Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Yankees Rumors

Yankees Not Interested In Zack Cozart, Jose Iglesias

By | at

While the suddenly shortstop-needy Yankees have interest in acquiring the Diamondbacks’ Nick Ahmed, they’re not eyeing either the Reds’ Zack Cozart or the Tigers’ Jose Iglesias. In the wake of the shoulder injury Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius suffered Saturday, Cincinnati gauged the Bombers’ interest in Cozart, and Detroit did the same with Iglesias. The Yankees turned down both teams’ overtures, reports George A. King III of the New York Post.

It’s unclear what the Reds and Tigers would have wanted in return for their shortstops, neither of whom carry ultra-cheap price tags. Iglesias is set to rake in $4.1MM this year, his penultimate season of team control, while Cozart will collect $5.325MM and then become a free agent next winter. Given that Gregorius could only miss the first month of the season, it likely wouldn’t make sense for the Yankees to add a somewhat expensive stopgap at short.

The rebuilding Reds have been trying to move the 31-year-old Cozart since at least last summer, when a near-trade with the Mariners fell through. Cozart has been a terrific defender since debuting in earnest in 2012 (54 Defensive Runs Saved, 42.2 Ultimate Zone Rating), and he has recently offered respectable production at the plate. Over the previous two seasons, Cozart combined to slash .254/.308/.435 with 25 home runs in 722 plate appearances. It’s somewhat surprising, then, that Cincinnati hasn’t been able to find a taker for Cozart, though many teams are set at shortstop, as FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan writes. By ridding themselves of Cozart, the Reds would be able to turn to a full-time middle infield consisting of the 22-year-old Jose Peraza and the 23-year-old Dilson Herrera, the latter of whom will begin the season at the Triple-A level.

Unlike the Reds, the Tigers aren’t rebuilding, making it an eye-opener that they’d dangle their starting shortstop prior to Opening Day. Iglesias, 27, has been a roughly average player dating back to his first full season, 2013, having accounted for 5.6 fWAR in 1,359 plate appearances since then. The light-hitting Iglesias is coming off his worst offensive season (.255/.306/.336 in 513 PAs), but he made up for it with his defensive chops (three DRS, 11.6 UZR) en route to a career-high 2.1 fWAR. If it were to deal Iglesias sometime this year, Detroit would presumably hand shortstop to a potentially similar player in prospect Dixon Machado. MLB.com describes the 25-year-old as “a defensive wizard who has improved enough physically and with the bat to be a big league regular.” Offensively, Machado hasn’t lit it up at the Triple-A level, where he has slashed .264/.331/.344 in 1,136 PAs, and has only taken 91 trips to the plate in the majors on account of Iglesias’ presence.

As for the Yankees, barring an Ahmed acquisition or a change of heart on Cozart or Iglesias, they’ll go into Opening Day with one of Starlin Castro, Tyler Wade, Ronald Torreyes, Pete Kozma or Ruben Tejada as Gregorious’ temporary replacement. If it’s Castro, who’s the Yankees’ starting second baseman, other members of the shortstop candidates group or utilityman Rob Refsnyder could fill in at the keystone.

Rays, Yankees Interested In Nick Ahmed

By | at

The Rays and Yankees have joined the Padres in showing some trade interest in Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed, The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro reports.  The D’Backs had begun listening to offers for the defensive star thanks to a surplus of other middle infield options, with San Diego already linked due to manager Andy Green’s familiarity with Ahmed in his old job as Arizona’s third base coach.

It makes sense that both AL East rivals would be checking in on Ahmed given how Tampa and New York have both suffered injury setbacks at shortstop.  The Rays are still uncertain as to when Matt Duffy will be able to begin full baseball activities in the wake of his extended recovery from Achilles tendon in his left heel last September.  The Yankees, meanwhile, will be without Didi Gregorius until the end of April as the shortstop recovers from a shoulder strain.

At first glance, the Yankees would seem to have the lesser need for Ahmed since they already have several other middle infield options (Ronald Torreyes, Ruben Tejada, Donovan Solano, Pete Kozma, Tyler Wade or even second baseman Starlin Castro) on hand, plus they have a rough idea about when Gregorius will be back on the field.  Tampa Bay’s timeline for Duffy is much more uncertain, and the Rays were already operating under something of a strained middle infield in the wake of trading Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers.

Tim Beckham is slated to take over at short in Duffy’s absence, leaving the Rays short a right-handed platoon option for second baseman Brad Miller, who struggles against lefties.  Daniel Robertson and the switch-hitting Nick Franklin are the other viable middle infield options on the 40-man roster, as it is rather unlikely that top prospect Willy Adames will get an early promotion to the big leagues.

Ahmed hasn’t shown much at the plate (a .597 OPS over 842 career plate appearances) in his brief career and he carries some notable injury history in the form of season-ending hip surgery from last August.  On the plus side, he is controllable through the 2020 season, and potentially through 2021 spending on how much more service time he accumulates this season  — he has already clocked two years and 54 days of service time in his career.  Ahmed has also shown himself to be a superb defender at short, with +34 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.3 UZR/150 over 1920 career innings at the position.

In another item from Piecoro, he also reports that the Diamondbacks are listening to offers on right-hander Enrique Burgos.  The 26-year-old has a fastball that averages just shy of 96mph and he owns an impressive 10.8 K/9 over 68 1/3 career innings in the majors, though Burgos has managed only a 5.27 ERA thanks to control issues (an even 5.00 BB/9).  Piecoro figures that the D’Backs are trying to move Burgos in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Gregor Blanco, Tom Wilhelmsen, or another player who could win an Opening Day job.

Didi Gregorius To Begin Season On DL Due To Shoulder Injury

By | at

Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius has been shut down from baseball activities for two weeks due to a shoulder strain, and thus will be placed on the 10-day DL to begin the season, manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).  The injury is serious enough that Gregorius could be sidelined for all of April, Girardi said, with Yankees GM Brian Cashman also estimating a rough timeframe of six weeks.

Gregorius suffered the injury playing for the Netherlands’ World Baseball Classic team during a Spring Training exhibition against the Diamondbacks.  He hurt his shoulder while making a throw as part of turning a double play, with Girardi noting (as per Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald) that Gregorius was playing out of position as a second baseman; the Netherlands is deep at short with Andrelton Simmons and Xander Bogaerts also on the roster.

[updated Yankees roster at Roster Resource]

No replacement was named for Gregorius at short, though Girardi said that second baseman Starlin Castro — who was the Cubs’ regular shortstop before converting to second in 2015 — will see some time at his old position during Spring Training.  Girardi noted that star prospect Gleyber Torres is not under consideration to fill Gregorius’ shoes.  Ronald Torreyes, Ruben Tejada, Donovan Solano, Pete Kozma and Tyler Wade are all candidates to fill in at short or possibly second, should Castro end up moving positions.  Torreyes is the only one of that group currently on the 40-man roster, however, so another move would have to be made to create space.

While New York has some middle infield depth on hand, losing Gregorius is certainly a significant blow.  The 27-year-old has hit .270/.311/.409 over 1175 PA in his first two seasons as Derek Jeter’s heir apparent, showing some impressive pop last season with a career-high 20 home runs.  Gregorius is still a below-average run creator for his career, though his offensive game has been aided by excellent skills on the basepaths (as per Fangraphs’ Baserunning metric).  Defensively, Gregorius has had an up-and-down performance at shortstop over the last two seasons — he went from +5 Defensive Runs Saved and a +7.9 UZR/150 in 2015 to -9 DRS and a -3.4 UZR/150 last season.

East Notes: Yankees, Braves, Velazquez

By | at

GM Brian Cashman says the Yankees are unlikely to trade for a rotation upgrade like Jose Quintana at this point, George A. King III of the New York Post writes. “I’m expecting we will go with what we got,” Cashman says. After Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia, the favorites for the last two rotation jobs appear to be Luis Severino and Bryan Mitchell, with Adam Warren Luis Cessa, Chad Green and perhaps rookie Jordan Montgomery in the mix as well. King notes that if Montgomery does make the team after spending much of 2016 at the Double-A level, he’s likely to pitch in long relief rather than starting. It perhaps isn’t surprising that the Yankees aren’t planning on trading for a high-profile starter like Quintana — while Quintana would be under team control for up to four years, making him a long-term asset, acquiring him would likely require the Yankees to part with a decent chunk of the young talent they’ve accumulated in recent trades. Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • If the Braves attempt to add to their bench, they will likely do so via the trade route, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. One possibility is that they could trade one out-of-options player for another, he adds. (Braves players who are out of options include Kevin Chapman, Chase d’Arnaud, Ian Krol, Jose Ramirez and Chaz Roe.) The Braves had previously been connected to outfielder Angel Pagan, although there’s reportedly nothing happening on that front at the moment. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted in his recap of the Braves’ offseason, the team’s projected bench appears to be somewhat thin on hitting talent, with d’Arnaud potentially joining Jace Peterson, Emilio Bonifacio and a catcher in the Braves’ stash of reserves.
  • Righty Hector Velazquez, whose contract the Red Sox recently purchased for $30K from the Mexican League, has struggled thus far in Spring Training. But the Red Sox are holding off on fully evaluating him, Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com writes. Between the Mexican League, the Mexican Pacific Winter League, and the Caribbean Series, Velazquez has made 46 starts and pitched 246 1/3 innings over the past year. During that time, he whiffed 242 batters while walking just 39. The Red Sox identified him as a possible target during the regular season, then sent their scouts to see him during the Caribbean Series. Red Sox exec Allard Baird cites Velazquez’s athleticism and relative youth (he’s 28) as traits they liked. (It doesn’t appear his velocity was overly impressive: “[H]e’s going to be a guy that has to command his pitches, not just control them but command them, and utilize his secondary stuff probably backwards at some point,” says Baird.) Due to his prior workload, he likely won’t be a factor in the early going, despite the Red Sox’ immediate need for starting pitching depth. He could, however, enter the big-league picture as the season progresses.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Pomeranz, McCann, Rays, Odorizzi, Blue Jays

By | at

With Rick Porcello and Chris Sale suddenly looking like the only healthy and reliable members of the Red Sox starting five, Boston’s rotation is “a house of cards,” in the words of CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich (video link).  Lou Merloni, Jared Carrabis, and Drellich discuss Boston’s lack of pitching depth in the wake of David Price’s season-opening DL stint and Drew Pomeranz having to leave an outing today due to left triceps tightness.  The controversial circumstances of the Red Sox/Padres deal that brought Pomeranz to Boston last season are also revisited, with Carrabis noting that “the trade looks like it keeps getting worse every single day” from the Sox perspective given Pomeranz’s ongoing injury problems.

Here’s more from around the AL East…

  • Brian McCann has nothing but fond memories of his time with the Yankees, though he told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media that being traded to the Astros represents “a best-case scenario for both sides.”  McCann was willing to waive his no-trade protection in order to join “a team filled with talent…young talent that’s going to be together for a while” that would allow him to regularly catch, while the Yankees were clearly going with Gary Sanchez as the catcher of both the future and the present.  “You’ve got to see what you have, and what they have is a very talented catcher that is going to be there for a long time,” McCann said, noting that he himself displaced a veteran catcher (Johnny Estrada) when he first broke into the bigs as a rookie with the Braves in 2005.
  • Players face a big decision when presented with the opportunity to sign an early-career extension, as Evan Longoria and Jake Odorizzi of the Rays tell Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Longoria’s first extension with the Rays (a six-year, $17.5MM deal signed just a week into his big league career) drew some criticism at the time, though Longoria saw it as a chance to “have this security for myself and my family and just play and relax.”
  • Odorizzi, meanwhile, passed on a discussed extension with the Rays two offseasons ago.  Topkin reports that the proposed extension would have been a six-year deal worth close to $30MM in guaranteed money, with over $20MM more available via two additional club option years.  Such a deal would’ve covered at least two of Odorizzi’s free agent seasons and potentially kept him under team control through his age-33 season.  Odorizzi doesn’t regret turning down the extension, saying “sometimes it boils down to, and I hate to say it, but the dollar amount.  We all know the money in this game and the value of players and what your value is.  And sometimes it just doesn’t match up.  That’s just the circumstances.”
  • The Blue Jays hope to gain a competitive advantage with their high performance department, as Sportsnet.ca’s Arden Zwelling takes a look inside the all-encompassing plan dedicated to keeping players physically and mentally prepared year-round.  Club president Mark Shapiro hired sports psychologist Angus Mugford last year to create the high performance department, which has now grown into a 43-person staff consisting of fitness trainers, dieticians, mental coaches, and more.  The department’s focus on each player’s individual status helped the Jays decide to keep Aaron Sanchez in the rotation last season, as since Sanchez had so diligently been keeping himself in good condition, there was less fear that he would wear down after throwing so many innings.

Pitching Notes: Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers

By | at

The Cardinals have tabbed Michael Wacha to begin the season as their fifth starter, tweets Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. That’s not particularly surprising, as St. Louis optioned one of Wacha’s competitors, Luke Weaver, to Triple-A on Saturday after he showed poorly over five spring training innings. The other contender for the Redbirds’ last starting role, former closer Trevor Rosenthal, fell behind the 8-ball when he dealt with right lat muscle soreness earlier this month. Barring an injury, the other four-fifths of the Cardinals’ season-opening rotation will consist of Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake and Lance Lynn.

  • Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright finally seems to be putting his long bout with right shoulder bursitis behind him, writes Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Wright, a 2016 All-Star whose season ended in August after he injured his shoulder as a pinch-runner, threw three hitless innings against the Twins on Saturday. The 32-year-old indicated afterward that he’s “in good position to be ready for Opening Day.”
  • Ernesto Frieri served as a more-than-capable reliever with the Padres and Angels from 2010-13, when he combined for a 2.79 ERA, 12.28 K/9 and 4.36 BB/9 over 229 1/3 innings, before he flamed out over the next two seasons with the Halos, Pirates and Rays. After taking 2016 off to repair his mechanics, the 31-year-old Frieri believes he’s poised for a career renaissance with the Yankees, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “Before, I was a thrower,” Frieri said Saturday. “I’d just throw fastballs and I got away with that, too. But I had that deception. And now I have that deception back.” Frieri, who’s attempting to make the Yankees’ roster after signing a minor league contract Thursday, threw two scoreless innings for Colombia during the World Baseball Classic and touched 95 mph. His average fastball velocity in 2015 was 91.2.
  • Rangers right-hander Tyson Ross will throw live batting practice for the first time this year on Wednesday, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Ross, who’s on the mend from October surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, “has met all checkpoints on time or early so far,” Grant adds. The expectation when the Rangers signed Ross in January was that he’d be ready for major league action by May or June.

AL Notes: JD Martinez, Ackley, Kopech, Red Sox, Pineda

By | at

Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez suffered a sprain in his mid-right foot while making a catch on Saturday and left the game after just an inning.  (Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press has the details.)  X-rays were negative and Martinez will be re-evaluated on Sunday before the club decides that any further tests are necessary.  He was seen on crutches and left the ballpark in a walking boot, though Martinez told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) that “it’s good that I’m able to move on it.”  Needless to say, losing Martinez for any extended length of time would jeopardize both the Tigers’ lineup and Martinez’s chances at a big free agent contract next offseason as one of the top players on the open market.

Here’s more from around the American League…

  • Dustin Ackley has an opt-out date near the end of Spring Training in his minor league deal with the Angels, the utilityman tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, though he hasn’t decided whether he’ll exercise the clause or remain with the Halos’ Triple-A club.  Ackley’s choice is complicated by the fact that he has yet to play the field this spring as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery.  The veteran tells Fletcher that he can play first base and swing more or less normally, though he isn’t yet able to handle the throwing involved with second base or the outfield.  Ackley hopes he can “at least give them [the Angels] some games defensively before camp is over.”
  • Michael Kopech was one of the major pieces the White Sox acquired in the Chris Sale trade, and Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago opines that Kopech could follow Sale’s career trajectory by breaking into the bigs as a reliever.  The White Sox eased Sale into the majors by using him out of the bullpen in his first two seasons before unleashing him into the rotation, where Sale emerged as one of baseball’s best starters.  Kopech only turns 21 in April and has yet to pitch above high-A ball, though if he continues to impress in the minors, Chicago may be tempted to get him to the big leagues by 2018 as a reliever.
  • The Red Sox face a number of pressing questions as they head into the season, Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com writes, including some injury concerns for key arms like David Price, Drew Pomeranz and Tyler Thornburg.  If these pitchers have to miss time in April, that could be particularly difficult for the club given that Boston faces a tough schedule over the first six weeks, including a lot of division games and tough inter-league matchups against the Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates.  As Gammons notes, this could add up to a slow start for the Red Sox, which will only add to the pressure for a team that is expected to challenge for a World Series.
  • Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda has already experienced a lot of ups and downs in his career, in no small part due to his struggles with the language barrier, as ESPN’s Andrew Marchand details.  Pineda came to MLB with little formal education and virtually no knowledge of English or American culture, which led to some inevitable growing pains (such as Pineda’s infamous suspension for using pine tar in April 2014).  The piece is well worth a full read, as it chronicles Pineda’s rise to the majors and the problems that he and many other foreign-born players face upon being thrust into the pressurized environment of pro baseball.

East Notes: Blue Jays, Mets, Marlins, Yankees

By | at

Agent Scott Boras is unhappy with the Blue Jays for not awarding pre-arb right-hander Aaron Sanchez a higher salary for 2017, but the star hurler doesn’t seem fazed. Sanchez told Paul Hagen of MLB.com he “absolutely” believes Blue Jays management values him, adding: “We just had a disagreement, and I want to leave it at that. There are no hard feelings between [general manager Ross Atkins] and I, between me and this organization. It’s time to go play baseball, really. All that other stuff isn’t relevant to me.” With his first trip through arbitration a year away, Sanchez, 24, will try to build on a sterling 2016 campaign in which he posted a 3.00 ERA, 7.55 K/9, 2.95 BB/9 and 54.4 percent ground-ball rate over 192 innings.

More from the East Coast:

  • Major League Baseball has spent the past four-plus months investigating domestic violence allegations against Mets closer Jeurys Familia, but it appears he’ll escape serious punishment from commissioner Rob Manfred. While Manfred will hand Familia a suspension, the ban won’t be “very long,” reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman. That could rule out a potential 30- to 50-game suspension for Familia.
  • Mets infielder Wilmer Flores isn’t pleased with his role as a part-time player, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Even if injured third baseman David Wright misses regular-season time, the Mets will still have a full complement of infielders in Lucas Duda, Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes. With those four on hand, the right-handed-hitting Flores is unlikely to play much against same-handed pitchers. “I’ve been comfortable (against right handers) since I started playing baseball,” Flores said. “I got a lot of opportunities against lefties (last year), but against righties, I feel really good.” Flores hasn’t made a strong case to face righties, having hit just .253/.287/.374 against them in 905 career plate appearances. Regarding Flores’ dissatisfaction, manager Terry Collins told Ackert: “The one thing about his situation is you don’t have to like it. You just have to accept it and be ready to play.”
  • Marlins third baseman Martin Prado will undergo an MRI on Saturday after injuring his hamstring during Venezuela’s loss to the American team in the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday, per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. “Hamstrings take a little bit of time, and we’ll let the doctors determine what grade it is and see what we’re going to have to do,” said manager Don Mattingly. Should Prado miss regular-season action, it’s likely the Marlins would give the lion’s share of playing time at third to Derek Dietrich, who enjoyed a career year in 2016 while primarily filling in at second for the suspended Dee Gordon. An injury to the productive Prado obviously isn’t ideal, though, especially considering he’s entering the first season of a three-year, $40MM contract.
  • A poor 2016 spent with the Pirates and Mets forced now-Yankees southpaw Jon Niese to settle for a minor league contract during the offseason, leading the 30-year-old to tell Ken Davidoff of the New York Post: “It’s a tough business to be in, but at the same time, it gave me this opportunity here with the Yankees. I can’t totally be down on myself about it. I’m looking forward to embracing this bullpen role. Hopefully it can springboard my career.” Niese had been a quality starter from 2011-15, but he’d only crack the Yankees’ roster as a reliever. His new role comes with a different mindset. “Basically, I’m just treating those three outs as a game,” he added.

Yankees Sign Ernesto Frieri

By | at

TODAY: The Yankees have announced a minor-league deal with Frieri that includes an invitation to MLB camp.

YESTERDAY: Veteran reliever Ernesto Frieri worked out for the Yankees today, as Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter links). While he hasn’t yet agreed to terms with New York, Frieri says he hopes to do so tomorrow.

Frieri, 31, last pitched in affiliated ball in 2015, when he worked to a 4.63 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 over his 23 1/3 frames with the Rays. While that represented an improvement in the earned-run department after Frieri’s massive struggles the season prior, when he allowed 7.34 earned per nine, the peripherals were a big step back.

After all, Frieri had never before finished a MLB season (excepting his two-frame showing in 2009) with anything shy of double-digit strikeout-per-nine numbers. Over his seven years in the bigs, Frieri has averaged 11.6 K/9, though he has also been prone to the free pass (4.2 BB/9) and generates very few groundballs (26.2%).

The swing-and-miss that had defined Frier’s career began to erode in 2014, when he dropped to a 10.0% swinging-strike rate. That fell yet further in the ensuing campaign, when Frieri also exhibited a career-low fastball velocity. Having sat in the 94 mph range for much of his career, Frieri was reduced to working at 91 to 92 mph in his most recent season in the majors.

Those struggles left Frieri without an opportunity in 2016. He spent camp with the Phillies but was released at the onset of the season. Frieri did appear briefly in the Venezuelan Winter League, though, and did notch two scoreless frames in the WBC recently for his native Colombia.

While the overall body of work doesn’t suggest that Frieri would have much of a shot at pitching in the majors out of camp — particularly since he has yet to sign — the key factor will be how he’s throwing. Indeed, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi says that the veteran would have a real shot at making the roster if he is added to the mix, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets.

AL East Notes: Quintana, Norris, Longoria, Lawrie

By | at

Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

  • The White Sox have been scouting Yankees prospects in regards to a potential Jose Quintana trade, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  The two clubs have been linked in Quintana trade rumors though there isn’t any movement as per the latest reports, since New York doesn’t want to part with its top minor leaguers.  The Yankees have been seen as a logical target for Quintana due to the lack of certainty in their rotation beyond Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, and C.C. Sabathia, and even that top trio can’t be considered locks due to each pitcher’s injury history.  It makes sense that the Sox would keep doing its due scouting diligence on the Yankees and other potential Quintana suitors should a team make a renewed push for a deal before Spring Training is out.
  • The Rays would likely be interested in Derek Norris if the catcher is indeed released by the Nationals, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.  The Nats waived Norris yesterday, and obviously the Rays would like to avoid paying the $4.2MM they would owe Norris by simply claiming him.  Newly-signed Rays catcher Wilson Ramos will begin the year on the disabled list and will require quite a bit of DH time as he eases back from knee surgery, so Tampa could offer Norris a significant amount of playing time, if not quite a full-time gig behind the plate.  Curt Casali, Jesus Sucre, Michael McKenry and Luke Maile are the Rays’ current internal catching options.
  • In another piece from Topkin, he looks at the ever-present trade speculation that seems to swirl around Evan Longoria, no matter how much the third baseman insists that he wants to remain with the Rays for the rest of his career.  With the Rays front office constantly looking to keep payroll stable and reload with young talent, trading Longoria (who is owed $100MM through 2022) would seem like a logical step if the club ever embarks on a full-fledged rebuild.  Topkin notes that Longoria is on track to receive 10-and-5 rights in April 2018, which would give him the right to reject any proposed trade.  The Rays could therefore look to deal him before then, Topkin opines, or perhaps they could wait until they finalize a new stadium deal.
  • A reunion between Brett Lawrie and the Blue Jays “would be a shock,” MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm opines as part of a reader mailbag.  In Chisholm’s view, the only path to Lawrie’s return to Toronto would be if second baseman Devon Travis “suffers a major setback” in his recovery from knee surgery.  That scenario isn’t entirely out of the question given that Travis’ availability for Opening Day seems to be in doubt, though Lawrie himself is dealing with some injury concerns and wants to get healthy before pursuing a new contract.  The Jays, Rays and Royals all had some interest in Lawrie after his release from the White Sox, with the Mets also linked but reportedly not overly intrigued.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top