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Giovanny Urshela

Angels Acquire Gio Urshela From Twins

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The Angels bolstered their infield depth on non-tender day, announcing the acquisition of Gio Urshela from the Twins. Pitching prospect Alejandro Hidalgo lands in Minnesota on a one-for-one swap.

It’s the second consecutive offseason in which Urshela finds himself on the move. Minnesota acquired him alongside Gary Sánchez in the Spring Training blockbuster that sent Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Yankees. The deal was in large part about offloading the final three years of Donaldson’s contract, but Sánchez and Urshela each played key roles on the 2022 club.

Urshela, 31, spent the year as the Twins’ primary third baseman. He hit .285/.338/.429 with 13 home runs and 27 doubles across 551 trips to the plate. It was a step up from the .267/.301/.419 showing he’d posted during his final season in the Bronx, particularly when one considers offense around the league dropped from 2021 to ’22. Urshela cut his strikeout rate from a career-worst 24.7% to just 17.4%, making contact on an above-average 81% of his swings.

The Colombian-born infielder now owns a .290/.336/.463 line in over 1600 plate appearances since breaking out in 2019. He’s a quality contact hitter with solid gap power who has twice topped 25 doubles in a season. Urshela has only once topped 14 longballs, when he hit 21 during a 2019 season that featured an especially lively ball, and he doesn’t draw many walks. Yet he consistently hits for solid batting averages with enough doubles to make a decent impact from a power perspective. Overall, his offensive production over the last four years has been 18 percentage points better than the league average, in the measure of wRC+.

Urshela has a strong defensive reputation, although he’s gotten mixed reviews from public metrics for his glovework. Defensive Runs Saved has typically been fond of his work, pegging him as a cumulative five runs better than average at the hot corner over the last four seasons. Statcast has been far more bearish, rating him as below average each season and pegging him a total of 14 runs below par. Its Outs Above Average metric has docked Urshela for his lateral range in both directions.

The general perception of Urshela’s glovework seems to lead more towards him being an average to slightly above-average defender. It’d appear the Halos feel similarly, as it’s possible he ends up assuming a more demanding position in Anaheim than he has in his previous stops. The Angels have Anthony Rendon locked in at third base, and while the two-time Silver Slugger award winner has battled his share of injury issues in recent years, he’ll surely be in the lineup most days when healthy.

That’d seem to point towards Urshela getting more action in the middle infield, particularly at shortstop. The Angels got almost no offensive production at shortstop this past season, with Andrew Velazquez taking the bulk of the workload. Anaheim has David Fletcher to man one of the middle infield positions, with the bulk of his MLB experience coming at second base. Urshela looks as if he’ll be penciled in as the primary shortstop, where he has just 288 career innings at the highest level. That’d push Luis Rengifo into a utility role, but Urshela would be capable of kicking back over to third base if Rendon battles renewed injury concerns.

Urshela’s a short-term solution, as he has between five and six years of major league service. He’s in his final season of arbitration eligibility and will be a free agent at the end of the 2023 campaign. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $9.2MM salary, which’ll bring the Halos’ projected payroll up past $181MM, per Roster Resource. That’s not far off their approximate $188MM Opening Day mark from this past season, which was a franchise record. With owner Arte Moreno exploring a sale of the franchise, it’s not clear how much budgetary space is available for general manager Perry Minasian and his staff. They’re clearly attempting to reload in an effort at snapping their playoff drought, previously adding starter Tyler Anderson on a three-year, $39MM free agent deal that also cost them a draft choice.

The Twins subtract from the big league roster, but they figure to allocate the money they would have had to commit to Urshela to upgrades elsewhere on the roster. As MLBTR explored last month, dealing the veteran to free some payroll space looked like a possibility in light of their infield depth.

Minnesota has young corner infielder José Miranda capable of stepping in at the hot corner after a .268/.325/.426 showing in 483 plate appearances as a rookie. The 24-year-old has some defensive question marks, but he came up through the minor league ranks as a third baseman. He spent the bulk of his innings at first base this year, but kicking him back up the defensive spectrum could allow them to incorporate players like Alex Kirilloff and Luis Arraez more often at first. It also opens the possibility of the Twins dipping into free agency or trade for a traditional first base/DH slugger.

Minnesota also adds a young arm to the lower levels of the farm system. Hidalgo is a 19-year-old righty out of Venezuela. He made 10 starts with the Angels’ Low-A affiliate in Inland Empire, allowing a 4.62 ERA across 39 innings. Hidalgo struck out an excellent 33.1% of opposing hitters, but a 10.9% walk rate demonstrates he’s still battling control issues common for teenage hurlers. Baseball America slotted him 18th in the Angels system midseason, praising a potentially plus curveball and writing that his fastball reaches into the mid-90s. He’s a lower-level developmental flier who’ll need to be added to Minnesota’s 40-man roster or be exposed to the Rule 5 draft at the end of the 2023 season.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Angels were acquiring Urshela for Hidalgo.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Twins’ Third Base Decision

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The Twins were one of baseball’s most aggressive teams last spring, and they’re in for another active offseason over the coming months. Carlos Correa has already implied he plans to opt out of the final two years of his contract, as expected. How to proceed at shortstop may be the biggest question facing president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and his staff, but they’ll also have a call to make at the other position on the left side of the infield.

This past season, third base was primarily the purview of Gio Urshela. Acquired from the Yankees alongside Gary Sánchez in the deal that offloaded Josh Donaldson’s contract and sent Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Bronx, Urshela went on to start 131 games at the hot corner in Minneapolis. He stepped to the plate 551 times and hit at a solid .285/.338/.429 clip with 13 home runs and 27 doubles. By measure of wRC+, the Colombia native was 19 percentage points better than the league average hitter.

That represented a bounceback from a pedestrian final season in the Bronx, when Urshela hit .267/.301/.419 through 442 trips to the dish. He didn’t recapture his breakout 2019-20 form — a combined .310/.358/.523 mark — but he no doubt had a productive offensive season. He finished the year well, hitting .294/.343/.419 after the calendar flipped to September. Urshela doesn’t take many walks, but he makes contact at an above-average rate and has enough power to approach or exceed 30 doubles and 15 homers during his best seasons.

While Urshela has been an above-average hitter in three of the past four seasons, his defense draws more variable feedback from public metrics. Ultimate Zone Rating has consistently pegged him as an above-average third baseman, which aligns with the general reputation he’d had as a prospect. Defensive Runs Saved has varied in its enthusiasm for his work but comes in slightly positive overall, while Statcast’s Outs Above Average has rated him as a below-average defender in every season of his career. There’s a fair bit of variability in all public defensive metrics, but Urshela has proven particularly divisive across those measures. Consider his cumulative runs compared to average as a third baseman by each measure since he emerged as a regular with the Yankees in 2019:

  • UZR: +6.4
  • DRS: +5
  • Statcast: -9

The Twins’ internal evaluation of Urshela’s defense could go a long way towards determining how they proceed at third base. The 31-year-old is under club control for another season, and Minnesota could simply pencil him back into the everyday lineup. He’s a valuable player, and there’s something to be said for retaining stability. Yet the Twins will have to weigh his production against a fairly lofty salary; MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Urshela to receive roughly $9.2MM for his final year of arbitration eligibility.

That’s certainly not an outlandish figure, particularly if the Twins view Urshela as an above-average defender. At the same time, it’s not a completely insignificant sum for a team that entered this season with a franchise-record payroll in the $134MM range, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Assuming Correa opts out and the Twins exercise their option on Sonny Gray while buying out Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer, they’ll head into the offseason with roughly $51MM in guaranteed money on the books, according to Roster Resource. Minnesota’s arbitration class, led by Urshela, is projected for north of $37MM on top of that. Not everyone in the arb group will be tendered contracts — Emilio Pagán is projected for a $3.7MM salary and seems likely to be cut loose — but the Twins could have roughly $84MM in internal expenditures before looking to address shortstop, the bullpen and catcher.

An outright non-tender of Urshela would be a bit surprising. It’s easy to imagine the Twins entertaining trade possibilities, however, particularly with rookie corner infielder José Miranda an option to step in at third base. Miranda has always been a bat-first prospect, and he spent more time at first base than at third during his debut campaign. After hitting .268/.325/.426 through his first 483 MLB plate appearances, the 24-year-old Miranda is guaranteed a regular role somewhere in the lineup. Would the Twins feel comfortable turning to him on an everyday basis at third base, where he spent the majority of his minor league career? That’d leave more first base/DH at-bats for Luis Arraez, who’s not a good defender at either second or third, and potentially clear a path to at-bats for former top prospect Alex Kirilloff. Kirilloff will be returning from a second season decimated by wrist injuries and presumably has to earn his way into the lineup, but he has the offensive potential to do so.

Falvey indicated last week the team was at least open to Miranda playing more third than first moving forward (link via Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic). “We want to keep third base in his mix, for sure,” Falvey said. “We think he can play over there. It just worked out roster-wise that first is where he had to play a lot. I think our best team, our healthiest team, has Jose playing a lot of games at third, and some at first. But we want him to play both corners.”

The Twins’ baseball ops leader didn’t tip his hand as to whether that meant Urshela was likely to be on next year’s roster. “We’ll have some decisions to make, not just on him but a few others in the arbitration space,” Falvey said (via Gleeman). “He finished in a really good spot. He played really well down the stretch, and he was a great teammate, a great person in (the clubhouse). All of those are conversations we’ll start to have as we get closer to November and December.”

If the Twins did make Urshela available via trade (or non-tender), it’s easy to envision a few teams having interest. The D-Backs, Marlins, Cubs, Giants and Tigers could all look for third base help this offseason. There aren’t many obvious solutions available in free agency (particularly if Nolan Arenado sticks with the Cardinals by foregoing his opt-out clause or signing an extension), leaving the Twins to weigh their options with Urshela over the coming weeks.

AL Notes: Nevin, Angels, Strahm, Red Sox, Twins

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Angels interim manager Phil Nevin told reporters (including The Athletic’s Sam Blum) that he hasn’t yet had any talks with the front office about remaining in the job for the 2023 season.  Nevin moved from third base coach to the interim skipper’s role after Joe Maddon was fired in June, and the Angels have a 44-57 record under Nevin’s stewardship, though between injuries and some imperfect roster construction, it can be argued that Nevin hasn’t had much to work with in trying to get the Halos on track.

The manager’s job is one of many questions facing the Angels this offseason, with the franchise’s possible sale acting as the overhanging influence on every decision.  There has been some speculation that this uncertainty could benefit Nevin’s chances, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has written that the Angels could prefer to just retain Nevin rather than sign another manager to a multi-year contract this winter (thus leaving a new owner with that deal on the books, when that owner might naturally prefer to make their own choice at skipper).  The front office’s lack of contact with Nevin might not necessarily be a sign that he isn’t a candidate, as GM Perry Minasian and owner Arte Moreno might just be waiting until the offseason to conduct a proper search.

More from around the American League…

  • Amidst a difficult Red Sox season, Matt Strahm has been a bright spot, posting a 3.92 ERA over 43 2/3 innings and filling a number of different roles in Boston’s bullpen.  After being non-tendered by the Padres last winter, Strahm signed a one-year, $3MM free agent deal with the Sox in March and he told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo that he “would love” a return to Boston in 2023.  Strahm also said he is open to returning to a relief role, but also wants to market himself as a starting pitcher.  Strahm made 16 starts for the Padres in 2019 but none since, as knee injuries limited the southpaw in any role in 2020-21.  However, Strahm said he is ready to resume a starter’s workload, as a consistent running program has made his knees “feel better than when I was drafted.”  Since the Red Sox have multiple starters slated for free agency this winter, re-signing Strahm and at least giving him a trial run as a starter would make some sense, as the Sox would then have the fallback of moving the left-hander back into the bullpen.  Cotillo reported that the Brewers, Royals, and Tigers were among the teams vying for Strahm last offseason, so any of that trio could conceivably still have interest in his next trip to the open market.
  • Max Kepler, Gio Urshela, and Emilio Pagan could all be trade candidates for the Twins this offseason, as The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman breaks down why Minnesota may be open to swapping any of these veterans.  Naturally, money is one factor — Kepler is guaranteed at least $9.5MM in 2023, while Urshela (paid $6.55MM in 2022) and Pagan ($2.3MM) are due raises in their final year of salary arbitration before free agency.  Kepler and Pagan are also coming off underwhelming seasons, while Gleeman figures the solid Urshela likely has the most trade value of the trio, should the Twins want to open third base for Jose Miranda.

Yankees Acquire Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Ben Rortvedt From Twins For Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela

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The Bronx Bombers’ quiet offseason has come to an abrupt end, as the Yankees and Twins have combined on a blockbuster of a five-player deal.  Third baseman Josh Donaldson, infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and catcher Ben Rortvedt are all heading to the Yankees, while the Twins will pick up catcher Gary Sanchez and infielder Gio Urshela.  The $50MM still owed on Donaldson’s contract is being entirely absorbed by the Yankees, as per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. To create space on their 40-man roster, New York placed reliever Zack Britton on the 60-day injured list.

Donaldson has a five-team no-trade clause, though it isn’t known if the Yankees were one of the five clubs on his list, or if he waived his clause to head to New York.  The Yankees will pay a $2MM assignment bonus due to the trade, and in being moved, the $16MM club option on Donaldson for 2024 now becomes a mutual option with a $6MM buyout, rather than an $8MM buyout.

This gigantic deal creates a shakeup on the rosters of both clubs, and ends Kiner-Falefa’s Minnesota tenure after just one day.  The Twins only acquired Kiner-Falefa from the Rangers for Mitch Garver on Saturday, but now the former Gold Glover has been flipped as part of a much bigger deal that sees the Twins move a major salary off their books.  Another flip doesn’t appear to be forthcoming, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal says the Twins plan to use Sanchez behind the plate.

After a winter of speculation about how the Yankees would address their infield, the Bronx Bombers have now installed Donaldson as their new everyday third baseman and Kiner-Falefa as their new shortstop.  (New York was linked to IKF earlier this winter, so the team has finally landed him even after his brief stopover in Minnesota.)  DJ LeMahieu may float between first and second base, sharing time with Gleyber Torres at the keystone and Luke Voit at first base.  The DH spot is also a possibility to give at-bats to players, depending on how much outfield time Giancarlo Stanton can handle.

All this to be said, we certainly can’t rule out the Yankees making yet another big splash, since the team has been linked to both Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson to address first base.  If either of those players are obtained, Voit would certainly look like an immediate trade candidate, and even dealing LeMahieu or Torres could be a possibility depending on what direction the Yankees wish to take.

Josh DonaldsonDonaldson is no stranger to the AL East, having enjoyed some of his best years (including his 2015 MVP season) while playing with the Blue Jays from 2015-18.  The 36-year-old’s production hasn’t declined much since those years in Toronto, as while injury concerns have cropped up as Donaldson has gotten deeper into his 30s, Donaldson is still a dangerous bat.  The third baseman hit .247/.352/.475 with 26 homers over 543 PA with the Twins last season, and continued to post his usual elite-level hard-contact and walk rates.

Defensive metrics are mixed on Donaldson’s third base glovework, but New York is hoping that Kiner-Falefa can pick up any defensive slack on the left side of the infield.  The winner of the AL Gold Glove Award as a third baseman with Texas in 2020, Kiner-Falefa has also been impressive over 1498 career innings shortstop in the view of the Defensive Runs Saved (+14) and UZR/150 (+1.7) metrics, though the Outs Above Average metric (-7) was very down on his shortstop glovework in 2021.  The Fielding Bible ranked Kiner-Falefa third among all shortstops in their voting for the 2021 season.

Kiner-Falefa is controlled through two more arbitration seasons, thus essentially making him a bridge to what the Yankees hope will be their shortstop of the future.  All winter long, New York has reportedly resisted getting into the hunt for the top tier of the free agent shortstop market due to the team’s belief in star prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza.  With Peraza maybe approaching his MLB debut as early as this season and Volpe perhaps coming by 2023, the Yankees wanted to retain flexibility at shortstop rather than lock themselves into a ten-year commitment to a Carlos Correa or a Corey Seager.

Rortvedt is the least famous of the five names involved in the swap, and he hit only .169/.229/.281 over his first 98 PA in the majors, all with Minnesota last season.  While Rortvedt has hit better in the minors, he isn’t expected to be another Sanchez at the plate, as the Yankees seem to intend Rortvedt to platoon with Kyle Higashioka in something of a defense-first tandem.  Given all the other pop in New York’s lineup, focusing on glovework behind the plate seems like a fair tradeoff, particularly since Sanchez’s defense has been a topic of controversy for years amongst Yankees fans.  Again, it isn’t out of the question that the aggressive Yankees could make another move to add a more proven veteran to the catching mix.

Payroll-wise, the Yankees take on Donaldson’s $50MM, the projected $4.9MM for Kiner-Falefa’s 2022 salary, and Rortvedt’s minimum salary.  Urshela’s $6.55MM salary for 2022 and Sanchez’s projected $7.9MM salary come off the books, leaving the Bombers with a luxury tax number of roughly $242.7MM (according to Roster Resource).  This is well over the new $230MM tax threshold but under the “second tier” of $250MM that would trigger a stiffer financial penalty for the Yankees.  The club made a point of ducking under the luxury tax line in 2021 and thus resetting its clock, so the Yankees would only have to pay a first-timer penalty of 20 percent on the overage for every dollar spent between $230MM and $250MM.

The savings are much more profound for the Twins, who get Donaldson off their books and have now freed up some longer-term payroll space.  According to SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link), the Twins didn’t pick up Kiner-Falefa with the intention of immediately moving him again, yet the club was ultimately swayed at the Yankees’ offer to take all of Donaldson’s contract.

This isn’t to say that Minnesota is necessarily looking to tear down the roster, as much of Donaldson’s 2022 salary space has now been filled by Sanchez, Urshela, and even Sonny Gray, acquired earlier today from the Reds.  After spending just under $100MM on payroll in 2021, the Twins have around $94.2MM on the books for 2022 at the moment, giving them more space for other moves if they even approach their $125MM-$131MM full season payrolls from the 2018-19 seasons.

Owner Jim Pohlad said last summer that the Twins wouldn’t be rebuilding, and while it seems as though the Twins are still firmly planning to contend in 2022, they’ve created more maneuverability for themselves in landing Sanchez (one remaining year before free agency) and Urshela (two years of control).  Should things go south for the Twins in 2022 as they did in 2021, therefore, the team may be able to more cleanly pivot towards moving players at the trade deadline, and perhaps at that point consider a larger-scale rebuild.

It wasn’t long ago that Sanchez was seen as a key to the Yankees’ future, breaking out with huge power numbers that seemed to put him next in the long line of big-hitting Bronx catchers.  However, Sanchez has produced average-to-mediocre numbers in three of the last four years, leading to speculation this past fall that Sanchez could even be a non-tender candidate.  Clearly, hanging onto the catcher proved worthwhile for the Yankees, as they were able to make him a big trade chip in this major swap.

Between his defensive issues and his evolution into a three-true-outcomes type of player, it remains to be seen if Sanchez can find a fresh start in Minneapolis.  He wouldn’t be the first player to blossom outside of the New York pressure cooker (his new teammate Gray is a prime example), and Sanchez still provides strong power and on-base numbers.  Sanchez still makes plenty of hard contact, but just making that contact has been a persistent issue, as Sanchez has been one of the game’s more strikeout-prone hitters for five seasons running.

Assuming the Twins do indeed plan to keep Sanchez, he’ll pair with Ryan Jeffers (a more defensive-minded catcher) as Garver’s replacement.  Elsewhere in the infield, a situation that seemed settled with Kiner-Falefa’s addition is now once again thrown up in the air.

While Urshela has some experience as a shortstop, it seems much more likely that he’ll take Donaldson’s spot at third base, as the hot corner is Urshela’s usual position and he has shown himself to be a very solid defender.  Urshela basically came out of nowhere to post huge numbers for the Yankees in 2019 and 2020, quickly making himself an infield regular amidst several injuries to New York’s roster during the 2019 campaign.

However, Urshela ran into some health issues himself this past season, missing time amidst a COVID-19 outbreak in the New York clubhouse and then a left hamstring strain.  This could explain Urshela’s dropoff to a modest .267/.301/.419 slash line and 14 home runs over 442 PA, while his walk and strikeout rates plummeted from their 2020 levels.

The Twins are obviously counting on rebounds from both of their new players, and there is some obvious upside to the club’s plan.  Should Sanchez and Urshela return to their 2019 form, that will be more than make up for the loss of Donaldson’s bat.  The scope of this deal would seem to hint that at least one notable follow-up move will be coming, as the Twins now again need to address a shortstop void that Kiner-Falefa had seemingly filled.  Jorge Polanco could move back to shortstop in a pinch but the Twins prefer him as a second baseman going forward.

Since Urshela can at least handle shortstop on a part-time basis, the Twins could also opt to land another third baseman, thus allowing for an Urshela/Polanco timeshare at shortstop and a Polanco/Luis Arraez split at second base.  Daniel Robertson and Tim Beckham are also in camp on minor league deals for further infield options, and infield prospect Jose Miranda’s big 2021 season has put him on the verge of his MLB debut.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) was the first to report that Donaldson and Kiner-Falefa were being dealt to the Yankees, while MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that Sanchez and Urshela were going to Minnesota.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter) reported Rortvedt’s inclusion in the trade. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tender Deadline Signings: 11/30/21

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With the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players looming tonight at 8pm ET — the MLBPA and MLB jointly agreed to move the deadline up a couple days due to the looming expiration of the collective bargaining agreement — we’ll likely see a slew of arbitration-eligible players signing one-year deals.

It’s commonplace for a large batch of players to sign deals in the hours leading up to the tender deadline. “Pre-tender” deals of this nature often fall shy of projections due to the fact that teams use the looming threat of a non-tender to enhance their leverage. Arbitration contracts at this juncture are often take-it-or-leave-it propositions, with the “leave it” end of that arrangement resulting in the player being cut loose. Given the widely expected lockout, there could be more incentive than usual for borderline non-tender candidates to take those offers rather than being cast out into free agency just hours before a transaction freeze is implemented.

As a reminder, arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed. In a typical year, a team can cut a player on an arb contract at any point before the halfway point in Spring Training and only be responsible for 30 days’ termination pay (about one-sixth of the contract). Releasing a player in the second half of Spring Training bumps the termination pay to 45 days of his prorated salary.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month, although for many of the players listed below, this isn’t so much avoiding arbitration as it is avoiding a non-tender. Here’s a look at today’s agreements…

  • The Yankees have agreed to deals with infielder Gio Urshela and right-hander Domingo German, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links). Urshela will make $6.55MM, while German has agreed to a $1.75MM deal. Urshela has two seasons of control remaining; German is controllable for three years. Urshela is coming off a .267/.301/.419 showing while playing third base and shortstop. German tossed 98 1/3 innings of 4.58 ERA ball.
  • The Twins have signed three arbitration-eligible pitchers, per reports from Feinsand and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North (on Twitter). Right-hander Jharel Cotton signed for $700K, reliever Caleb Thielbar lands $1.3MM and reliever Tyler Duffey signs for $3.8MM. Thielbar and Duffey were both productive members of the Minnesota relief corps in 2021. Cotton was recently claimed off waivers from the Rangers.
  • The Giants have agreed to terms with outfielder Austin Slater on a $1.85MM deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 next month) appeared at all three spots on the grass while hitting .241/.320/.423 over 306 plate appearances in 2021.
  • Reliever Emilio Pagan and the Padres have agreed on a $2.3MM deal, reports Rosenthal (on Twitter). The 30-year-old worked 63 1/3 innings of 4.83 ERA/3.93 SIERA ball this past season.
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $2MM deal with left-hander Caleb Smith, reports Zach Buchanan of the Athletic (via Twitter). The 30-year-old posted a 4.83 ERA/4.68 SIERA across 113 2/3 innings in a swing capacity in 2021.

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Gio Urshela Discusses Position Change

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Yankees’ infielder Gio Urshela spoke to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post about switching from third base to shortstop this season and had positive things to say about the move.

“I played my entire minor leagues [and major leagues] at third base. Then, moving to shortstop, I kind of liked it,” he said. Urshela was exaggerating a little bit, as he had played a little bit of shortstop before this year, but not a lot. In 2017, he logged 20 innings at short while with Cleveland, then racked up 65 more for the Blue Jays in 2018. That was the sum total of his big league shortstop experience, 85 innings. He got a bit more in the minors, 276 1/3 shortstop innings from 2013 to 2018. But over 2019 and 2020, he didn’t play shortstop at all, majors or minors. “I really enjoyed playing shortstop because you get more involved in the game,” Urshela continued. “Every play, you’re going to be involved. Third base, I just wait for the [ball] and that’s it. You don’t move that much.”

On September 13th, Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone announced that the club would be moving Gleyber Torres from shortstop to second base “to take some pressure off” him. This followed years of speculation about the eventual move, given Torres’s defensive struggles. At that point, Urshela had appeared in parts of 11 games at short on the campaign, but then made 17 more appearances there over the season’s final three weeks. And how do defensive metrics like Urshela’s work? On the season overall, Statcast’s Outs Above Average rated Urshela at zero, Defensive Runs Saved had him at minus-1 and Ultimate Zone Rating gave him minus-0.2.

It’s probably not wise to use these small-sample numbers as any kind of cudgel to attack Urshela’s future as a shortstop, but he was around average offensively this year as well, as his slash line of .267/.301/.419 amount to a wRC+ of 96. (League average is 100.) That’s a drop-off from his 2019-2020 output of .310/.358/.523, wRC+ of 132. It seems fair to deduce that the Yankees will consider shortstop an area of potential improvement and will thus be very interested in this winter’s crop of shortstops. The market is loaded with stars, such as Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story, Javier Baez and Chris Taylor.

This will be lead to an interesting financial decision for the Yankees, in terms of the luxury tax. In the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, their 2022 luxury tax number is already $222MM, when factoring in estimates for the team’s massive arbitration class of 19 players. That’s well over the lowest threshold for this season, which was $210MM, a line the Yankees made a point to avoid crossing. However, it’s entirely possible that the entire luxury tax landscape looks completely different in a few months, given that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and MLBPA expires December 1st, with the negotiation of a new CBA widely expected to be contentious, leaving many variables undetermined for the time being. Regardless of whether the thresholds change significantly or not, that’s a heavy payroll to be carrying before the offseason even begins. Any of those aforementioned star shortstops would likely add at least $20MM to their luxury tax ledger, if not more, taking the Yankees above $240MM, before even factoring in any other offseason signings. Under the current CBA, the luxury tax penalties increase at $230MM and again at $250MM.

If the Yankees do add a shortstop of some kind before next season, it might squeeze Urshela’s playing time, as moving Torres to second base means DJ LeMahieu should be slotted into third base most of the time. Urshela played 2021 on a salary of $4.65MM and MLBTR’s arbitration projections for 2022 estimate that could increase to the vicinity of $6.2MM for his second of three arb years. That would be a bit steep for a bench infielder who offers up league-average offense, but it could also be a bargain if the club thinks he’s capable of returning to the form he showed in 2019-2020.

Yankees Move Gleyber Torres To Second Base

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The Yankees will move Gleyber Torres from shortstop to second base, manager Aaron Boone announced to reporters Monday (Twitter links via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). The move is designed “to take some pressure off” Torres. Gio Urshela has the day off Monday but will get reps at shortstop down the stretch, beginning tomorrow, with DJ LeMahieu playing third base. Tyler Wade is at short today, with Torres at second.

The Torres decision comes a day after he made his 18th error of the season and his fourth in the past week at shortstop. Defensive metrics are down on Torres’ work as well. Defensive Runs Saved has him at minus-12 on the season, while Statcast’s Outs Above Average pegs him at minus-8.

There’s been talk of moving Torres off shortstop for some time now, but that chatter has picked up considerably since the beginning of the 2020 campaign. Torres made nine errors in just 320 innings at shortstop last season with poor defensive ratings as well. However, the Yankees stuck with him at the position and instead focused their offseason efforts on retaining LeMahieu and finding affordable arms to round out the pitching staff without exceeding the luxury tax.

Torres’ defensive struggles this season had already fueled speculation that the Yankees will be players in the offseason market for shortstop help. Today’s announcement from Boone would seem to cement that likelihood, as the Yankees don’t have an immediate heir-apparent who is knocking down the door to the big leagues. Anthony Volpe has broken out with an enormous season in the minors, but he’s still just 20 years old and has yet to reach Double-A. He could be an option by 2023 or 2024, assuming good health and continued production.

Urshela has limited experience at shortstop and is regarded as a solid defender at third base, but he’s not likely to step up as a long-term option there. He’ll turn 30 next month, making him older than a number of the free-agent shortstops set to hit the market this winter, and his offense has taken a step back in 2021 as well.

Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story and Javier Baez are all slated to reach free agency this winter, and it’s certainly feasible that some names will pop up on the trade market as well. The Yankees have about $130MM committed to next year’s payroll, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, and an absolutely enormous arbitration class — headlined by Aaron Judge. Each of Gary Sanchez, Jameson Taillon, Joey Gallo, Chad Green, Urshela, Jordan Montgomery, Wandy Peralta, Luke Voit, Torres, Clint Frazier, Domingo German, Miguel Andujar, Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loaisiga, Lucas Luetge and Wade will be arb-eligible as well.

There will be some non-tenders and trades of players in that group, inevitably, which will lower the cost of that sizable class. The Yankees also managed to duck under the luxury tax in 2021, so they won’t be facing any penalties in 2022 — although with the CBA expiring, we can’t know precisely what the next iteration of the competitive balance tax will even look like. Regardless, it’s hard to envision a scenario where they slide Torres back to shortstop in 2022. It seems quite likely the Yankees will factor prominently into the offseason shortstop market, exploring high-end free agent options, short-term stopgaps for Volpe and creative alternatives on the trade market.

For the time being, the Yanks will hope that the new defensive alignment helps to turn the tides after a dismal 2-8 showing in their past 10 games. They’re currently one game back of the Red Sox and the scorching-hot Blue Jays, who are in a tie in the Wild Card standings. Both the Mariners and the A’s are just two games behind the Yankees.

AL East Notes: Archer, Cruz, Urshela, Blue Jays

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Chris Archer’s long-awaited return from the IL didn’t go as planned. The righty returned to the hill today after spending more than four months on the shelf, but then left the game after throwing 41 pitches over two innings due to hip tightness. Although Archer initially went on the IL in April because of forearm tightness, his rehab was slowed by hip soreness in recent weeks. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays word from Rays’ manager Kevin Cash, who says that today’s hip soreness was not in the same spot as the previous hip issues. Archer himself told Joey Johnston of the Tampa Bay Times that coming out of the game was precautionary. “I noticed a little drop in my fastball [velocity], and I felt the tightness in my hip,” Archer said. “…I thought it was smart to take a little breather, leave it at two innings.” The hurler has now thrown just 6 1/3 innings since the end of the 2019 season, after missing all of 2020 because of undergoing surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. Whether this is a minor setback or something more serious remains to be seen. In spite of his early exit, the Rays racked up a 9-0 victory over the White Sox, moving to 4 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees.

More from the AL East…

  • Nelson Cruz was placed on the COVID IL earlier today, but it seems that was mostly precautionary. Per Topkin, Cruz just didn’t feel well this morning. Assuming he doesn’t test positive, Cruz should return to the squad as soon as he feels better. (The COVID IL has no minimum stay.) The 41-year-old was in the midst of yet another excellent season at the plate when he was traded from Minnesota to Tampa, though he’s slumped a bit since then. His .198/.257/.448 line since joining the Rays is a far cry from the numbers he put up before the move, though in a small sample size of just 24 games.
  • Yankees’ infielder Gio Urshela is beginning a rehab assignment tonight, per a team announcement. The 29-year-old has been on the IL for about three weeks due to a hamstring strain. It’s been a frustrating few weeks for Urshela, having only played six games since mid-July because of this hamstring issue as well as the Yankees’ lengthy COVID situation. Despite all that, Urshela still has a nice line of .274/.315/.439 on the year, producing a wRC+ of 106. That’s a drop-off from his excellent 2019-2020 production, but still above league average and would be an upgrade to the Yankees’ current lineup. With Gleyber Torres also on the IL, the Yanks have largely been using Rougned Odor and Andrew Velazquez on the left side of the diamond, neither of whom have matched Urshela’s production on the year. Since joining the Yankees, Odor’s slash line is .216/.297/.404, wRC+ of 92, whereas Velazquez is at .242/.265/.424, wRC+ of 84.
  • Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi provides updates on some injured Blue Jays. (Twitter links) Catcher Danny Jansen is close to starting a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a hamstring strain. Ross Stripling has started throwing after being shut down due to an oblique injury. But of course, the most notable wounded Blue Jay is George Springer, who recently landed on the IL with a knee sprain. The star outfielder has only been able to play 49 games this year due to various injuries, but has been outstanding when healthy. His .269/.362/.610 slash line is 58% better than league average, per wRC+. Amongst MLB players with more than 200 plate appearances this year, only four of them are above Springer in that regard. In other words, his health is tremendously important to a team that is 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. But as Davidi says, despite doing some hitting, Springer still has to run the bases before being considered for game action.

Yankees Place Gleyber Torres On Injured List

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5:12 pm: The Yankees were relieved by the MRI results on Torres, according to Boone, who estimates the shortstop could be back within 10-20 days (via Marly Rivera of ESPN). Urshela, though, suffered some form of setback that’ll push back his expected return date for at least a few days (relays Lindsey Adler of the Athletic).

3:15 pm: The Yankees announced they’re placing shortstop Gleyber Torres on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain. Utilityman Andrew Velazquez has been selected to the roster in a corresponding move.

Torres suffered the injury diving into the second base bag during the fourth inning of yesterday’s game against the Mariners. He stayed in for a few frames before being removed for a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth. Torres was sent for an MRI after the game, with manager Aaron Boone acknowledging the team had some concern it was a noteworthy issue. There’s no indication at this point that Torres will have to miss anything beyond the ten day minimum, but the injury is apparently severe enough for the organization to shut him down for the next week-plus.

It comes at an unfortunate time for Torres, who had heated up at the plate over the past couple weeks after a subpar first half. Altogether, the 24-year-old has a .253/.328/.351 mark with six home runs across 407 plate appearances this season. Torres’ power production has largely evaporated over the past couple years, but he’d shown signs of life coming out of the All-Star Break. Torres has popped three home runs and hit .300/.337/.500 over his past 90 plate appearances.

With Torres landing on the IL, the Yankees rather incredibly have twenty players on the injured list at the moment. A few of those players figure to return in the coming days after testing positive for COVID-19, but New York will have to make due for now without lineup regulars such as Torres, Gio Urshela, Gary Sánchez and Anthony Rizzo — as well as key starters Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. It’s particularly poor fortune for a Yankee club 2.5 games back of the Red Sox for the American League’s final playoff spot.

Torres, Urshela and Tyler Wade are the only players to see action at shortstop for the Yankees this season. It now seems Wade and the switch-hitting Velazquez could cover the position. Velazquez, signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, has a .156/.257/.219 line in 113 big league plate appearances between 2018-20. He’s had a very strong season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, though, slashing .283/.367/.471 while logging significant action at each of shortstop, second and third base.

Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery Test Positive For COVID-19

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AUGUST 3: Montgomery has also tested positive for the virus, general manager Brian Cashman said on WFAN Sports Radio (h/t to Erik Boland of Newsday). That’ll leave the Yankees quite shorthanded on the starting staff over the next week and a half.

AUGUST 2: Yankees ace Gerrit Cole had been scheduled to start tomorrow’s game against the Orioles but won’t take the mound after testing positive for Covid-19, manager Aaron Boone announced to reporters this evening (Twitter link via Tyler Kepner of the New York Times). Boone also revealed that third baseman Gio Urshela is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain.

Cole will presumably be placed on the Covid-19 injured list and, as a player who tested positive, be subject to a quarantine period of at least 10 days, as is stipulated in Major League Baseball’s health and safety protocols for the 2021 season. Boone added that “as of now,” Cole is the only new positive on the Yankees’ roster. Nestor Cortes Jr. is “likely” to get the start in Cole’s place, although the team has yet to make any firm determinations on how they’ll proceed with the rotation.

With Cole subtracted from the rotation mix for the foreseeable future, the Yankees will likely rely on a combination of Jameson Taillon, Jordan Montgomery, newly acquired Andrew Heaney and the aforementioned Cortes to start games. Domingo German recently went on the injured list due to some shoulder inflammation, and Michael King was recently moved to the 60-day IL because of a finger injury.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are still waiting on the likes of Corey Kluber, Luis Severino and Clarke Schmidt to mend from their own injuries. Severino was cleared last week to head out on a minor league rehab assignment, and Schmidt has already made one minor league rehab start. Both figure to need a couple weeks worth of rehab stints before they’re options, however.

As for Urshela, his absence will also prove costly. He’s enjoying another solid all-around year in the Bronx, batting .274/.315/.439 with 11 home runs in 330 plate appearances and his typical brand of plus defense at the hot corner. Tyler Wade and the versatile DJ LeMahieu can step in at the hot corner for now, and depending on the length of Urshela’s absence and the yet-unclear timeline of the also-injured Miguel Andujar, the it’s possible Andujar could eventually surface as another option. He’s been out since July 10 thanks to a sprained wrist, however, and it’s not yet clear just when he’ll head out on a rehab assignment.

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