Yankees sign infielder Matt Carpenter

The New York Yankees announced on Thursday that they have signed three-time All-Star infielder Matt Carpenter to a Major League contract and added him to the active roster.

Carpenter, 36, has batted .262 (1,153-for-4,403) with 752R, 301 doubles, 28 triples, 155HR, 576RBI, 699BB and 27SB in 1,329 games over parts of 11 Major League seasons, all with the St. Louis Cardinals (2011-21). The left-handed hitter has appeared defensively at third base (671G/623GS), first base (333G/254GS), second base (246G/229GS), right field (19G/11GS) and left field (7G/3GS) in his career.

Yankees Cut Prospect Accused of Stealing From Teammates, per Report

Yankees prospect Jake Sanford was cut from the organization last Thursday after it was revealed the former third round pick was allegedly stealing equipment from his teammates in order to sell it.

NJ.com reported that Sanford “repeatedly hounded” his teammates to give him their bats, gloves and other equipment. Sometimes, he just took it from their lockers without their consent.

On top of stealing from his teammates, Sanford also was accused of scamming fans online by selling autographed equipment but then never actually sending it….

Sanford was picked in the third round of the 2019 MLB draft out of Western Kentucky by New York, and he was given a $597,500 signing bonus. He played for three minor league teams in 2019 and ’21. He has since signed with the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League.

CC Sabathia is Jacked

After retirement, he started golfing and replaced much of his fat with muscle.

Astros owner Jim Crane on Yankees’ Brian Cashman: ‘What are you talking about?’

In the story, published Tuesday, Crane had a particularly fiery line for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who previously said that his 2017 team didn’t win the World Series because of the Astros doing “something that was so illegal and horrific.” Last month, the Yankees Letter revealed Cashman’s team also was illegally stealing signs – although not to the level of the Astros – during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

“I found his comments to be extremely strange,’’ Crane says in the USA Today story. “There’s the letter, and you were doing it, too. You were there, dude. What are you talking about?

“If I was one of the teams, and I knew our team was doing it, I’d keep my mouth shut and just go about our business. But listen, I can only control what’s going on here. I can’t control what the other guys do.’’

Crane also talked about the Astros and their fans taking the brunt of the abuse from fans of opposing teams.

“The thing that’s upsetting is the behavior in some stadiums where people are cussing and throwing things. You wear an Astros jersey at some of these places, and you can get into a fracas pretty quick,” Crane said. “That’s bad for baseball.’’

Aaron Judge hits game-winning three-run home run in ninth to end heated game between Yankees and Blu

It has been a brewing rivalry for a few years now, but Tuesday the Yankees and Blue Jays mixed in some bad blood before Aaron Judge crushed a three-run homer to walk off a 6-5 win over Toronto at the Stadium.

The Yankees (20-9) have won five of the eight games they have played against the Blue Jays (17-14) this season. It took Judge’s giant, second-tier blast to get them there, though….

The intensity went up a notch Tuesday night.

After Giancarlo Stanton tied the game in the sixth inning with a home run to right, Yimi Garcia hit Josh Donaldson on the arm with a 94-mph fastball. With Judge and other Yankees about to jump over the dugout fence, the umpires held a brief conference and without issuing a warning tossed Garcia. The right-hander had to be held back from crew chief Alfonso Marquez and when pitching coach Pete Walker got into the argument he was tossed too. That created a five-minute, on-field delay while the Blue Jays got another pitcher ready.

Chad Green gave up an RBI-double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from first base. He then gave up a sacrifice fly to Alejandro Kirk.

AARON JUDGE WALK-OFF 3-RUN HOMER!!

(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/ytsnPbIJaF

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 11, 2022

SNY Exclusive: The ‘Yankee Letter’ revealed

For more than two years, the New York Yankees fought the release of the so-called “Yankee Letter,” in which Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred detailed the results of a 2017 investigation into mutual sign stealing allegations between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

On Tuesday morning, SNY exclusively obtained the letter, which has not yet been unsealed.

Here are some takeaways:

The letter does not implicate the Yankees in a sign-stealing scheme similar to the one for which the Houston Astros were punished, when batters received the signs in real time without the help of a runner on second base.
It does reveal—as SNY has previously reported it would—that the Yanks used the video replay room in 2015 and 2016 to decode sign sequences and pass them to a runner on second base, who would then relay them to the batter.
For that, the Yankees received a fine of $100,000, a previously unreported amount.
The letter clears the Yankees of using YES Network cameras to steal signs, which the Red Sox alleged.
The letter does not accuse the Yankees of sign-stealing after the crucial date of Sept. 15, 2017, when Manfred announced that from that day forward electronic sign stealing would be subject to more severe punishments. In fact, the letter does not accuse the team of stealing signs at any point during the 2017 season.

Yankees fans throw garbage at Guardians outfielders after comeback win

Saturday afternoon was a nice moment for the Yankees. Not so much for Yankees fans.

Spectators in the right field bleachers showered the warning track with trash and empty beer cans thrown in the direction of Guardians right fielder Oscar Mercado following Gleyber Torres’ walk-off hit at Yankees Stadium. One projectile even hit an umpire trying to settle the scene down.

The ugly scene resulted in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, among other Yankees, taking a break from celebrating the 5-4 victory to try calming things down.

“Brutal,” Guardians center fielder Myles Straw told reporters. “Worst fan base on the planet.”

The tension began after Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a double to left to tie the score in the ninth inning. Left fielder Steven Kwan had gone down with an injury that he incurred while banging into the wall on the play. Straw climbed up the left field wall to confront a fan after that play.

Fans at Yankee Stadium throw things at Guardians players after the game ends. pic.twitter.com/1LIv66LfBW

— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) April 23, 2022

Brian Cashman confirms Yankees ‘never made an official offer’ to Carlos Correa or Freddie Freeman

In doing so, the Yankees passed on one of the best free-agent classes in recent memory. They were connected to Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman throughout the winter, though GM Brian Cashman confirmed Monday that the Yankees never did make either player an official offer.

Many times statements like this come down to semantics. “We didn’t put a piece of paper in front of them to sign, though we talked terms and knew what it would take.” That kind of thing. Still, Yankees fans don’t want to hear their team didn’t bother to make an offer to two of the game’s best players. They just want the best players.

Rizzo has played well in the early going (he is the first Yankee to drive in multiple runs in each of the team’s first three games since Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio in 1949), but Kiner-Falefa is 1 for 11 with several defensive misplays. He hasn’t exactly made Yankees fans forget about Correa (or fellow free agents Javier Báez, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Trevor Story).”

Brian Cashman on free agents the Yankees missed: "We never made an official offer to Correa or Freeman, but we were in touch with their reps on what they were looking for." @CartonRoberts

— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) April 11, 2022

Yankees offer Aaron Judge long-term contract extension with total guarantee of $200 million, per report

The New York Yankees have offered their biggest star a long-term contract extension. The Yankees offered Judge a multiyear deal with a total guarantee in excess of $200 million, according to MLB Network.

The contract would make him the highest paid annual position player in team history. According to the NY Post, the Yankees offered more than $27.5 million, which would leave Judge’s AAV behind Angels’ Mike Trout and Dodgers’ Mookie Betts for the largest ever among outfielders.

Prior to Friday’s Opening Day for the Yankees, Judge told reporters that he doesn’t have an update on extension negotiations but said today remains his deadline for a deal because he doesn’t want to negotiate during the season.

Mets Trade Miguel Castro To Yankees For Joely Rodriguez

The Mets have traded Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, Rodriguez was signed as a free agent this offseason and thus ineligible to be traded prior to June 15th without his consent. He and his agent gave that consent in exchange for a $500K assignment bonus, which will be paid by the Mets as part of this deal. (Twitter links) Rodriguez is represented by Daniel Szew of LA Sports Management.

For the Mets, they have had an extremely busy offseason, upgrading their lineup with the likes of Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to their rotation and Adam Ottavino to their bullpen. However, the one area of the roster they hadn’t really addressed was left-handed relief. With Aaron Loup joining the Angels, the only southpaws on the roster were candidates for the starting rotation. The club gave minor league deals to veterans like Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, but they clearly view Rodriguez as a meaningful upgrade, based on the fact that they were willing to give up Castro to get him.

Here’s why Yankees didn’t go for Correa

Correa didn’t find the long-term deal he had been seeking, choosing instead to take the shorter-term contract that averages $35.1 million. The Yankees might have been intrigued by the length of the deal, which would have kept the position open for one of the young shortstops, but the average annual value gave New York pause.

Hal Steinbrenner recently noted that the Yankees are already north of the $230 million CBT threshold, having recently taken on Josh Donaldson‘s contract in a trade with the Twins. According to Spotrac, the Yankees’ CBT payroll stands at approximately $251 million, which would already place them in the second tax bracket, adding a 12 percent surcharge to the base tax rate.

According to sources, the Yankees’ primary hesitation involved the non-financial penalties that come with passing the $270 million threshold, namely their first-round Draft pick being moved back 10 spots.

“If it was just about money, they may have made a bigger play for Correa on a short-term deal,” a source said. “But the Draft thing made it a non-starter, especially after the Donaldson deal.”

Yankees will have 21 games only available on Amazon Prime

If you are a Yankees fan, you will need Amazon Prime Video to see all your team’s games.

This season, 21 Yankees games can only be viewed on the gigantic e-commerce company’s streaming service. The games, according to sources, will be primarily on Friday nights.

The first game will be Friday, April 22, when the Yankees host Cleveland, The Post has learned.

Amazon and YES declined comment.

To be as clear as possible, these games will not be on YES or any other service. Only Amazon Prime. They will be only available in the Yankees’ local footmark, which is primarily in the New York tri-state region. These are the games that used to be on Ch. 11.

Big budget, big talent: Can the Mets take ownership of New York from the Yankees?

I tell him that a week ago I was on the other side of Florida to see the New York Yankees, where reporters pressed chairman Hal Steinbrenner on whether he felt pressure to spend more on payroll to keep up with the Mets.

“To Hal?” Eppler clarifies with some incredulity.

That’s right; because people say the Mets are setting the pace for sports in New York City these days.

“I’m not starting that,” Eppler says with a laugh. “I’m not even biting on that.”

OK, maybe he was smart to sidestep any explicit rivalry-making so soon into his career with the Mets, but it wasn’t intended as a trap. Eppler spent years in the Yankees front office, rising to assistant GM during a time when they assured themselves playoff berths by simply outspending the competition year in and year out. For 15 straight seasons from 1999-2013, the Yankees fielded the highest payroll, winning three World Series, losing two more and missing the postseason only twice.

In 2015, Eppler’s last season in the Bronx, Hal’s Yankees outspent the Mets by more than $100 million. But now, Eppler returns to a New York sports landscape that has a new titan at the ownership level. The 2022 Mets, if all goes according to plan, are trying to be the New Yankees.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman blames Astros scandal for World Series drought

The New York Yankees haven’t won a pennant or a World Series since 2009, making this the longest drought the franchise has faced since the ‘80s. (The Yankees lost in the 1981 World Series, then didn’t reach the Fall Classic again until winning it in 1996.) General manager Brian Cashman believes that fact should come with, if not an asterisk, at least context that delves deeper into the Yankees’ 2017 loss in the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros.

“The only thing that stopped (us) was something that was so illegal and horrific,” Cashman told The Athletic’s Andy McCullough. “So I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ‘09. Because I’m like, ‘Well, I think we actually did it the right way.’ Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”

Cashman is, of course, referring to the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The Astros infamously cracked opposing teams’ signs using a live feed of the game, then relay the signs to their hitter by beating on a trash can located in the clubhouse tunnel during at least the 2017 season. Major League Baseball later punished the Astros by stripping them of draft picks, fining them, and suspending GM Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch. (The Astros subsequently fired both individuals.)

Yankees great Don Mattingly is subject of new MLB Network documentary

Donnie Baseball will be chronicled on the network built for baseball fans.

The Post has learned that MLB Network will debut a documentary on Don Mattingly, arguably the greatest Yankee to never win a World Series with the organization, on Sunday, April 3.

The film will be aptly titled “Donnie Baseball”.

Speakers in the documentary will include former Yankees manager and current Mets skipper Buck Showalter, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, former teammates Wade Boggs, Bernie Williams, Ron Guidry and Mike Pagliarulo, broadcasters Michael Kay and Suzyn Waldman, Mattingly’s high school coach Quentin Merkel and Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman.

“It’s probably very hard to think of baseball in the 1980s, especially the mid-to-late 1980s, where he isn’t the face of it,” Sherman, who was the Post’s beat writer covering the Yankees from 1989 through 1995, says in the documentary.

“He’s as good a player as I’ve ever seen in my career,” Guidry says.

Unvaccinated Yankees, Mets players will be able to play home games as NYC mayor to drop mandate, per report

On Thursday, New York City mayor Eric Adams is expected to announce the private-sector COVID-19 vaccine mandate will be reversed specifically for performers and athletes in local venues, according to Politico’s Sally Goldenberg. The reversal will allow unvaccinated New York Yankees and New York Mets players to play home games.

Here are more details from Goldenberg:

Just last week Adams said there wouldn’t be any special carveouts for athletes.

“Everyone is focused on the sports area. They’re focusing on one person. I’m focusing on 9 million people,” the mayor said on March 16. “I’m not looking at one person. I’m looking at my city not closing down again.”

Appeals court rules letter that allegedly shows MLB hid Yankees’ sign stealing should be unsealed

An appeals court ruled that a letter that allegedly shows that MLB hid a Yankees sign-stealing scheme should be unsealed.

The letter allegedly proves that the Yankees did more than simply improperly using a dugout phone in 2015.

The court also upheld the dismissal of a $5-million lawsuit DraftKings player Kristopher Olson filed with more than 100 other plaintiffs against MLB, the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox over the illegal sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport over the winter of 2019-2020.

“In light of plaintiffs’ attempted use of the letter in their proposed Second Amended Complaint and the district court’s discussion of the letter in explaining its decision to deny plaintiffs’ request for leave to amend in their reconsideration motion, and because MLB disclosed a substantial portion of the substance of the letter in its press release about the investigation, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in unsealing the letter, subject to redacting the names of certain individuals,” U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote in an opinion released Monday morning.

Yanks deal Voit to Padres for righty prospect Lange

The New York Yankees on Friday announced that they have acquired right-hander Justin Lange from the San Diego Padres in exchange for infielder Luke Voit.

Lange, 20, was a first-round selection (34th overall – Competitive Balance Round A) of the Padres in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft out of Llano High School in Llano, Tex. He made his professional debut in 2021, making nine starts for the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League (ACL) Padres, going 0-3 with a 6.95 ERA (22.0IP, 18H, 17ER, 15BB, 29K, 1HR).

Prior to the 2020 First-Year Player Draft, the 6’ 4” right-hander was ranked 50th on Baseball America’s Top 500 list and was No. 57 on MLB Pipeline’s list of top draft-eligible prospects. Lange had his senior season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was a 2020 Perfect Game Preseason All-American First-Team selection. Prior to signing with the Padres, he had committed to Dallas Baptist University. In 2019, he earned Perfect Game Honorable Mention and Underclassmen All-American honors.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo agrees to multi-year contract with New York Yankees, source says

First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who finished last season with the Yankees after a trade from the Chicago Cubs, agreed to a multi-year contract Tuesday night to return to New York, pending a physical, a source told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

During his decadelong career with the Cubs, Rizzo was as reliable as anyone in the batter’s box and in the field. He was a consistent all-star and gold glove winner and garnered MVP votes in five consecutive seasons. But his numbers dropped over the last two seasons culminating in the trade to New York.

Rizzo got off to a hot start with his new team but a bout with COVID-19 interrupted his second half. He still managed 22 home runs split between the Cubs and Yankees but his .783 OPS was his lowest since 2013.

Sources: New York Yankees finalizing deal to acquire Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa from Minnesota Twins

The New York Yankees are finalizing a deal to acquire third baseman Josh Donaldson and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa from the Minnesota Twins, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez and third baseman Gio Urshela are heading to Minnesota in the trade while Twins catcher Ben Rortvedt is going to New York, sources said.

Yankees president Randy Levine on ‘embarrassing’ lockout: ‘This is a horrible situation’

With the players asks comes an increase in CBT, but Levine says that owners don’t have “endless money.”

“The problem that I’m hearing talking to everybody is people seem to think that there’s all this money that’s come into Major League Baseball. All of this money that we’ve recouped, all of the losses from COVID, everything is back to the way it was. Well, nothing is farther from the truth,” Levine told ESPN. “I’m speaking of the Yankees, the highest revenue team: We didn’t have fans in the stands for a year and a half. We lost television games, we lost all kinds of revenue, and baseball lost billions and billions of dollars. And players lost salary, players lost money. It was a very unfortunate circumstance. So there’s not all this new money that’s going on all throughout the system that there’s money for all aspects. Both parties have to prioritize what’s the most important thing to them and negotiate what’s the most important thing, but understanding that there’s a finite amount of money…

“You can’t pretend that there’s all this money in the game where there just isn’t… Nobody’s crying poverty. But what people are just saying is we need to be appropriate and proportional in how much money is out there so it’s realistic and not unrealistic.”

Fansided: Examining the Hall of Fame case for New York Yankees legend Graig Nettles

Combine it all and Nettles has a career rWAR of 67.9. That includes nine seasons with an rWAR of at least 4.0.

That WAR is also the fifth-highest among non-Hall of Famers who have been on at least one HOF ballot, made their debut after 1901, and without a “character” clause issue (PED users, Pete Rose, and Curt Schilling). He’s behind Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, Rick Reuschel, and Kenny Lofton.

Yankees to retire Paul O’Neill’s No. 21

The New York Yankees today announced that Paul O’Neill will be honored on Sunday, Aug. 21, as his No. 21 will be permanently retired prior to the Yankees’ game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. All guests in attendance will receive a commemorative “Paul O’Neill Day” game ticket.

O’Neill becomes the 23rd Yankees player or manager to have his number retired and the first since Derek Jeter on May 14, 2017. Other Yankees from O’Neill’s playing days to have had their numbers retired are Jeter (No. 2), Don Mattingly (No. 23), Andy Pettitte (No. 46), Jorge Posada (No. 20), Mariano Rivera (No. 42), Bernie Williams (No. 51) and Manager Joe Torre (No. 6).

Gerald Williams, former Yankees outfielder, dead at 55

Gerald Williams, who had two stints with the Yankees, has died after a fight with cancer, Derek Jeter announced. He was 55.

Williams was drafted by the Yankees in 1987 and made his debut in pinstripes in 1992. The outfielder played five seasons in The Bronx before being traded to the Brewers during the 1996 season. Williams returned in 2001 and played parts of two more seasons for the Yankees.

“Gerald Williams passed away this morning after a battle with cancer,” Jeter said in a statement on The Players’ Tribune Twitter account.

Dominguez card sells for record value

The hype surrounding The Martian was already otherworldly, but this auction further escalated that into another galaxy.

The top trading card for 18-year-old Jasson Dominguez, MLB Pipeline’s No. 17 overall prospect, sold for $474,000, a record for any Dominguez card, when the Goldin Auctions bidding closed Saturday night.

The 2020 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Autograph rookie card is a (1/1), making it more valuable than Juan Soto’s card which was numbered (3/5). In May, Rays phenom Wander Franco saw his autographed Bowman Chrome card sell for a whopping $198,030. At that same auction, a 1909 Honus Wagner card went for $3.75 million.