desi Druschel held that role for the last three seasons before taking the same job with the Mets at the start of the winter.

It’s a nice birthday gift for Claiborne, who turns 37 today. He’s a former major league reliever who made 62 appearances with the Yankees between 2013-14. Claiborne played professionally until 2018. He began his coaching career two years later as a pitching instructor in the low minors of the New York system. Claiborne most recently served as pitching coach for the organization’s Low-A affiliate. This will be his first position on an MLB staff.

Aaron Boone is bringing back the rest of his group for what’ll be his eighth season at the helm in the Bronx. The remainder of the staff is as follows: bench coach Brad Ausmus, hitting coach James Rowson, pitching coach Matt Blake, bullpen coach Mike Harkey, assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes and Pat Roessler, first base coach Travis Chapman, third base coach Luis Rojas, and director of catching Tanner Swanson.

Yankees Acquire Michael Arias

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The Yankees announced that they have acquired right-hander Michael Arias from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations. The latter club had designated Arias for assignment earlier this week. The Yankees have multiple 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

Arias, 23, was originally an international signing of the Blue Jays. Signed as a shortstop, he was released and then signed by the Cubs, who moved him to the mound. Arias has shown some potential as a pitcher but lack of control has been the biggest drawback, which isn’t especially surprising for a guy who has only been in this role for a few years.

Overall, Arias has thrown 182 innings across multiple levels over the past four years, allowing 4.25 earned runs per nine. His 27.7% strikeout rate in that time is a solid number, but his 16.5% walk rate is quite high.

Despite the issues, the Cubs added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2023 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. His control didn’t improve in 2024, as he tossed 60 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.77 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate. When the Cubs signed Colin Rea, they bumped Arias off the roster.

For the Yankees, they have a few roster spots open, so there’s little harm in taking a flier. Arias still has a couple of options and can be kept in the minors as they try to help him harness his stuff better. Per Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs, his arsenal includes “a mid-90s sinker, a potentially plus-plus changeup, and a righty-dowsing slider.”

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