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Yankees Not Interested In Zack Cozart, Jose Iglesias

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

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

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

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

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

Rays, Yankees Interested In Nick Ahmed

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

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

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

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

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

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

Didi Gregorius To Begin Season On DL Due To Shoulder Injury

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

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

[updated Yankees roster at Roster Resource]

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

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

Yankees Unlikely To Trade For Rotation Upgrade

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

Brian McCann Discusses Yankees Departure

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  • Brian McCann has nothing but fond memories of his time with the Yankees, though he told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media that being traded to the Astros represents “a best-case scenario for both sides.”  McCann was willing to waive his no-trade protection in order to join “a team filled with talent…young talent that’s going to be together for a while” that would allow him to regularly catch, while the Yankees were clearly going with Gary Sanchez as the catcher of both the future and the present.  “You’ve got to see what you have, and what they have is a very talented catcher that is going to be there for a long time,” McCann said, noting that he himself displaced a veteran catcher (Johnny Estrada) when he first broke into the bigs as a rookie with the Braves in 2005.

Ernesto Frieri Expects To Revive Career

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  • Ernesto Frieri served as a more-than-capable reliever with the Padres and Angels from 2010-13, when he combined for a 2.79 ERA, 12.28 K/9 and 4.36 BB/9 over 229 1/3 innings, before he flamed out over the next two seasons with the Halos, Pirates and Rays. After taking 2016 off to repair his mechanics, the 31-year-old Frieri believes he’s poised for a career renaissance with the Yankees, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “Before, I was a thrower,” Frieri said Saturday. “I’d just throw fastballs and I got away with that, too. But I had that deception. And now I have that deception back.” Frieri, who’s attempting to make the Yankees’ roster after signing a minor league contract Thursday, threw two scoreless innings for Colombia during the World Baseball Classic and touched 95 mph. His average fastball velocity in 2015 was 91.2.

Michael Pineda's Quest To Communicate

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  • Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda has already experienced a lot of ups and downs in his career, in no small part due to his struggles with the language barrier, as ESPN’s Andrew Marchand details.  Pineda came to MLB with little formal education and virtually no knowledge of English or American culture, which led to some inevitable growing pains (such as Pineda’s infamous suspension for using pine tar in April 2014).  The piece is well worth a full read, as it chronicles Pineda’s rise to the majors and the problems that he and many other foreign-born players face upon being thrust into the pressurized environment of pro baseball.

Jon Niese Embracing Bullpen Role

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  • A poor 2016 spent with the Pirates and Mets forced now-Yankees southpaw Jon Niese to settle for a minor league contract during the offseason, leading the 30-year-old to tell Ken Davidoff of the New York Post: “It’s a tough business to be in, but at the same time, it gave me this opportunity here with the Yankees. I can’t totally be down on myself about it. I’m looking forward to embracing this bullpen role. Hopefully it can springboard my career.” Niese had been a quality starter from 2011-15, but he’d only crack the Yankees’ roster as a reliever. His new role comes with a different mindset. “Basically, I’m just treating those three outs as a game,” he added.

Yankees Sign Ernesto Frieri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

White Sox Scouting Yankees Prospects

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  • The White Sox have been scouting Yankees prospects in regards to a potential Jose Quintana trade, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  The two clubs have been linked in Quintana trade rumors though there isn’t any movement as per the latest reports, since New York doesn’t want to part with its top minor leaguers.  The Yankees have been seen as a logical target for Quintana due to the lack of certainty in their rotation beyond Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, and C.C. Sabathia, and even that top trio can’t be considered locks due to each pitcher’s injury history.  It makes sense that the Sox would keep doing its due scouting diligence on the Yankees and other potential Quintana suitors should a team make a renewed push for a deal before Spring Training is out.
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