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Yankees Designate Greg Allen For Assignment

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The Yankees have designated outfielder Greg Allen for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to lefty Justin Wilson, whose previously reported deal is now official.

The 27-year-old Allen won’t get into a game as a member of the Yankees, who acquired him in a minor trade that sent minor league lefty James Reeves to the Padres back on Jan. 6. The Yankees were the third organization in half a year’s time for Allen, who opened the 2020 season in Cleveland before being traded to the Padres as part of the Mike Clevinger deal and then landing with New York.

Allen could be on the move again now, although the Yankees surely wouldn’t mind holding onto him as minor league depth in the event that he goes unclaimed on waivers. The soon-to-be 28-year-old has just a .239/.298/.343 batting line in 618 Major League plate appearances, but he’s also gone 32-for-38 in stolen bases during that time. More importantly, Allen is considered a solid defender in the outfield and is capable of handing all three spots out there.

Unfortunately for Allen, he’s also out of minor league options, which left him looking like a potential roster casualty as the Yankees made a slew of one-year additions late in the offseason. While he wasn’t technically the corresponding move for Brett Gardner’s return, which the Yankees also announced today, that deal may have been the final nail in his 40-man roster coffin.

The Yankees will have a week to trade Allen or, as previously noted, attempt to pass him through outright waivers. That the Padres were able to find a trade for Allen the first time around — one for a minor league pitcher and not simply cash or a PTBNL — suggests there was something of a market the last time he was designated. However, many clubs have made other outfield additions and filled up the fringes of their 40-man roster in the six weeks since that time, so it’s certainly possible the Yankees could sneak him through waivers.

Yankees Re-Sign Brett Gardner

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Brett Gardner is back for a 14th season with the Yankees. The team announced this morning that Gardner has been re-signed to a one-year deal with a player option for the 2022 season. The Meister Sports client will reportedly be paid $2.85MM in 2021, with a $2.3MM player option for a second season. If Gardner declines his player option, the Yankees can pick up a $7.15MM club option or buy him out at $1.15MM. Luis Severino, who is recovering from 2020 Tommy John surgery, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open roster space.

Brett Gardner | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees declined Gardner’s $10MM option for 2021 in favor of a $2.5MM after last season, but the new agreement hardly comes as any kind of shock. After all, the 37-year-old has been a career-long member of the club since he debuted in 2008 and remains an asset despite his advanced age.

Gardner is still adept at handling both left and center field, and he posted yet another above-average offensive showing in 2020. While his batting average wasn’t good, his overall .223/.354/.392 line in 158 plate appearances was around 10 percent better than the league-average mark, according to both OPS+ and wRC+. He’s also an immensely respected member of the team’s clubhouse.

If Gardner does return to the Yankees in 2021, he would serve as a highly qualified fourth outfielder on a team that has Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier lined up to start in the grass, with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton also likely to cycle in at right field from time to time.

The Yankees are aiming to stay under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold this year, and their deal with Gardner is the latest example of that. The Yankees have used split player/club options as a means of weighing down their luxury obligations. Because Gardner is unlikely to pick up that $2.3MM player option when he’s guaranteed at least the $1.15MM buyout on the club option anyway, his contract effectively amounts to a one-year deal with a club option. However, because player options are technically considered guaranteed money, that lowers the average annual value of the contract to $2.575MM; a traditional one-year deal with the club option and the same guarantee would’ve clocked in at $4MM.

It’s the same approach the Yankees took in their contracts with both Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson. None of the individual deals is likely to save them more than a million-plus in luxury room, but taken in totality they’ve probably trimmed back $3-4MM of luxury breathing room by brokering a series of player options that are all unlikely to be exercised.

With Gardner back in the fold, the Yankees’ luxury obligations sit just shy of $204MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, although the specifics of Wilson’s deal aren’t yet known and will further push that sum toward the $210MM threshold. In all likelihood, the Yankees will leave themselves a few million dollars of breathing room to allow some in-season dealings as needs arise.

Ken Davidoff of the New York Post first reported that the two sides had agreed to a new deal, and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman added details on the contract’s structure. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the exact breakdown.

Yankees Shut Down Clarke Schmidt For 3-4 Weeks

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Yankees pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt has been shut down due to a common extensor strain in his right elbow, manager Aaron Boone told The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler (Twitter links) and other reporters.   This appears to be the only issue with Schmidt’s elbow, as an MRI didn’t reveal any ligament damage.

Boone said Schmidt will be kept out of action for three to four weeks, thus putting Schmidt out of consideration for the Opening Day roster as he’ll need more time to get ramped up.  The Yankees will surely be as careful as possible with Schmidt, one of their top prospects and a young arm who was seen as a potential contributor to the pitching staff as early as this season.  The Athletic’s Keith Law ranks the right-hander as the 48th-best prospect in the sport, and Schmidt also features in top-100 prospect rankings from Baseball America (64th), Fangraphs (75th), MLB Pipeline (83rd) and Baseball Prospectus (96th)

Schmidt (who just turned 25 two days ago) made his MLB debut in 2020, posting a 7.11 ERA with seven strikeouts and five walks over 6 1/3 innings of work.  Selected 16th overall in the 2017 draft, Schmidt pitched well over 114 minor league innings and was expected to make his Triple-A debut in 2020 before the minor league season was canceled, though the Yankees thought enough of his work at their alternate training site to give him a cup of coffee in the Show.

Given his lack of Triple-A experience, Schmidt was probably likely to begin the season in the minors anyway, given how New York has their provisional starting five (Gerrit Cole, Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon, Jordan Montgomery, Domingo German) already in place.  Given the number of injury concerns for those pitchers, however, plus the general need for teams to have as much pitching depth as possible as everyone rebuilds their innings limits after 2020, it certainly isn’t good news that the Yankees are already down a starting option for at least the first few weeks of the 2021 campaign.

AL East Notes: Bradley, Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, Honeywell

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Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom met with reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe) this afternoon and confirmed that the club remains in contact with the representatives for free agent center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. They will stay in touch until the situation “resolves” itself, Bloom added. Bradley is unquestionably the top position player remaining in free agency at this point. In addition to their involvement in the Bradley market, Bloom noted (via Speier) the Sox could discuss contract extensions with players already on the roster in spring training.

Elsewhere in the AL East:

  • Even after agreeing to terms with Brett Gardner, the Yankees expect to hand the primary left field job to Clint Frazier, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (via Marly Rivera of ESPN). Frazier, a former top prospect, took hold of the job with a stellar .267/.394/.511 slash line with eight home runs over 160 plate appearances in 2020. The 26-year-old has still only played 162 MLB games and has had some ups and downs defensively, so a reunion with the reliable Gardner provides something of a safety net for New York.
  • Rays pitching prospect Brent Honeywell has been knocked off course by a series of arm injuries, undergoing four elbow surgeries since his last minor-league action in September 2017. The 25-year-old is now back in major league camp and feeling better than he has in years. “I’m excited. I’m healthy. … Everything is good. After this last one, it was a big-time help for me, and it was a big-time relief of my elbow. Everything is so-called ‘on track,’ and we’re moving in the right direction,” Honeywell told reporters (including Adam Berry of MLB.com). There’s no specific timetable for the 25-year-old’s return to game action but there seems to be a general sense of optimism regarding Honeywell’s ability to contribute at the big league level in 2021.

Quick Hits: JBJ, Mets, Ohtani, Yankees

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The Mets were connected to free-agent center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. earlier in the offseason, but the two sides did not come close to an agreement, Andy Martino of SNY.tv writes. The club has agreed to sign fellow center fielders Kevin Pillar and Albert Almora Jr. in recent days, and now the chances of it adding Bradley are “practically nonexistent,” according to Martino. If true, that eliminates one logical suitor for Bradley, a longtime member of the Red Sox and one of the top free agents remaining on the market.

  • Angels right-hander/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani threw a 27-pitch bullpen session Thursday, and his velocity topped out at 90 mph, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. Ohtani, who’s coming off a season limited by a right flexor strain, averaged a little over 93 mph on his heater from 2018-20, but he’s not concerned about his early camp velocity drop. “It was my first bullpen, so I’m not too worried about the velo,” Ohtani said (via Fletcher). Ohtani’s arm problems (including September 2019 Tommy John surgery) limited him to just 1 2/3 innings of pitching over the previous two seasons, but the hope is that he’ll re-emerge this year as an important member of the Angels’ rotation.
  • Yankees righty Luis Severino is throwing from 120 feet and could return to the mound in the next few weeks, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Severino was one of the elite pitchers in the game from 2017-18, but injuries have cut him down since then. He threw only 12 innings in 2019 because of shoulder issues and then didn’t pitch at all last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But if he bounces back this year, Severino and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole could comprise one of the best one-two punches of any rotation in baseball.
  • More on the Yankees, who do have interest in re-signing free-agent outfielder Brett Gardner, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. It’s “likely” the Yankees would keep him in the vicinity of $3MM, Heyman relays. As of last week, though, the career-long Yankee, 37, and the club reportedly hadn’t engaged in any contract negotiations.

Yankees Sign Derek Dietrich, Nick Goody

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The Yankees announced their full slate of non-roster invitees to Spring Training on Wednesday, and while the bulk of them have already been reported over the course of the offseason, there are a few new attendees among the bunch. Infielder/outfielder Derek Dietrich, right-handers Nick Goody and Luis Garcia, outfielder Ryan LaMarre and southpaw Lucas Luetge are will all be in camp as non-roster players with the Yanks.

Dietrich, 31, has gravitated toward a three-true-outcomes skill set over the past couple of seasons as his power, strikeout rate and walk rate have all spiked. Since being cut loose by the Marlins after the 2018 campaign, he’s spent time with the Reds and Rangers, batting a combined .189/.332/.462 with 24 home runs, a 9.7 percent walk rate and a 25 percent strikeout rate. Dietrich has experience at first base, second base, third base and in left field, and his increasingly powerful left-handed swing would be a good fit at Yankee Stadium if he were to crack the MLB roster at some point.

Goody, 29, was a Rangers teammate of Dietrich’s in 2020 but struggled in his lone season with Texas. The former Indians setup man served up 11 runs in 11 innings last year but had strong showings in Cleveland both in 2019 and in 2017. Yankees fans quite likely recall Goody from his prospect days and his 2015-16 big league debut as a Yankee. His best season came with the 2017 Indians when he tossed 54 2/3 innings of 2.80 ERA ball with a huge 32.6 percent punchout rate and a respectable nine percent strikeout rate, though his ’19 season was also sound: 40 2/3 innings, 3.54 ERA, 28.9 K%, 12.7 BB%. His 2018 season was shortened by elbow troubles, and last year’s struggles came in a season marred by back spasms.

Garcia, 34, makes a trifecta of 2020 Rangers joining the Yankees organization. He’s spent parts of eight seasons in the big leagues, mostly with the Phillies, but was knocked around for seven runs on 10 hits and nine walks with 11 strikeouts in 8 1/3 frames as a Ranger last year. Garcia was excellent with the 2017 Phillies but hasn’t had much success since — just a 5.26 ERA in 116 1/3 frames. He still averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer in 2020, however.

The 2020 season was the first that LaMarre, 32, didn’t log some big league time since 2014. He’s been an up-and-down fourth outfield type with the Reds, Red Sox, A’s, Twins and White Sox since making his MLB debut with Cincinnati in ’15, hitting .236/.286/.338 in 246 plate appearances along the way. LaMarre is a right-handed hitter who can play all three outfield spots and who carries a .281/.349/.415 career batting line in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.

Luetge, 34 in March, pitched in the Majors with the Mariners from 2012-15 but hasn’t been in the big leagues since. He’s bounced around the Triple-A clubs of the Orioles, Reds, Angels and D-backs in the meantime and owns a 4.22 ERA and 24 percent strikeout rate at that level. In 89 MLB innings he has a 4.35 ERA with pedestrian K/BB numbers but an above-average 47.7 percent grounder rate.

The Yankees also confirmed previously reported minor league agreements with several former big leaguers, including righties Kyle Barraclough, Jhoulys Chacin, Adam Warren and Asher Wojciechowski; lefties Nestor Cortes Jr. and Tyler Lyons; outfielders Socrates Brito and Jay Bruce; catchers Rob Brantly and Robinson Chirinos; and infielder Andrew Velazquez.

Yankees To Sign Robinson Chirinos To Minors Deal

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Feb. 16: The Chirinos deal comes with a $1MM base salary in the big leagues plus another $500K of attainable incentives, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He’ll also be provided multiple opt-out dates in the event that he’s not added to the Major League roster.

Feb. 15: The Yankees have reached a minor league agreement with free-agent catcher Robinson Chirinos, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

The 36-year-old Chirinos has been a very good offensive catcher since he earned a regular role with the Rangers in 2014, but he hit free agency at an inopportune time this winter after a rough campaign divided between Texas and the Mets. Chirinos only put up a .162/.232/.243 line with one home run and an ISO of .081 82 plate appearances in 82 plate appearances. Those numbers paled in comparison to the .235/.331/.445 mark with 85 HRs that Chirinos managed in 1,953 PA between the Rangers and Astros in the previous six seasons.

Chirinos has never been known as a major defensive asset, but if the Yankees are confident he’ll rebound at the plate, he could push Kyle Higashioka for their backup role behind starter Gary Sanchez. Higashioka is ace Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher, though Chirinos did catch Cole in 2019 when they were members of the Astros.

Yankees “In Serious Talks” With Justin Wilson

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1:45PM: The Mets are no longer candidates to sign Wilson, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link).

FEB 15, 8:46AM: The Yankees appear to me “moving toward a deal” with Wilson, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). Wilson would fit well as a third southpaw to slot in ahead of closer Aroldis Chapman and setup man Zack Britton.

FEB 14: The Yankees are “in serious talks” with free agent reliever Justin Wilson, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported yesterday the sides had been in contact.

If they were to come to terms on a deal, it’d mark a return to the Yankees for Wilson, for whom he pitched in 2015. Wilson had a productive season, but they sent him to Detroit for Luis Cessa and Chad Green at year’s end. The veteran southpaw has generally remained productive since that trade.

Over the past five seasons, Wilson has worked to a 3.48 ERA with a strong strikeout rate (28.5%), albeit with a bit of an elevated walk percentage (11.4%). It was more of the same in 2020 for Wilson, who managed a 3.66 ERA/3.92 SIERA with fairly typical strikeout and walk numbers for the crosstown Mets. Now 33 years old, Wilson has maintained his 95+ MPH average fastball velocity and continues to induce swings and misses at a decent clip.

The Yankees’ bullpen looks strong, as has become typical in the past few years, but could stand to add some left-handed help Wilson would provide. Aside from closer Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton is the only southpaw reliever on New York’s 40-man roster.

Pitcher Notes: Mets, Paxton, Robertson, Sanchez

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The Mets made a run at James Paxton, but they were outbid by the Mariners, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Heyman suggests the Mets will now turn their attention to Taijuan Walker or Jake Odorizzi. Frankly, it seems unlikely they would find the right price point on Odorizzi coming off a very similar season to Paxton (but with a longer track record of good health). Besides, the list of players the Mets “were in on” includes Jake Arrieta, Rich Hill, George Springer and others, notes Andy Martino of the SNY Network (via Twitter). That’s not a knock on the Mets, of course, who have been one of the more active teams this winter. Let’s check in some other free agent pitchers…

  • Free agent reliever David Robertson threw for a handful of teams yesterday, but the price on his long-term future remains unclear. His old pals from New York were in attendance, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter), but the Yankees are far from the only team who might have interest. Despite the dumb-luck turn of his Philly tenure, Robertson is an intriguing buy-low candidate. Injuries limited the right-hander to seven appearances over the past two seasons, but in the ten years prior, Robertson should be proud of a 2.67 ERA/2.77 FIP while striking out an excellent-for-the-era 32.6 percent of hitters and walking a near-average 9.5 percent of challengers. The Yankees probably remember better than most just how good Robertson was in his prime. Approaching his age-36 season, Robertson is decidedly on the downslope of his career – but he has a long way to fall before losing his utility.
  • Aaron Sanchez also headed back to the hill to throw for scouts on Saturday, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). The Mets were among those present, as they continue to keep their hand in the starting pitching market. Sanchez is on record as wanting a spot in the rotation, which could limit his potential landing spots. It now seems like ages ago that Sanchez led the American League with a 3.00 ERA over 30 starts for the Blue Jays in 2016. Since that All-Star campaign, Sanchez has compiled a 5.29 ERA/5.12 FIP across 55 starts totaling 272 1/3 innings with a worm-killing 47.8 percent groundball rate. An 18.1 percent strikeout rate and 11.7 percent walk rate are less than inspiring figures, however.

New York Notes: Justin Wilson, Brett Gardner

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All things being equal, Justin Wilson seems to prefer a return to the Mets, but the Metropolitans have only just begun conversations with the veteran southpaw, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (via Twitter). It’s not difficult to imagine a deal coming together quickly, however. Wilson does appear close to signing somewhere, notes MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Coming of a strong 3.66 ERA/3.04 FIP over 19 2/3 innings in 2020, he certainly presents as a useful arm.

In fact, the Yankees are among those clubs said to negotiating with Wilson, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The Yankees are close to the first luxury tax threshold, and the assumption has been that they intend to stay under it. That doesn’t give them a lot of room for Wilson, who is one of the more attractive arms in a southpaw market that includes a fair amount of depth with T.J. McFarland, Oliver Perez, Tony Watson and Sam Freeman among the remaining lefties. The Yankees still probably have about $7MM or so to spend before surpassing mark, however, so another acquisition is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Much because of those financial realities, whether or not they reunite with Brett Gardner, for the first time this winter, seems like a coin flip. The Yankees really don’t need him given where their roster stands today – especially with Jay Bruce brought in on a low-risk minors pact. That said, he’s a fan favorite, their longest-tenured player, and he is said to want to return. That should make this easy, but as Rosenthal notes, Gardner’s production last season could theoretically line him up for quite a bit more than $7MM over one season. Gardner’s 110 wRC+ in 2020 and 114 wRC+ over the last two seasons marks him as a potentially superior option to just about every other outfielder remaining on the market.

That said, he will be 37-year-old this season, and he’s long been viewed as a Yankee loyalist, which could have tempered his market. At this point, the question probably boils down to exactly how much Gardner wants to remain in New York. Otherwise, he’s pretty well out of leverage.

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