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Miguel Andujar

Yankees Activate DJ LeMahieu From Injured List

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The Yankees have activated DJ LeMahieu from the 10-day injured list, the team announced.  Miguel Andujar has been optioned back to the club’s alternate training site in a corresponding move.

LeMahieu hit the IL due to a sprained left thumb back on August 16, and while his IL stint didn’t last much beyond the 10-day minimum, the absence was surely noted by a Yankees team that is in the midst of a seven-game losing streak.  With Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gleyber Torres still injured, the return of LeMahieu’s bat will be very welcome in the Bronx.  LeMahieu was hitting .411/.456/.534 over 79 PA prior to his injury.

Andujar’s latest call-up resulted in a 2-for-10 showing over 10 plate appearances in four games.  The young slugger has only a .285 OPS in 32 Major League PA this season, though his attempts to get on track haven’t been helped by either the lack of consistent playing time available in the Yankee lineup.

Yankees Activate Aaron Judge, Place Luis Avilan On 10-Day IL, Recall Andujar/Kriske

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Slugger Aaron Judge will make his return to the Yankees tonight, as the club announced that Judge has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.  Lefty Luis Avilan, however, has been placed on the 10-day IL (retroactive to August 22) due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Miguel Andujar and righty Brooks Kriske have been called up from the Yankees’ alternate training site.

Judge returns after a minimum 10-day absence due to a mild calf strain — one so seemingly minor, in fact, that Judge said he’d been lobbying the team to not place him on the IL whatsoever.  Still, the Yankees showed some caution with the star right fielder, and he’ll now add his considerable pop to a lineup that is still missing Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres.  Judge has been nothing less than spectacular over his 68 plate appearances this season, hitting .290/.343/.758 with nine home runs.

While Judge is returning, Avilan becomes the latest Yankee to hit the IL.  The southpaw has a 4.32 ERA, 9.7 K/9, and 1.80 K/BB rate over 8 1/3 relief innings this season, his first in the pinstripes after inking a minor league deal with New York last winter.  It stands to reason that Avilan’s shoulder issue might have been the reason for his struggles in his most recent outing, as he allowed three hits and two earned runs over just one-third of an inning against the Rays last Thursday.

This will be the third separate time that Andujar has been up with the Yankees this season, and he has only a .232 OPS over 22 plate appearances.  It will be interesting to see how Andujar will be deployed during this stint on the active roster, as while he has been learning first base and the outfield, he could conceivably return to his old position at third base.  That would allow the Yankees some flexibility in potentially moving Gio Urshela to the middle infield with Torres and LeMahieu out, as manager Aaron Boone has indicated that he would be open to using Urshela away from third base on a limited basis.

Kriske is back up with the Yankees for the second time this season.  The 26-year-old made his Major League debut this year, and has a 6.75 ERA over his first 1 1/3 innings in the Show.

Quick Hits: Pence, Acuna, Anderson, Yankees, Andujar, Kazmir

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After being designated for assignment by the Giants earlier today, Hunter Pence’s second stint with the club has likely come to an end, and the longtime fan favorite wasn’t shocked by the news after hitting only .096/.161/.250 through 56 plate appearances.  “I think I’ve been in the game long enough to know that no matter what, what I was producing on the field, you’ve got to bring a little bit more to the table than that.  I completely understood,” Pence told Henry Schulman and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Pence said he would “stay open” to the possibility of continuing to play should an opportunity arise, though he acknowledged that retirement might be on the horizon, describing the last “couple of years” as “the bonus rounds” of an outstanding career.  If this is indeed it for Pence, he’ll hang up his glove after 14 years of Major League ball that included four All-Star appearances, a league-wide reputation as a clubhouse leader, and a place in the hearts of all San Francisco fans for his contributions to two World Series championships.

More from around the game…

  • Tuesday could be a big day for the Braves, as their game with the Yankees could mark both the return of Ronald Acuna Jr. from the injured list and the big league debut of pitching prospect Ian Anderson.  MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to report the news that Acuna took batting practice on the field tonight, a day after being cleared to take swings.  A wrist injury has sidelined Acuna since August 10, though assuming he is pain-free and feels ready to go come Tuesday, one would imagine the Braves would be eager to get the superstar oufielder back into the lineup as soon as possible.
  • As for Anderson’s status, manager Brian Snitker gave a hint to Bowman and other reporters in saying that Tuesday’s starter wouldn’t be impacted by pitching usage in Atlanta’s game tonight against Philadelphia.  Pundits rank Anderson within at least the top 45 prospects in all of baseball, with The Athletic’s Keith Law citing Anderson’s “real No. 2 starter upside” as one of the reasons for a 27th place ranking on Law’s preseason prospects list.  An early display of this potential would be a huge boost to a Braves team that has been short on consistent starting pitching year apart from Max Fried.
  • While Yankees fans consistently speculate that the team could or should trade one of their younger players for a more proven talent, George A. King III of the New York Post pours some cold water on the idea of Miguel Andujar, in particular, being dealt.  An injury-plagued 2019 season and a slow start in 2020 has seen Andujar produce only an .118/.141/.118 slash line over his last 71 MLB plate appearances, and King feels the Yankees aren’t going to move such a promising slugger when his trade value is so low.  It remains to be seen where Andujar will fit into New York’s future plans given the emergence of Gio Urshela as the everyday third baseman, but that isn’t a decision the team has to make any time soon.
  • Could a return to the majors be in the cards for Scott Kazmir?  The left-hander is scheduled to pitch Tuesday for the Sugar Land Skeeters, and ESPN’s Buster Olney writes that this outing “will probably be his last start” for the independent club.  Kazmir hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2016 or in affiliated ball since 2017, though the 12-year MLB veteran was known to be planning another comeback attempt.  It isn’t known how many Major League teams have gotten a first-hand look at Kazmir given how the pandemic has altered normal scouting procedures, but Kazmir would be something of a low-risk flier to see what he could potentially contribute (probably as a reliever) at age 36.

Yankees Place Zack Britton On Injured List, Option Miguel Andujar

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The Yankees have placed lefty Zack Britton on the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring and optioned infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar to their alternate training site, per a club announcement. Right-handers Ben Heller and Miguel Yajure are up from the alternate site in a pair of corresponding moves.

Britton, 32, appeared to sustain the injury while covering first base last night. He had an MRI earlier this morning that confirmed the strain prior to the team’s announcement. Presumably, manager Aaron Boone will have more information on the severity of the strain and the expected recovery timeline when he next addresses reporters.

It’s a tough loss for a Yankees club that hoped to have its bullpen back to full strength after welcoming Aroldis Chapman back from the IL. Britton pitched quite well as the interim closer for the Yanks, yielding just two runs on six hits and four walks with nine strikeouts through nine innings. He’s picked up eight saves in 2020, and while his ground-ball rate is “down” to 60 percent this year, that still rates well above the league average.

This marks the second time in 2020 that Andujar, 25, has been optioned to the minors. The 2018 Rookie of the Year runner-up went 1-for-7 with a single and a walk in his latest brief stint at the big league level. Shoulder surgery wiped out what would’ve been Andujar’s second full season in the big leagues, and the club has struggled to find opportunities for him now that he’s healthy. The Yanks have gotten Andujar some reps in the outfield, but their lineup is crowded with quality options that have relegated him to more of a depth option at the moment (even with a few key position players injured).

The Yankees currently have Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list. In their absence, Mike Tauchman is seemingly in line for regular outfield work, hot-hitting Clint Frazier logging action at DH and Tyler Wade shouldering the workload at second base. Andujar will need to be down for at least 10 days unless he’s recalled as the corresponding move for placing another player on the injured list.

Yankees Place DJ LeMahieu On 10-Day IL

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AUG. 17: The Yankees expect LeMahieu to miss two to three weeks, manager Aaron Boone told Hoch and other reporters.

AUG. 16, 3:05pm: LeMahieu will receive a second opinion on his hand tomorrow, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, who adds that LeMahieu will visit the same specialist who treated him for a similar injury in 2018. As of now, there’s no timetable for LeMahieu’s return, though the Yankees are confident that the sprain will not require surgery.

11:34am: The Yankees announced they’ve placed DJ LeMahieu on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain. Miguel Andújar has been recalled from the alternate training site to replace him on the active roster.

LeMahieu was removed from last night’s game against the Red Sox. While x-rays came back negative, manager Aaron Boone acknowledged then an IL stint was a possibility. That’s evidently come to pass. LeMahieu has been a big part of the Yankees’ AL East leading 14-6 start. He’s hitting .411/.456/.534 (177 wRC+) over 79 plate appearances, more than doubling down on his breakout 2019 season, in which he hit .327/.375/.518 en route to a 4th-place finish in AL MVP balloting.

The Yankees didn’t announce a timetable for his potential return, but the hope is today’s move is merely out of an abundance of caution. After all, New York sits in prime postseason position already and surely wants LeMahieu at full strength for the stretch run. An impending free agent, the 32-year-old no doubt is targeting a healthy, productive finish to the season himself.

Andújar was seemingly a victim of a roster crunch when he was optioned ten days ago. The 25-year-old was highly productive as a rookie (at least offensively) in 2018, but he’s since been passed at the hot corner through little fault of his own by Gio Urshela. It’s seemingly still questionable whether he’ll find everyday run, given that he won’t be seen as an option to replace LeMahieu at the keystone. That role figures to be handled by Tyler Wade and/or Thairo Estrada.

Yankees Option Miguel Andujar

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The Yankees have optioned infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar to their alternate training site, per a club announcement. Fellow infielder Thairo Estrada and righty Nick Nelson were sent down with him.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Andujar dropped, but he had struggled in limited opportunities thus far. The 25-year-old has reached base just one time in 14 plate appearances.

Andujar turned in a high-powered rookie season in 2018, but was knocked out early last year due to a shoulder injury. He entered the current campaign at full health, but was bypassed in the meantime by Gio Urshela, who has thus far maintained a shocking 2019 breakout.

The depth on hand left the Yanks looking for ways to get Andujar into the lineup. But there aren’t many more opportunities in an outfield that is fully loaded with healthy, productive hitters at the moment. And Andujar isn’t exactly a natural out in left field.

Just about any other club would’ve had a much longer leash. But the Yanks have a bevy of alternatives. Perhaps it’s best for all involved if Andujar gets some more time re-polishing his swing in camp.

It’s certainly fair to wonder what the future holds for Andujar in New York. Given the limits on trades this year, he could be an interesting chip to dangle. If he’s not able to re-take an active roster spot, he’ll finish the season shy of three full years of MLB service, which would mean waiting an extra season for arbitration and eventual free agency.

Miguel Andujar Feeling “100 Percent” After Shoulder Rehab

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After a small tear in his right labrum limited Miguel Andujar to just 12 games last season, the Yankees slugger declared himself healthy and ready to hit the field whenever (or if) the 2020 season gets underway.  In an e-mail to George A. King III of the New York Post, Andujar said he is “very happy where I am at physically” as he approaches one full year since his last MLB game (last May 12).

“I feel great.  I am working out five days a week building strength, working with the trainers, exercising and doing my best to stay sharp,” Andujar wrote.  “It’s been almost a year since my injury and I feel 100 percent….For a while I was working out away from (Steinbrenner Field) with a trainer, hitting and staying sharp. I am back at the complex doing everything I can to prepare myself.”

Andujar was tentatively expected to be ready for Opening Day even if the season had started on time, and the 25-year-old admitted to being especially anxious to get back to action given that he missed virtually all of the 2019 campaign.  That lost season opened the door for Gio Urshela to unexpectedly emerge as a big offensive contributor at third base, leading to the Yankees’ desire to try Andujar out at first base and left field during Spring Training in order to figure out ways to keep his bat in the lineup.

For his part, Andujar is happy to learn these new positions.  “I am ready to play wherever the team needs me. I am ready to play, period,” he said.  “I’ve continued to prepare to play any position I am asked to play.  I look at it as having a number of doors open for me.  They are all opportunities for me to play and I am going to try to take advantage of everything that is presented to me.”

Given that Andujar has struggled defensively over 143 career games as a third baseman, there was speculation even before his injury that a move off the hot corner was inevitable.  His spring audition as a first baseman was a little shaky, and he was slated for much more corner outfield playing time in camp before the COVID-19 shutdown.

Delivering even passable glovework at any position would make Andujar all the more valuable, considering what Andujar has already shown at the plate.  Andujar quickly emerged as one of the game’s top young hitters in 2018, batting .297/.328/.527 with 27 homers over 606 plate appearances and finishing second to Shohei Ohtani in AL Rookie Of The Year voting.

Yankees Have Shown Interest In Steven Matz

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Following injuries to Luis Severino and James Paxton, the Yankees have reached out to the Mets to inquire on the availability of left-hander Steven Matz, per Ken Davidoff and Mike Puma of the New York Post. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that while there’s been contact between the two teams, however, a deal is quite unlikely.

The 28-year-old Matz has started 30 games in each of the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 4.09 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 1.49 HR/9 and a 48 percent ground-ball rate in 314 1/3 frames. The Mets control him through the 2021 season as an arbitration-eligible player.

A deal between the two sides coming together would indeed face numerous obstacles. The Yankees and Mets generally don’t trade with one another, and the Mets themselves have some question marks among their starting staff. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Rick Porcello are locks at this point, and there’s been talk of taking a less-conventional approach to the fifth spot, using both Matz and Michael Wacha in nontraditional capacities. After that, the 40-man roster contains Stephen Gonsalves, Walker Lockett, Corey Oswalt and Franklyn Kilome, while veteran righty Erasmo Ramirez is in camp on a non-roster deal. Wacha and Porcello are already in need of their own rebounds, and a trade of Matz followed by an injury elsewhere on the starting staff would leave the Mets with a good bit of uncertainty.

From a financial vantage point, Matz’s $5MM salary for the 2020 season would cost the Yankees more than it appears at first glance. After adding Gerrit Cole to the mix and giving out arbitration raises to the likes of Paxton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela, Tommy Kahnle and others, the Yankees find themselves more than $50MM north of the luxury barrier. Because they’re more than $40MM above that $208MM line and would be in luxury-tax territory for a second straight season, the Yankees would owe a 75 percent tax on any additional dollars added to the payroll. In effect, Matz would cost them $8.75MM. It’s not a backbreaking difference, but it’d certainly impact the manner in which the club determines Matz’s value and what he should cost in a theoretical trade.

Perhaps the biggest roadblock, though, is the simple fact that the Mets would covet MLB talent in return for Matz, according to the Post’s reporting. Puma and Davidoff suggest that Miguel Andujar would “likely” intrigue the Mets but that the Yankees wouldn’t be keen on such a swap.

Not long after Severino’s injury was announced, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman downplayed the possibility of making a move. “The winter marketplace this time of year, it doesn’t exist,” he said when asked about the possibility of going outside the organization for help. That’s not a declaration that he wouldn’t make any type of effort, but as the previously laid-out obstacles illustrate, making a deal this time of year (particularly in the case of these two teams) can be problematic.

The Yankees have surely asked about other starters — they’ve also scouted free agent Henderson Alvarez — but inquiring and acquiring are two very different things. There’s still a bit more than three weeks to try to pull something together before Opening Day, but it’s difficult to envision a Matz swap coming to fruition.

Camp Battles: Yankees’ First Base Situation

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The Yankees have gotten more from first baseman Luke Voit than they realistically could have expected when they acquired him from the Cardinals in July 2018. A 22nd-round pick of the Cardinals in 2013, Voit ultimately managed just 137 plate appearances with the team before it sent him to the Yankees in a swap that has worked out well for both sides. Voit has been quite productive as a member of the Yankees, with whom he has hit .280/.384/.517 in 658 trips to the plate, while reliever Giovanny Gallegos emerged as an integral piece of the Cardinals’ bullpen a year ago. However, despite the good numbers Voit has put up with the Bronx Bombers, he doesn’t necessarily have first base on lockdown heading into the new season. Rather, the team’s “open to other options” there, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes. Let’s take a look at who’s in the mix…

  • Luke Voit: The 29-year-old slashed a robust .263/.378/.464 with 21 home runs in 510 PA in 2019, his first full campaign as a Yankee, but his production dropped precipitously in the second half. Voit battled sports hernia issues throughout, though he insists those problems are behind him. “I had a bunch of MRIs during the season and I finally saw Dr. Myers, a specialist in Philadelphia, and he told me I tore everything down there,” Voit told Ackert. “I was just like, ‘Wow,’ I didn’t really know it was that bad. I tried to fight through it. I’m a competitor I want to play… the past is the past, but now I’m feeling good and ready to get things rolling.”
  • Mike Ford: Voit’s injury troubles last year helped pave the way for the lefty-hitting Ford’s major league debut, and he took full advantage. The 27-year-old batted .259/.350/.559 with prodigious power numbers (.301 ISO, 12 homers) over 163 plate appearances. And Ford didn’t sell out for more power by racking up a lot of strikeouts, as he fanned just 17.2 percent of the time (compared to a 10.4 percent walk rate). Moreover, his swinging-strike rate (8.1) checked in exactly 3 percent better than average, and he was actually far more effective versus same-handed pitchers than righties (albeit during a limited sample of work). The track record in the bigs is still small – even Ford recently said to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, “Anyone could be good for 160 at-bats” – but he also held his own in Triple-A, where he owns a .274/.364/.514 mark in almost 900 PA.
  • Miguel Andujar: An AL Rookie of the Year candidate back in 2018, Andujar fell on hard times last season because of shoulder woes that held him to a mere 12 games. Andujar was the Yankees’ starting third baseman in his first year, but Gio Urshela filled that role with aplomb when he was down last season and is in line to enter 2020 as their starter there. Andujar, 24, could therefore pick up time at first base and in the corner outfield if the Yankees want to keep his bat in the lineup.

Fortunately for the Yankees, they’re not at immediate risk of losing any of these players if they don’t earn MLB roster spots to begin the season. All three have two minor league options apiece remaining, so New York could send any of them to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre if it wants. But they’ve all shown well as big league hitters so far, and the Yankees do have the luxury of deploying a DH. So, regardless of position, Voit, Ford and Andujar could each make a notable impact in the majors this season.

MLBTR Poll: Yankees’ Third Base Situation

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A year ago at this time, Miguel Andujar was the clear-cut favorite to open the season at third base for the Yankees. Had it not been for an out-of-this-world two-way showing from the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani in 2018, Andujar would have entered the season fresh off AL Rookie of the Year honors. Andujar fell short to Ohtani, though, and then endured a year to forget in the second season of his career.

Shoulder problems limited Andujar to just 12 games in 2019, but the Yankees had no trouble carrying on without him, evidenced by their 103-59 record and their first AL East title since 2012. One reason the Yankees finally regained control of the division? Gio Urshela, who grabbed the reins at third base as a result of Andujar’s health woes and became one of the injury-riddled Yankees’ most valuable players. It was a shocking rise for Urshela, who had never been known for his offense in prior major league stints with the Indians (2015, 2017) and Blue Jays (2018).

Before last year, Urshela had not hit more than 15 home runs in a professional season, yet he managed to mash 21 in the majors in 2019. That career-high HR total helped Urshela to an outstanding .314/.355/.534 line with 3.1 fWAR and a personal-best hard-hit rate in 476 plate appearances.

Urshela’s track record of success isn’t long, but the World Series hopeful Yankees are believers. General manager Brian Cashman has made it known that Urshela’s the front-runner to open the upcoming campaign at the hot corner for New York. So, despite his impressive performance as a rookie, Andujar’s behind on the Yankees’ depth chart. They’re even giving the soon-to-be 25-year-old work at first base and in the outfield early this spring in an effort to keep his bat in the lineup, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

Andujar may be hard-pressed to struggle more at first or in the outfield than he has at third, where he accounted for minus-25 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-16 Ultimate Zone Rating in his first season. But make no mistake, Andujar can hit. In his first season in the majors, he piled up 606 trips to the plate and batted .297/.328/.527 with 76 extra-base hits (47 doubles, 27 homers, two triples).

Considering his offensive upside, Andujar may well return to his past role as the Yankees’ primary third baseman sometime this year. Urshela, 28, will have to relinquish the job first, though. Which of the two do you think will log more time at the hot corner for the Yankees in 2020?

(Poll link for app users)

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