Latest On Cubs’ Bullpen Plans
Though Spring Training is underway, this offseason business is ongoing. The Cubs just reached an agreement to bring back Cody Bellinger over the weekend, a three-year, $80MM pact with a couple of opt-outs.
Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic took a look at what could be next for the Cubs and suggested they may be done making notable additions, including in the bullpen. The club had been connected to right-hander Ryne Stanek last month and Sharma reports that the interest was mutual. However, Stanek’s asking price didn’t drop to the point that the Cubs felt it was worth it to bring him aboard and sacrifice some roster flexibility.
The club’s current bullpen projection doesn’t feature a lot of optionable guys. Adbert Alzolay still has one option but he emerged as the club’s closer last year and will certainly be up with the big league club. Then there’s Héctor Neris, Mark Leiter Jr., Julian Merryweather, Drew Smyly and Yency Almonte, all of whom are either out of options or can’t be optioned by virtue of having more than five years of big league service time.
As Sharma points out, clubs generally like to have a couple of optionable guys in the bullpen so that fresh arms can be summoned during the season when the staff is taxed. The Cubs already have five spots taken by guys who can’t be sent down and Alzolay makes six. Stanek is a veteran with over six years of service time, meaning he wouldn’t be able to be optioned either. If they were to add him into the mix, they would have seven of their eight bullpen slots locked up.
Stanek, 32, is coming off a decent three-year run with the Astros. He made 186 appearances over that time with a 2.90 ERA and strong 27% strikeout rate, though a high walk rate of 12.2%. He got that walk rate down to 9.9% last year but his strikeout rate also fell to 23.9%. He’s arguably the best reliever still on the open market but it seems no club has been willing to meet his asking price, including the Cubs. He’s also received interest from the Mets and Red Sox this offseason.
What also might be an issue for the Cubs is the competitive balance tax. Roster Resource lists their CBT number just over $234MM, meaning they are less than $3MM from the base threshold of $237MM. Sharma reports that “there is an understanding that they’re essentially over it” due to inevitable moves that will come over the course of the season. A club’s CBT status isn’t calculated until the end of the season, so the Cubs could always change the calculus throughout the year if they want to. But perhaps they would rather stay where they are so that they have some wiggle room to assess things as the season progresses.
The Top Unsigned Right-Handed Relievers
Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in about two weeks but a slow offseason means there are still plenty of free agents out there. Over the past week, MLBTR has already taken a look at the remaining catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, center fielders, corner outfielders, designated hitters, starting pitchers and left-handed relievers. We’ll now wrap things up with a look at the right-handed relievers.
- Phil Maton: Acquired from Cleveland in the 2021 Myles Straw trade, Maton has quietly been very effective over the past two years. Since the start of 2022, he has made 135 appearances for the Astros with a 3.42 earned run average. His 26.5% strikeout rate in that time is a few ticks above league average while his 8.8% walk rate is right around par. He’s been excellent at limiting hard contact, as seen on his Statcast page. His 23.5% hard hit rate last year was actually the best in the majors among qualified pitchers, while his average exit velocity was in the top five. In 2022, he was in the top 10 in both those categories as well. He missed the 2022 postseason due to injury but made six scoreless appearances for the Astros in last year’s playoffs. He has received reported interest this offseason from teams like the Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals.
- Ryne Stanek: Another former Astro, Stanek has made 186 appearances over the past three years with a 2.90 ERA. He has struck out 27% of batters faced but also given out walks at a 12.2% clip. That strikeout rate fell to 23.9% in 2023, but he also cut his walk rate to 9.9%, a career low for him. He has reportedly received interest from the Cubs, Red Sox and Mets this winter.
- Ryan Brasier: The 2023 season was inconsistent for Brasier, a reflection of his career overall. After a stint in Japan, he returned to North America with the Red Sox in 2018, posting a 1.60 ERA. From there, his season-by-season ERA went to 4.85, 3.96, 1.50, 5.78 and then 3.02 in the most recent campaign. That 2023 ERA involved a 7.29 mark with the Red Sox and then a tiny 0.70 figure with the Dodgers. When combining his time with both of those clubs last year, his peripherals ended up pretty close to his career numbers. He struck out 23.5% of batters faced and gave out walks to 8% of them last year, near his career rates of 24.1% and 7.4%. Since he finished the year on such a strong note, he has received a fair amount of interest this winter, with clubs like the Cardinals, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs, Orioles, Rangers and Yankees connected to him at various points.
- Jesse Chavez: Though he’s now 40 years old, Chavez doesn’t seem to be slowing down. He made 36 appearances for Atlanta last year with a 1.56 ERA. He surely had a bit of help from the baseball gods there, with a .273 batting average on balls in play and 81.2% strand rate, but the peripherals were still strong. He struck out 27.1% of batters faced, walked 8.3% and kept 51.7% of balls in play on the ground. His 3.05 FIP and 3.35 SIERA were much higher than his ERA but still represent solid work. He missed about three months of last season after being hit in the leg by a comebacker but was back on the mound before the end of the year.
- Liam Hendriks: If Hendriks were healthy right now, he would be on the top of this list. He cemented himself as one of the best closers in baseball a few years ago and racked up 115 saves over the past five seasons. He has a 2.32 ERA since the start of 2019, having struck out 38.3% of batters faced while walking just 5.1% of them. Unfortunately, 2023 was an incredibly challenging year for the right-hander, as he first had to undergo treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After winning that battle and returning to the mound, he required Tommy John surgery in early August. Since the rehab for that procedure generally goes beyond one year, it’s questionable whether he will be able to pitch at all in the upcoming campaign, though he has said he’s targeting a return around the trade deadline. He can likely find a two-year deal somewhere, with the signing club understanding that they will have a better shot of getting return on their investment in 2025.
Honorable mentions: Jay Jackson, Brad Boxberger, Shintaro Fujinami, Derek Law, Mark Melancon, Matt Barnes
Cubs, Red Sox Have Shown Reported Interest In Ryne Stanek
The Cubs and Red Sox are among the teams that have shown interest in reliever Ryne Stanek, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link). MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand also tied the right-hander to the Mets earlier this week.
Stanek, 32, profiles as a rebound candidate. He’s coming off a pedestrian season with the Astros. Over 50 2/3 innings, he turned in a 4.09 ERA with a league average 23.9% strikeout percentage. He issued walks at a slightly elevated 9.9% clip and surrendered 1.42 home runs per nine innings.
That platform showing paints Stanek as a fairly nondescript middle reliever. There’s more intrigue in both his pre-2023 performance and his velocity. He’d turned in a brilliant 1.15 ERA over 54 2/3 frames two seasons ago. While it’d have never been reasonable to expect him to maintain that kind of run prevention, Stanek’s overall production between 2018-22 was strong. Over that five-year span, he managed a 3.16 ERA while punching out more than 28% of opponents between the Rays, Marlins and Astros.
There’s reason to believe Stanek can recapture that form. The 6’4″ hurler remains one of the hardest throwers in the game. His fastball sat above 98 MPH last year, as it has for the bulk of his career. While that didn’t result in his customary strikeout tally, he still remained tough to hit on a pitch-for-pitch basis. Stanek induced a swinging strike on 14.7% of his offerings, placing him among the top 50 relievers in MLB (minimum 30 innings) in that regard.
Stanek’s age and mid-level results last season should limit him to a two-year deal at most. That’s part of the appeal for both Chicago and Boston. The Cubs haven’t been keen on significant bullpen investments in recent years. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Chicago hasn’t signed a single reliever to a multi-year contract since their three-year deal with Craig Kimbrel halfway through the 2019 season. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer recently spoke generally about the risk in investing heavily in the bullpen because of the volatility associated with many relievers.
Boston hasn’t been as averse to spending on the relief crops, although new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow comes over from the Cubs front office. The Sox are seemingly working with financial limitations at this point of the winter. A deal for Stanek shouldn’t be prohibitive for either team.
The Cubs arguably need to add to the relief corps more than the Sox do. Chicago’s bullpen is led by Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. While the group turned in roughly average results last season, it’s a potential weak point on an otherwise well-rounded roster. Boston has a pair of effective veterans at the back end in Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin, while John Schreiber joins Rule 5 pick Justin Slaten and a handful of starter/reliever hybrids as options for the middle innings. Jansen has been the subject of recent trade speculation (as has Martin to a lesser extent), but there’s no indication Boston is on the verge of a deal.
Mets Interested In Ryne Stanek, Héctor Neris
The Mets have interest in free agent right-hander Ryne Stanek, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. That would track with the club’s interest in making further bullpen moves, something that was confirmed by president of baseball operations David Stearns recently. Andy Martino of SNY relays that the club is willing to spend another $10MM or so this offseason, with perhaps more funds available at the deadline if they are contending. Martino adds that the club has spoken to the representatives for free agent righty Héctor Neris.
There has been a lot of turnover in the Mets’ bullpen relative to last year. David Robertson and Dominic Leone were traded at last year’s deadline, then Adam Ottavino opted out of his deal. Various other players were either non-tendered or outrighted.
Since then, the club has given one-year deals to Michael Tonkin, Jorge López and Austin Adams. That’s been in keeping with the club’s slate of short-term moves to bolster other parts of the roster. Sean Manaea got a two-year deal but with an opt-out after year one, while to Luis Severino Harrison Bader and Joey Wendle all inked one-year deals. The bullpen also got a new arm via trade when the Mets acquired Yohan Ramírez from the White Sox, and they’ve given minor league deals to journeymen like Cole Sulser, Yacksel Ríos and others.
It seems the club is still hoping to add another arm in there before Opening Day. Stanek, 32, has had a solid run for the Astros over the past three years. He’s made 186 appearances in that time with a 2.90 earned run average. He has struck out 27% of batters faced but also given out walks a a 12.2% clip. That strikeout rate fell to 23.9% in 2023, but he also cut his walk rate to 9.9%, a career low for him.
Neris, 35 in June, spent the past two years with Houston, with a 2.69 ERA over his 141 appearances. He paired a 29.1% strikeout rate with a 9% walk rate. His ERA dropped from 3.72 in 2022 to 1.71 last year, but that seems to have involved quite a bit of good fortune. His strikeout and walk rates actually worsened compared to the year prior, but his batting average on balls in play dropped by more than 70 points while his strand rate spiked from 63.4% to 90.5%. Neris’ 3.83 FIP and 3.89 SIERA in 2023 were each more than a full run higher than they were in 2022.
Either pitcher could be a sensible option for the Mets. Astros general manager Dana Brown recently said that they have interest in bringing those pitchers back, though that was before they signed Josh Hader and launched themselves over the competitive balance tax threshold. Neris has also reportedly received interest from the Rangers, Yankees and Cardinals.
Despite heading into 2024 with a sort of retool in mind, the Mets have a CBT number of $318MM, per Roster Resource. That’s well over the fourth and final tier of the CBT, which is $297MM this year. As a third-time payor in that stratosphere, the Mets are subject to a 110% tax rate on any further spending, though it seems that won’t be an obstacle to them adding to their bullpen in the coming weeks.
Brown: Graveman Injury Does Not Intensify Astros’ Bullpen Pursuit
The Astros were already facing the loss of relievers Hector Neris, Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek via free agency, and they’ll now also be without righty Kendall Graveman for the 2024 season after he underwent shoulder surgery. The team announced Graveman’s operation earlier today, declining to delve into specifics, but subtracting him from the ‘pen equation leaves Ryan Pressly, Bryan Abreu and rebound hopeful Rafael Montero as the only Houston relievers with even three years of MLB service. The vast majority of Houston’s bullpen options have under one year of MLB service time.
“We’ve been focused on the (bullpen) anyway, this doesn’t intensify it,” general manager Dana Brown tells Chandler Rome of The Athletic. “We just may have to get one more body or one of our guys internally will step up.” Brown made similar comments to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, telling him that the Astros have some in-house relief options “that we really feel good about,” though the GM also conceded that he’s still in the market to bring in an additional bullpen arm from outside the organization.
The free agent market for relievers has dried up over the past couple months. As MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows, there have been 34 relief pitchers signed to Major League contracts this winter. None have signed with Houston. Brown acknowledged to Rome that he’d had talks with the representatives for all of Neris, Maton and Stanek but wouldn’t specify much beyond the fact that he’s “more in the ballpark” with one of Neris/Maton than the other. Rome reported last week that the Astros haven’t pursued Maton aggressively, and he doubled down on that in today’s report.
While many of the top relievers are already off the board, there are still plenty of experienced names from which to choose if Houston is intent on adding a free agent. The ‘Stros almost certainly aren’t going to spend at the necessary levels to add top-tier names like Josh Hader and Robert Stephenson, but more affordable options still on the market include Ryan Brasier, John Brebbia, Michael Fulmer, Mychal Givens, Adam Ottavino and Wandy Peralta — to name just a few.
“If we can go get one more [reliever] and use some of the candidates in-house, we feel like we’ll be good,” Brown replied when asked by McTaggart about adding another bullpen arm.
One of the primary questions for the ‘Stros will be one of finances. To this point, the only free agent they’ve signed to a big league deal this winter is backup catcher Victor Caratini. That signing placed Houston within $1MM of the $237MM luxury-tax threshold, per Roster Resource. Owner Jim Crane hasn’t publicly declared any mandate to remain shy of that barrier, but the Astros’ lack of activity this winter, coupled with trade rumblings regarding some of their more prominent but expensive players (e.g. Framber Valdez) have combined to fuel speculation about a desire to avoid paying the tax. Houston has crossed the tax threshold only once under Crane’s ownership.
Astros Place Ryne Stanek On Injured List, Outright Rylan Bannon
The Astros announced that reliever Ryne Stanek has landed on the 15-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain. Parker Mushinski is up from Triple-A Sugar Land to take his spot on the active roster. Additionally, infielder Rylan Bannon has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Sugar Land after being designated for assignment over the weekend.
Stanek was injured in the ninth inning of yesterday’s blowout win in Arlington. The right-hander covered first base on a Leody Taveras grounder to the right side (video provided by Talkin’ Baseball). Stanek hit the bag awkwardly while receiving the throw from José Abreu. He went down in pain and was eventually taken off the field on a cart.
Given that alarming scene, it’s arguably a relief to hear the preliminary diagnosis as a strain. The veteran hurler isn’t finished going through tests, though. Chandler Rome of the Athletic tweets that Stanek is en route back to Houston for further imaging. Those results will obviously determine the recovery timetable.
Stanek has worked to a 4.07 ERA over 48 2/3 innings this year. He’s striking out a roughly average 23.8% of opposing hitters against a lofty 10.2% walk percentage. That’s below the level he showed over his first two seasons in Houston. Stanek was rather quietly an integral part of excellent Astros’ bullpens in 2021-22, combining for a 2.41 ERA while punching out 28.2% of batters faced.
While this hasn’t been his best season, the hard-throwing hurler still seems likely to secure a spot on the Houston playoff roster if the team qualifies and he’s able to get back on the mound. He’s a couple months from his first trip to the open market.
Bannon, meanwhile, was DFA when Houston claimed Bennett Sousa off waivers. The 27-year-old infielder has only played in two big league games for the Astros after being claimed over the offseason. He has spent the bulk of the season with Sugar Land, putting together a .230/.346/.433 line with 15 home runs over 350 plate appearances in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting.
It’s the first career outright for Bannon, who had been claimed off waivers the first four times he landed on the wire. With less than three years of major league service, he doesn’t have the right to decline the assignment. He’ll remain in Triple-A for the remainder of the season but would qualify for minor league free agency at the beginning of the offseason unless the Astros add him back to the 40-man roster.
Ari Alexander of KPRC2 first reported Mushinski’s recall and Stanek’s ankle sprain.
Astros To Sign Ryne Stanek
The Astros are signing free-agent reliever Ryne Stanek, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. It’s a one-year deal, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Stanek will earn $1.1MM, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The right-hander is a client of MVP Sports Group.
The 29th overall pick of the Rays in 2013, Stanek made his major league debut four years later and gave the club especially good production from 2018-19. He was one of the Rays’ go-to opener options then, starting 56 games in 100 appearances, and managed a 3.17 ERA with a 28.9 percent strikeout rate and a 9.6 percent walk rate in 122 innings. However, the Rays moved on from Stanek when they sent him to the Marlins in a 2019 trade deadline deal that delivered stud reliever Nick Anderson to Tampa Bay.
Unfortunately for Miami, Stanek wasn’t able to maintain his effectiveness in its uniform. The 29-year-old had a rough season in 2020, when he threw 10 innings of 7.20 ERA ball with almost as many unintentional walks (eight) as strikeouts (11) and saw his average fastball dip from the 98 mph range to 96. The Marlins then non-tendered Stanek in lieu of paying him a projected $800K in arbitration.
The Astros could control Stanek through 2023 via arbitration, so this might be more than a one-year union between the two. And Astros general manager James Click, who was part of the Rays’ front office when they drafted Stanek and saw him flourish a few years later, is quite familiar with the hurler.
Stanek will now join a Houston bullpen that ranked a middle-of-the-pack 15th in ERA a season ago. The Astros have since lost relievers Roberto Osuna, Brad Peacock and Chris Devenski to free agency, and while none played big roles in 2020, the team has been looking to address its relief corps to a notable degree this winter. In fact, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweeted Thursday that the Astros want more than one reliever and have interest in free agents Brad Hand and Trevor Rosenthal (along with the previously reported Liam Hendriks and Alex Colome). With that in mind, they probably aren’t done after the Stanek acquisition.
AL Notes: Gallo, Rays, Angels
Rangers slugger Joey Gallo has been “available” since last summer’s trade deadline, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes. It’s unknown what it would cost to pry Gallo out of Texas, though Rosenthal notes that he’s popular among teams that value some combination of home runs, walks, athleticism and tools. The 27-year-old Gallo had a terrible year at the plate during the shortened 2020 season, in which he hit .181/.301/.378 with 10 home runs in 226 plate appearances, but he did earn a Gold Glove for his work in right field. Gallo’s also not far removed from a premier showing at the plate in 2019, and he comes with two affordable years of team control.
Now the latest on two other American League teams…
- The Rays are among the teams with interest in free-agent right-hander Ryne Stanek, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. Stanek began his career with the Rays, who chose him 29th overall in the 2013 draft, and had his best seasons with the club. He was a regular opener with the Rays from 2018-19, during which he pitched to a 3.17 ERA/3.64 FIP and averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine across 122 innings, but has fallen off of late. Stanek had difficulty in Miami, which acquired him from the Rays before the 2019 trade deadline, and the Marlins non-tendered him as a result. However, the 29-year-old hasn’t had trouble garnering interest from other teams this winter.
- Rays righty Brent Honeywell was given a fourth option because of the substantial amount of time he has missed on account of injuries, general manager Erik Neander told Topkin and other reporters. The 25-year-old Honeywell was once an elite pitching prospect, but he hasn’t thrown a professional inning since 2017 – which he divided between Double-A and Triple-A – because of health issues. Since then, Honeywell has undergone four elbow surgeries, most recently an arthroscopic procedure. The good news is that Honeywell seems as if he’ll return in 2021.
- The Angels have made a couple of additions to new general manager Perry Minasian’s front office. The team’s hiring Brewers vice president/assistant to the GM Ray Montgomery and Dodgers international crosschecker Brian Parker, per reports from Joel Sherman of the New York Post and Jim Callis of MLB.com. It’s unclear which roles the two will take on as part of the Angels’ staff.
- More on the Angels, who are unsurprisingly looking for help in their rotation. Manager Joe Maddon told MLB Network Radio on Friday that “we do need to attract probably two starting pitchers to come to us.” Maddon expects there to be an increase in six-man rotations throughout the league next year; if the Angels go that route – which is something Maddon expects to do (via Maria Torres of the LA Times) – it could benefit Shohei Ohtani, who’s returning from injury and who was part of a six-man staff in Japan before immigrating to the majors prior to the 2018 campaign. Ohtani, Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney and Griffin Canning should amass plenty of starts for the Angels in 2021, though the rest of their rotation doesn’t appear etched in stone.
Free Agent Notes: Realmuto, Cruz, Kim, Pillar, Avila, Stanek
The Nationals and the representative for free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto “have had early discussions,” Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic writes. Despite that, Ghiroli casts doubt on the Nationals signing Realmuto because of general manager Mike Rizzo’s suggestion earlier this week that the club doesn’t have the catcher position atop its list of priorities. Rizzo indicated first base and the outfield are bigger needs for the Nationals, who have Yan Gomes coming off a bounce-back season (over just 30 games) as their starting backstop. Even if the Nats want to count on Gomes as their starter in 2021, they could at least re-sign Kurt Suzuki or add a backup to replace him. Tres Barrera, who has totaled two plate appearances in the majors, is the only catcher on their 40-man roster after Gomes.
Here’s more from the open market:
- The Twins have not re-signed designated hitter Nelson Cruz yet, but president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told MLB Network Radio that the two sides are still “in contact.” Falvey went on to call Cruz “a special member of the Twins,” which was certainly true from 2019-20. The ageless Cruz, who will soon turn 41 next July, had arguably the two best seasons of his career in Minnesota. He slashed .308/.394/.626 during that time and ranked second in the majors in wRC+ (163) and fifth in home runs (57).
- The Blue Jays and free-agent infielder Ha-Seong Kim “have been in touch,” Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. The 25-year-old Kim hasn’t played in the majors yet, but he starred with the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization from 2014-20 and currently ranks as one of the top free agents on the market. It’s unclear where he would play in Toronto because the club has Bo Bichette occupying short, but Kim may be a fit at either second or third base.
- The Rockies have “had discussions” about a reunion with outfielder Kevin Pillar, according to manager Bud Black (via Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post). Black isn’t sure how far those talks have gone, though. The 31-year-old Pillar, whom the Rockies acquired from the Red Sox over the summer, posted a career-high .288/.338/.462 line with six home runs and five stolen bases in 223 plate appearances last season.
- Tigers general manager Al Avila told MLB Network that his son, catcher Alex Avila, is on their list of potential free-agent pickups, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets. However, Al Avila added that the Tigers aren’t prioritizing the catcher position at the moment. There is room for improvement at the spot, though, as the backstops on their 40-man roster – Grayson Greiner, Eric Haase and Jake Rogers – have all failed to record passable offensive numbers during their careers. That isn’t the case for the 33-year-old Alex Avila, owner of a .235/.348/.394 line in 3,527 plate appearances. He played with the Tigers from 2009-15 before moving on to a few other teams, most recently Minnesota.
- The Dodgers are the latest team to show interest in reliever Ryne Stanek, who’s on the world champions’ radar, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times relays. Stanek had a woeful 2020 with the Marlins, but he’s a known entity to Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. As the Rays’ GM in 2013, Friedman used the 29th overall pick on Stanek.
Yankees Notes: LeMahieu, Payroll, Tauchman, Stanek
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman once again indicated Wednesday that re-signing free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu is the team’s No. 1 offseason priority, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News relays. The Yankees are “certainly not dipping our toes in various waters until we get a feel for how declares himself,” Cashman said of LeMahieu. The club is at least keeping an eye on the free-agent and trade markets as it waits for an answer from LeMahieu, but Cashman seems fairly optimistic New York will be able to retain the 2020 AL batting champion and MVP finalist. “The atmosphere is good, the fact that he wants to stay and we’d like to keep him,” Cashman said. “But that doesn’t guarantee anything because in free agency, you know, anything can happen. So, you know, we’ll see what happens over the course of time but our intent is to try to find a way to make it happen.”
- Also from Ackert’s piece, Cashman stated he’s “confident” the Yankees will again boast the majors’ top payroll in 2021. There has been speculation that the Yankees will try to get under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold, which would mean a significant cut compared to last year’s budget, though Cashman declined to go into detail on how much the team will spend.
- The Yankees have gotten “a lot of calls” from teams on outfielder Mike Tauchman, according to Cashman (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). It seems unlikely the Yankees will part with Tauchman, though, especially with Brett Gardner currently in free agency. Tauchman’s under affordable control through 2024 and could be an important reserve for the Yankees next season, considering he’s capable of playing all three outfield positions. Of course, it’s worth noting that Tauchman’s offensive production plummeted last season after a terrific showing in 2019. The 30-year-old hit just .242/.342/.305 and went without a home run in 111 plate appearances.
- The team has shown interest in free-agent reliever Ryne Stanek, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. The Yankees are familiar with Stanek from his time as a member of the division-rival Rays, with whom he pitched from 2017-19. The hard-throwing Stanek held his own in a couple of those years, but he fell apart after the Rays sent him to the Marlins at the 2019 trade deadline. Stanek put up such poor production last season that the Marlins non-tendered him earlier this month.