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Yankees Receiving Trade Interest In Mike Tauchman

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11:00am: Eight clubs have contacted the Yankees about Tauchman, Martino tweets.

9:10am: The Yankees are receiving trade interest in outfielder Mike Tauchman, SNY’s Andy Martino reports. They’re looking past his 2020 season and valuing him more in line with his 2019 output, per Martino, who adds that it’d take a reliever with some team control or another piece with legitimate value for the Yanks to part with the 30-year-old outfielder.

That teams are inquiring on Tauchman comes as little surprise at this juncture of Spring Training. He’s out of minor league options and looks to be without much of a path to regular playing time, given the presence of Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton all on the roster.

The Yankees also have veterans Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich in camp on non-roster deals. Bruce, in particular, has been rumored to pique the Yankees’ interest. Neither has put together a particularly overwhelming spring performance thus far, but both are left-handed bats with pop who could bring some versatility to the mix. While Tauchman is capable of playing all three outfield spots, he doesn’t have any experience in the infield. Bruce has spent a good bit of time at first base, however, and Dietrich can play second base in addition to all four corner positions.

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone acknowledged the looming decisions after yesterday’s game, telling reporters: “The reality is we — and a few of our players — have decisions to make in the next 24, 48, 72 hours,” (link via the New York Post’s Dan Martin). “But no decision has been made as of right now.”

Bruce’s minor league deal with the club contained an opt-out clause yesterday, which gives the Yankees 48 hours to put him on the roster. There’s no formal indication that Bruce triggered that clause, although there’s little reason for him not to have done so. Exercising the clause puts pressure on the Yankees and, if he’s not going to make the Opening Day roster in the Bronx, gives him the opportunity to pursue a roster spot with another club.

Martino has suggested it’s possible that both Tauchman and Bruce make the Opening Day roster, with infielder Tyler Wade being optioned to Triple-A to begin the season, although that’s obviously not the most ideal scenario for the Yankees. Doing so would mean a bench of Gardner, Tauchman, Bruce and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka. Each of Gio Urshela, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu can play multiple spots around the infield, but there’s not much of a safety net on the bench if one of them needs to depart a game with an injury. Keeping Dietrich, who has ample experience at both second base and third base, would be a cleaner fit in the event that Wade is optioned.

The simplest course of action for the Yankees would be to let Bruce and Dietrich pursue other opportunities, keeping Tauchman and Wade both on the bench to begin the season. However, there’s a case to be made that Tauchman is somewhat redundant with Gardner back in the fold and so many other outfield options on the roster. And with the Yankees losing Zack Britton for up to four months and Justin Wilson working through some shoulder tightness — yesterday’s MRI came back clean — it could work to their benefit if they could pry a useful reliever away from another club in a deal for Tauchman.

The 2020 season was a rough one for Tauchman, who played through a shoulder injury and recently acknowledged (via Martin in the previously linked piece) that he “developed some bad swing-path patterns” while trying to compensate for the pain he was experiencing. Tauchman hit just .242/.342/.305 in 111 plate appearances last season, maintaining the strong plate discipline he displayed from 2017-19 but showing nowhere near the power he did the prior year.

The 2019 season was a breakout campaign for Tauchman, whom the Yankees plucked from the Rockies in exchange for lefty Phillip Diehl. In 296 plate appearances with the Yankees that year, Tauchman slashed .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until next winter, and the Yankees control Tauchman through the 2024 season.

Justin Wilson's MRI Comes Back Negative

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  • Justin Wilson went for an MRI after leaving Monday’s game with tightness in his pitching shoulder. Those tests came back negative, the Yankees announced this afternoon. Manager Aaron Boone called the result “pretty good news,” but it isn’t clear if Wilson will be ready for Opening Day, relays Lindsey Adler of the Athletic (Twitter link).

Yankees Notes: Wilson, Andujar

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  • Yankees left-handed reliever Justin Wilson departed Monday’s game with tightness in his pitching shoulder and will undergo an MRI on Tuesday, the team announced. Wilson’s importance to the Yankees increased when fellow lefty Zack Britton underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery a couple weeks ago, but now it looks possible that the club will begin the year without the top two southpaw setup men in its bullpen. Wilson was a notable offseason pickup for the Yankees, who signed him to a one-year, $4MM guarantee.
  • In further unfortunate news for the Yankees, the right hand/wrist issue that has kept third baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar out for the past week isn’t healing quickly. Andujar won’t return to game action “anytime soon,” manager Aaron Boone informed Erik Boland of Newsday and other reporters. Health problems have slowed Andujar since he burst on the scene with a terrific rookie campaign in 2018. Shoulder troubles limited him to 12 games in 2019, when Gio Urshela took his third base job, and then he hit an uninspiring .242/.277/.355 with one homer in 65 plate appearances last year. Even if he stayed healthy this spring, Andujar probably would not have earned a major league roster spot.

Yankees Trying To Keep Tauchman

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  • The assumption for the past few weeks has been that the Yankees are trying to decide between Jay Bruce and Mike Tauchman for their final bench spot. The latest from Andy Martino of sny.tv suggests that both might be in a position to make the opening day roster. Rather than DFA Tauchman and risk losing him to waivers, the Yankees are considering optioning infielder Tyler Wade instead. The Yankees have started trying out Gio Urshela at shortstop should they need him to serve as their reserve infielder in an emergency basis. Who, exactly, would step in for Urshela at third in that circumstance isn’t entirely clear. In the unlikely event that Bruce and Tauchman both made the team, Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner would make up the rest of the bench. Presumably, Wade will need to be on this roster sooner rather than later, even if the Yankees use his option to give some extra time to the Bruce vs. Tauchman debate.

Yankees Option Mike Ford, Thairo Estrada

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  • First baseman Mike Ford and infielder Thairo Estrada were among the players the Yankees optioned Friday. The Ford move could be good news for first baseman/outfielder Jay Bruce, a minor league signing who looks more and more likely to earn a season-opening roster spot. Ford’s career began auspiciously in 2019, during which he showed off serious power while limiting strikeouts, but he stumbled to a horrendous .135/.226/.270 line with just two home runs in 84 plate appearances last year. Estrada, who also debuted in 2019, has spent time in both the infield and outfield. He batted a weak .167/.231/.229 over 52 PA in 2020.
  • Righty Garrett Whitlock has emerged as a lock to make the Red Sox bullpen, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. Whitlock – whom the Red Sox took from the Yankees in last December’s Rule 5 Draft – has starred so far this spring, having allowed one earned run while striking out 12 over nine innings. The 24-year-old has also put up stellar numbers in the minors, where he owns a 2.41 ERA in 205 1/3 innings, but hasn’t pitched professionally since he underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2019. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Whitley as Boston’s No. 30 prospect in January.

Yankees Notes: Bruce, Tauchman

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Thanks in part to his ability to play both the corner outfield and first base, Jay Bruce has put himself in the running to make the Yankees’ roster, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes. The Yankees may have to decide in the next week whether to give a spot to Bruce, who can opt out of the minor league contract he signed on March 25. Bruce isn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which is full, so they will have to make a corresponding move if they do add him. That could spell bad news for another outfielder, the out-of-options Mike Tauchman. While Tauchman unexpectedly thrived as both a hitter and defender in his first year as a Yankee in 2019, his production dipped on both ends last season. Tauchman did post a .342 on-base percentage in 111 plate appearances, but it came with a .242 batting average and almost no power (.305 slugging percentage, .063 ISO and zero home runs). Then again, Bruce didn’t exactly hold his own as a Phillie last year, when the veteran power hitter slashed .192/.252/.469 with six HRs over 103 PA.

Yankees Notes: Britton, Andujar

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  • Yankees left-handed reliever Zack Britton’s arthroscopic elbow surgery on Monday went according to plan, manager Aaron Boone announced to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and other reporters. Boone didn’t provide a timeline for when Britton could return, but it was initially reported that the Yankees might go three to four months without their integral setup man. Meanwhile, third baseman Miguel Andujar has “a muscle strain” in his right hand/wrist and “a bit of a nerve issue,” Marly Rivera of ESPN tweets. Again, though, there’s no official word on how long Andujar will have to sit out.

Robinson Chirinos To Undergo Surgery

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MARCH 15: Manager Aaron Boone told Marly Rivera of ESPN and other reporters that Chirinos will undergo surgery Tuesday. He’ll need four to six weeks to recover.

MARCH 11: Catcher Robinson Chirinos has been diagnosed with a fractured right wrist, the Yankees announced.  “Wrist and hand specialists will be consulted in the coming days to determine best next steps,” according to the team’s official statement.  Chirinos suffered the injury after being hit by a pitch during yesterday’s game with the Pirates.

Chirinos was in camp on a minor league deal, signed to provide some catching depth and perhaps give Kyle Higashioka some competition for the backup catching job.  Since Chirinos has been roughly a league-average hitter over his nine MLB seasons, this track record made him perhaps a touch overqualified for the “Spring Training depth catcher” role, which could have been indicative of how the Yankees were approaching the catching position given Gary Sanchez’s struggles in 2020.  However, Chirinos’ chances of making the Opening Day roster are now over, and he could possibly face a lengthy layoff depending on the severity of his fracture.

Bothered by an ankle injury for much of 2020, Chirinos struggled through an ugly season that saw him hit only .162/.232/.243 over 82 combined plate appearances with the Rangers and Mets.  It was a big step back for a catcher who had been a productive bat for much of his career, hitting .234/.329/.439 with 85 homers over 2043 PA with the Rays, Rangers, and Astros from 2011-19.

Andujar, Chirinos To See Specialists

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Miguel Andújar has been held back by soreness in his right hand/wrist area and will see a specialist tomorrow, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Marly Rivera of ESPN and Lindsey Adler of the Athletic). That evaluation will surely provide a clearer diagnosis and timetable for Andújar’s return to action, but this seemingly raises the possibility of a season-opening IL stint. Andújar hasn’t played much over the past two years after a strong rookie season in 2018. The 26-year-old has been frequently mentioned as a possible trade candidate based on the offensive upside he showed a few years ago and his lack of an obvious path to playing time in New York. The Yankees could continue to hold onto him as high-minors depth, though, as Andújar has an option year remaining.

Offseason In Review: New York Yankees

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The Yankees used the winter to re-sign an American League MVP finalist and gamble on a pair of former high-end starters returning to form.

Major League Signings

  • DJ LeMahieu, 2B: Six years, $90MM
  • Corey Kluber, RHP: One year, $11MM
  • Brett Gardner, OF: Two years, $5.15MM (second season is a player option)
  • Justin Wilson, LHP: Two years, $5.15MM (second season is a player option)
  • Darren O’Day, RHP: Two years, $3.15MMM (second season is a player option)
  • Total spend: $114.45MM

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The biggest question the Yankees faced entering the offseason was whether they would bring back second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who thrived in their uniform from 2019-20 after they signed the ex-Cub and Rockie to a two-year, $24MM contract. LeMahieu turned into one of baseball’s premier players during that two-season stretch, even earning MVP consideration last year, so it was naturally going to cost the Yankees much more this time to keep him in the fold.

Thanks to shortstop Gleyber Torres’ ability to play both middle infield positions, the Yankees could have let LeMahieu walk and seriously pursued a trade for Francisco Lindor or Trevor Story or dipped into free agency for old friend Didi Gregorius, Marcus Semien or Andrelton Simmons. Otherwise, they may have left Torres at short and signed, say, second baseman Kolten Wong, though their offense would have taken a major hit in that tradeoff.

LeMahieu garnered serious interest from multiple teams in free agency after rejecting the Yankees’ $18.9MM qualifying offer, but remaining in the Bronx was always his preference. After a drawn-out trip to the open market, the two sides came together on a six-year, $90MM pact. Six years is an especially long deal for a player who will turn 33 in July, but the Yankees made that commitment in an effort to lower the average annual value and skirt the luxury-tax threshold.

Staying under this year’s $210MM tax seemed to be an important offseason theme for the Yankees (whether that should be a concern for such a rich franchise is up for debate), as they didn’t give out any other big guarantees in free agency, instead structuring various deals to lower the AAVs of the contracts. Outfielder Brett Gardner, the Yankees’ longest-tenured player, and relievers Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson are prime examples; they inked pacts which include cheap 2022 player options that they’re unlikely to exercise barring nightmarish results in 2021.

Gardner and Wilson will both earn $2.85MM in 2021 before deciding on player options valued at just $2.3MM. Should they decline that player option, the Yankees would then hold $7.15MM club options over the pair — each with a $1.15MM buyout. Exercising the player option for either player would only mean guaranteeing an additional $1.15MM for himself. In Wilson’s case, that would trigger a third-year club option at the league minimum, making it even less appealing to exercise his player option for 2022. As for O’Day, his $1.4MM player option comes with a $700K buyout even if he declines, so there’s little reason for him to pick up his end of the deal. It’s a complicated series of accounting measures, but the end result was adding three solid veterans while remaining about $3.5MM shy of the luxury threshold.

O’Day and Wilson should help replace Adam Ottavino, who departed in a rare trade with the archrival Red Sox that saved the Yankees more than $8MM (another move driven by the luxury tax). New York’s bullpen figures to be strong yet again, although key setup man Zack Britton is off to an inauspicious start in 2021. The team will go without him for as many as three to four months because of arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. The Yankees kicked off their winter by exercising Britton’s 2022 option for $14MM. Had they declined it, he could have opted for free agency this past offseason.

The Yankees’ starting staff underwent quite a bit of retooling, meanwhile, as mainstay Masahiro Tanaka went back to Japan, J.A. Happ signed with the Twins, and James Paxton reunited with the Mariners. Paxton and Happ were expected to leave, but it was somewhat surprising the Yankees made little effort to retain Tanaka, a quality regular-season performer from 2014-20 who earned a reputation as a big-game pitcher during his run with the club.

Instead of re-signing Tanaka, the Yankees took chances on two-time AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber in free agency and ex-Pirate Jameson Taillon in a trade. The two hurlers are intriguing additions because of their potential, but they’re also wild cards. Kluber’s an ex-Indians workhorse, but the soon-to-be 35-year-old missed most of 2019 with a fractured forearm, and enemy offenses had their way with him during that 35 2/3-inning campaign. As a member of the Rangers last season, he made his first start of the season, lasted one inning and didn’t pitch again on account of shoulder problems. Taillon, 29, produced mid-rotation numbers with the Pirates from 2016-19, but he underwent Tommy John surgery – the second of his career – in the last of those years and didn’t take the mound last season.

Kluber and Taillon are sure bets to begin the year in the Yankees’ rotation, as is ace Gerrit Cole. But Cole seems like the only lead-pipe lock to succeed. As for the rest of the group, Domingo German missed last year because of a domestic violence suspension; Jordan Montgomery endured a trying 2020 in his return from a TJ procedure; Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt (who’s down with an elbow injury) and Michael King carry little major league experience; and former No. 1 Luis Severino sat out almost all of the previous two seasons because of shoulder problems and Tommy John. Severino could come back this summer, but it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll give the Yankees. All things considered, it’s a risky bunch behind Cole.

Fortunately for the Yankees, if their rotation doesn’t live up to the front office’s expectations, the lineup still carries the ability to overwhelm opposing pitching staffs. Sluggers Aaron Judge (right field) and Giancarlo Stanton (designated hitter) missed a large amount of action with various injuries during the previous couple years, but they remain imposing threats at the plate. Elsewhere, LeMahieu and Torres make for one of the top offensive middle infield tandems in the sport; Gardner’s a capable fourth outfielder at the very least; first baseman Luke Voit led the majors in home runs last season; third baseman Gio Urshela carried his 2019 breakout into 2020; left fielder Clint Frazier finally broke out offensively in 2020; and center fielder Aaron Hicks, despite annual low batting averages and some past injury issues, has typically given the Yankees above-average production.

If you’re looking for question marks unrelated to injuries in the Yankees’ offense, catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielder Mike Tauchman come to mind. Sanchez has been inconsistent – sometimes tremendous, sometimes terrible – and was both a non-tender and trade candidate after a disastrous 2020. The Yankees ultimately kept Sanchez around for a $6.35MM salary, though they did explore possible upgrades in free agency when they showed interest in James McCann and Yadier Molina in free agency. Looking into McCann and Molina implies that Sanchez could be skating on thin ice with the organization. For now, he and and backup Kyle Higashioka – Cole’s personal catcher late in the season – remain intact as New York’s top two backstops, but veteran Robinson Chirinos is also in camp.

Tauchman was a great find for the Yankees when they acquired him from the Rockies heading into 2019, as he slashed .277/.361/.504 with 13 homers and accumulated a whopping 18 Defensive Runs Saved among all three outfield positions in 87 games. Tauchman was nowhere near that effective as either a hitter or defender last year, though. Now, with Gardner returning as the primary backup, Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich in camp, and no minor league options left, it’s possible the Yankees will deal Tauchman in the coming weeks if they don’t think he’s worthy of a roster spot. Former Rookie of the Year runner-up Miguel Andujar also finds himself without an obvious path to regular at-bats, although unlike Tauchman, he has a minor league option remaining, so there’s no immediate need to make a tough decision on the 26-year-old.

Longtime general manager Brian Cashman looks as if he has put together another playoff-caliber roster. The Yankees appear likely to once again pile up plenty of runs in 2021, but whether they’ll be able to jump over the reigning AL East champion Rays, fend off the rapidly improving Blue Jays and then win their first World Series since 2009 will depend largely on how well their high-risk rotation performs.

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