Latest On Yankees, Marcus Stroman
The Yankees’ pitching staff turned in its latest dud Friday, continuing what has amounted to a week-long series of hideous performances. Dating back to last Sunday’s loss to Colorado, New York has surrendered 64 runs in six games – including a combined 29 in a pair of shellackings in Boston over the past two nights – en route to four defeats.
As you’d expect, the Yankees’ rotation has been a key culprit in its recent run-stopping woes. Starter James Paxton struggled again Friday, yielding seven earned runs on four innings, and likely hasn’t met the Yankees’ expectations this season after coming over from the Mariners in a significant trade last winter. Likewise, the Yankees haven’t gotten enough from a group of Masahiro Tanaka, Domingo German, C.C. Sabathia and J.A. Happ.
Despite an AL-best 66-37 record, the Yankees are very much in the market for rotation help leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. Blue Jays hurler Marcus Stroman has been among the many starters on the Yankees’ radar, though Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported Thursday the Yankees aren’t the leading candidates to acquire him. Similarly, Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets the Yankees haven’t been the most aggressive team after Stroman. Nevertheless, the two sides are still “in contact” in regards to the right-hander, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets.
The rebuilding, division-rival Blue Jays have predictably aimed high – albeit to a wholly unrealistic extent – in their quest to seek the best possible return for Stroman. During their talks with the Yankees, the Jays have requested middle infielder Gleyber Torres, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports. They’ve also asked for 20-year-old righty Deivi Garcia, the Yankees’ No. 1-ranked prospect.
Surrendering Torres is a nonstarter for the Yankees, who have seen him blossom from high-end prospect to high-end major leaguer since they acquired him from the Cubs in a July 2016 blockbuster. Torres was a Rookie of the Year candidate in 2018 who has gotten even better this season, just his age-22 campaign, having slashed .294/.360/.511 (127 wRC+) with 20 home runs and 2.6 fWAR in 398 plate appearances. As someone who’s not even on track to become eligible for arbitration until after 2020, the Yankees are in position to reap the benefits of Torres’ presence for a long time.
The same could be true in regards to Garcia, though the Yankees have at least reportedly shown a willingness to trade him for Mets righty Noah Syndergaard. However, there’s seemingly less of a chance of the Yankees giving up Garcia for Stroman, in part because he comes with one fewer year of control than Syndergaard. (Speculatively, perhaps the Yankees would be more amenable to sending Garcia to Toronto as part of a package for both Stroman and closer Ken Giles, whom they’ve also eyed.)
Stroman’s on a more-than-fair $7.4MM salary this season and under wraps through next year, so it’s reasonable for Toronto to expect a sizable return for him. It also helps that Stroman’s having a terrific season – better than Syndergaard’s – having put up a 2.96 ERA/3.52 FIP with 7.15 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 56.3 percent groundball rate in 124 2/3 innings. That doesn’t make Stroman worth close to as much as Torres, though, and it may not even be enough for the Yankees to hand over Garcia for him.
Latest On Interest In Mets’ Pitchers
Most reports out of New York over the past few weeks have echoed a familiar trio of names when assessing their trade chips: Zack Wheeler, Todd Frazier and Jason Vargas. The three are free agents at season’s end — Vargas does have an $8MM club option ($2MM buyout) that looks increasingly intriguing — making them natural candidates to be shipped out by a 46-54 Mets team that is closer to the NL’s worst record than to the division lead.
The larger source of intrigue surrounds whether the Mets would move assets controlled beyond the current season. To that end, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports within his latest column that the Mets “have been open to dealing” embattled closer Edwin Diaz. General manager Brodie Van Wagenen isn’t in any type of rush to move his offseason headliner, however. Rather, he’s endeavored to receive a comparable package to the one he surrendered in order to get Diaz in the first place. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets a similar sentiment, noting that the ask on Diaz is “so sky-high that it’s basically a non-starter.” Though ESPN.com’s Buster Olney suggests on Twitter that the Dodgers are a nice match on paper, he doesn’t indicate whether the sides have had actual discussions — let alone whether the Los Angeles organization would meet the Mets’ asking price.
Finding a deal that compares to the one that brought Diaz to New York seems an impossible order. In addition to taking on a hefty chunk of the Robinson Cano contract, the Mets parted with a pair of young players — Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn — who are soaring through the Mariners’ system and up top prospect rankings. Diaz’s strikeout, walk, ground-ball and swinging-strike rates have all gone in the wrong direction. And while he’s tossed six shutout innings since his most recent meltdown — a four-run collapse against the Phillies — he’s still lugging a 4.81 ERA with as many blown saves (four) as he had all of last season.
Even teams that feel they have an answer for Diaz’s struggles wouldn’t be willing to pay a metaphorical dollar-for-dollar rate in negotiations with the Mets. As for taking a lesser deal, the optics of trading him for cents on the dollar while retaining Cano and the sizable portion of his salary they absorbed in that deal would be poor, to say the least. Diaz is controlled through 2022, so a strong finish and/or a 2020 rebound would do wonders for his value.
It seems more plausible that if the Mets were to receive a sizable offer on a controllable arm, it’d be Noah Syndergaard. Olney tweets that the Mets are “seriously listening” to rival clubs that have interest. While Syndergaard hasn’t really thrown in a way that buttresses his own trade value, he’s throwing hard and seems to be in good health. His 4.36 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 would all be career-worsts if the season ended today, but his track record and upside are so impressive that there’ll be loads of interest.
Whether that listening stance has a real chance of turning into meaningful trade talks remains to be seen. Both Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (Twitter links) and Andy Martino of SNY cite the Yankees as the club with perhaps the keenest level of interest in Syndergaard. Both reports suggest that top pitching prospect Deivi Garcia could be a headliner in such a deal, and while GM Brian Cashman plainly stated a couple weeks back that he wouldn’t move Garcia for a rental, Heyman suggests that the Yankees would “surely” put Garcia in play if meant obtaining Syndergaard, who is controlled through 2021.
Of course, the Yankees and Mets simply haven’t dealt with one another on the trade market at any point in recent history, which makes negotiations all the more complicated. And Olney tweets that he doesn’t think the New York rivals will be able to make a deal on such a significant player. Martino writes that the two teams have nevertheless talked Syndergaard “many times” this month, swapping proposals and counterproposals with no real progress being made. A deal is characterized as unlikely, although he also lists the Astros, Padres, Brewers and, to a lesser extent, the Twins as teams trying to pry Syndergaard loose.
That high asking price may not be the case with regard to Wheeler, whose value partially hinges on how well he performs in Friday’s expected return from the injured list. The Mets’ hope seems to be that a strong outing will quiet some concerns about Wheeler’s recent shoulder flareup, but the injury undoubtedly quelled some interest in him. Despite the concerns, Yahoo’s Mike Mazzeo cites a Mets official as calling the chances of a Wheeler trade “pretty high.”
If the Mets don’t find any offers on Wheeler to be viable or, even worse, he experiences renewed shoulder discomfort and is forced back to the IL, the club could retain him and issue a qualifying offer at season’s end. Barring a worrying showing, though, it may be that the Mets will end up simply taking the best offer on a player whose tenure in New York has seen its share of peaks and valleys.
Report: No Untouchables In Yankees’ Farm System
The first-place Yankees are aiming for a championship this year, and it seems they’re prepared to pay steep prospect prices at the July 31 trade deadline in order to increase their chances. The team has no “untouchable” players in its farm system, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports.
No Yankees prospect has generated more hype lately than right-hander Deivi Garcia, whom they promoted to Triple-A ball last week. The 20-year-old Garcia is now the youngest player at the minors’ highest level, Davidoff notes. Garcia’s elevation to Scranton came in response to a great season-opening performance at Double-A Trenton, where he posted a 3.00 ERA/2.18 FIP with 14.49 K/9 against 4.41 BB/9 in 10 starts and 51 innings. Although he’s just 5-foot-9, Garcia’s tremendous early season showing helped earn him a 29th-place ranking in the midseason top 50 list ESPN’s Keith Law (subscription required) just released.
General manager Brian Cashman said last week Garcia could be a factor on the Yankees’ roster down the stretch, but he wouldn’t be off limits in a deal, Davidoff suggests. The goal would be to acquire a controllable rotation piece in any swap involving Garcia, it seems. On the other hand, the Yankees “certainly wouldn’t” trade Garcia for Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner or another rental, per Davidoff. The same obviously goes for Mets righty Zack Wheeler, as Andy Martino of SNY.tv relays, but it may be a different story for controllable fireballer Noah Syndergaard. The Yankees have shown interest in Syndergaard, reports Martino, who points out the Mets sent special assistant Omar Minaya to scout Garcia’s Triple-A debut Monday. With that said, there’s little optimism the crosstown rivals will come together on a trade this month, Martino adds on Twitter.
Meanwhile, outfielder Estevan Florial – the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect in the most recent team rankings at MLB.com, FanGraphs and Baseball America (subscription required) – would be movable “in the right deal,” Davidoff writes. Unlike Garcia, the 21-year-old Florial hasn’t enjoyed a banner 2019 season in the minors. Currently at the High-A level after fracturing his right wrist in the spring, Florial has hit .229/.282/.359 (91 wRC+) with four home runs in 142 plate appearances.
In fairness to Florial, the injury may have a role in his underwhelming production this year. Moreover, Florial entered the season as a consensus top 100 prospect, so it stands to reason he’s someone who would interest other teams in trade talks. The Yankees generally aren’t short on enticing minor leaguers, according to a rival talent evaluator who spoke with Davidoff.
“It’s a really good system,” the evaluator said. “They certainly have the pieces to be aggressive.”
Brian Cashman On Yankees’ Search For Rotation Help
If there was any doubt that the Yankees are in the market for starting pitching — not that there should have been — general manager Brian Cashman was candid about his team’s pursuit of rotation help in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter links, with audio).
“Yeah, we’re going to target starting pitching, and then if not, continue to try to reinforce the bullpen,” said Cashman. “But the bottom line is just trying to add quality to what we already have. … Houston’s going to get better. Tampa’s going to get better. Boston’s going to get better. Minnesota’s going to get better Oakland’s going to get better. … They’re going to add to their area [of need]. A lot of the players in the mix are in the similar category of quality, so there’s going to be a number of choices out there.”
Cashman noted that the Yankees are in a perhaps beneficial position, having both Luis Severino and Dellin Betances hopefully returning to the club in 2019 as a fallback in the event he is “not able to comfortably match up with somebody” in a trade. That said, the GM also conceded that he expects Severino to need “six or more weeks” before he’s ready to return (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).
Cashman also acknowledged that 20-year-old right-hander Deivi Garcia, recently promoted to Triple-A, is “pushing himself into the mix” as an option to help at the big league level. The diminutive Garcia, listed at just 5’9″ and 163 pounds, breezed through Double-A opposition with a 3.00 ERA, 14.3 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.35 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate in 51 innings of work prior to his promotion.
Asking prices across the board have been high early in July, as one might expect, and the number of rental starters who are ticketed for free agency at season’s end outweighs the number of controllable names on the market. That won’t lead the Yankees to do anything rash, it seems. Cashman plainly stated that the organization wouldn’t move Garcia — ranked this week as the game’s No. 25 and No. 29 prospect by Baseball Prospectus and ESPN, respectively — for a rental player. The Yankees are already known to be averse to moving Clint Frazier in such a deal, and that line of thinking presumably applies to the organization’s other top prospects as well.
Over the past few weeks, the Yankees have been connected to most of the top trade candidates on the market, including Madison Bumgarner (link), Trevor Bauer (link), Zack Wheeler (link) and Marcus Stroman (link).