Yankees Rumors

Pirates Trade Clay Holmes To Yankees

By Steve Adams | July 26, 2021 at 4:33pm CDT

The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve acquired right-handed reliever Clay Holmes from the Pirates in exchange for minor league infielders Diego Castillo and Hoy Jun Park. Catcher Rob Brantly, who’d been on the roster as a Covid-related replacement player, has been returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to open a roster spot. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported about a minute before the announcement that Holmes was being traded to the Yankees for a pair of minor leaguers (via Twitter).

Holmes, 28, has spent the season in the Pittsburgh bullpen and pitched to a 4.93 ERA, a 23.3 percent strikeout rate, a 13.2 percent walk rate and an enormous 72.8 percent ground-ball rate. To offer a bit more context on that percentage, Holmes has pitched 42 innings this season and surrendered just 16 fly-balls (three of which were pop-ups) and 15 line drives. He’s induced 83 grounders.

Control has been an obvious issue for Holmes, who has always hit four batters and thrown five wild pitches, but he’s only allowed 10 home runs in 119 2/3 career innings (0.75 HR/9). He’s also among the game’s best at limiting premium contact so far in 2021 (86th percentile average exit velocity; 91st percentile barrel rate).

Holmes has yet to reach arbitration but will be arb-eligible for the first time this winter. He’s making scarcely more than the league minimum and can be controlled all the way through the 2024 season if he ultimately sticks in the bullpen. He’ll have to prove his mettle with the Yankees at the Major League level, however, as he’s out of minor league options and cannot be sent down without first being exposed to waivers.

For much of his minor league career, Holmes worked as a starting pitcher. He’s made just four starts in the Majors, however, against 87 bullpen appearances. Because he can’t be sent down, it’s unlikely that the Yankees would try to stretch him out at the MLB level. He’ll head into the bullpen for now, where he can give them some length. Holmes has worked several outings of one-plus or two innings at a time and topped 30 pitches in an appearance on a few occasions.

Ground-ball rate looks to be something the Yankees have zeroed in on in recent years, at least with regard to their bullpen. Zack Britton is one of the most prolific ground-ball pitchers in history, and the current Yankee bullpen sports five more pitchers who’ve tossed at least 10 innings of relief this year with a grounder rate of 50 percent or better: Albert Abreu, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Mike King and Wandy Peralta. At a time when the league is working to curb the use of foreign substances that increase the spin rate on four-seam fastballs and sliders, it’s perhaps not coincidental that the Yankees are seeking out another extreme ground-ball pitcher who relies on a low-spin sinker.

Yankees fans may be surprised to see Park included in this deal after he’s posted a .327/.475/.567 slash with 10 homers, nine doubles, a triple and eight stolen bases in 223 Triple-A plate appearances so far. The 25-year-old was recently called to the big league roster for the first time but only got one appearance before being sent back out.

Notably, however, the Yankees outrighted Park to Triple-A, however, indicating that he went unclaimed on outright waivers at the time of the move. The Pirates (or another club) could’ve had Park for free at that point, were they willing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. The 29 other clubs passed. The Bucs will now pick up his rights (without having to dedicate a 40-man spot) and hope he can continue to build on that breakout showing he’s enjoyed so far in Triple-A this year. FanGraphs’ Eric Lonenhagen ranked Park 31st among Yankees farmhands prior to this deal, noting that his ability to play a viable shortstop an control the strike zone make him a “high-probability utility infield piece.”

Castillo, 23, had a history as a light-hitting middle infielder with premium contact rates before his production exploded in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting this year. He’s hitting .277/.345/.504 (127 wRC+) with 11 home runs, 18 doubles and eight steals in 249 plate appearances on the year. Castillo has walked at a career-best 8.4 percent against a 13.4 percent strikeout rate. He’s another shortstop-capable infield prospect to add to the middle levels of the Pirates’ system — one whom Longenhagen ranked 21st in the Yankees’ system at the time of the swap.

Yankees Reinstate Gio Urshela, Place Chris Gittens On 10-Day Injured List

By TC Zencka | July 25, 2021 at 10:46am CDT

The Yankees have activated Gio Urshela from the COVID-related injured list. Chris Gittens will replace him on the 10-day injured list after stepping on a bat and turning his ankle, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). Tim Locastro was also transferred to the 60-day injured list, per the team.

Gittens, 27, made his Major League debut this season with a .111/.250/.194 triple slash line in 44 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter absolutely mashed in Triple-A, however, hitting an undeniable .359/.519/.718 in 104 plate appearances.

Urshela will be back at third base for the Yanks. The 29-year-old is again producing for the Yankees, posting 1.5 rWAR with a .275/.315/.441 line and 11 home runs over 314 plate appearances.

AL Notes: Rogers, Bregman, Athletics, Kluber

By Mark Polishuk | July 24, 2021 at 10:37pm CDT

Unsurprisingly, Twins southpaw Taylor Rogers “is very popular on the trade market,” MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. There is enough interest that the reliever has a “good chance to be dealt” even though Minnesota is reportedly reluctant to move players who are under team control beyond this season. Rogers has one more arbitration year remaining before free agency in the 2022-23 offseason.

Rogers has somewhat quietly been one of baseball’s most effective relievers since just about the moment of his MLB debut in 2016, as the left-hander has a 3.15 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, and a 22% K-BB rate over 314 2/3 career innings out of Minnesota’s bullpen. He has kept up that form in 2021, with a 3.35 ERA and a whopping 35.5% strikeout rate that ranks 11th among all hurlers with at least 40 innings pitched this season. This is the type of high-level performance that could be the difference-maker in a pennant race, so while the Twins undoubtedly have a huge asking price for Rogers, another team could be willing to take the plunge to upgrade its bullpen for both the rest of this season and into 2022.

Asher Wojciechowski Elects Free Agency

By Mark Polishuk | July 24, 2021 at 4:34pm CDT

Right-hander Asher Wojciechowski has rejected the Yankees’ outright assignment to Triple-A and elected to become a free agent, the team announced. New York designated Wojciechowski for assignment earlier this week.

After signing a minors deal with the Yankees this past offseason, Wojciechowski’s tenure in the Bronx lasted just one Major League game — a spot start against the Phillies on Wednesday that saw the righty allow two runs in four innings of what ended up as a 6-5 Yankees victory.

Wojciechowski will now head back onto the open market, after having already been a member of 10 different organizations during a pro career that began when the Blue Jays selected him 41st overall in the 2010 draft. Wojciechowski has pitched for five teams at the MLB level, with a 5.93 ERA over 202 career innings over parts of five seasons. Since Wojciechowski had also been outrighted off a big league roster in the past (by the Orioles last September), it was his right to refuse another outright assignment and opt for free agency.

AL East Notes: Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, Orioles

By TC Zencka | July 23, 2021 at 9:42pm CDT

To some, the Rays recent trade of Rich Hill to the Mets may have seemed incongruous with their plans for contention, but this is how the Rays do business: players play for the present, front office plays for the future. GM Erik Neander suggested it was simply a matter of coming up on having too many guys for the rotation, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He didn’t shut down the idea of upgrading the rotation, however, suggesting they weren’t in love with Hill’s output projections for this season. For now, Luis Patino and Chris Archer will soon round out the rotation, pending another deal in the coming days. Elsewhere in the AL East…

Red Sox southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez was removed from his start in the second inning today with what’s being reported as “migraine symptoms,” per Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald and others (via Twitter). Rodriguez has a 5.19 ERA in 95 1/3 innings this season, though a 3.51 FIP and 21.9 percent strikeout-to-walk rate suggests his performance has been quite a bit better. He threw just 25 pitches in today’s outing.
The Yankees were also dealt a potential blow today as Gary Sanchez was removed from the game with back spasms. The Yankees are already without backup Kyle Higashioka, who will remain on the COVID-related injured list at least until next week, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News (via Twitter). Rob Brantly would be the stand-in, should Sanchez need further days off.
Orioles Rule 5 pick Tyler Wells was placed on the 10-day injured list today with right wrist tendonitis, per the team. His placement was backdated to July 20th, however, and the O’s don’t expect him to be out for longer than the minimum ten days, per The Athletic’s Dan Connolly (via Twitter).

Latest On Yankees’ Trade Targets

By TC Zencka | July 23, 2021 at 7:21pm CDT

The Yankees are far from matching the kind of production they’ve set as their historical standard, but manager Aaron Boone’s much-maligned unit isn’t exactly dead in the water: they’re five games over .500 and still a very reasonable 4.5 games out of the second wild card spot. Most teams in their spot would be looking for additions to make a playoff push. The Yankees, of course, have no plans of fading into the background, and they’re surely set to make a splash or two here in the final week before the trade deadline.

Trevor Story and Starling Marte continue to be two of the most talked-about names on the market, and both Story and Marte have been connected to the Yanks in recent weeks. They’ve also checked in on Max Kepler, though the Twins’ asking price is said to be “exorbitant,” per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com.

Consider Story or Marte the more likely targets, then, though they’ll face plenty of competition for either player. Both players are, however, likely to move before the deadline. The hangup will be on finding the right match of prospects to send to Colorado and Miami, respectively.

Speculatively speaking, Story would appear the more impactful addition, given how much his glove could improve the Yankees’ defense – and how much he would affect the other pieces of the roster. Sliding Gleyber Torres to second and DJ LeMahieu to first would put all the pieces in the right places, though Luke Voit would be in a position to either move to the bench or push Giancarlo Stanton to the outfield, where the Yankees are hesitant to play him. Still, there aren’t as many teams as it might seem with a hole at shortstop, and some of those teams with obvious needs to upgrade (i.e. the A’s) have been bearish on pursuing one.

Further, ESPN’s David Schoenfield suggests they might be on the lookout for bullpen help. That might be a little offputting to hear at first, as their bullpen ranks third by fWAR this season, but there’s a lot of volume built into that metric. They rank eighth overall with a 3.67 bullpen ERA. The concern, more specifically, is their recent performance. The Yanks’ pen ranks 21st with a 5.19 ERA in July. That’s not necessarily enough to cause full-on panic, but there’s always room for another arm in the bullpen.

Yankees Interested In Trevor Story

By Mark Polishuk | July 22, 2021 at 11:50pm CDT

The Yankees are looking at one of the top position players that might be available at the trade deadline, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that New York is one of the teams interested Rockies shortstop Trevor Story. Roughly six to eight teams have reportedly contacted the Rockies about Story, with the White Sox being one of the names linked to the All-Star.

There have already been a few unique turns to Story’s status as a trade candidate, such as Chicago’s openness to moving Story from shortstop to second base, or an unnamed team looking into Story as a center fielder. While the Yankees have a center field need of their own, it is probably safe to presume their interest in Story is pretty straight-forward — Story would take over shortstop from Gleyber Torres, with Torres moving to second base, DJ LeMahieu playing first base regularly, and Gio Urshela playing third base when he returns from the COVID-IL. Luke Voit would presumably factor into the first base mix when healthy, though it isn’t known when he might return from his current knee problems.

Story is only under contract through the remainder of the 2021 season, but it would be safe to imagine that his acquisition might mark the long-term end of Torres as a shortstop. Torres has delivered consistently below-average defense at the shortstop position, and since taking over the position full-time prior to the 2020 season, Torres’ offensive production has significantly dropped. After batting .275/.338/.511 in 1088 PA in 2018-19, Torres has since hit only .241/.337/.348 in 497 plate appearances.

Should the Yankees be looking for a new shortstop come the offseason, they’ll have many options to pick from amidst a very star-studded shortstop class that will include Story himself. The Yankees would certainly use their two-plus months with Story as a recruiting pitch to perhaps interest him in a long-term commitment this winter, and there would be no better enticement than if Story could help the team get into the postseason.

Playing on a $17.5MM salary for 2021, Story has about $6.97MM remaining. It isn’t a huge sum unto itself, though it does weigh heavily for a Yankees team that has prioritized staying under the $210MM luxury tax threshold this season, and thus resetting their penalty status. New York is already within roughly $4MM of the threshold, and the Yankees also have holes to fill in the outfield and within the pitching staff. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted today, the Rockies could opt to maximize their return for Story by offering to eat the rest of his salary in exchange for a better prospect return, which would certainly get the Yankees’ attention and would be a canny move to increase the trade value of a rental player.

That said, there is also some doubt that Colorado will move Story at all, since the team will get a compensatory draft pick should Story reject the qualifying offer and sign elsewhere in free agency. The Yankees would have to top the value of that compensatory pick, which New York might not be willing to do for a rental player, and if the team is ultimately competing just for a one-game wild card playoff at this point (given the eight-game gap between the Yankees and the first-place Red Sox in the AL East standings).

Draft Signings: 7/22/21

By Mark Polishuk | July 22, 2021 at 9:59pm CDT

The latest on some notable Day Two draft signings. For more on the 2021 draft, check out the prospect rankings and scouting reports compiled by Baseball America, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, The Athletic’s Keith Law, and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. As well, here is MLB Pipeline’s breakdown of the slot values assigned to each pick in the first 10 rounds, as well as the bonus pool money available to all 30 teams.

The Twins agreed to deals with Competitive Balance Round A pick Noah Miller and second-rounder Steve Hajjar, the team announced. As the 36th overall pick, Miller had an assigned slot price of $2,045,400, and Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (via Twitter) reports that the high school shortstop’s bonus was under slot at $1.7MM. Hajjar’s bonus hasn’t yet been reported, but the 61st overall pick has an assigned price of $1,129,700.
The Rockies announced the signing of second-round pick Jaden Hill, with MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reporting the LSU righty signed for the $1,689,500 slot price attached to the 44th overall pick. Also from Callis, the Rockies agreed to another at-slot deal with Ohio University southpaw Joe Rock, whose deal is worth the assigned $953,100 price for the 68th overall pick.
The Mets signed 46th overall pick Calvin Ziegler for a $910K bonus, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports. The Canadian right-hander’s deal falls significantly below the $1,617,400 slot value, so the Mets gained some significant pool savings that were necessary for the above-slot deal in the works with tenth overall pick Kumar Rocker.
The Brewers signed second-rounder Russell Smith for a $1MM bonus, Callis tweets. A left-hander out of TCU, Smith was the 51st overall pick, which has a slot value of $1,436,900.
The Cubs agreed to a $2.1MM bonus with second-round pick James Triantos, according to Callis. It’s an overslot deal for Triantos, a high school third baseman from Virginia, as the 56th overall selection had an assigned price of only $1,276,400.
The Rays reached a deal with second-rounder Kyle Manzardo, with Callis reporting that the Washington State first baseman signed for $750K. The 63rd overall pick (and the final pick of the second round proper) has a slot price of $1,076,300.
The Astros went well over slot to sign third-rounder Tyler Whitaker, as Callis reported that the high school outfielder landed a $1.5MM bonus. That is more than double the $689,300 slot price for the 87th overall pick. Of note, Whitaker was Houston’s first pick of the 2021 draft, due to their punishment from the sign-stealing scandal.
The Yankees also more than doubled the slot price on a third-round selection, as Callis writes that prep left-hander Brock Selvidge received $1.5MM. The 92nd overall pick has a recommended value of only $637.6K. The Yankees have now signed all their draft picks from the first 10 rounds, going underslot on eight of the 10 players.

Yankees Designate Asher Wojciechowski For Assignment, Select Sal Romano

By Steve Adams | July 22, 2021 at 3:01pm CDT

The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Sal Romano from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and cleared a spot on the active and 40-man rosters by designating right-hander Asher Wojciechowski for assignment.

Wojciechowski, 32, was selected to the roster just yesterday and started last night’s game for the Yanks, holding the Phillies to a pair of runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts in four innings. That’ll prove to be little more than a spot start for the well-traveled Wojciechowski, who must now be traded, released or placed on outright waivers within the next week.

The Yankees were Wojciechowski’s fourth big league club in seven years. He spent the 2019-20 campaigns with the Orioles and got out to a solid start in 2019 before struggling mightily during last year’s shortened schedule. Last night’s outing took Wojciechowski past the 200-inning mark in his MLB career, and he’s worked to a 5.93 ERA with a 21.5 percent strikeout rate and a 7.9 percent walk rate in that time. Home runs have been a problem for the former No. 41 overall pick, but he’s continued to find work as a depth option for situations much like this one. Wojciechowski owns a career 4.29 ERA in 647 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball.

In Romano, the Yankees are turning to another former Reds right-hander. The 27-year-old New York native was once considered one of the more promising arms in the Reds’ minor league ranks, but he’s struggled in several opportunities after a solid rookie showing back in 2017. Romano worked to a 4.45 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 87 innings as a rookie, but he’s been worked over for a 5.48 ERA/5.13 FIP in 184 innings since.

To his credit, Romano has consistently fared well in Triple-A — including in a relatively short look with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate in 2021. He’s spent parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level and logged a combined 3.42 ERA in 142 frames. Romano’s 20.3 percent strikeout rate there is below average, but he’s also notched a solid 7.8 percent walk rate and a strong 49.8 percent ground-ball rate in that time.

Yankees Select Asher Wojciechowski, Outright Hoy Jun Park

By Anthony Franco | July 21, 2021 at 3:25pm CDT

July 21: The Yankees formally selected Wojciechowski’s contract today and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by outrighting infielder Hoy Jun Park off the 40-man roster.

Park, 25, received just one plate appearance with the Yankees during his initial call to the Majors. Yanks fans have been clamoring for him to get a look in the big leagues after he batted .325/.475/.541 in 206 Triple-A plate appearances this season, but it seems that in spite of that strong showing, Park won’t get much of a big league look — at least for the time being.

July 20: The Yankees are planning to select the contract of right-hander Asher Wojciechowski, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). He’ll get the ball tomorrow evening against the Phillies. The Yankees have a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary in that regard.

Wojciechowski has previously pitched in the big leagues for the Astros, Reds and Orioles. He’s tallied 198 innings at the highest level over parts of four seasons, working to a cumulative 5.95 ERA/4.67 SIERA. Wojciechowski throws a high number of strikes, but he misses bats at a slightly below-average level and is an extreme fly ball pitcher, which has led to some problems with the home run ball.

New York signed Wojciechowski to a minor league deal in January. The 32-year-old didn’t make his season debut with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre until late June after leaving a Spring Training outing with lat discomfort. He’s made four appearances since returning, none of which have lasted more than four innings, so he’s unlikely to work particularly deep into tomorrow’s start. Wojciechowski has a decent 4.29 ERA over parts of eight Triple-A campaigns.

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