Hal Steinbrenner On Yankees’ Spending & Deadline Plans
At the recent owners’ meeting, Yankees boss Hal Steinbrenner chatted about the summer trade period, as David Lennon of Newsday was among those to report. Unsurprisingly, Steinbrenner made clear he expects starting pitching to be the focus for the Yanks now that slugger Edwin Encarnacion is in the fold. But his most interesting comments were related to the team’s financial approach.
Notably, the top organizational decisionmaker expressed some willingness to consider deals that’d put the team into a higher luxury tax bracket. Estimates put the Yanks at about $15MM of salary (as calculated for competitive balance tax purposes) shy of the $246MM payroll line, at which point a team would pay 62.5% tax on spending over the first luxury line and see its next top draft choice fall by ten spots.
Steinbrenner says he’d okay a decision that triggers those penalties, “if I really felt we needed that deal, that it takes us over the top.” That’s a bit of a different position than was enunciated recently by GM Brian Cashman, who indicated that the team wass “trying to stay under the second luxury tax penalty” when it capped its offer to free agent starter Dallas Keuchel.
That’s not to say that Steinbrenner necessarily expects to need to make such a call. He noted that the club has “a decent amount of cushion” before it’d reach the top tax bracket. That’s true, though there are certainly some high-end players who’d be of potential interest that would require the Yanks to do some soul-searching — or find creative means of shedding other salary.
If you don’t want to take on money, you typically have to give up good young talent. The Yankees’ current roster is loaded with bats, leading many to wonder whether outfielder Clint Frazier will be dangled. Steinbrenner said he believes Frazier has a “great career a head of him” and expects the youngster to be “a big part of this team going forward,” though he certainly also left conceptual room for a deal.
Pitcher Notes: Zimmermann, Yanks, Cahill, Mariners, White Sox
The Tigers announced that they’ve reinstated right-hander Jordan Zimmerman from the 10-day injured list. Zimmermann, who hasn’t taken a major league mound since April 25 because of a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, will start Wednesday. Zimmermann’s nearly two-month absence added injury to insult in what has been a terrible Tigers tenure for the 33-year-old. A run as a front-line starter for the Nationals convinced the Tigers to give Zimmermann a five-year, $110MM contract entering 2016, but he has come up way short of expectations since then. Now 33, Zimmermann owns a 5.29 ERA/4.92 FIP with 6.34 K/9, 2.26 BB/9 and a 36.7 percent groundball rate in 427 innings as a Tiger.
- Yankees southpaw Jordan Montgomery seemingly isn’t recovering as hoped from June 2018 Tommy John surgery, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Montgomery exited a live batting practice session Tuesday after throwing 15 pitches. Manager Aaron Boone said afterward Montgomery “had a little discomfort.” The Yankees hope Montgomery will be able to help their pitching staff later in the season, Ackert notes, but that seems even less likely now. The 26-year-old functioned as a full-time starter from 2017-18, a 182 2/3-inning span in which he recorded a solid 3.84 ERA/4.09 FIP with 8.23 K/9, 3.10 BB/9 and a 41.4 percent grounder rate.
- Angels righty Trevor Cahill will make a rehab start Friday with Triple-A Salt Lake, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report. Cahill has been on the IL since June 8 with soreness in his pitching elbow. The offseason signing got off to a horrible start before then, as shown by a 7.18 ERA/6.37 FIP in 57 2/3 innings.
- The shoulder MRI that Mariners righty Felix Hernandez underwent Tuesday didn’t show any new issues, per Greg Johns of MLB.com (Twitter links). As a result, Hernandez – out since May 11 – will resume his rehab, likely throwing a few bullpen sessions before taking the ball again in the minors. Meanwhile, teammate and fellow righty Sam Tuivailala will begin a rehab stint at the Single-A level Friday. Tuivailala, a July 2018 Mariners trade acquisition, has been out since last August with a right Achilles injury.
- The White Sox have placed southpaw Manny Banuelos on the 10-day IL with shoulder inflammation and recalled righty Carson Fulmer, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. This is the second time in 2019 that shoulder issues have sent Banuelos to the shelf. Injuries have been a common theme throughout the pro career of Banuelos, once a well-regarded prospect with the Yankees. The 28-year-old has pitched to an ugly 6.90 ERA/6.78 FIP with 8.28 K/9, 5.91 BB/9 and a 33.3 percent grounder rate in 45 2/3 innings (13 appearances, eight starts) with the White Sox this season.
Yankees Release Danny Farquhar
The Yankees have released veteran right Danny Farquhar, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter). He had been with the organization on a minor-league deal.
Farquhar, 32, was attempting to work back towards the MLB mound after suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm last season. It’s remarkable that he was even able to make that effort, let alone progress to the point that he was assigned to the Yanks’ top affiliate.
Unfortunately, the early showing wasn’t terribly promising. Farquhar surrendered three long balls and seven earned runs over three innings in two outings at Triple-A. While he also recorded four strikeouts, the Yankees were evidently satisfied that they wouldn’t be interested in his services at the MLB level this year.
Yankees Activate Giancarlo Stanton
The Yankees have activated outfielder Giancarlo Stanton from the injured list, per a club announcement. He’ll take the active roster spot of fellow outfielder Mike Tauchman, who was optioned down last night.
Stanton has been sidelined for nearly the entire season. While his activation today was expected, he had previously come close to a return only to run into more problems. What started as an IL stint for a biceps issue ballooned in duration as a shoulder strain and calf problem cropped up along the way.
It certainly has been an interesting rehab stint for the 29-year-old Stanton. That shows up also in his game action of late. In 21 minor-league plate appearances, he has launched five long balls and struck out ten times without drawing a walk — that after opening the year with seven free passes in 15 MLB plate appearances.
The Yanks will hope that Stanton can smooth out any remaining wrinkles and settle back into being a substantially above-average hitter. He wasn’t in top form last year, his first in the Bronx, but still produced a strong .266/.343/.509 batting line with 38 home runs.
Stanton was lined up opposite fellow outfield slugger Aaron Judge in his recent rehab appearances. Once the two are reunited in the majors, they’ll join an imposing group of right-handed power bats that also features Gary Sanchez, Luke Voit, Gleyber Torres, and the recently acquired Edwin Encarnacion.
Yankees Monitoring Starting Pitching Market
The Yankees acquired slugger Edwin Encarnacion from the Mariners on Saturday, but that probably won’t be the last headline-grabbing deal the Bombers make before the July 31 deadline. Still in need of starting pitching, the Yankees are monitoring the market for potential rotation additions, general manager Brian Cashman revealed Monday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).
Cashman said he and his front office cohorts are “certainly compiling a list of the names that are available that are obvious, and we’re compiling a list of the names that might become available.” Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd, Giants southpaw Madison Bumgarner, Blue Jays righties Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, and Mets righty Zack Wheeler are a few prominent starters who may wind up on the move by the end of next month. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd pointed to those five and several other rotation pieces when breaking down the game’s most likely trade chips Monday.
While Cashman’s roster is 43-27 and a half-game up on the Rays in the American League East, the Yankees have gotten to this point despite some questions in their rotation. Ace Luis Severino has been out all year with a lat strain, but if he returns on schedule next month, it could go a long way toward helping the Yankees win the division for the first time since 2012.
Severino, James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka would give the Yankees three quality starters if healthy. Still, there would be concerns in the Yankees’ starting five. Veteran lefties J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia haven’t met expectations this year, which partially explains why New York’s eyeing outside help. Righty Domingo German has been tremendous at times, on the other hand, but he stumbled in recent weeks before going on the injured list June 9 with a left hip flexor strain. Furthermore, depth is lacking in New York’s rotation at the moment, so getting Severino back and acquiring another starter pre-deadline would enable the team to move two of Happ, Sabathia and German into No. 6/7 roles.
Of course, the Yankees already had a chance to pick up a mid-rotation or front-end type in free agent Dallas Keuchel, whom they had interest in before he signed with the Braves on June 7. The Braves gave Keuchel $13MM, more than the deep-pocketed Yankees were willing to spend on a few months of control over the ex-Astro. Because Keuchel’s no longer in play, the Yankees’ only choice is to find a Severino-Paxton-Tanaka complement via the trade market in the next several weeks – something Cashman’s trying to do.
AL Notes: Yankees, Luzardo, Royals
Here are a few interesting recent notes from the American League …
- While the era of value-conscious roster building hasn’t yet resulted in the desired number of World Championships, the Yankees have had plenty of success. And whatever one may say about the overall strategy, it’s hard to argue with most of the trades engineered by GM Brian Cashman, Ken Dadvidoff of the New York Post argues. Even if the players acquired by the Yanks haven’t always panned out as hoped, the club has not had much cause for regretting the young talent it parted with. It’s worth noting that there is one other deal that may have cost the Yanks dearly: the November 2017 trade of Caleb Smith and Garrett Cooper to the Marlins, which was seen at the time as little more than a roster clean-out. The player the Yankees added in that deal, young pitcher Mike King, emerged after the swap. But he has been slowed by elbow issues, while Smith and Cooper have emerged as quality MLB performers this year.*
- We’ve known for a while that Jesus Luzardo would be on the move back toward the majors for the Athletics, but it remained to be seen how he’d look after a lengthy absence for shoulder problems. The youngster has only increased the excitement with his performance. He ran up nine strikeouts in four innings in his latest High-A appearance and earned a bump back up to Triple-A, as Martin Gallegos of MLB.com tweets. It’s still possible the 21-year-old could be held down for a while after he’s deemed at full health, but the A’s are surely also anxious to get him onto the MLB roster. There’s no word yet whether fellow rehabbing southpaw pitching prospect A.J. Puk will also move up to the highest level of the minors.
- Veteran K.C. Star scribe Sam Mellinger delivered a realistic assessment of the Royals‘ immediate outlook. The club signaled in mid-May that it believed it might be competitive for a Wild Card. GM Dayton Moore says he legitimately “expected more wins.” But as Mellinger explains, there’s an undeniable disconnect between expectations — particularly, those projected publicly — and the results on the field. There have been some notable successes, but the Royals have in the aggregate been nearly as bad as an unabashedly rebuilding Orioles club. Mellinger is careful to note that Moore and his top lieutenants aren’t at immediate risk of being replaced, particularly given their incredible achievements in recent years. It’s an interesting look at the state of a uniquely situated organization. Mellinger also notes that righties Jakob Junis and Scott Barlow have drawn some trade inquiries, though neither has been consistently effective this year and both have plenty of cheap control remaining.
*The initial version of this post mistakenly stated that King had undergone Tommy John surgery. We regret the error.
MLBTR Poll: Grade The Edwin Encarnacion Swap
The Yankees struck early over the weekend, lining up a deal with the Mariners to bring in slugger Edwin Encarnacion. It’ll reportedly cost the club a pitching prospect (Juan Then) and something like $7MM in salary obligations (approximately half of the remainder owed by the M’s this season and on a 2020 option buyout).
(I’d like to crow over the fact that I prognosticated EE as the next player to be traded in a recent chat. Unfortunately, I was also a bit dismissive in discussing the Yankees as a possible suitor.)
It’s hard not to love the potential look of the Yanks’ lineup with Encarnacion added to the mix. He was obliterating opposing pitching to the tune of a .241/.356/.531 slash line and 21 home runs in Seattle. With fellow righty sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the mend, to say nothing of the players already on the active roster at the moment, the Bronx Bombers could have an otherworldly array of power bats down the stretch.
There’s certainly an argument that the New York organization should see starting pitching as its top priority. And that may well be the case. Adding EE hardly precludes further moves to add arms. The Yankees did take on luxury tax obligations and creep closer to the highest penalty level with this swap. But the deal also could help free the team to utilize young outfielder Clint Frazier in an ensuing move.
The Yanks hold the edge in the AL East at the moment, but it’s a precarious hold. The Rays seem to be here to stay while the Red Sox have steadily moved back into range. Adding Encarnacion provides an immediate boost, protects against further injury issues or setbacks, and creates immense lineup upside. On the other hand, it’s a costly move on an older player who joins a collection of defensively limited sluggers with Luke Voit already ensconced at first base and Judge & Stanton perhaps warranting some DH time when they return.
How do you grade the move? (Poll link for app users.)
Grade the Yankees' Acquisition of Edwin Encarnacion
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A 45% (7,107)
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B 34% (5,316)
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C 13% (2,118)
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F 4% (599)
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D 4% (572)
Total votes: 15,712
Yankees Option Clint Frazier
The Yankees have optioned outfielder Clint Frazier to Triple-A, tweets Kristie Ackert of the NY Daily News. Frazier’s demotion will clear a spot on the active roster for the newly-acquired Edwin Encarnacion.
The demotion represents the continuation of a rocky Yankees stint for the 24-year-old Frazier, who has long been the victim of roster crunch despite adequate performance at the MLB level. To be sure, Frazier has not disappointed in his MLB career, which has spanned parts of three seasons: his career OPS sits at a tidy .793, including a career-best .855 this season. His outfield defense has certainly lagged behind the bat, but defensive struggles are not uncommon for young outfielders, and Frazier has demonstrated that his bat-first profile can play at the Major League level.
Despite that promise, Frazier has managed to appear in just 106 MLB games since debuting in 2017. In years past, Frazier has been blocked by the Yankees’ prolific outfielders, but the team’s injury woes have allowed Frazier to receive 186 ABs in 2019. At this point, though, it appears that time is running out on that expanded opportunity.
The acquisition of Encarnacion, coupled with the impending return of outfielders Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, has made it clear that Frazier’s opportunities with the big league club will be even further limited for the remainder of the season. With Encarnacion’s addition to the lineup, it appears that the most likely lineup configurations will feature Stanton and Judge joining Aaron Hicks in the outfield, leaving Frazier without a spot in the starting nine.
With that in mind, it would appear that Frazier’s best chance to catch on in the Bronx would come as a depth outfielder; however, a player with Frazier’s combination of youth, performance, and prospect pedigree would perhaps provide more value to the contending Yankees as a trade chip, especially considering the presence of Brett Gardner and Cameron Maybin, each of whom has provided serviceable—if unspectacular—outfield production in the absence of the Bombers’ stars.
As a result of his limited opportunities, Frazier has often been the subject of trade discussions, a trend that will no doubt continue given the Yankees’ need for—and interest in—starting pitching. Madison Bumgarner, Marcus Stroman, Trevor Bauer, and Zack Wheeler have all been linked to the Yankees, and Detroit’s Matt Boyd has also drawn attention as a trade candidate. Of course, it remains to be seen just how much the Yankees could fetch for Frazier, but it seems that he could be a key piece in a trade to bolster the rotation. Of course, there’s no indication that Frazier’s demotion is the precursor to such a move, but speculation will certainly abound as trade season approaches.
Yankees To Activate Giancarlo Stanton On Tuesday
Giancarlo Stanton is set to make his return to the Yankees lineup, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey) that Stanton is on track to be activated from the injured list on Tuesday. The slugger is winding up a Triple-A rehab stint and will join the Yankees in the midst of an important AL East series against the Rays.
Stanton played in only three games before originally hitting the IL with a biceps injury. While that issue was seemingly cleared up in a few weeks’ time, Stanton then suffered a left shoulder strain and then some calf tightness that extended his stint on the injured list to two and a half months. These maladies spoiled what had been a pretty solid run of health for Stanton, who played in 317 of a possible 324 games in 2017-18 following a more checkered injury history earlier in his career.
Despite lacking Stanton and seemingly half their roster to injury at one point or another, the Yankees enter the day with a 42-27 record and a hold on first place in the AL East (albeit only a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay). With Aaron Judge also closing in on a return and Edwin Encarnacion newly acquired from the Mariners, New York is on the verge of adding three of the sport’s very best power bats to an already-impressive lineup. Encarnacion’s addition means that the DH spot will largely be spoken for, though the Yankees surely have a plan to keep Stanton fresh after his long layoff rather than run him out in left field every single game.
Zack Wheeler Drawing Interest
To state the obvious, this season hasn’t gone according to plan for the Mets. They’re the owners of a 34-36 record, staring at a 5 1/2-game deficit in their division and a five-game mark for the National League’s second wild card. First-time general manager Brodie Van Wagenen boldly suggested over the winter the Mets would take on all comers in 2019, but his roster has instead spun its wheels for a couple months.
Barring a turnaround leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, the Mets may have to consider selling off players they deem nonessential to their future – perhaps to boost an inadequate farm system. As things stand, the Mets aren’t giving up on buying, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. If the team does a 180 on that mindset, though, it’ll have an intriguing trade chip in starter Zack Wheeler. The right-hander’s on many teams’ radars, including the crosstown rival Yankees’, according to Heyman.
The 29-year-old Wheeler’s in his final season of team control, in which he’s making a reasonable $5.975MM. The fact that he’s affordable enhances his trade value, though this hasn’t been a banner contract year in terms of results for Wheeler.
After missing most of 2015-17 because of injuries, the former Tommy John surgery patient returned last year to fire 182 1/3 innings of 3.31 ERA/3.25 FIP ball. This season, though, his 4.87 ERA through 88 2/3 frames ranks eighth worst among 81 qualified major league starters. Along the way, Wheeler’s average exit velocity against has gone from 84.7 mph to 87.8 mph and his hard-hit rate has risen from 27.1 percent to 34.4 since 2018, according to Statcast. Better contact against Wheeler has led to more balls leaving the yard. Wheeler yielded home runs on a paltry 8.1 percent of fly balls a year ago, but he’s now at 14.1.
Despite the red flags in Wheeler’s production, there are clear reasons for hope. With a 97 mph average fastball and a sinker that typically clocks in at 96, he remains one of the hardest-throwing starters in baseball. Wheeler’s velo has helped him increase his strikeout rate from 8.84 per nine in 2018 to a career-high 10.05 this season, while his swinging-strike percentage (11.2) and walk rate (2.64) also represent personal bests. Although Wheeler’s not getting as many ground balls as he did earlier in his career, his GB percentage (44.4) is still above average, as is his 12 percent infield fly rate. Unsurprisingly, the gap between his weighted on-base average against/expected wOBA (.307/.296) indicates he has deserved somewhat better to this point.
While this season hasn’t gone to Wheeler’s liking, it seems fair to say he’s an above-average major league starter. He’d therefore be one of the best starters on the block this summer if the Mets were to put him there, trailing Matthew Boyd but perhaps ranking in the vicinity of Marcus Stroman and Madison Bumgarner. However, it’ll be a moot point if the Mets decide to retain Wheeler, which seems to be their intention as of now. Plenty can change in the next month and a half, though.