Yankees Sign Luke Weaver To Major League Deal
The Yankees announced they have signed right-hander Luke Weaver to a one-year deal with a club option. Robert Murray of FanSided initially reported the deal, noting that Weaver will make $2MM in 2024 with the potential for the deal to max out at $8.25MM. The deal for the Ballengee Group client is pending a physical. Jon Heyman of The New York Post relays that there are performance bonuses in 2024 while the 2025 option comes with a $2.5MM base salary and escalators based on innings pitched in 2024 that could push it to $6MM.
Weaver, 30, had a nomadic season in 2023, one which he finished with the Yankees. They claimed him off waivers from the Mariners in mid-September and he made three starts for the club down the stretch. He tossed 13 1/3 innings over those outings and had a solid earned run average of 3.38.
That’s obviously a small sample of work and the rest of his season wasn’t nearly as impressive. He signed a $2MM deal with the Reds for the year but posted a 6.87 ERA in 97 innings for that club. He was released in August and signed with the Mariners, logging 13 1/3 innings for them with a 6.08 ERA before heading to the Yanks to finish out the year. Between the three clubs, he talled 123 2/3 frames with a 6.40 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 35.5% ground ball rate.
The righty has shown better form in the past, including a stretch from 2017 to 2019 when he posted a 4.21 ERA in 261 innings between the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, with Weaver joining Andrew Young and Carson Kelly as the return in the Paul Goldschmidt trade. He paired a 23.4% strikeout rate in that time with a 7.6% walk rate, also getting grounders on 43.5% of balls in play. But his ERA jumped to 6.58 in the shortened 2020 season. He recovered somewhat in 2021, getting that down to 4.25, but missed time due to a strained shoulder and elbow inflammation and only made 13 starts.
In 2022, the Diamondbacks moved him to a relief role, which didn’t work out. He finished the year with a 6.56 ERA, split between the Snakes and the Royals, getting flipped at the deadline for Emmanuel Rivera. The Reds took a shot on him and moved him back to a starting role but, as mentioned, that didn’t work out well either.
Overall, he goes into 2024 with a 5.14 ERA which isn’t immediately impressive. He has never really had control problems, however, having never walked more than 8.9% of hitters in any season and currently sporting a 7.4% rate for his career. For reference, the league average in 2023 with 8.6%. Perhaps there’s some bad luck overall in his results, as his .328 batting average on balls in play and 68.4% strand rate are reach on the unfortunate side of average. ERA estimators such as his 4.31 FIP and 4.20 SIERA paint a more flattering picture than his actual ERA. But on the other hand, his strikeouts have ticked down for four straight seasons now.
The Yankees put a sizable dent in their pitching depth with the Juan Soto trade, as Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez were each sent to San Diego. The Yanks are set to have Gerrit Cole ace the ace this year, with Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes each looking to bounce back from injury-related struggles in 2023. Clarke Schmidt should be line for a back end job. The club has also been heavily connected to free agent starters like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery and Marcus Stroman, as well as trade candidates like Dylan Cease.
Even if they do land another starter in the coming weeks, depth will still be important. Almost no club gets through a season using only its top five projected starters, with each team inevitably needing to turn to starter number six and seven and so on. The Yanks have Clayton Beeter, Luis Gil, Yoendrys Gómez, Cody Poteet and Will Warren around as depth options but Weaver will presumably jump into that mix.
Though his results on the season as a whole were poor in 2023, he finished strong in pinstripes and they must have liked what they saw. He’s also a former first-round pick and top prospect, in addition to having some decent major league results in the past. The $2MM salary isn’t far beyond this year’s $740K major league minimum, but the Yankees are slated to be a third-time competitive balance tax payor, with Roster Resource projecting a $291MM CBT figure at the moment. That puts them above the third tax line and near the fourth and final line of $297MM. Their current level of spending has a 95% and it would be 110% for any spending beyond the top line, so the Yanks will effectively be paying double for Weaver and anyone else they sign from now on.
If Weaver doesn’t have a rotation job to start the season, he will likely find himself in a bullpen job, perhaps as a long reliever. He has over five years of major league service time and cannot be optioned to the minors without his consent. If the Yanks want to remove him from the active roster at any point, they will need to work out a trade or designate him for assignment.
Latest On Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease remains atop the list of potential trade candidates for teams seeking rotation upgrades this offseason, but White Sox general manager Chris Getz isn’t backing off on his asking price in a trade, writes ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. Other clubs who’ve spoken to the Sox about Cease tell Rogers that the ask has been “multiple” top prospects with additional lower-end talent; the Sox aren’t open to dealing two affordable years of control over their top starter for a package centered around just one top-tier prospect.
That generally aligns with prior reporting that the White Sox asked the Reds for last year’s first-round pick, Rhett Lowder, and top prospects Edwin Arroyo and Connor Phillips in exchange for Cease. Other teams have similarly balked at the idea of parting with so much talent from the top end of their system.
Rogers reports that the Braves approached the Sox and dangled infielder Vaughn Grissom, among others, but were rebuffed. Grissom instead went to the Red Sox in the Chris Sale trade. The Yankees, despite having known interest in Cease, aren’t likely to further deplete their farm after already acquiring Juan Soto (and Alex Verdugo) this offseason, per Rogers — at least not at the current asking price. Outfield prospect Spencer Jones, in particular, seems highly unlikely to be included in any potential deal, he adds. Meanwhile, Jim Bowden of The Athletic writes in his latest mailbag that talks between the Red Sox and White Sox never gained traction, thanks to Chicago’s steep ask.
Despite the lack of traction in talks thus far, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic said in a Tuesday appearance on Foul Territory that he expects Cease to be moved prior to the season. The demand for starting pitching, as Rosenthal rightly observes, clearly outpaces the supply that’s available in free agency. Beyond that, the asking price on some other pitchers rumored to be available — Jesus Luzardo, in particular — would likely be even greater than the ask for Cease. Luzardo has three years of club control as compared to Cease’s two.
Each of the Red Sox, Orioles, Yankees, Rangers, Angels, Giants, Dodgers and Padres, at the very least, could still use some degree of rotation upgrade. The Cardinals signed three free agents early in the offseason (Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson) but were reported to have interest in Cease even after making that trio of additions.
Getz, unsurprisingly, kept things close to the vest in his public comments yesterday. The newly minted general manager rattled off a series of familiar choruses, noting that Cease would only be moved for the right deal, that there was no urgency to make a swap given his remaining club control, and specifying that the majority of the league has shown at least some level of interest in the right-hander.
Cease is coming off a down season that saw him post a 4.58 ERA with a slightly diminished 27.3% strikeout rate. That’s down only by his lofty standards; he punched out 30.1% of his opponents a year prior while pitching to a sparkling 2.20 ERA that netted him a runner-up finish in American League Cy Young voting.
While last year’s ERA was unsightly, Cease still missed bats at a high level, sat just under 96 mph in terms of average fastball velocity, and notched a well above-average 13.6% swinging-strike rate. He’s also made a full slate of starts in each of the past four seasons, leading the Majors with 109 games started since 2020. Add in that Cease is projected for an eminently affordable $8.8MM salary in arbitration this winter (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) and is controllable through the 2025 season, and his appeal becomes even more apparent.
Any team to acquire Cease would surely view him as a prime rebound candidate whom they can control for two seasons before recouping some prospect value in the form of a qualifying offer. An extension with Cease always remains a possibility, albeit perhaps a faint one. Clients of the Boras Corporation tend to test the open market, though there are plenty of examples of Boras clients who have instead signed extensions (e.g. Xander Bogaerts, Jose Altuve, Stephen Strasburg, Carlos Gonzalez — among others).
Yankees Sign Tanner Tully To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have signed left-hander Tanner Tully to a minor league deal, according to a report from Matt Eddy of Baseball America. It’s unclear if the lefty will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
It’s the second straight offseason in which the Yanks have brought Tully aboard on a minors pact. He made 19 starts at the Triple-A level last year with a 5.64 earned run average, posting a subpar 18.6% strikeout rate but limiting walks to a 6.4% clip and keeping 40.7% of balls in play on the ground.
He was released in August to join the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization and finished the year on a strong note. He made 11 starts for the Dinos with a 2.92 ERA. His 17.7% strikeout rate was still not especially strong, but his 4.9% walk rate and 59.6% ground ball rate were both quite encouraging.
That has generally been the profile for Tully in his minor league career, which dates back to being drafted by Cleveland in 2016. He’s never had a walk rate higher than 8.2% at any stop of his minor league career and has induced a fair share of grounders, but he’s also never been a big strikeout guy. He has six innings of major league experience, which came with the Guardians in 2022.
The Yankees have a reputation for loving ground ball guys and they also need some extra rotation depth, having included Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez in the Juan Soto trade. They will have Gerrit Cole leading the major league rotation, with Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt to follow. They also seem likely to add someone else, having been connected to names like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Marcus Stroman and Dylan Cease.
Tully, now 29, can provide them with some depth at the Triple-A level alongside guys like Clayton Beeter, Luis Gil, Yoendrys Gómez, Cody Poteet and Will Warren. He’s also done some relief work in the past and could perhaps slide into a bullpen role later. The Yanks lost their primary lefty ground ball guy, Wandy Peralta, to free agency at the end of the 2023 season. If Tully is added to the roster at any point, he still has a full slate of options and just 15 days of service time.
Yankees, Marcus Stroman Have Had Recent Discussions
The Yankees have held “productive” discussions with free agent right-hander Marcus Stroman recently, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com. There’s no indication that a deal is close at this time, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the Long Island native had expressed interest in pitching for the Yankees (though the team hadn’t made an offer at the time).
On the one hand, signing Stroman is a straightforward means of addressing an obvious need for the Yankees. Beyond reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ rotation is littered with question marks. Injuries torpedoed the bulk of Carlos Rodon‘s first season in the Bronx; he pitched just 64 1/3 innings with a grisly 6.84 ERA after signing a six-year, $162MM contract. Fellow southpaw Nestor Cortes was limited to a near-identical slate of innings (with better but still sub-par results — a 4.97 ERA) due to injuries of his own. Former top prospect Clarke Schmidt made 32 starts and piled up a career-high 159 innings but did so with a 4.64 earned run average. The Yankees traded Michael King to the Padres in the Juan Soto deal and saw Luis Severino sign with the crosstown Mets in free agency.
On the other hand, Stroman himself is coming off an injury-ruined second half of his second and perhaps final season as a member of the Cubs. The two-time All-Star had pitched his way into Cy Young talks through the first half of the season, compiling a pristine 2.28 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and a massive 60% ground-ball rate in his first 16 starts — a span of 98 2/3 innings. Stroman, however, allowed 30 runs over his next 30 innings before hitting the injured list with a hip injury. While rehabbing that, he was diagnosed with a rib cartilage fracture that kept him on the shelf all the way into mid-September. Stroman returned to pitch eight shaky innings and then opted out of the final year and $21MM of his contract.
Given that end to his season, Stroman himself has some injury question marks. Beyond that, the Yankees in particular stand as a surprising fit to some extent, given general manager Brian Cashman’s prior and unusually candid remarks regarding the right-hander. In September of 2019, Cashman acknowledged to Wallace Matthews of ESPN that the Yankees held some interest in Stroman at that year’s trade deadline — Stroman ultimately landed with the Mets — before adding that they passed because they “didn’t think he would be a difference-maker” and that the right-hander “would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”
Perhaps some of that still holds true; the Yankees could well view Stroman as their fourth starter in the event that each of Cole, Rodon and Cortes are healthy. Then again, Stroman has pitched to a sharp 3.48 ERA in 514 innings since the 2019 trade deadline, fanning 21.4% of his opponents against a tidy 7.3% walk rate and complementing those marks with a terrific 52.5% grounder rate.
Regardless of where the Yankees feel he’d slot into the staff, there’s little doubt that Stroman is a clear upgrade for the team’s rotation. Stroman’s performance has been consistently better than average, and his perennially strong ground-ball rates have helped him post low home-run rates throughout his career (despite frequently pitching in hitter-friendly settings like Toronto and Chicago). The Yankees, whose own home park is friendly to hitters, have shown a strong preference for grounder-heavy pitchers in the bullpen (e.g. Zack Britton, Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Joely Rodriguez), so it stands to reason that’d carry over to at least some extent in the rotation as well.
Marlins Hire Rachel Balkovec As Director Of Player Development
The Marlins have hired Rachel Balkovec to be their director of player development, per a report from Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. She has previously been managing for Single-A Tampa in the Yankees’ organization.
Balkovec, 36, has lots of experience working in the minor leagues, having originally been hired by the Cardinals in 2012 as an interim strength and conditioning coach. She later had the interim tag removed from that title in 2014. She jumped to the Astros in 2016, becoming that club’s Latin America strength and conditioning coordinator, learning to speak Spanish for the role. The Astros moved her to their Double-A affiliate in 2018.
Going into 2020, she was hired by the Yankees to be a minor league hitting coach and then got promoted to manage with Single-A Tampa prior to the 2022 campaign. She has held that gig with the Tarpons for the last two seasons but has now found another opportunity with the Marlins.
As noted by De Nicola, Balkovec has often been the first woman to hold these roles, being the first to become a full-time strength and conditioning coach in affiliated baseball, the first to serve as a full-time hitting coach in an affiliated organization and the first to be a full-time manager for an affiliate.
The Marlins have been undergoing changes in their front office in recent months, with general manager Kim Ng departing the organization as owner Bruce Sherman planned to hire a president of baseball operations to work above her. Sherman expressed concerns about the club’s track record in terms of drafting and developing prospects, something that Balkovec will now be involved in. Geoff DeGroot was let go as director of player development in September of 2022 but wasn’t replaced until now. Peter Bendix was brought over in November from the Rays, a club with a strong reputation for player development, to take the president of baseball operations role.
Yankees, Kevin Smith Agree To Deal
Infielder Kevin Smith has a deal in place with the Yankees. The player posted on X a picture of a kid, presumably Smith himself, in Yankee gear. The picture came with the caption “Headed Home for 2024.” The client of The Bledsoe Agency was born and played high school ball in East Greenbush, New York. Jon Heyman of The New York Post confirms that the two sides agreed to a deal, which Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reports to be a minor league contract. Hat tip to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News for passing along the post from Smith.
Smith, 27, spent the past two years with the Athletics after coming over from the Blue Jays in the Matt Chapman trade. Between those two clubs, he’s received 333 plate appearances at the big league level over the past three years but has hit just .173/.215/.301 in that time. He exhausted his final option year in 2023. The A’s non-tendered him at season’s end even though he was still two years away from qualifying for arbitration.
He has hit much better in the minor leagues and that continued in 2023. In 183 Triple-A plate appearances, he put up a huge batting line of .324/.372/.653. That came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but it still amounted to a wRC+ of 137. He also stole nine bases in that time and lined up defensively at second base, third base and shortstop for the Aviators.
In the big leagues, his glovework at shortstop hasn’t received amazing grades but he has been given strong marks at third. He’s also seen some very limited time at left field and first base.
The Yankees project to have Anthony Volpe at shortstop and DJ LeMahieu at third base. There have been some rumors of Gleyber Torres trades, which would free up second for LeMahieu, but Torres is still on the roster. The club also has Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera and Jeter Downs on the roster as utility/depth options. If Smith is able to crack the roster at any point, he has just one year and 63 days of service time, meaning the Yankees could keep him around beyond 2024 if they would like.
Yankees Interested In Jesus Luzardo, Shane Bieber
Earlier reports suggested that the Yankees were talking with the Marlins about their starting pitching, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds some specifics by writing that New York is interested in left-hander Jesus Luzardo. In addition, the Yankees have also checked in the Guardians about righty Shane Bieber, Nightengale adds.
These two pitchers represent the wide range of options the Bronx Bombers are considering are they seek out rotation help. Luzardo would be a longer-term add, as the 26-year-old is arbitration-controlled through the 2026 season and is only arb-eligible (projected for a $5.9MM salary) for the first time this winter. Bieber is projected to earn $12.2MM in 2024, which is slated to be his final season before free agency. Though Bieber is reportedly open to signing an extension with his new team in the event of a trade, that probably won’t be an option with the Yankees in particular, since New York so rarely breaks its unofficial team rule about offering contract extensions.
Because Cleveland almost always moves its higher-paid players prior to free agency, Bieber has been rumored as a trade candidate for years, and that speculation has been peaking now that he is entering his final year of team control. The Guardians have already dealt one veteran pitcher in Cal Quantrill this offseason, and given the talented by generally inexperienced nature of the rest of Cleveland’s rotation, the Guards could potentially opt to hang onto Bieber to further bolster its own pitching staff. There’s also the fact that Bieber pitched only 128 innings in 2023 due to elbow inflammation, and his numbers were only good (3.80 ERA) rather than the elite form he showed earlier in his career.
As much as Bieber could help the Guardians, however, it seems likely that the team wouldn’t hesitate to move a pitcher who might not be a part of their future in exchange for a longer-term asset. Whether or not the Yankees might match up well with the Guardians is another matter, as New York already dealt away a good chunk of their younger pitching assets in the Juan Soto deal, and the Yankees’ young infield depth might not hold as much appeal to a Cleveland team that already has plenty of young infielders.
Naturally the Bombers aren’t going to have much interest in dealing top minor league talent for just a year of Bieber’s services, yet they could be willing to explore such a move for three years of Luzardo. The left-hander is coming off his first full and healthy season as a starting pitcher, and the results were impressive — Luzardo posted a 3.58 ERA over 178 2/3 innings, with solidly above-average strikeout and walk rates.
As noted by MLBTR’s Nick Deeds earlier today, Oswald Peraza might have a clear appeal to the shortstop-needy Marlins, but it would take more just Peraza to pry Luzardo away from South Florida. It’s fair to assume that any number of teams have at least floated the idea of a Luzardo trade with the Marlins, and a demand of multiple top-100 prospects seems like a reasonable ask for Miami given Luzardo’s age, ability, and three years of control.
Unlike with Bieber and the Guardians, there is no ticking clock on Luzardo’s time in Miami, so president of baseball operations Peter Bendix would probably have to be bowled over by an offer to move the left-hander. The Marlins might well look to move a starter for hitting help, yet any of Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers, or even Braxton Garrett could be likelier trade candidates than Luzardo. With Sandy Alcantara missing 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, Luzardo and Eury Perez are lined up as the cornerstones of the talented Miami rotation.
AL Notes: Mariners, White Sox, Stroman, Yankees
The Mariners have been busy on the trade market of late, swapping Robbie Ray for Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani in a deal with the Giants while acquiring lefty slugger Luke Raley in a swap with the Rays that sent infielder Jose Caballero to Tampa. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently spoke to reporters (including Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times) about the deals and the club’s plans for the remainder of the offseason.
Dipoto described the moves as making the Mariners’ roster “more complete” than it has been at any point in the offseason and suggested that if the regular season were to start tomorrow, the club would be satisfied with its roster as currently constructed. The additions of Raley and Haniger certainly shore up the roster’s corner outfield spots, which were the most glaring holes on the roster following the departures of Jarred Kelenic and Teoscar Hernandez. Even as the outfield appears to be set, however, the club’s infield depth took a hit when Caballero was shipped to the Rays. That leaves the Mariners with just Josh Rojas, Luis Urias, and Dylan Moore to handle second and third base with J.P. Crawford entrenched at shortstop and Ty France penciled in as the club’s everyday first baseman.
Despite Dipoto’s vote of confidence in the roster as currently constructed, he left the door open to the Mariners making additional moves as the offseason continues. “…I don’t think we’re done,” Dipoto said (as relayed by Divish), “We still have the desire to find ways to get better. And we certainly have the flexibility from a roster standpoint to go do that.” While it’s unclear how much room the Mariners have remaining in their budget this winter, Dipoto’s comments certainly make it feasible that the club could look to shore up their infield depth before the offseason comes to a close. Gio Urshela, Whit Merrifield, and Amed Rosario are among the mid-level free agent infielders still available on the market.
More from around the American League…
- The White Sox are continuing to shuffle their front office after hiring Chris Getz as GM on the heels of the club’s midseason firing of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams last year. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the club is hiring longtime Royals executive Jin Wong as an assistant GM. Wong will handle many of the duties previously assigned to assistant GM Jeremy Haber going forward, as Nightengale adds that Haber is expected to depart the club’s front office before Spring Training begins next month. Wong spent 24 years as a member of the Royals organization after first joining the organization in the scouting department back in 2000. Over his time in Kansas City, Wong filled a variety of roles before eventually rising to the title of VP of baseball administration and assistant GM.
- Nightengale also reports that free agent right-hander Marcus Stroman has approached the Yankees to express “serious interest” in signing with the club, though he adds that the club has not reciprocated that interest with a contract offer at this point. Stroman, whose free agency MLBTR profiled last week, pitched solidly with the Cubs last year en route to a 3.95 ERA and 3.58 FIP in 136 2/3 innings of work. While the Yankees are in the market for pitching, recent reporting has suggested that the club is focused on top-of-the-market southpaws Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery in free agency, both of whom are generally considered to be a tier above Stroman who stands as one of the stronger mid-market options remaining in free agency.
Latest On Yankees’ Starting Pitching Pursuits
The Yankees are well-established as seeking an arm to pair with ace Gerrit Cole at the front of their rotation. For much of the offseason, the club had their sights set on NPB star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, though they’ve had to shift gears in the aftermath of the right-hander’s decision to sign with the Dodgers last month. The club has seemingly stepped those pursuits up recently as recent reports have connected the club to both right-hander Dylan Cease via trade and southpaw Blake Snell in free agency. Jon Heyman of the New York Post provided an update on the club’s pitching pursuits recently, noting that “there’s a belief” within the organization that the club will be successful in adding a front-of-the-rotation arm before the season begins. Heyman adds that club chairman Hal Steinbrenner is “on board” with the idea of making a significant addition to the rotation, suggesting a willingness on the side of ownership to spend on rotation improvements.
Of course, commitment to adding a front-of-the-rotation starter and actually doing so are two different things, and Heyman reports that the club has continued to engage with Snell in free agency, though there’s a notable gap between the sides in negotiations. The same goes for left-hander Jordan Montgomery, though Heyman notes that the Yankees believe they have a better shot of signing Snell among the two southpaws. Montgomery, of course, was drafted by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 2014 draft and spent six and a half seasons in the Bronx before being shipped to St. Louis at the 2022 trade deadline.
Heyman suggests that Montgomery may prefer to return to the Rangers this offseason after winning the World Series with the club last year. Even if that’s the case, however, it’s worth noting that Texas’s front office has indicated the club doesn’t have much room in the budget for significant additions. That could pose a major roadblock to a Montgomery reunion in Arlington, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post recently reported that the left-hander is seeking a contract that would surpass the $172MM Aaron Nola re-signed in Philadelphia for back in November. That ask still positions him as cheaper than Snell, who Sherman notes is believed to be seeking more than $200MM this winter.
As for Cease, Heyman notes that the White Sox and Yankees face a “serious gap” in negotiations, with Yankees brass uncertain whether or not Chicago truly plans to move Cease before the beginning of the season and Heyman noting they’d face in uphill battle in outbidding other potential suitors like the Reds and Orioles for the righty’s services. With that being said, Cease isn’t the only player the Yankees are looking into on the trade market. Heyman reports that the club has discussed a trade with the Marlins as the club fields interest on lefties Jesus Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, and Braxton Garrett as well as right-hander Edward Cabrera, though he adds that those sides don’t appear to be close on a deal, either.
Even so, the Marlins could prove to be a cleaner fit as a trade partner for the Yankees than the White Sox. Miami has a clear need for a starting shortstop as things stand; the club currently has utilityman Jon Berti penciled into the everyday shortstop role with the likes of Vidal Brujan and Xavier Edwards as potential depth options. New York, meanwhile, has plenty of depth in the middle infield, where 2023’s double play duo of Anthony Volpe and Gleyber Torres figure to block youngster Oswald Peraza from regular playing time in the majors. While the Yankees were recently granted additional flexibility in how they handle Peraza via a fourth option year on the slick-fielding infielder, the 23-year-old could make plenty of sense as the centerpiece of a package that lands the Yankees a quality rotation piece.
However the Yankees end up addressing their rotation woes, it’s clear that the club needs to make an addition. Each of Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, Luis Severino, and Domingo German have parted ways with the club this offseason by way of either trade or free agency, severely hampering the club’s rotation depth. While Cole provides the club with a reliable, innings-eating ace at the front-of-the-rotation, both Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes are coming off 2023 season hampered by injuries and ineffectiveness. Clarke Schmidt‘s first season as a regular member of the starting rotation saw him perform on the level of a back-end starter, but without an external addition the club’s final rotation spot would go to an unproven arm such as Clayton Beeter or Luis Gil.
AL Notes: Angels, Tigers, Yankees
According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the Angels had interest in center fielders Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader before they signed with the Blue Jays and Mets, respectively. The news isn’t necessarily a surprise given the club’s reported interest in bolstering the club’s outfield mix with the likes of Michael A. Taylor and Adam Duvall. Taylor, in particular, fills a similar role to Bader and Kiermaier as a glove-first outfield option who offers a plus glove in center field and roughly league average offense.
That being said, both Bader and Kiermaier are elite defensive center fielders who have received at least semi-regular playing time throughout their careers. Given their status as regulars best suited for center field, the Angels’ interest in the duo is noteworthy even in spite of the fact that both players have already signed elsewhere, as it could indicate a willingness to move franchise face and future Hall of Famer Mike Trout out of center field. Trout, 32, has logged nearly 93% of his 12207 1/3 career innings on the outfield grass in center, and his glovework has continued to rate well even as he enters his 30s with +3 Outs Above Average in 82 games last year.
Despite his solid defense and lengthy track record at the position, rumors of the Angels moving Trout out of center field have been floated somewhat regularly in recent years, dating back to 2022 when former Angels skipper Joe Maddon told reporters that the club was considering playing Brandon Marsh as the club’s regular center fielder. Moving Trout to a corner or even DH isn’t without logic; after all, he’s seen his star fade somewhat in recent years due to a rash of injuries that left him to play just 237 games in the last three season, or less than half of the Angels’ contests in that time. While Trout appears as capable of handling the position as ever when on the field, it’s possible moving down the defensive spectrum could allow him to stay healthier and remain on the field for the Halos going forward.
More from around the American League…
- Longtime Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez is currently a free agent after a rebound season with the Dodgers where he crushed 33 home runs in just 113 games. Earlier in his career, Martinez spent three and a half seasons in Detroit and found great success with the club as he slashed .300/.361/.551 with 99 homers in 458 games during his tenure with the Tigers. With Detroit on the rise after finishing second in the AL Central last year, adding a power bat like Martinez to the club’s lineup could make some sense, and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand indicates that the club is “believed to have some interest” in a reunion with the veteran slugger. With that said, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press pumped the breaks on a rumored connection between Martinez and the Tigers today, saying the club has not expressed interest in the veteran’s services this offseason with Kerry Carpenter penciled in as the club’s everyday DH.
- The Yankees have hired Pat Roessler as their newest assistant hitting coach, according to a report from Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media. Roessler has previously served as hitting coach for both the Expos and the Mets, and his stay in Queens coincided with the club’s NL pennant-winning season back in 2015. Roessler’s most recent role was as assistant hitting coach for the Nationals, though the sides parted ways earlier this offseason as the Nats overhauled their coaching staff. Earlier this offseason, the Yankees added James Rowson as their hitting coach and tapped Brad Ausmus to replace new Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as the club’s bench coach.