Ken Holtzman Passes Away
The Cubs announced that former big league left-hander Ken Holtzman passed away recently. Per an obituary from Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Holtzman had been hospitalized for the past three weeks due to heart problems. He was 78 years old.
Holtzman was born in St. Louis in 1945. He attended the University of Illinois and was selected from there by the Cubs in the 1965 draft. It didn’t take him long to get to the big leagues, with the Cubs calling him up later that same year.
He only made three appearances in 1965 but got a more proper debut in 1966. He made 34 appearances for the Cubs, 33 starts, and tossed 220 2/3 innings with a 3.79 earned run average. In 1967, he was serving in the National Guard and only able to pitch on weekends, but he made the most of his time in that limited role. He made 12 starts and went 9-0 that year, posting a 2.53 ERA in 92 2/3 innings.
With his military obligations completed, he was able to return to a full-time role. 1968 was the first of nine straight seasons in which he made at least 30 appearances and tossed at least 195 innings. Those Cubs teams of the late ’60s and early ’70s were pretty decent, finishing above .500 each year from ’67 to ’72, but not making the playoffs in any of them. Holtzman was a key component of those clubs, taking the ball and posting generally solid results. That included a no-hitter that he tossed against the Braves in 1969 and another against the Reds in 1971.
Prior to the 1972 season, Holtzman was traded to the Athletics for fellow southpaw Rick Monday. The move to Oakland seemed to suit Holtzman. From 1972 to 1975, he tossed at least 255 1/3 innings in each season with his ERA never finishing higher than 3.14. He was selected to the All-Star team in ’72 and ’73 and the A’s won the World Series in three straight years from ’72 to ’74, with Holtzman playing a big part in those titles. Over those three years and in 1975, he pitched in 13 postseason games with a 2.30 ERA in 70 1/3 innings. He even hit a home run in the ’74 series, with the DH not being implemented in the World Series until 1976.
Holtzman was traded to the Orioles prior to the 1976 season and then to the Yankees in the middle of that campaign. He stayed with the Yanks for a while as his playing time faded, getting traded back to the Cubs midway through the ’78 campaign. He made 23 appearances in 1979 with a 4.59 ERA in what eventually proved to be his last season.
His entire big league career resulted in 451 appearances with a 174-150 record and a 3.49 ERA. He pitched two no-hitters, made a couple of All-Star teams and won three rings. Per Hochman, Holtzman has the most wins for a Jewish pitcher in MLB history, with his 174 just ahead of the 165 wins of Sandy Koufax.
MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball community in sending our condolences to the Holtzman family, as well as his many friends and fans around the game.
NL West Notes: Padres, Yankees, Soto, Montgomery, Treinen, Bryant
As one might expect, December’s blockbuster Juan Soto trade between the Padres and Yankees took on several different permutations before the two sides finally agreed on the seven players involved. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that the Padres had interest in 17 different Yankees players before finally agreeing on a package of four pitchers (Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe) and catcher Kyle Higashioka in exchange for Soto and Trent Grisham. Clarke Schmidt and Chase Hampton were two of the other pitchers known to be considered when reports began to surface about the trade negotiations, and Heyman adds that the Yankees agreeing to include Thorpe instead of Hampton was one of the turning points in getting the deal done.
Though San Diego ended up taking a pitching-heavy mix of players, Heyman writes that the Friars also asked about such noteworthy position-player prospects as Spencer Jones, Roderick Arias, and George Lombard Jr. Jones is a top-100 prospect and the 25th overall pick of the 2022 draft, and he has already drawn lots of trade buzz early in his pro career. The Yankees have thus far balked at moving Jones, even in past talks with the Brewers and White Sox about Corbin Burnes and Dylan Cease, respectively.
More from around the NL West…
- Jordan Montgomery will likely make his Diamondbacks debut on April 18, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of KTAR 92.3 radio). Because he didn’t sign until just prior to Opening Day and therefore missed Spring Training, Montgomery started his D’Backs tenure in the minors in order to get some ramp-up work under his belt. Montgomery got up to 71 pitches over 3 2/3 innings in a Triple-A start yesterday, and though he was tagged for seven unearned runs, Lovullo said Montgomery was just working out his fastball rather than worrying about on-field results. It remains to be seen if Tommy Henry or Ryne Nelson will be removed from the rotation to make way for Montgomery, though if Montgomery is eased back into action, one of Henry or Nelson could speculatively be paired with the southpaw in something of a piggyback capacity for a turn or two through the rotation.
- Blake Treinen threw to live hitters today, in the latest step of his recovery process after suffered a bruised lung over a month ago. Treinen was hit in the chest by a line drive during a Spring Training game, and he told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) that a later MRI revealed two fractured ribs in addition to the bruised lung, though the reliever is now feeling pain-free. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the plan is to have Treinen face live hitters twice more over the next week, and then begin a minor league rehab assignment during the week of April 22.
- Kris Bryant wasn’t in the Rockies‘ lineup today after making an early exit from Saturday’s game due to back stiffness. Bryant collided with the right field wall while catching a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fly ball in the first inning Saturday, and remained in the game until being replaced in the bottom of the fourth. Bryant is considered day-to-day and manager Bud Black said he was available to pinch-hit today if necessary, though given Bryant’s lengthy injury history, any sort of health issue will naturally cause some extra concern.
Giants, Padres Made Offers To Marcus Stroman During Free Agency
When right-hander Marcus Stroman opted out of the final year and $21MM of his deal with the Cubs over the winter to test free agency, he kicked off a relatively quiet foray into the open market for a pitcher of his caliber. The veteran only received publicly-known interest from the Royals prior to him landing a two-year deal with the Yankees that guaranteed him $37MM.
At the time of Stroman’s agreement in the Yankees, Jon Heyman of the New York Post indicated that a handful of other teams were interested in the righty’s services before he ultimately landed in the Bronx. Heyman discussed Stroman’s free agency further in a recent article, expanding upon interest Stroman received from the Giants that he had previously reported while also reporting that the Padres, who had not previously been connected to Stroman, made the 32-year-old an offer.
Per Heyman, Stroman reportedly considered both two- and three-year offers from the San Francisco as well as a longer deal with a lower average annual value from San Diego. It’s not clear how the offers the veteran received from the Giants and Padres stacked up relative to the two-year, $37MM guarantee he ultimately accepted from the Yankees, though Heyman indicates that signing with the Yankees was Stroman’s preference as a Long Island native who grew up a fan of the club.
That the Giants and Padres were in the hunt for pitching throughout the offseason is hardly a surprise. After all, each club made buzzer-beater deals just before the season began to add front-of-the-rotation starters; the Giants inked left-hander Blake Snell to a two-year deal worth $62MM in late March, shortly after the Padres swung a deal with the White Sox to acquire right-hander Dylan Cease. Those weren’t the only additions made by those clubs this winter either, as San Francisco landed Jordan Hicks in free agency as well as Robbie Ray by trade while San Diego’s return for superstar outfielder Juan Soto was headlined by right-hander Michael King.
Given both clubs’ respective needs for pitching, it’s easy to see how Stroman could have fit into the rotation mix of either club. The right-hander sports a 3.40 ERA and 3.59 FIP since the start of the 2021 season and could’ve slotted comfortably into the front of San Francisco’s rotation alongside Logan Webb or replaced Snell in the Padres rotation alongside Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish. That being said, it’s possible that an early addition of Stroman may have blocked either club from pursuing their respective late-spring blockbusters due to financial concerns, much as the Yankees and Snell failed to come to an agreement following the Stroman deal despite seemingly making progress earlier in the offseason.
For the Giants, the addition of Stroman at even the $18.5MM AAV he landed in New York would have not only pushed them past the second $257MM luxury tax threshold, but also would have put them just over $5MM away from the third $277MM threshold according to RosterResource. The Padres, meanwhile, signed the likes of Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta to deals far longer than they were projected for this winter in order to tamp down the AAV on those deals. That’s allowed the club to limbo under the lowest threshold of the luxury tax, which sits at $237MM, to open the season.
It’s unlikely that the Padres would’ve been able to dip under the tax this year while still being able to afford Cease’s $8MM salary had they landed Stroman. Even a five-year deal in a similar range to the Yankees’ total guarantee would have left the veteran right-hander with an AAV in the neighborhood of $8MM, which would leave virtually no margin for error given the club sits just over $11MM below the first threshold as things stand.
Yankees Place Jon Berti On 10-Day IL, Designate Josh Maciejewski
In between games of New York’s double-header with the Guardians today, the Yankees announced a series of roster moves. Utilityman Jon Berti has been placed (retroactive to April 11) on the 10-day injured list due to a left groin strain, and left-hander Josh Maciejewski was also designated for assignment. Right-hander Ron Marinaccio and infielder Kevin Smith have been called up from Triple-A to take the two open roster spots, and in Smith’s case, his minors deal with the team was replaced with a new Major League contract before being selected. Left-hander Clayton Andrews was outrighted to Triple-A, while right-hander McKinley Moore was activated from the 15-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A.
Speaking with the YES Network (X link), manager Aaron Boone indicated that Berti’s injury occurred in his most recent at-bat, when Berti beat out an infield single in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 5-2 New York loss to Miami. While the manager didn’t put a timeline on Berti’s potential return, Boone also didn’t think the issue was overly serious.
Berti was acquired as part of a three-team trade with the Marlins and Rays just prior to Opening Day, and the veteran has been splitting third base duties with Oswaldo Cabrera while DJ LeMahieu and Oswald Peraza have been sidelined with injuries. Cabrera is off to a scorching start at the plate, but Berti has slashed only .211/.250/.211 over his first 21 plate appearances in the pinstripes. While Smith can continue acting as a veteran counterpart to Cabrera, Boone said he has “a lot” of confidence that Cabrera can keep producing with a larger share of the playing time with Berti sidelined.
Maciejewski’s contract was selected from Triple-A earlier this week, and the 28-year-old officially became a big leaguer after throwing a perfect inning in last Monday’s 7-0 win over the Marlins. With his MLB debut behind him, Maciejewski now heads to the DFA wire as part of the roster churn at the back of the Yankees’ bullpen.
There’s a chance that a team in need of multi-inning bullpen help or even swingman help could put in a claim on Maciejewski, who has a 3.52 ERA over 294 1/3 innings (starting 31 of 101 games) in his minor league career. A 10th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2018 draft, Maciejewski has had limited success at the Triple-A level, with a 4.87 ERA in 61 frames with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
In selecting Maciejewski, the Yankees designated Andrews, and the southpaw will remain in the organization after clearing DFA waivers. Andrews made his Major League debut in the form of four appearances and 3 1/3 innings with the Brewers last season, and he joined the Yankees in a minor league trade in February after posting a 2.53 ERA over 57 innings for Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in 2023. Control problems have limited Andrews’ effectiveness throughout his six minor league seasons, but Andrews has struggled badly in a small sample size this year — the lefty has a 14.73 ERA and six walks over just 3 2/3 innings at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Fritz Peterson Passes Away
Former All-Star pitcher Fritz Peterson has passed away at age 82. The Yankees announced the news this evening and offered their condolences to Peterson’s family.
“The Yankees are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Fritz Peterson, who was a formidable pitcher and affable presence throughout his nine years in pinstripes,” the team said in a statement. “Along with longtime teammate Mel Stottlemyre, Peterson was part of a devastating one-two combination at the top of the Yankees’ rotation.
A known prankster and well-liked among his teammates and coaches, Peterson had an outgoing personality and inquisitive nature that brought lightheartedness to the clubhouse on a regular basis and belied his prowess on the mound — most notably his impeccable control, which was among the best in the Majors. Peterson will be greatly missed by the Yankees, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Susanne, and the entire Peterson family.”
A Chicago native, Peterson attended Northern Illinois before signing with the Yankees. He began his career in 1963 and reached the major leagues three years later. The southpaw stepped into the New York rotation as a rookie and spent nearly a decade in the Bronx. Even by the standards of an era of baseball defined by low scoring, Peterson was an excellent pitcher. He turned in a sub-3.00 ERA in three straight seasons from 1968-70. The left-hander’s 2.70 mark over that stretch ranked 12th among 122 qualified hurlers.
Peterson earned an All-Star nod in 1970, a season in which he worked 260 1/3 frames of 2.90 ERA ball. A stellar control artist, he led the American League in WHIP in both 1969 and ’70 and had the Junior Circuit’s lowest BB/9 rate in five straight seasons from 1968-72. He led qualified AL pitchers in strikeout-to-walk ratio in consecutive seasons from 1969-70.
While that late-60s run was Peterson’s peak, he remained a reliable part of the New York rotation through the ’73 season. New York traded him to the Indians early in 1974 as part of a package for future ALCS hero Chris Chambliss. Peterson pitched parts of three years in Cleveland, working to a 4.34 ERA in 346 innings. He had a brief stint with the Rangers before retiring after undergoing shoulder surgery in 1977.
In addition to his on-field accomplishments, Peterson was known for his 1973 “wife swap” with teammate Mike Kekich. Peterson, Kekich and their respective wives, Marilyn and Susanne, decided to reshuffle their relationships after falling for one another. “All of us felt the same way. We went on from there and eventually he fell in love with my wife and I fell in love with his. … Actually, it was a husband trade — Mike for me or me for Mike. It’s a love story. It wasn’t anything dirty,” Peterson would later say (link via Michael Blinn of the New York Post). While Kekich and Marilyn had a brief relationship, Fritz and Susanne Peterson remained together for a half-century until his passing.
Peterson finished his career with a 3.30 ERA in more than 2200 innings. He recorded more than 1000 strikeouts, won 133 games and threw 20 shutouts. MLBTR joins those around the game offering condolences to his family, friends, former teammates and loved ones.
Yankees Designate Clayton Andrews, Select Josh Maciejewski
The Yankees announced today that they have selected the contract of left-hander Josh Maciejewski. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Jake Cousins and designated lefty Clayton Andrews for assignment.
The Yankees may be looking for an extra multi-inning option to have out of their bullpen. They leaned on Luke Weaver for 47 pitches on Saturday while Cousins threw 32 yesterday and three other hurlers also took the mound. Closer Clay Holmes and setup guy Ian Hamilton were able to stay on ice yesterday and each has only pitched once in the past four days, but many of their other relievers have seen heavy usage of late.
To get a fresh arm in the mix, Cousins has been optioned out and has been replaced by Maciejewski. The 28-year-old Maciejewski was a tenth-round selection of the Yankees in 2018. He’s never been one of the club’s top prospects but had a solid season last year. He tossed 45 2/3 innings over 30 appearances at three different levels, finishing the year with a collective earned run average of 2.96. He struck out 22.9% of batters faced while walking 8.5%. He’s made two Triple-A appearances already this year, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk.
To get Maciejewski onto the 40-man, the Yanks removed Andrews, who they acquired from the Brewers in February. Andrews, 27, has a tiny sample of major league experience. He made four appearances with the Brewers last year, allowing ten earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
His work was naturally more impressive at the Triple-A level last year, as he had a 2.53 ERA in 57 frames. His 13% walk rate was definitely on the high side but he struck out 31.1% of batters faced and kept 45.7% of balls in play on the ground. But this year, he’s logged 3 2/3 innings for the Yankees’ Triple-A club, having allowed six earned runs while walking six opponents and striking out just two.
The Yanks will now have a week to trade Andrews or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of options and was racking up strikeouts in the minors last year, which could give him appeal to a club looking for some extra depth. But if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Yankees would be able to keep him around as non-roster depth.
New York Notes: Belt, Martinez, Cole
Veteran slugger Brandon Belt‘s free agency has surprisingly dragged into the regular season, with the soon to be 36-year-old reportedly “baffled” by the lack of offers he’s received to this point. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly provided additional details on Belt’s free agency recently, noting that the Mets were the only club to offer Belt a guaranteed contract this winter, though he added that the deal was “almost entirely” incentives-based.
Belt is coming off an excellent season with the Blue Jays that saw him slash .254/.369/.490 with 404 trips to the plate. That included a fantastic 146 wRC+ against right-handed pitching, the eleventh-best figure among all qualified hitters last year which trailed only Shohei Ohtani among this winter’s free agents. The performance was more or less par for the course for Belt, who’s hit .258/.369/.503 since the start of the 2020 season and is a career .261/.357/.460 hitter for his career. That type of production certainly would’ve made sense for the Mets, though the club ultimately landed slugger J.D. Martinez on a one-year deal to plug the hole in the lineup at DH.
With that said, it’s somewhat surprising that the Mets were the only club to offer Belt a big league deal this winter. The only player on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 free agents list still unsigned, Belt was predicted for a one-year, $15MM deal this winter. That would’ve been a small bump over the one-year, $9.3MM deal he landed with Toronto prior to 2023 on the heels of a below-average showing at the plate during his final season with the Giants. Belt recently indicated that he still hopes to play in 2024, but also noted that he doesn’t want to settle for a minor league contract after his strong season last year.
More from the New York teams…
- Sticking with the Mets, Martinez was expected to make his debut with the club during this week’s series against the Braves, but that plan appears to have been scuttled. As relayed by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Martinez is dealing with “general body soreness” and is not yet ready for his big league debut. Now, DiComo reports that the plan is for Martinez to take the next two days off and return to minor league action on Tuesday, with Friday as the earliest Martinez could make his big league Mets debut. The 36-year-old slugger slashed an impressive .271/.321/.572 with 33 home runs in 113 games with the Dodgers last year and figures to provide a major boost to the big league lineup, which ranks 28th in the majors with a 64 wRC+ so far in the young 2024 campaign.
- Looking toward the Bronx, Yankees fans received positive news regarding ace right-hander Gerrit Cole this morning, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Greg Joyce of the New York Post) that Cole is nearing the beginnings of a throwing program. Cole started the season on the injured list while rehabbing nerve inflammation on his elbow, and now is expected to begin playing catch as soon as tomorrow. Cole, 33, is the reigning AL Cy Young award winner and a six-time All Star who pitched to a sterling 2.63 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate in 209 innings of work. If the right-hander can make a relatively speedy return from his rehab, it would surely provide a major boost to the Yankees as they look to return to the postseason.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Paxton, LeMahieu, Blue Jays
The Red Sox largely failed in their pursuit of starting pitching this winter, swapping lefty Chris Sale out for Lucas Giolito only for the latter to miss the entire 2024 season due to a UCL injury, making right-handed depth options Chase Anderson and Cooper Criswell the club’s only starters added this winter with a chance to impact the 2024 club. The club coming up empty is not an indication they weren’t involved in the pitching market at all, however, with Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe reporting that the club was a finalist for southpaw James Paxton, per the lefty himself.
Paxton, 35, spent the past two seasons in the Red Sox organization but only pitched in 2023. He made 19 starts for the club last year, pitching to a 4.50 ERA (101 ERA+) and 4.68 FIP overall. While he posted a strong 2.73 ERA and 3.63 FIP in ten starts prior to the All Star break, Paxton’s brutal final three starts in August and September caused his numbers to balloon as he allowed a whopping 17 runs in 9 2/3 innings of work before being shut down for the season due to knee inflammation.
Abraham relays that, according to the left-hander, there was mutual interest in a reunion between his camp and the Red Sox before he ultimately settled on pitching closer to his West Coast home in Seattle. Adding the veteran southpaw to Boston’s heavily young and right-handed rotation mix would have made plenty of sense for the club, but instead the team is set to rely on internal youngsters like Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck to round out the rotation alongside Brayan Bello and Nick Pivetta.
More from around the AL East…
- Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu spoke to reporters (including those at MLB.com) yesterday regarding his rehab from a non-displaced fracture in his right foot and provided a positive update, suggesting that he could be nearing a return to action. LeMahieu indicated that he’s “making progress” after running at roughly 90 percent effort and taking batting practice on the field at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. Per manager Aaron Boone, the next step for LeMahieu is further imaging later in the week before a potential minor league rehab assignment. If the veteran can avoid further setbacks, it’s possible he could return before the end of the month. In the meantime, the club figures to continue relying on Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at the hot corner.
- Blue Jays manager John Schneider spoke to reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) yesterday to provide an update on right-hander Erik Swanson, who started the season on the injured list due to a bout of forearm tightness last month. Per Schneider, Swanson is scheduled to be evaluated today after throwing a rehab inning at the Double-A level last night to decide if he’s ready to be activated when first eligible on Tuesday, though Davidi adds that Schneider indicated an additional rehab appearance is possible. If Swanson is to make another appearance in the minors before returning to the big league roster, it likely won’t come for a few days, as the right-hander is scheduled to be in Toronto for the club’s home opener tomorrow evening. Swanson joined the club during the 2022-23 offseason as part of the return in the Teoscar Hernandez trade and quickly established himself as the top set-up option for closer Jordan Romano, pitching to a 2.97 ERA with a 3.51 FIP in 69 appearances last year.
Jonathan Loaisiga To Undergo Season-Ending UCL Surgery
Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga revealed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that he will need surgery to repair a torn UCL. The procedure isn’t a Tommy John surgery so it comes with a shorter recovery timeline of 10-12 months, but Loaisiga will obviously still miss the rest of the 2024 season.
New York already placed Loaisiga on the 60-day injured list yesterday with what was described as a right flexor strain, and the fact that the right-hander was immediately sent to the 60-day IL was an ominous hint that he might be facing a particularly serious injury. His 2024 campaign will now unfortunately come to an end after only three games and four scoreless innings.
This is the most serious injury yet in what has been a star-crossed career for the 29-year-old. When Loaisiga has been able to pitch, he has been very effective — over 219 2/3 MLB innings, the righty has a 3.44 ERA, 22.5% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate, a very impressive 54.7% grounder rate, and some of the best soft-contact numbers of any hurler in the sport. His bottom-line results have only better since a full-time move to relief pitching in 2021, and that season saw Loaisiga post a 2.17 ERA in 70 2/3 innings over 57 appearances.
2021 was also just about the healthiest season of Loaisiga’s career, and even that breakout campaign saw him miss about a month due to a rotator cuff strain and a stint on the COVID-related injury list. He has since missed about seven weeks in 2022 with shoulder inflammation, and was then limited to 17 2/3 innings in 2023 due to elbow inflammation, surgery to remove a bone spur from that troublesome elbow, and then another inflammation-related IL placement last September. This is all on top of a Tommy John surgery that Loaisiga did require back in 2016 soon after joining the Yankees organization.
Since Loaisiga is a free agent after the season, it is possible he has played his last game in the pinstripes. The Yankees might simply want to move on from a pitcher with so many health-related question marks, yet Loaisiga won’t have a particularly high price tag coming off a lost season. Since the Yankees know his injury history as well as anyone, if they still have faith Loaisiga can return, it seems entirely possible the two sides could agree on a low-cost one-year contract for 2025. Given how the surgery hasn’t even taken place yet, there’s no rush for either side to make a decision yet, and New York will have several months to monitor Loaisiga’s recovery process.
From Loaisiga’s own perspective, obviously the UCL injury is a huge blow on many levels, but a good and healthy season would’ve lined him up for a nice free agent deal. Though he lacks the big strikeout numbers that usually lead to the highest tier of reliever contracts, Loaisiga’s knack for inducing soft contact and keeping the ball on the ground would’ve drawn attention from plenty of suitors. At a much lower price tag, this might still end up being the case in free agency, as Loaisiga has appeal as a buy-low candidate if he can establish that he’s healthy.
Scott Effross (back surgery) and Lou Trivino (Tommy John surgery) aren’t expected to be available until closer to midseason, plus the Yankees are being cautious with Tommy Kahnle‘s recovery from shoulder inflammation since he was still battling some residual soreness in Spring Training. Between these injured pitchers and Loaisiga, there is plenty of opportunity emerging in New York’s bullpen for the several new relievers acquired over the offseason.
Apart from the injury concerns in the relief corps, the larger-scale question of Gerrit Cole‘s health is still hanging over the team as a whole, since the ace will be out until at least late May recovering from nerve inflammation. The Yankees have done well in developing relief pitchers and finding hidden-gem bullpen options, so expect the team to continue pursuing lower-level acquisitions until some of their in-house names get healthy or until some bigger-name possibilities become available closer to the trade deadline.
Yankees, Rougned Odor Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Rougned Odor, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The BHSC client can opt out of the contract on July 1 if he hasn’t been added to the roster by that point. Odor had signed a deal with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball back in January, but the league announced just a couple days ago that he’d been released.
It’s the second Yankees stint for Odor. The now-30-year-old infielder spent the 2021 season in the Bronx and batted .202/.286/.379 with 15 homers in 361 trips to the plate. He’s suited up for the Orioles and Padres since that initial run with the Yankees. Presumably, he’ll head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and hope to play his way into a return to the big league level.
While Odor has a trio of 30-homer seasons under his belt, his offense has tailed off considerably since his run with the Rangers early in his career. The former top prospect hit .238/.295/.445 (95 wRC+) from 2015-19, offsetting much of his above-average power with a free-swinging approach that led to frequently anemic on-base percentages. It was still decent production on the whole, however, and Odor paired that all-or-nothing approach with solid glovework and baserunning skills.
Since the 2020 season, things have taken a swift downturn. Odor has tallied 1138 plate appearances in that time, hitting just .199/.274/.371. He’s begun to walk a bit more and slightly improved his strikeout rate from the 30% at which it sat in 2019. But Odor’s 7.3% walk rate and 25.7% strikeout rate since 2020 are still worse than average, and his baserunning and defense have begun to decline as well. He still clearly has power against righties, but that comes with low average and OBP marks. His numbers against lefties in this stretch (.187/.273/.337) render him nearly unplayable against same-handed opponents.
The Yankees’ infield is banged up at the moment, however, and it seems they’ll be without DJ LeMahieu for longer than expected after he was eventually diagnosed with a fracture in his foot. Back in early March, Oswald Peraza was shut down entirely for six to eight weeks due to a shoulder strain. Even if he’s able to resume baseball activity at the end of that 6-8 week shutdown, he’ll then need to slowly build back up and head out on a minor league rehab stint. We’re not even four weeks from that original shutdown; his return is still quite a ways off.
That pair of infield injuries surely contributed to the Yankees’ late acquisition of utilityman Jon Berti from the Marlins — a trade that occurred on the eve of Opening Day. That’s helped soften the blow, but another injury would leave the Yankees relatively thin on infield options. Well-traveled utility infielder Josh VanMeter is in Triple-A at the moment, as are former prospects like Jordan Groshans, Kevin Smith and Jeter Downs. None are on the 40-man roster, however, and none have had any big league success to this point. Odor will give the Yanks some additional depth that has more big league experience and some success — even if it’s been several years since his last productive MLB campaign.