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Dellin Betances Slated To Receive MRI

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Rehabbing Yankees reliever Dellin Betances is not progressing on quite the timeline that might have been hoped. Manager Aaron Boone said today that a recent simulated game “didn’t go great,” as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch was among those to tweet. Betances is now heading back to New York to undergo an MRI on his shoulder.

Previously diagnosed with an impingement after experiencing a worrying spring velocity drop, Betances had been hoping to rest a bit and then ramp right back up. It seems now that the down time did not fully resolve the issues in the joint, which makes for no shortage of uncertainty for both player and team.

The Yankees have plenty of options to fill in for Betances and the resources to add more relievers if need be. But the club is already dealing with multiple injuries in other areas of the roster. At this stage of the season, at least, it can’t hope to find a reliever of Betances’s quality for anything approaching a reasonable price.

Things are even more concerning for Betances himself, as the big righty is playing out his final season of arbitration eligibility. High velocity and durability have been among his two biggest calling cards over a thus-far stellar career. Now, the 31-year-old will need to get healthy and regain the arm speed that has allowed him to post a 2.36 ERA with 14.6 K/9 over 381 total MLB innings.. If and when he manages that, there’ll still be some newfound uncertainty surrounding his health outlook.

Yankees Place Gary Sanchez On Injured List

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The Yankees announced Friday that they’ve placed catcher Gary Sanchez on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 11, due to a left calf strain. Fellow backstop Kyle Higashioka has been recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in his place.

Sanchez becomes the 12th Yankees player to hit the injured list on the young season, joining key contributors Luis Severino, Dellin Betances, Aaron Hicks, Miguel Andujar and Giancarlo Stanton, among others. He’ll be out for at least the next nine days, given that the move is retroactive by one day, which is no small blow to the Yankees’ lineup given the excellent start Sanchez has enjoyed. To this point, he’s slashed .268/.333/.732 with six big flies through just 45 trips to the plate.

Higashioka, who’ll turn 29 during Sanchez’s absence, will team with Austin Romine to comprise the Yankees’ catching tandem while Sanchez is on the shelf. He’s seen sparse action at the MLB level with the Yankees over the past two seasons, hitting a combined .133/.212/.256 in 99 plate appearances.

Yankees Notes: Rotation, Keuchel, Andujar, Hicks, Stanton

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Though the Yankees’ rotation was dealt a substantial blow yesterday with the news that Luis Severino would be shut down entirely for another six weeks, the organization isn’t hitting the panic button and making a sudden push for lingering free-agent Dallas Keuchel, SNY’s John Harper reports. New York general manager Brian Cashman would prefer to “exhaust all of the alternatives” before pursuing Keuchel unless the former Cy Young winner’s price tag drops even further. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets a similar sentiment, suggesting there’s no interest in Keuchel at this time.

The Yankees will be getting some help for a beleaguered rotation this weekend, however, as manager Aaron Boone revealed to reporters Wednesday that CC Sabathia will be activated from the injured list and make his 2019 debut on Saturday (Twitter link via Newsday’s Erik Boland). The Yanks also have Gio Gonzalez tuning up in Triple-A, and given that the lefty has an April 20 opt-out in his minor league contract, it seems likely that he’ll get a look sooner rather than later.

More out of the Bronx…

  • Third baseman Miguel Andujar made 25 throws from 60 feet this week and has been cleared to swing a bat on Friday, the team told the media today (Twitter link via George A. King III of the New Pork). It’s not yet clear if the young slugger will be able to avoid surgery to repair the small tear in his right shoulder’s labrum, though both he and the Yankees are hopeful that he can avoid going under the knife. In his absence, DJ LeMahieu has been hitting well while manning the hot corner, though injuries to both Andujar and Troy Tulowitzki have tested the Yankees’ infield depth.
  • Center fielder Aaron Hicks has begun to hit soft-toss in addition to his throwing regimen, tweets James Wagner of the New York Times. He’s also been running the bases recently and is optimistic that he’ll be able to take on-field batting practice in the near future. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton has begun to swing a bat as he works his way toward a return. Both players figure to need to minor league rehab assignments before they’re able to suit up to return to the Yankees, but it seems that each is proceeding free of any setbacks at present.

Call-Ups: Tim Collins, Joe Harvey

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We’ll cover a few of the day’s notable call-ups in this post:

  • The Cubs will promote lefty Tim Collins to take the roster spot of injured starter Jon Lester, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com (via Twitter). Collins inked a MLB deal late this spring after being cut loose by the Twins and was optioned to open the season. He’ll try to help settle a relief unit that has sputtered out of the gates. Collins didn’t exactly excel last year with the Nats, but did make it his way back to full health and back up to the majors after several lost seasons. He has racked up an impressive number of strikeouts in 2019, with 13 in 9 1/3 spring innings and three more in 2 2/3 at Triple-A.
  • Joining the Yankees roster is right-handed reliever Joe Harvey, per a club announcement. The club dropped Jonathan Loaisiga back to Triple-A on optional assignment to clear active roster space; Harvey already owned a 40-man spot. With a pair of off-days in the upcoming schedule, Loaisiga can get some work in at Triple-A while the MLB club enjoys an extra reliever. Harvey will get his first taste of the majors at 27 years of age. Last year, he worked to an impressive 1.66 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 54 1/3 innings over 38 appearances at the highest level of the minors.

Offseason In Review: New York Yankees

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This is the latest post of MLBTR’s annual Offseason in Review series, in which we take stock of every team’s winter dealings.

The Yankees won the American League Wild Card game for a second consecutive season in 2018 but were bounced from the playoffs at the hands of their biggest rivals, setting up an active offseason for general manager Brian Cashman and his staff.

Major League Signings

  • Zack Britton, LHP: Three years, $39MM (includes $14MM option for 2022 season that must be exercised after 2020 season; if Yankees do not exercise option, a player opt-out is triggered)
  • J.A. Happ, LHP: Two years, $34MM (plus $17MM vesting/club option for 2021 season)
  • Adam Ottavino, RHP: Three years, $27MM
  • DJ LeMahieu, INF: Two years, $24MM
  • CC Sabathia, LHP: One year, $8MM
  • Brett Gardner, OF: One year, $7.5MM
  • Troy Tulowitzki, SS: One year, $555K
  • Total spend: $140.055MM

Trades and Waiver Claims

Extensions

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

Bolstering a rotation that was rife with uncertainty following an up-and-down 2018 season was the Yankees’ top priority in the 2018-19 offseason. GM Brian Cashman acted quickly and decisively in the early-going, bringing back CC Sabathia for what will be the likely Hall of Famer’s final season and acquiring one of the best available starters on the trade market in the form of James Paxton. New York parted ways with vaunted prospect Justus Sheffield and another potential big league starter, Erik Swanson, in order to acquire the final two seasons of control over Paxton. While that move could ultimately prove beneficial to the Mariners, the Yankees have more immediate postseason aspirations and needed more certainty than the pair of promising young hurlers could provide. Paxton’s acquisition looks all the more critical now that it seems as though Luis Severino will be sidelined into the summer.

With Paxton and Sabathia secured, the Yankees sought to lock up one of their more successful midseason acquisitions in recent memory and managed to accomplish that goal at a lower rate — or, at least, on a shorter term — than many expected. J.A. Happ’s two-year, $34MM contract looks eminently reasonable for a pitcher who thrived to the tune of a 3.48 ERA over his past 690 MLB innings. Happ didn’t truly break out until his age-32 season, but he’s turned in four consecutive seasons of at least 25 starts with a 3.65 ERA or better in each of those years.

Outside of the rotation, the top need on a stacked Yankees roster was to round out the infield in the wake of Didi Gregorius’ Tommy John surgery. Gleyber Torres’ ability to play either middle-infield slot meant the Yankees didn’t need to limit themselves to solely exploring true shortstops. New York was frequently connected to Manny Machado and even took him to dinner in Manhattan to talk shop, but the team’s interest always seemed to be less serious than that of the Phillies or White Sox. By the time the Padres emerged as a late, serious bidder in the Machado auction, the Yankees were a distant memory. The team undoubtedly had a price at which it’d have jumped into the bidding, but that clearly was nowhere near the Padres’ $300MM mark and may not have even been especially close to the White Sox’ distant second-place bid of a reported $250MM.

Rather than pursue Machado, the Yankees rolled the dice on a player who was at one point as highly regarded as Machado is now. Troy Tulowitzki didn’t play a game in 2018 and hasn’t been a high-quality regular in nearly a half decade, but when the Blue Jays ate the remainder of his contract, the Yankees felt comfortable in taking a league-minimum gamble on the five-time All-Star. Tulowitzki’s addition was supplemented by a two-year deal with one of his former teammates, DJ LeMahieu, whose presence deepened an impressive collection of infield talent.

Around the time of the 2018 trade deadline, first base looked like it’d be an area of focus for the Yankees in the offseason, but Cashman and his lieutenants made a savvy bargain pickup of Luke Voit. While the Yankees surely liked Voit at the time of his acquisition — in a trade that sent since-DFA’ed lefty Chasen Shreve and Triple-A righty Giovanny Gallegos to St. Louis — no one could have foreseen Voit’s Ruthian surge down the stretch. The burly slugger captured the hearts of Yankees fans with a preposterous .322/.398/.671 slash and 15 home runs in just 161 plate appearances as a Yankee following the trade (and kicked off the 2019 season with a three-run round-tripper as well). Between Voit and the talented but fragile Greg Bird, the Yankees suddenly had a pair of useful and inexpensive options. LeMahieu, too, is expected to log some time at first base in 2019.

Though the bullpen was already robust even with some key names departing, the Yankees doubled down on their “too much is never enough” strategy with regards to their relief corps. Though David Robertson was allowed to depart, they re-upped Zach Zack Britton on a three-year contract and brokered another three-year pact with Adam Ottavino on the heels of a breakout season in Colorado. Pairing that duo with incumbent options like Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, Dellin Betances and Jonathan Holder creates yet another uber-pen for second-year skipper Aaron Boone.

Of course, all of this writing so far has overlooked the Yankees’ first move of the offseason — one that now looks particularly prudent. Brett Gardner might not have filled a dire need outside of deepening an already strong roster, but injuries to Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks and ever-fading Jacoby Ellsbury have suddenly made the decision to retain Gardner an important one. It’s true that the organization could have found some more affordable depth late in the offseason — Adam Jones took a year and $3MM with the D-backs in March — but Gardner is a known clubhouse asset that the team trusts all over the outfield.

Certainly, the Yankees pursued other avenues to improvement this winter. They were never in on Bryce Harper despite the expected barrage of rumors connecting the two sides early in free agency. Harper said after signing in Philadelphia that he never heard from the Yankees, in fact. But the team was linked to the likes of Noah Syndergaard and Patrick Corbin (whom they also hosted for an in-person visit) as they sought to bulk up the rotation, and there was even talk of potentially shipping out Miguel Andujar for rotation help (in a scenario where they’d then sign Machado to man third base). The Yankees are always at the forefront of free-agent and high-profile trade rumblings, and this offseason, as one might expect, was no different.

Questions Remaining

Clearly, the biggest question surrounding the Yankees right now is whether they’ll be able to get their roster up to full strength. Severino signed a four-year, $40MM extension and was shut down first for a couple of weeks due to shoulder inflammation and now for six more weeks due to a lat strain. Hicks passed on free agency in favor of an extension that promised him an additional six years and $64MM on top of what he was already slated to earn in ’19. He went down with a back issue in Spring Training and has yet to play a game. Meanwhile, Stanton is out for much of April with a biceps strain and Andujar is faced with the possibility of surgery to address a labrum tear in his right shoulder.

That pileup of injuries, though, is precisely the reason that the Yankees added LeMahieu and re-signed Gardner despite lacking clear paths to regular at-bats for both players. Winning teams have placed an even greater emphasis than ever on depth in recent years (e.g. Dodgers, Brewers), even if it means that a full-strength roster would appear to have a number of logjams.

The Yankees are likely asking themselves whether they have enough depth in the rotation — particularly with Dallas Keuchel still unsigned. Paxton, Happ and Tanaka makes for a fine top three, but Sabathia’s durability isn’t what it once was and it’s hard to be confident that Severino will simply bounce back without any lingering effects or flareups once he does make it back to the mound. None of Paxton, Happ or Tanaka has a track record of 200-inning seasons, and Gonzalez will need some time to get up to speed in Triple-A. Internal alternatives like Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga and Chance Adams have promise but also come with the potential to leave the Yankees with a weak, overexposed rotation for an unacceptable period of time in a competitive three-team race.

It’s also a bit surprising that the Yankees’ top plan at shortstop was to simply hope for the best with an injury risk as significant as Tulowitzki, who logged just 66 games in 2017-18 and was last a convincingly above-average hitter in 2014. It’s true that if Andujar were healthy, Torres could’ve slid to shortstop with LeMahieu taking over at second base in the event of a Tulo injury, but they’d have had a much more stable middle-infield setting by making that Plan A and signing a glove-first backup. There was no shortage of affordable options, with Freddy Galvis, Jose Iglesias and Adeiny Hechavarria all on the open market. I’ll buy that the Tulowitzki gambit presented the highest possible value upside, but it was a reach to pencil him in for significant playing time while Gregorius mends. If Gregorius has any setbacks in his recovery from Tommy John, it’s easy to see the Yankees looking for middle-infield help this summer.

2019 Season Outlook

Injuries will test the considerable depth cultivated by the front office this winter. The Yankees are in a three-team race with the Red Sox and Rays — a pair of teams with notable questions themselves; Boston’s bullpen is the type you’d expect to see on a rebuilding club, whereas Tampa Bay is again banking on a series of creative bullpen machinations and affordable young position players. Neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox look as imposing early on as one might’ve expected midway through the offseason, but all three of the top dogs in the AL East have viable postseason chances. The Yankees are a lock to be in the mix for the playoffs, but the rate at which their current glut of 11 injured players can mend will determine the extent to which they need to augment the roster to keep pace come June and July.

How would you grade the Yankees’ offseason? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors app users.) 

How would you grade the Yankees' offseason?
B 45.73% (1,943 votes)
C 21.98% (934 votes)
A 20.33% (864 votes)
F 6.47% (275 votes)
D 5.48% (233 votes)
Total Votes: 4,249

Luis Severino Shut Down Six Weeks Due To Lat Strain

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Luis Severino’s recent MRI revealed a Grade 2 lat strain that will cause the righty to be shut down from throwing for the next six weeks, the Yankees announced to reporters (Twitter link via Newsday’s Erik Boland). The lat injury is a new development that is unrelated to the previous bout of shoulder inflammation from which Severino was working his way back. This new injury, it seems, was sustained while Severino was rehabbing his shoulder.

As has been well documented by now, the Yankees have a staggering 11 players on the injured list, though it’s arguable that Severino is the most vital of the bunch. The recently extended righty was expected to front the rotation in 2019 but now seems destined to miss the majority of the season’s first half. A six-week shutdown would mean that Severino wouldn’t even resume throwing until the latter third of May, and at that point he’d need to completely rebuild arm strength sufficient to handle a starter’s workload at the big league level. Even in a best-case scenario, there’s little hope of Severino making his first start of the season before the middle of June.

With Severino and CC Sabathia on the shelf, the Yankees have been leaning on James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ as the top three options in the starting rotation. Right-handers Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga have been the preferred options at the back of the rotation to this point in the young season, though the Yankees also picked up Gio Gonzalez on surprising a minor league contract late in Spring Training.

The prolonged absence of Severino will do nothing to quell connections between the Yankees and yet-unsigned Dallas Keuchel — the clear-cut top option remaining on the open market. Keuchel’s asking price has reportedly begun to come down recently, though signing him would still come with both luxury tax concerns and draft penalties; specifically, the Yankees would pay a 32 percent tax on any dollars spent on Keuchel and would forfeit their second-highest draft pick and $500K of international bonus money by signing the 2015 AL Cy Young winner.

If the Yankees opt to remain internal, it’ll mean continued looks for German and Loaisiga, plus a potential opportunity for the veteran Gonzalez and/or young righty Chance Adams.

Luis Severino Headed For MRI

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Yankees starter Luis Severino is slated to undergo an MRI and further medical examination, manager Aaron Boone tells reporters including George A. King III of the New York Post (via Twitter). Severino has been on the injured list since the start of the season for inflammation in his rotator cuff.

Severino’s rehab was “stalled” over the past week, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News puts it (Twitter link), with Severino not yet feeling up to mound work. The lack of progress was evidently worrying enough that Dr. Christopher Ahmad — a noted surgeon and the Yankees’ head physician — will take a closer look.

Notably, there’s no indication that Severino has experienced new discomfort or a specific setback. That’s the silver lining. But this is obviously a suboptimal development for a club that has been racked by injuries and would prefer to have Severino leading the rotation.

The hope all along has been that Severino would rest up a bit, work through a progression, and make it back to the MLB hill by early May. The timeline hasn’t yet changed significantly, but it seems he’s now behind schedule. And it remains to be seen what the imaging will show.

AL Notes: Sano, Clevinger, Yankees, Beltran, Pedroia

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Injured Twins slugger Miguel Sano has resumed baseball activities and could begin a rehab assignment “within a week,” manager Rocco Baldelli said Sunday (via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). That would put Sano on track for a return to Major League action sometime in early May. Sano’s on the mend from a cut on his lower-right Achilles, which has left third base to free-agent pickup Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza. They’ve struggled mightily across a combined 33 plate appearances, having totaled a meager three hits (two singles and a double). Sano wasn’t nearly that woeful last year, but the 2017 All-Star’s .199/.281/.398 line in 299 plate appearances was still a major letdown. A bounce-back showing from the 25-year-old upon his return could help the Twins challenge the Indians for the AL Central crown.

Here’s the latest news from around the American League…

  • Indians righty Mike Clevinger left Sunday’s start against the Blue Jays prematurely, throwing just 75 pitches over 5 innings of work. Mandy Bell of MLB.com later revealed that Clevinger’s early exit was indeed injury-related, as he experienced upper back tightness. Bell added in a subsequent Tweet that Clevinger said he will be ready to make his next scheduled start.
  • Former All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran has excelled in his new role with the Yankees, writes James Wagner of The New York Times. Following his exceptional playing career, Beltran has brought his passion to an advisory role in Brian Cashman’s front office, where he develops scouting reports and offers counsel to younger players. Beltran, who had been considered for the Yankees’ vacant manager position prior to the 2018 season, would seem to have a chance to manage a Major League ballclub or serve as a primary decision-maker in a front office, if that’s what he wants.
  • Longtime Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia should be available for the team’s home opener on Tuesday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Assuming that all goes well in today’s game with Low-A Greenville, in which Pedroia will play all nine innings, he should be ready to be activated ahead of the reigning World Champions’ return to Fenway Park. He will be re-evaluated after Sunday’s game, but there is optimism that Boston will have its veteran second baseman back in the near future.

Injury Notes: Indians, Lindor, Brewers, Jeffress, Yankees, Andujar

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Lower-body injuries have kept the Indians’ starting middle infield – shortstop Francisco Lindor (high left ankle sprain) and second baseman Jason Kipnis (right calf strain) – from taking the field this season. The latter is making progress in his Triple-A rehab assignment, though there’s still no timetable for his return, Mandy Bell of MLB.com writes. Lindor, who’s out until at least late April, is only doing light workouts at the moment, but “he’s getting better every day,” manager Terry Francona said. The Indians will reevaluate Lindor during the upcoming week, Bell reports. The absences of Lindor and Kipnis have forced the Tribe to deploy Eric Stamets, Brad Miller and Max Moroff as their main middle infielders. Unfortunately for Cleveland, those three have produced abysmal results, having combined for a paltry four hits (three singles and a double) in 57 plate appearances.

  • Barring any setbacks in his Triple-A rehab stint, reliever Jeremy Jeffress will rejoin the Brewers next weekend, according to manager Craig Counsell (via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). The return of Jeffress, who hasn’t debuted this year on account of right shoulder weakness, will be a welcome one for a Milwaukee team that lost fellow late-game option Corey Knebel to season-ending Tommy John surgery last week. The reigning National League Central champions have nevertheless rolled to a 7-2 start, though their bullpen has lacked a complement to the untouchable Josh Hader. Jeffress filled that role with aplomb in 2018, during which he notched a near-spotless 1.29 ERA with 10.45 K/9, 3.17 BB/9 and a 56.4 percent groundball rate in 76 2/3 innings.
  • Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar expressed optimism earlier this week that he wouldn’t need to undergo season-ending surgery on his right shoulder. Manager Aaron Boone was similarly enthusiastic Saturday, George A. King III of the New York Post relays. While Boone acknowledged that surgery remains an option, he left open the possibility that this injury won’t lead to a long-term absence and added, “We are optimistic just because of the strength he is showing in all his testing.’’ Andujar’s still not swinging a bat, but whether he returns will depend more on how well he throws when he’s cleared to do so, per Boone. Without Andujar and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the injury-stricken Yankees have turned to veteran second baseman DJ LeMahieu to man third and Tyler Wade to handle the keystone. LeMahieu has thrived in the early portion of a two-year, $24MM contract, whereas Wade has been in over his head thus far in 2019.
  • Left-hander CC Sabathia, yet another Yankee on the injured list, could rejoin the team’s rotation next weekend, Boone said (also via King). In the meantime, the 38-year-old Sabathia – who’s working back from offseason heart surgery – will throw 60 to 70 pitches in a low-level minor league game Monday. Sabathia will bump either Domingo German or Jonathan Loaisiga from the Yankees’ starting five. Both right-handers did well in their initial starts of the season, but neither went past the five-inning mark.

Yankees Select Giovanny Urshela, Option Thairo Estrada To Minors

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Per a team release, the Yankees have selected the contract of INF Giovanny Urshela from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and signed him to a major league contract. INF Thairo Estrada will head back to Scranton, while SS Didi Gregorius heads to the 60-day DL to make room for Urshela on the 40-man.

Long regarded as a premier hot-corner defender, Urshela will look to offer much-needed stability to a Yankee infield in shambles. With Gregorius, Miguel Andujar and the ever-fragile Troy Tulowitzki on the shelf, the club has been furiously plugging holes – Estrada and Tyler Wade were summoned from Triple-A, and Gold Glove second baseman DJ LeMahieu was uprooted from his natural habitat to help fill the void at third.

The 27-year-old Urshela has been an out-making specialist in the big leagues, slashing just .225/.274/.315 over 499 career MLB plate appearances. The 2018 late-season Yankee acquisition also spent time in the Blue Jays and Indians systems last year, where he slashed a combined .286/.326/.393 in 240 PA. Since 2014’s AAA breakout, where the Colombian clubbed 60 extra-base hits in a full-season’s worth of plate appearances, Urshela hasn’t found much success at the dish.

It was a brief big-league stay for Estrada (he didn’t once make it to the plate for the Bombers), who’s a well-regarded utility prospect in some circles. A gunshot wound and surgery-gone-wrong destroyed his 2018 campaign, so the 23-year-old will hope to patch things up in the season to come.

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