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Yankees’ Cashman On Carlos Correa, Anthony Rizzo

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The GM Meetings are taking place in Carlsbad, California, and Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke to reporters yesterday.  Cashman said he has “some latitude” on the team’s budget, after talking to owner Hal Steinbrenner.  The club was able to stay below the base luxury tax threshold of $210MM this year, effectively resetting as a first-time payor for future penalties – if something resembling the current system remains in place in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Cashman acknowledged to reporters that he’s already had talks with the agents for two free agent shortstops.  Those players are Carlos Correa and Corey Seager, according to The Athletic’s Jim Bowden.  ESPN’s Buster Olney is hearing that the Yankees’ pursuit of a shortstop will remain focused on elite players of this nature.  Chandler Rome from the Houston Chronicle has more from Cashman on the Yankees’ interest in Correa.  Cashman explained, “(Correa) is just a very talented player, obviously. Puts up numbers with the best of them. He’s obviously had an incredible career thus far. Certainly not afraid. He’s pushed forward, regardless of the circumstances. He’s clearly not afraid because (the sign-stealing fallout) has not affected his play.”

There’s been a sentiment that perhaps Yankees fans would not tolerate or accept Correa.  That doesn’t seem to be Cashman’s primary concern, as the fans’ reaction “is not going to enter my calculus right now.”

Correa, who seems unlikely to sign before a potential December lockout, is reported to have received a five-year, $160MM offer from the Astros that seems more for show than anything.  As the top player on the free agent market, Correa is in line for $300MM or more.

Cashman has also spoken to the agent for first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who appeared in 50 games for the Yankees after a July trade.  The GM noted, “He obviously was really good for us, we feel, both on the offensive side and on the defensive side and on the leadership side, so he brings a lot of good things to the table.  I know he liked it here, I know we liked having him, but nothing has gone past that.”  Rizzo, 32, put up a 113 wRC+ for the Yankees.  In projecting a three-year, $45MM contract, MLBTR took into account intangibles like Rizzo’s reputation around the game.

The Yankees still have an incumbent first baseman in Luke Voit, who was limited to 68 games on the season due to injuries.  MLBTR projects Voit to earn $5.4MM next year, and it’s possible the Yankees move on from him.  Voit’s troublesome left knee is “resolved,” according to Cashman.

Perhaps the most intriguing possibility for the Yankees at first base is a trade for Matt Olson of the Athletics.  Olson, 28 in March, posted a 146 wRC+ with 39 home runs this year and is projected to earn $12MM through arbitration.  According to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, the Yankees have internally discussed trading for Olson.

The Yankees would also like to add some help in center field, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network.  Aaron Hicks, who played in only 32 games this year, is still owed $41MM through 2025.  Hicks, whose season ended in May due to wrist surgery, hopes to play winter ball, noted Lindsey Adler of The Athletic back in October.  The Yankees filled the void this year with 38-year-old Brett Gardner, who recently declined his $2.3MM player option in favor of a $1.15MM buyout.  The free agent market for center fielders also includes Starling Marte, Juan Lagares, Chris Taylor, Kevin Pillar, and eventually Odubel Herrera.  The trade market could include Kevin Kiermaier, Ketel Marte, and Byron Buxton.

Cashman Discusses Yankees’ Offseason, Provides Injury Updates

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During the press conference announcing the return of Aaron Boone as manager, Yankees GM Brian Cashman offered some insight into the club’s offseason plans. Cashman was open with regard to the Yankees’ needs, telling reporters he’ll need to offer Boone more flexibility in lineup construction (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler).

Most notably, the GM addressed the club’s need at shortstop directly and candidly, stating that “[s]hortstop is an area of need. We have to address it.” With one of the most highly regarded classes of shortstops in free agent history about to hit the market, the big-market, big-spending Yankees are a near certainty to feature prominently in the offseason rumor mill.

As MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand and ESPN’s Marly Rivera further noted, Cashman broke several pieces of news on the injury front: starter Jameson Taillon will undergo ankle surgery on October 28 and is expected to be out for five months. DJ LeMahieu, who underperformed expectations after a stellar 2020, has had a procedure to address a sports hernia that will keep him out roughly eight weeks. Cashman also noted that outfielder Aaron Hicks, out since a May wrist surgery, should be ready to resume baseball activities by December and hopes to play winter ball. Assuming all goes to plan, LeMahieu’s surgery shouldn’t have an impact on his availability to start the 2022 season, but Taillon’s timetable suggests he’ll only be ready to return to game action around the end of Spring Training, putting his availability for the Opening Day roster in question.

While Cashman suggested that he hopes to add more athleticism and contact skills to a lineup that had the sixth highest K% (24.5%) in the majors in 2021, Yankees fans have already begun to salivate over the forthcoming free agent market. All three of Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, and Trevor Story would bring a significant potential for star-level production to the Bronx — as might Marcus Semien or the enigmatic Javier Baez, potentially — and each would offer a significant defensive upgrade over incumbent Gleyber Torres.

Any from that group could represent an upgrade on both sides for the Bombers, but how Cashman views them remains to be seen. Though none are poor with the glove, Correa and Story (who have compiled 68 and 69 career DRS at short, respectively) have been a cut above the others. Correa will be 27 next season, giving him an edge in the age department, although Seager isn’t far behind as he heads into his age-28 campaign. Both Story and Baez will play next year at 29, while Semien — who played second base in Toronto this season but has a long track record at shortstop — will play next season at 31.

Though the Yankees are regularly players at the top of the free agent market, payroll implications may also play into their approach, as might the particulars of the forthcoming collective bargaining agreement (presuming, of course, that one is forthcoming). The club’s payroll came in just below the luxury tax threshold of $210MM in 2021, which may allow them to pay a lower rate should they become tax-payers again in 2022, but the only significant salary to come off the books is Corey Kluber’s ($11MM in 2021).

With a number of players set for significant raises in arbitration (most prominently Aaron Judge, though both club and player may prefer to reach an extension agreement), there’s not likely to be much room below the tax threshold for splashy free agent signings. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has not declared any plans to cross the threshold, but the club probably dipped below in 2021 for a reason. Paired with Cashman’s assertion that the Yankees will be “open to anything and everything” (Twitter link via SNY’s Andy Martino), the stage is at least ostensibly set for an active winter.

Following a season that saw them settle for a wild card spot and get bounced from the playoffs by the rival Red Sox, Cashman’s mixed tone is no surprise. Per Rivera, the longstanding GM described the 2021 Yanks remarkable inconsistency, stating that while they were at times “unstoppable,” they were at others “unwatchable.” As MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch relays, Cashman addressed fan disappointment directly with the “obvious” admonition that “we want more. We expect more.”

Injuries clearly played a role, but poor performance also loomed large. Among players with more than 100 plate appearances, only Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Luke Voit, and Anthony Rizzo (acquired from the Cubs at the deadline) posted a wRC+ over 100 while wearing pinstripes. The club’s pitching fared somewhat better but was also bitten by the injury bug, with only Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, and Taillon notching 20 or more starts and potential high-end righty Luis Severino logging only six innings across four appearances as he made his way back from February 2020 Tommy John surgery. With Kluber out and Taillon a question mark, the club will likely look to dip into the pitching market for at least a depth piece or two.

How, exactly, Cashman will address these shortcomings remains an open question, but he did offer some insight into other offseason plans in the Bronx, including making clear that the club views Torres as a second baseman moving forward and is not entirely committed to Gary Sánchez as its everyday catcher.

Both players were disappointments in 2021. Torres posted a .259/.331/.366 line (down from career marks of .271/.340/.493 entering the year) and was eventually moved from shortstop to second basse. Sánchez regained some of the pop (23 home runs in 440 plate appearances) he’d shown from 2016-2019 alongside a career-high 52 walks but continued to struggle overall; he posted only a .307 OBP driven by a dismal .204 batting average and 27.5 K%. By DRS, both players also struggled with the glove, with Torres costing the Yankees nine runs in the field and Sánchez ten (while throwing out only 17% of would-be base-stealers).

With Torres permanently moving to the keystone and Rizzo’s future uncertain, LeMahieu will likely serve as the Yankees’ primary third baseman in 2022, perhaps sharing time there with Gio Urshela as well as Voit at first — assuming Voit is back in the next year. With the Yankees looking to add a shortstop to the mix, they’ll be left with four regulars (LeMahieu, Urshela, Voit, and Torres) for the other three infield spots. As none of this group has any significant experience in the outfield, a healthy roster might leave Boone facing something of a logjam for at-bats.

With Severino expected to offer quite a bit more on the mound in 2022, better health from Hicks and Voit and bounceback years from LeMahieu and Torres could already go a long way toward righting the ship for a club used to contending for titles year after year. Addressing their need at shortstop with a high-end signing that improves the team on both sides of the ball may go even further.

Yankees Select Nestor Cortes Jr.

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The Yankees announced they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. Righty Nick Nelson was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to clear active roster space.

Cortes, 26, began his professional career with the New York organization. Selected by the Orioles in the Rule 5 draft, he made his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2018 but didn’t stick on the roster all year. The Orioles returned him to the Yankees, where went on to log rather significant long relief duty the following season. Cortes tossed 66 2/3 innings over 33 games in 2019, working to a 5.67 ERA with average strikeout and walk numbers (23.2% and 9.4%, respectively). That wasn’t enough to keep his roster spot, as Cortes was designated for assignment and traded to the Mariners for international bonus pool space.

Seattle gave Cortes a brief MLB look last season, but the results were disastrous. He lasted just 7 2/3 innings in five games, allowing 14 runs (13 earned) on a whopping six homers and walks apiece. The Mariners waived him after the season, and he signed a minor league contract with his original organization last December. Cortes has been excellent in fifteen innings with the RailRiders this year, allowing just two runs while running an 18:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

To free a 40-man roster spot for Cortes, the Yankees transferred center fielder Aaron Hicks to the 60-day injured list. Hicks is expected to miss the rest of the season recovering from wrist surgery.

Yankees Promote Estevan Florial; Aaron Hicks Expected To Miss Rest Of Season

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Just under a week after the announcement that center fielder Aaron Hicks will undergo wrist surgery, Yankees skipper Aaron Boone today confirmed to reporters that the operation is now expected to put an end to Hicks’ 2021 season (Twitter link via the YES Network’s Jack Curry). That’s seemed possible, if not likely, since the time the surgery was announced, but the only prior indication on a timeline had been a “months-long” recovery period.

The news on Hicks comes less than an hour after the Yankees announced a series of roster moves. Corey Kluber and Luke Voit were placed on the injured list, as was expected following yesterday’s announcements on their own injuries. Coming up to the big league roster in their place are righty Albert Abreu and outfield prospect Estevan Florial.

With Hicks down for the season and Brett Gardner struggling mightily, there would appear to be a door open for Florial to claim some playing time. The 23-year-old has played 312 games in center field over his professional career and was at one point touted as the organization’s center fielder of the future. Florial was near-universally ranked among the game’s 50 best prospects prior to the 2018 season, though his stock has dipped since that time.

It’s also worth pointing out that while there’s an ostensible opportunity for Florial to seize a starting job now, he’s been struggling tremendously himself down in Triple-A. Florial hit .229/.308/.603 in nine Double-A games to begin his season, but he’s gone 6-for-34 with 11 punchouts in 40 plate appearances since moving up to Triple-A. The 17 games he’s played between Double-A and Triple-A in 2021 represent his only experience above A-ball, save for the single game he played for the Yankees at the MLB level last summer. Put more simply: there’s a very good chance he needs more development. Nevertheless, Boone indicated Florial will get the start in center for the second game of today’s twin bill.

Florial wasn’t recalled as the 27th man for that doubleheader — righty Nick Nelson has that designation — but it could still be a very brief stay for him in the Majors. Boone said that activating Giancarlo Stanton from the injured list tomorrow is “in play” as an option (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch), and the Yankees will need to make a corresponding move to get him on the roster. That doesn’t necessarily mean Florial’s stint will be a one-and-done showing, but it’s at least possible that’s the direction they go.

Whether he’s in the Majors or back in Scranton, Florial’s performance will bear monitoring in the weeks to come. With few other center field options on the roster, that’d be one obvious area for the Yankees to look to address via the trade market in the event that Florial’s struggles continue.

Aaron Hicks To Undergo Wrist Surgery

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Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks will undergo surgery to repair a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist, manager Aaron Boone announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record). There’s no exact timeline for his recovery, but Boone indicates that it’ll be a “months-long” process, which puts the remainder of the season in question for Hicks.

It’s yet another setback for the talented-but-oft-injured Hicks, who hasn’t looked right at the plate all season. Hicks batted just .194/.294/.333 before the discomfort in his wrist became too great and he went on the injured list last week. He underwent an MRI to determine the source of the pain, which led to the diagnosis of the tear. Given that he’s likely been playing through the issue for some time, the poor showing at the plate isn’t surprising.

Hicks appeared in 54 of the Yankees’ 60 games last summer, batting .225/.379/.414 with six homers, 10 doubles and a pair of triples. He tacked on a .308/.424/.423 showing in the team’s seven postseason games. From 2017-19, the switch-hitting Hicks gave the Yankees a .247/.362/.452 performance, but he tallied just over 1400 plate appearances during that time due to various injuries.

Hicks missed time with a hamstring strain in 2016, a pair of oblique strains in 2017 (one on his right side, one on his left) and an intercostal strain in 2018. He had a brief IL stint for back troubles in 2019 before a flexor strain put an end to his season. It was eventually revealed that Hicks would require Tommy John surgery to address the issue.

The mounting durability concerns are particularly problematic, given that in 2019, Hicks signed a seven-year, $70MM extension that runs through the 2025 campaign. He’d have been a free agent at season’s end were it not for that deal, but the Yankees are now on the hook for a $10.5MM salary from 2021-23, a $9.5MM salary in 2024-25 and a $1MM buyout on an option for the 2026 season.

Hicks’ prolonged absence now puts the struggling Brett Gardner in line to serve as the everyday center fielder. The Yankees traded Mike Tauchman to the Giants in exchange for reliever Wandy Peralta last month, and neither Aaron Judge nor Clint Frazier can be expected to handle center field on a regular basis. The Yankees have former top prospect Estevan Florial on the 40-man roster and in Triple-A, but he’s only just now getting his first experience above A-ball. It’s certainly possible they’ll still give him a look before long, but they could also be on the lookout for some outfield options outside the organization.

Yankees Place Aaron Hicks On Injured List, Select Ryan LaMarre

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MAY 16: The Yankees officially placed Hicks on the IL, retroactive to May 13, with a left wrist sprain. LaMarre was indeed selected to the roster in a corresponding move. The 32-year-old has a .236/.286/.338 line in 246 MLB plate appearances over parts of five seasons. He signed a minor league deal with New York over the winter and was off to a .273/.333/.303 start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees already had a pair of 40-man roster vacancies, so no additional move was needed to accommodate LaMarre’s selection.

MAY 15: The Yankees will indeed place Hicks on the 10-day IL, according to Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network (Twitter link).  Ryan LaMarre will be called up to take Hicks’ spot on the active roster, as per Jack Curry of YES.

MAY 14: Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks has suffered a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist, Marly Rivera of ESPN reports. There is no word on how much time Hicks will miss. He could play this weekend, go on the injured list or undergo surgery, per Rivera. He’s on medication for the time being.

This continues a difficult start to the season for Hicks, who hasn’t been able to replicate his strong effort from 2020. The switch-hitting 31-year-old has hit just .194/.294/.333 with four home runs in 126 plate appearances, making it easily his worst production since the Yankees acquired him from the Twins before 2016. Hicks performed well enough in the Bronx from 2017-18 that the team signed him to a seven-year, $70MM extension heading into the 2019 campaign. But Hicks dealt with back and elbow problems that year, limiting him to 54 games, and had to undergo Tommy John surgery after the season.

Although Hicks has had a rough go this year, any extended absence would be a significant blow to New York’s outfield depth. Hicks has played the vast majority of the team’s games this year in center field, starting at the position in 30 of 37 contests. The Yankees’ next option has been Brett Gardner, who has also posted uncharacteristically poor numbers this season, and the club took from its center depth when it traded Mike Tauchman to the Giants for reliever Wandy Peralta in late April.

New York Notes: DeGrom, Tanaka, Hicks, Cessa, Gsellman

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After tossing 60 pitches in a simulated game today, Jacob deGrom looks likely to be ready for Friday’s season opener.  (The New York Post’s Dan Martin was among those to report the news.)  While a simulated game isn’t a substitute for a real outing, of course, deGrom’s strong results were encouraging — he didn’t allow a hit against any of the 14 batters faced, and recorded nine strikeouts.  Back tightness caused deGrom to leave last Tuesday’s intrasquad game after only an inning of work, leading to fresh questions as to whether or not the Mets ace would be ready for the start of the season.

With the Mets and Yankees squaring off in exhibition action tonight, here are some notes from both Big Apple franchises…

  • DeGrom isn’t the only star pitcher showing progress, as Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka looked good during a bullpen session today.  Manager Aaron Boone told the New York Post’s George A. King III and other media that Tanaka will likely next face hitters possibly as early as Tuesday, which would mark the first time Tanaka has faced live batters since being hit in the head by a Giancarlo Stanton line drive on July 4.  Tanaka fortunately escaped with only a mild concussion, and if he continues to rehab well, Tanaka may end up missing only one start.  “It is possible he will be able to start at the back end of the second trip through the rotation,” King writes.
  • Aaron Hicks underwent Tommy John surgery last October, but told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch that his right elbow “feels good right now,” and he is on pace to make the Yankees’ Opening Day roster.  Throwing has been a particular source of improvement, as Hicks said “the ball has been coming out really well this past week.  I feel like I’ve been able to get a lot more carry on my ball, especially throwing to home [plate].”
  • Also from Hoch’s notes piece, Luis Cessa has arrived at the Yankees’ Summer Camp after recovering from COVID-19.  The right-hander tested positive before arriving in camp, and went through the standard procedure of a two-week quarantine and two consecutive negative test results before being allowed to join his teammates.  Cessa played catch today and will throw off a mound on Monday, though it isn’t yet clear if he will ready for the Yankees’ first game.
  • Robert Gsellman has been battling tightness in his right triceps, Mets manager Luis Rojas told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo and other reporters.  While Gsellman has started to play catch off of flat ground, Rojas wasn’t sure if Gsellman would be available for the Opening Day roster.  The right-hander has been a workhorse reliever for the Mets over the last two seasons, tossing 143 1/3 relief innings and posting a 4.45 ERA, 2.55 K/BB rate, and 8.1 K/9.  Gsellman missed six weeks with a similar injury last season, though Rojas said “there’s nothing of concern as far as past history.”

Cashman: Yankees “Optimistic” Judge Will Be Ready For Opening Day

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After months of uncertainty surrounding the status of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, general manager Brian Cashman said on a conference call today that the team is optimistic he’ll be ready for the rescheduled Opening Day (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler). The Yankees are also optimistic that Giancarlo Stanton will be ready to open the year in the DH slot. Lefty James Paxton is expected to be ready to go as well, and it’s possible that center fielder Aaron Hicks could be game-ready come Opening Day as well.

Judge’s entire injury saga has been bizarrely vague, but it seems an end is at last in sight. It took the club several weeks early in camp to diagnose a stress fracture in his rib, and only two weeks later did the team reveal that Judge was also found to have a collapsed lung. Near the end of March, Boone revealed that Judge’s injuries may have dated all the way back to last September. Even throughout the shutdown, updates on Judge lacked specific timelines and frequently pointed to additional imaging as the next step.

Stanton sustained a calf injury back in Spring Training, and Cashman indicated today that he’s quite specifically referencing a DH-only role with regard to the former NL MVP’s Opening Day readiness. The YES Network’s Jack Curry tweets that the club wants to evaluate Stanton in camp before making any declaration about his ability to play in the outfield.

Paxton is more than four months removed from back surgery and could be game-ready right now, according to Cashman. There’s a bit less certainty regarding Hicks, who is eight months out from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Hicks has already proclaimed himself ready to go for the season opener, though the organization is understandably taking a bit more reserved approach and will use “Summer Camp” (as the league has now termed it) to make its own evaluation.

Aaron Hicks ‘Ready To Play’ If MLB Season Returns

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Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks would be “ready to play” if the MLB season returns in July, he tells George A. King III of the New York Post. Hicks underwent Tommy John Surgery last October.

It seems Hicks has progressed as hoped throughout rehab. The procedure initially called for an eight to ten month recovery time, and the 30-year-old looks to be coming in at the early end of that timetable. He has been taking batting practice for two months without issue, he tells King, and has progressed to throwing from 160 feet and taking outfield drills.

Myriad challenges (coronavirus upticks in certain states, a messy labor dispute) remain for there to be a season at all, of course. If MLB were to get games off the ground, the Yankees would certainly be thrilled to welcome Hicks back. A flexor strain helped limit Hicks to 255 plate appearances over 59 games last season, the first of the seven year, $70MM extension he signed last February.

Injury-plagued 2019 notwithstanding, Hicks had emerged as one of the league’s better outfielders over the prior two seasons. Between 2017-18, he hit .255/.368/.470 (128 wRC+) over 942 plate appearances with slightly above-average defensive metrics in center.

Latest On Aaron Judge, Other Injured Yankees

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May 6: In light of Boone’s comments yesterday, the New York Post’s Dan Martin reports that the club has privately been expecting a June or July recovery date for Judge. The slugger hasn’t experienced any setbacks along the way, per Martin, but it seems the organization has simply anticipated that his recovery process will be a fairly lengthy one.

May 5: Yankees skipper Aaron Boone provided updates on several injured Yankees in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM earlier this morning (Twitter link, with audio).

Center fielder Aaron Hicks, on the mend from 2019 Tommy John surgery, is throwing from 90-plus feet and is taking soft toss from both sides of the plate as he continues his rehab. Hicks went under the knife about six and a half months ago and was initially slated for a timeline of eight to ten months. He’s “trending in a really good direction,” per Boone.

The outlook appears even brighter for lefty James Paxton and slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The former is now three months (to the day) removed from back surgery and is expected to be recovered by “mid-May,” per Boone. Paxton has tossed five bullpen sessions already and pitched a simulated game just yesterday. Stanton, meanwhile, is “doing really well and should be good to go whenever we get ready to go back.”

On Aaron Judge, the projection is a bit murkier. He’s slated to undergo another CT scan in “a couple more weeks,” which suggests that the right fielder’s fractured rib has not yet fully healed. Judge’s entire injury scenario has been shrouded in varying degrees of uncertainty. It took the club several weeks early in camp to diagnose the stress fracture in his rib, and only two weeks later did the team reveal that Judge was also found to have a collapsed lung. Near the end of March, Boone revealed that Judge’s injuries may have dated all the way back to last September. It’s been a frustrating saga for Yankees fans, and it seems there’s still no definitive timetable in place for the 28-year-old’s recovery — or at least not one they’re comfortable sharing publicly just yet.

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