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Clarke Schmidt To Miss Start Due To Shoulder Soreness

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Clarke Schmidt was scheduled to start the Yankees’ Grapefruit League game on Monday but he has already been scratched from that planned outing due to some shoulder soreness, manager Aaron Boone told the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and other reporters.  Schmidt’s right shoulder is “not bouncing back as well as he wanted to” following his last outing, Boone said, so the club is “just being cautious with it.”

The issue isn’t considered serious enough to send Schmidt for any tests, and he is still slated to work tomorrow in another capacity, as the plan is for the righty to throw a bullpen session.  Should all go well in that session, Schmidt would then return to the rotation for another start.

It is the type of seemingly minor injury that usually might not merit too much attention, except for the injury woes that have already ravaged New York’s pitching staff this spring.  Staff ace Gerrit Cole and highly-touted prospect Chase Hampton will each miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, and reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil is out until June due to a severe lat strain.  JT Brubaker is also out recovering from rib fractures, leaving the Yankees down two starters and two depth arms before the season has even gotten underway.

Schmidt was a bit of a question mark even before this shoulder issue, as a bad back had limited him to just one previous start in Spring Training.  It could be that Schmidt’s current shoulder problem is just a bit of fatigue from the lack of build-up thus far in camp, yet that still represents a potential roadblock to avoiding the injured list.  Joyce notes that the Yankees were already planning to hold Schmidt off until the sixth game of the regular season, as off-days on both March 28 and 31 allow for a bit of rotation flexibility.

Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco are currently competing for the fifth starter’s job, but both pitchers would end up in the rotation by default if Schmidt indeed had to go on the injured list.  Brent Headrick would then likely become the top rotation depth arm, with Allan Winans and Brandon Leibrandt also in the mix.  It speaks to the Yankees’ initial depth that even this makeshift situation wouldn’t be that bad, but naturally it would be  far preferable to have a healthy Schmidt taking a regular turn.

Schmidt is already coming off a long injury absence in 2024, as a lat strain limited him to 85 1/3 innings.  The right-hander still impressed with a 2.85 ERA in that relatively small sample size, though he struggled to a 5.25 ERA over three starts and 12 innings in the playoffs.

Padres Have Received Interest From Around Nine Teams On Dylan Cease

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Around nine teams have been in contact with the Padres to express interest in Dylan Cease, writes Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman lists the Cubs, Mets and all five AL East teams among that group. The remaining two clubs are unknown, though The Athletic reported in January that the Twins had shown interest.

A pre-Opening Day trade still seems highly unlikely. Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote earlier this week that the Padres were only willing to entertain trading their top starter if they received a significant offensive upgrade in the return package. They’d almost certainly want a controllable starting pitcher who could immediately replace Cease in the rotation as well. That’s a difficult asking price for another team to meet, especially without impactful hitters remaining in free agency to backfill the lineup.

Cease was traded midway through last year’s Spring Training. That was a different situation, as the White Sox were in full rebuild mode when they dealt him to the Padres. San Diego expects to compete for a playoff spot despite budget limitations that kept them from doing much of significance until they added Nick Pivetta on a backloaded four-year deal. Cease worked 189 1/3 innings of 3.47 ERA ball during his first season in San Diego. He struck out 29.4% of opponents and fanned 224 hitters overall — his fourth consecutive season above the 200 mark.

The Padres and Cease agreed to a $13.75MM salary for his final arbitration season. He’d be a lock for a qualifying offer when he hits free agency next winter unless the Friars deal him midseason, which would make him ineligible to receive the QO. Cease will be heading into his age-30 season and could command a contract above $200MM. While the Padres don’t seem optimistic about their chances of re-signing him, they’d obviously take a major downgrade to this year’s rotation if they trade him.

Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the Orioles and Cubs were monitoring the rotation market. Baltimore will begin the season without Grayson Rodriguez. Chicago’s rotation hasn’t taken any huge injury hits, though they’ll be without Javier Assad for a few weeks. They’re reportedly in talks with free agent Lance Lynn, who’d be a much less costly but far lower-upside addition at the back of the rotation.

The Mets (Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea) and Yankees (Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil) have each lost multiple starters to injuries this spring. It has been particularly rough in the Bronx. Gil will likely miss the first half of the season with a lat strain. Cole will be out into the middle of 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Nevertheless, respective baseball operations leaders David Stearns and Brian Cashman have indicated the New York teams are content with their internal options to weather those losses.

Boston already parted with two top prospects to add an impact starter in the Garrett Crochet deal. Toronto and Tampa Bay have rotations that arguably each run six deep. The Jays are likely to use Yariel Rodríguez in long relief. The Rays could consider trading one of their starters to settle on a five-man group. That could theoretically position Toronto or Tampa Bay to include a controllable starter in a Cease package, though there’s nothing to suggest the Padres are in anything more than due diligence mode with Opening Day two weeks off.

MLBTR Podcast: Lawrence Butler’s Extension, Gerrit Cole’s TJ, And Rays’ Ownership Pressured To Sell

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Will the Cubs win the NL Central and how would you rank the AL Central clubs? (34:25)
  • Will the spring injuries lead to some deals and keep the hot stove burning into April? (41:35)
  • Should fans of the Dodgers be worried by how many old/injury-prone players are on the roster? (47:50)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Yankees Still Exploring Market For Right-Handed Bats

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The Yankees have been hit hard by injuries both in the lineup and the rotation this spring, creating new needs on top of the existing lack of a clear option at one of third base or second base. (Jazz Chisholm Jr. can play either spot.) Concern over both of Giancarlo Stanton’s elbows and a calf strain for DJ LeMahieu have subtracted a pair of veteran bats from the lineup.

That’s likely paved the way for Dominic Smith, who’s enjoying a productive spring, to potentially make the club despite entering camp as a non-roster invitee. Erik Boland of Newsday reports that Smith’s chances are indeed improving, but the Yankees are still scouring the market for a right-handed bat to add to the mix. SNY’s Andy Martino also wrote this week that the Yankees are in the market for a righty bat.

One potential candidate to fill that need, outfielder Everson Pereira, was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre yesterday. Pereira went 7-for-20 with a pair of homers during Grapefruit League play, perhaps making the decision to option him amid multiple injuries a bit surprising.

Pereira, 23, is coming off a solid .265/.346/.512 performance in 182 Triple-A plate appearances last season. The former top prospect missed the final two-thirds of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery, however. While his spring output was generally encouraging, Pereira did fan in seven of his 25 plate appearances (28%). That’s not a big enough sample to worry about in isolation, but for a player who punched out at a 32.4% rate prior to that elbow injury in Triple-A last year (and in nearly 29% of his plate appearances the year prior), it’s not ideal. Injuries could always push Pereira back into the big league equation early in the season, and he seems likely to get some major league looks this year at some point, but for now the Yankees will get him regular at-bats in minor league camp and plan for him to open the season with Scranton.

At this point, the free agent market is largely picked over. Veterans Whit Merrifield, Adam Duvall and switch-hitting Robbie Grossman are all unsigned but are all coming off poor years at the plate. (Grossman did at least hit well from the right side of the dish.) The Yankees have had some contact with J.D. Martinez, but he’s a tough fit unless the injury to Stanton proves long-term; both are DH-only players.

As we enter the latter stages of spring training, the market figures to change, however. Veterans who are non-roster invitees with other clubs will be released or opt out of their current deals to seek new opportunities. Others will make their teams’ respective rosters, forcing those clubs to clear space by way of small trades or DFAs. Either could produce some right-handed bench depth for the Yankees if the team wants to avoid further spending with budget near its limit. Then again, Gerrit Cole’s 2025 salary is partially covered by insurance. That won’t reduce the Yankees’ luxury tax number, but they’ll get some money from that policy which could be redirected to a low-cost bat to round out the roster if an opportunity to their liking presents itself.

Poll: The Yankees’ Priorities

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It’s been a tough spring for the Yankees on the injury front. The club has faced a number of noteworthy injuries, with the latest blow being the loss of veteran ace Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the entire 2025 season, while rotation-mate Luis Gil is set to miss a couple of months after suffering a lat strain. The lineup has been impacted as well, with slugger Giancarlo Stanton poised to miss significant time due to elbow issues while likely starting third baseman DJ LeMahieu has been sidelined by a calf strain.

Each of those injuries have prompted varying levels of speculations that the club could look to bring in some help, but the Yankees are seemingly facing fairly strict budget limits. RosterResource projects them for a $285MM payroll. The Yanks have shown little interest in adding payroll, and their projected $305MM competitive balance tax number is already above the $301MM top tax threshold. It would be fairly difficult to make lineup and rotation additions with limited budget space and a limited supply available to them. General manager Brian Cashman downplayed the possibility of the Yankees making a notable addition, citing the current tax situation as an obstacle.

Perhaps the most obvious choice for an upgrade would be the starting rotation. The Yankees are already down at least one starter for the entire 2025 season, and while Marcus Stroman can step into the rotation as a #5 starter relatively seamlessly, the depth beyond him gets shakier. Non-roster invitee Carlos Carrasco has an ugly 6.18 ERA over his past two seasons, while prospect Will Warren struggled to a 10.32 ERA in his big league debut last year with an ERA near 6.00 at Triple-A. A steadier depth arm like Lance Lynn or Kyle Gibson would make plenty of sense for a rotation that has multiple pitchers with notable injury histories.

The Yankees do have plenty of high-end talent in the rotation that could help to make up for the lack of depth. Max Fried is a legitimate No. 1 starter in his own right. Carlos Rodon is just two seasons removed from earning Cy Young votes. Clarke Schmidt posted a sterling 2.85 ERA in 16 starts last year. With the reigning AL Rookie of the Year set to join the rotation at some point this year, perhaps the Yankees’ needs are more acute in the lineup.

The idea of filling Stanton’s spot in the lineup is made more intriguing by the presence of a comparable veteran lingering in free agenct. J.D. Martinez remains on the market, and the two sluggers have produced nearly identical offensive value over the past five years: Stanton has slashed .231/.313/.473 with a 117 wRC+, while Martinez has hit .263/.330/.477 with a wRC+ of 118. Even with Martinez coming off a relative down season and a particularly tough second half with the Mets last year, it’s easy to see why having Martinez fill in for Stanton could be very appealing. The Yankees have had at least “some contact” with Martinez since Stanton was sidelined.

Then again, it’s fair to argue that Stanton is the easiest of the injured Yankees to replace in-house. Ben Rice has impressed during Spring Training and was already in the conversation for the backup catcher job. He could be tabbed as a potential DH option against right-handed hitters. Another solution would be giving regulars more rest by playing them at DH on occasion. If the club places Trent Grisham in center field for a day rather than Cody Bellinger, Stanton’s injury could let them give Bellinger a partial rest day at DH or have him back up any of Jasson Dominguez, Aaron Judge, or even Paul Goldschmidt so they could get a rest day of their own.

Third base has also been a question throughout camp. LeMahieu seems like he’ll have a shorter absence than Stanton, but even coming off a down season, his injury thins out the infield options. A mix of LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera always looked fairly uninspiring. An MLBTR poll late last month suggested that a plurality of respondents believed the club’s primary third baseman would be someone not yet in the organization.

The third base market — and second base market, if Jazz Chisholm Jr. plays third instead — has largely been picked over, however. The Yankees were connected to infield options like Jose Iglesias and Jorge Polanco at points throughout the offseason and into Spring Training, but both veterans have since landed elsewhere. Nolan Arenado is known to be willing to waive his no-trade clause to join the Yankees, but it’s unlikely New York would be willing to take on his contract. Veteran Whit Merrifield remains available in free agency but isn’t a clear upgrade coming off a downturn in production at the plate. Perhaps upcoming opt-out opportunities for non-roster veterans and players made available on waivers due to roster crunches when Opening Day draws near will present a more viable solution.

How do MLBTR readers think the Yankees should address their injury-created holes? Will the club sign/acquire a starter to deepen its oft-injured rotation mix? Or could the Yankees instead turn to the lineup and either replace Stanton at DH or look for an upgrade to the infield? Have your say in the poll below:

Cashman: Yankees Not Likely To Make External Rotation Addition

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The Yankees have been hit hard by the injury bug this spring, particularly in the rotation. But general manager Brian Cashman downplayed the possibility of the club going outside the organization to get help, per Erik Boland of Newsday and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. Cashman said that “very little” is available on the pitching market at this time of year and that the Yanks will “rely on what we have.” While he did say they would explore other options, he admitted that tax penalties make it “less likely” they go with an external addition.

At this point, the rotation challenges are well known. The club lost their ace for the entire season and perhaps some of next year, with Gerrit Cole undergoing Tommy John surgery today. Luis Gil, last year’s Rookie of the Year, has a lat strain that could keep him out for roughly three months. Even deeper down the depth chart, JT Brubaker is out with broken ribs while prospect Chase Hampton also required Tommy John surgery.

That leaves the Yanks with a rotation of Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman. Candidates for a fifth spot include Will Warren, Yoendrys Gómez and Brent Headrick, as well as non-roster invitees like Carlos Carrasco and Allan Winans. That could still be a solid rotation but it’s obviously less imposing without Cole or Gil. Cashman admits that the club “can’t afford to take too many more” injury hits.

That has led to speculation about how the club will respond. Free agency still features guys like Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Spencer Turnbull and others. Guys like Dylan Cease, Jordan Montgomery, Taijuan Walker or Sandy Alcántara might be attainable via trade.

Cashman’s comments suggest he isn’t going to make a move just for the sake of doing one. It’s possible these comments were made for posturing purposes, as he wouldn’t be helping his bargaining position by admitting he’s desperate to bring in another arm.

However, it does seem as though the Yankees hit their spending limit. They were an on-paper fit for adding an infielder and were connected to guys like Jorge Polanco and Brendan Rodgers. Polanco landed with the Mariners on a modest $7.75MM guarantee while Rodgers settled for a minor league deal with the Astros. The Yankees were connected to various relievers this winter but invested very little in their bullpen. They added Devin Williams in a fairly cash-neutral deal that sent Nestor Cortes to the Brewers. They sent Jose Trevino to the Reds for Fernando Cruz, a deal that saved them money. They made modest one-year investments in Jonathan Loáisiga and Tim Hill.

RosterResource has the club’s payroll at $285MM and their competitive balance tax figure at $305MM. They finished 2024 at $303MM and $313MM in those categories respectively, but likely want to save some wiggle room for in-season additions. As Cashman alluded to, the club faces a high tax bill. As third-time payors above the $301MM top threshold of the CBT, they face a 110% tax on anything they add.

The pitching market has softened from earlier in the winter. Guys like Andrew Heaney and Jose Quintana have recently signed deals in the $4-6MM range, well below the expectations from the start of the offseason. But for the Yankees, giving someone like Gibson a hypothetical $5MM deal would actually cost them more than $10MM, when factoring in the taxes.

There’s also the question of what kind of performance can be expected out of a guy signing this late. Both Montgomery and Blake Snell signed well into spring last year and both struggled out of the gate. Snell got back on track in the second half but Montgomery never did, finishing the year with a 6.23 earned run average. Trading for a pitcher who is stretched out in some other club’s camp wouldn’t come with that concern but each of Cease, Montgomery, Walker and Alcántara have eight-figure salaries for the upcoming year, meaning the CBT hit would be even greater than the available free agent options.

It all makes for a tricky situation as the Yankees approach the start of the season. The rotation has clearly been hit and isn’t in an ideal place. Upgrades are justifiable on paper but Cashman can’t do much if ownership won’t extend his budget.

Gerrit Cole To Have Tommy John Surgery

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The Yankees have announced that ace Gerrit Cole will undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. Dr. Neal ElAttrache will perform the procedure. The team will provide further updates following the surgery, but there is no doubt that the 2023 AL Cy Young winner will miss the entire 2025 season.

Cole, 34, went for diagnostic tests on his elbow last week. He told reporters he was “concerned” by the results of the initial testing but expressed some hope that a second opinion could assuage the worst of his concerns. Unfortunately, Cole’s appointment today with Dr. ElAttrache only confirmed that the right-hander needs Tommy John to repair a torn UCL in his pitching arm.

This is a crushing blow to the reigning AL champions. The typical recovery timeline for Tommy John surgery is roughly 12-18 months. New York survived without Cole for just under three months last season when elbow inflammation kept him out until mid-June. This year, the Yankees will have to get by without their number one starter at all. They must be glad they won the bidding war to sign Max Fried this offseason, inking the two-time All-Star to an eight-year, $218MM deal. The southpaw will now lead a rotation that also features Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt. Rounding out the starting five to begin the year will likely be Marcus Stroman (whom the Yankees are surely glad they didn’t trade earlier this offseason) and top pitching prospect Will Warren. Last year’s AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil, will miss the beginning of the year with a lat strain but will hopefully return sometime in June. Non-roster invitee  Carlos Carrasco is another arm who could offer rotation depth.

That group of arms could still make up a perfectly capable starting rotation for a contending club, but the error bars are much wider now, and there is no question the Yankees are a much less dangerous World Series contender without Cole. It doesn’t help that they’re also dealing with injury issues on the other side of the ball. Veteran bats Giancarlo Stanton (elbows) and DJ LeMahieu (calf) are likely to miss the beginning of the season.

Presumably, the Yankees will consider their options to upgrade their rotation externally. Available free agents include Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, and Spencer Turnbull, although none of those names offer anything close to the star power the Yankees lost. Thus, if GM Brian Cashman wants to find a top-of-the-rotation replacement for Cole, he’ll have to turn to the trade market. Some of the most interesting potential trade candidates include Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins, Luis Castillo of the Mariners, and Dylan Cease and Michael King of the Padres. The most recent reporting on all of those pitchers suggests that an offseason trade is unlikely, but a desperate Yankees team could certainly change that.

The Yankees had a chance to part ways with the six-time All-Star this offseason when Cole triggered his opt-out clause in November. The team could have blocked his opt-out by adding another year and $36MM to the end of his contract, which they chose not to do. However, the two sides ultimately agreed to stick together as if Cole had never triggered his opt-out in the first place, with the Yankees keeping him around for the four years and $144MM remaining on his original guaranteed deal. In other words, while the Yankees may have had their concerns about Cole’s longevity, they could not have been overly worried that his elbow troubles would rear their ugly head again so soon.

From 2017-22, Cole led all pitchers with 173 starts and 1070 2/3 innings pitched. He dealt with some elbow inflammation in 2016, but from then until 2024, his only IL stint was due to COVID-19 protocols. In an age of ever-increasing arm injuries and ever-decreasing inning counts, Cole has been a workhorse, topping 200 innings in a season six times in the last ten years. Sadly, his run of healthy seasons came to an end last year, and this coming season will be the first since 2012 in which Cole does not pitch. Instead, he will turn his focus toward his rehab in an effort to miss as little of the 2026 campaign as possible.

Image courtesy of Imagn.

Art Schallock Passes Away

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Former World Series champion Art Schallock passed away last week, according to multiple reports. He was 100 and had held the title of oldest living former MLB player.

Schallock was a native of Mill Valley, California. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers going into the 1947 season. The Dodgers traded him to the Yankees midway through the 1951 campaign. Schallock started six of 11 appearances as a rookie, working to a 3.88 earned run average across 46 2/3 innings. The Yankees defeated the Giants in six games in the World Series. Schallock didn’t make an appearance.

The 5’9″ southpaw bounced between the Bronx and the minors over the next few seasons. The Yankees won the World Series again in both 1952 and ’53. Schallock made an appearance in the latter Series, tossing two innings of one-run ball. He played in New York into 1955, when the Orioles claimed him off waivers. Schallock finished his career in Baltimore, where he worked to a 4.15 ERA across a personal-high 80 1/3 innings.

Over parts of five seasons, he pitched to a 4.02 earned run average in 170 1/3 innings. He recorded 77 strikeouts over his 58 appearances. MLBTR sends our condolences to Schallock’s family, friends and loved ones.

Gerrit Cole Recommended For Tommy John Surgery, Yankees Awaiting Second Opinion

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Yankees fans have been nervously awaiting news regarding ace Gerrit Cole ever since he was sent for “diagnostic tests” on his elbow on Friday. Today, Jim Bowden of The Athletic reports that Cole has been recommended for Tommy John surgery, though the Yankees are currently waiting to receive a second opinion to confirm that diagnosis. The news is in line with reporting yesterday that indicated Cole was “concerned” about his elbow and that the righty was seeking a second opinion on the issue.

If the diagnosis is confirmed, the Yankees would lose Cole for not only the 2025 season but likely at least some of the 2026 campaign as well. Even if a second opinion suggests that Cole could rehab the issue rather than go under the knife, even a relatively minor elbow issue could wipe out much of Cole’s 2025 campaign. It was just last year that the veteran right-hander was sidelined by elbow inflammation for nearly three months at the start of the season and ultimately did not make his season debut until June 19. While it’s impossible to establish a timetable for Cole’s return until the second opinion comes in and the Yankees announce more information about their veteran’s status, even the most optimistic of estimates would likely leave Cole out of commission for around that long.

Last season, the Yankees were able to lean on the surprise contributions of eventual AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil to round out their rotation while Cole was absent. They’ll enjoy no such luxury this time around, as Gil is ticketed to miss multiple months himself due to a lat strain. With Cole and Gil both seemingly ticketed for significant absences to open the 2025 campaign, a starting staff that was so overflowing with talent that the Yankees opted to trade Nestor Cortes to the Brewers and aggressively shopped Marcus Stroman throughout the winter will now be searching for answers as they attempt to patch together the back of their rotation.

The good news for the Yankees is that their rotation is still reasonably well-stocked. Max Fried is a viable ace-in-waiting to pick up the slack from the loss of Cole, while Clarke Schmidt and Carlos Rodon maintain their spots in the middle of the club’s projected rotation. With Stroman sliding into the back of the rotation after entering camp projected for a possible long relief role, that leaves just one spot in the club’s starting five that will need to be filled for the first few months of the season.

The club has a handful of internal options at its disposal, even with well-regarded prospect Chase Hampton having undergone Tommy John surgery himself last month. The top option on the club’s 40-man roster as things stand is right-hander Will Warren, who made his big league debut last year. That cup of coffee at the big league level did not go over very well, as Warren was shelled to the tune of a 10.32 ERA in 22 2/3 innings of work. That was just a glimpse into Warren’s struggles last year, as he also floundered at the Triple-A level with a 5.91 ERA across 23 starts at the highest level of the minors. With that being said, the 25-year-old has impressed so far this spring with a 1.13 ERA in three appearances. If the Yankees believe the issues that plagued Warren in 2024 are behind him, it’s easy to imagine him being chosen as the fifth starter despite the question marks much like Gil last year.

Warren isn’t the only option the Yankees have at their disposal, however, as a handful of non-roster invitees are in camp with the club at present. Veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco is just days away from his 38th birthday and has struggled badly the past two years with a 6.18 ERA in 193 2/3 innings of work for the Mets and Guardians, but his 15 years of MLB experience could offer the club some veteran stability at the back of the rotation even if Carrasco’s overall results are very likely to be well below average. Right-hander Allan Winans and southpaw Brandon Leibrandt are among the club’s other non-roster invitees who could theoretically be called upon.

Another option, of course, would be to look outside the organization for rotation help. That’s surely not the Yankees’ preferred course of action; after all, budget concerns kept them from adding a surefire infielder at second or third base to pair with Jazz Chisholm Jr. this winter, leaving the club to sort through lackluster options like Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, and the now-injured DJ LeMahieu at the hot corner. With that being said, former Yankee Jordan Montgomery could surely be acquired from the Diamondbacks for virtually no cost other than eating a portion of the lefty’s salary after his difficult 2024 campaign, while interesting options like Kyle Gibson and Spencer Turnbull remain available in free agency. That’s hardly an exhaustive list of potential external candidates, though many clubs may prefer to hold their potential trade chips until the trade deadline at this stage in the calendar unless overwhelmed by an offer.

Giancarlo Stanton Has “Severe” Injuries In Both Elbows

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Giancarlo Stanton offered an update this morning about the elbow injuries that have kept him from playing this spring. He told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that the problem is “considered severe” in each of his elbows. The Yankees DH remains uncertain as to when he will be able to return to baseball activities of any kind. While he does not yet know if double elbow surgery will be necessary, he said that if he goes under the knife, the surgeries will rule him out for the 2025 season. Thankfully, GM Brian Cashman recently described surgery as a “last resort” for Stanton (per Hoch).

The 35-year-old has received two rounds of PRP injections in both elbows, and he will go for a third round next week. While Stanton is currently with the rest of his Yankees teammates at camp, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Hoch) that the DH is unlikely to see any game action in spring training. Last weekend, the Yankees announced that Stanton would open the season on the IL. They did not provide a timetable for his return. Today’s update doesn’t necessarily push that already uncertain timeline back any further, but Stanton’s use of the word “severe” certainly isn’t promising, nor is the possibility that he could miss the entire 2025 campaign.

It is hard to know what to think about the fact that Stanton attributed his elbow problems to “bat adjustments” he made in 2024. On the one hand, it’s encouraging that he was able to identify the problem; hopefully, that means he knows how to avoid reaggravating the issue once he starts to swing a bat again. On the other hand, Stanton’s powerful swing is his signature skill. Even in his mid-thirties, he had the fastest swing speed in MLB last season, according to Statcast. It’s worth wondering if he can make the necessary bat adjustments to keep his elbows safe without weakening his swing.

While it has been years since Stanton was a true superstar, he was still a valuable contributor to New York’s pennant-winning squad in 2024. He crushed 27 home runs with 72 RBI and a 116 wRC+. His bat was particularly potent in the playoffs; he hit seven homers in 14 games, with a team-leading 16 RBI. The Yankees made some solid additions to the top half of their order this winter, trading for Cody Bellinger and signing free agent Paul Goldschmidt. Still, their offense does not project to be quite as potent without Juan Soto to bat in front of Aaron Judge. Losing Stanton for any period of time will only further weaken the lineup.

Boone said earlier this week that he likes the in-house candidates the team has to replace Stanton, “especially against right-handed pitching” (per Hoch). That could mean using Judge at DH more often and starting the lefty-batting Trent Grisham in the outfield. While Grisham’s bat is a far cry from Stanton’s, such an arrangement would improve the outfield defense and could help Judge stay healthy throughout the season. Another lefty-batting option to get some reps at DH is Ben Rice. Although he struggled in his rookie season (73 wRC+ in 178 PA), Rice mashed throughout the minors and could offer some power in Stanton’s stead. J.C. Escarra is another left-handed hitter on the 40-man roster. He’s nearing 30 and has yet to make his MLB debut, but he hit well last season in his first year in the Yankees organization. Dominic Smith, a veteran non-roster invitee in camp this spring, is another left-handed bat to keep in mind.

Meanwhile, the most likely option to join the mix against left-handed pitching, whether in the outfield or at DH, could be Everson Pereira. Like Rice, Pereira struggled in his brief debut last season but has always hit well – especially in the power department – in the minor leagues. In seven games this spring, Pereira is batting .375 with a 1.224 OPS. He has been limited to DH duty in spring training as he rehabs from UCL surgery, but he could eventually take some reps for Judge in the outfield as well.

Finally, one has to wonder if Cashman is thinking about making an offer to free agent J.D. Martinez. While the Yankees could not feasibly roster both Stanton and Martinez, season-ending surgery for the former could open the door for the latter. To that end, New York has reportedly had “some contact with” Martinez. In a recent MLBTR poll, a plurality of respondents voted the Yankees as the most likely landing spot for the 37-year-old DH.

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