Yankees should be nearing their Domingo German breaking point

Imagine you’re Aaron Boone, or Brian Cashman, or Hal Steinbrenner.

It’s Wednesday night and you’re getting ready for the annual holiday that is the first pitchers and catchers workouts the next morning. You’ve got scores of COVID-specific details to handle plus the standard desire to launch your desired championship run with the right first step.

Then you get alerted that Domingo German, already on thin ice, has set Instagram aflame again.

At what point do you decide the right-hander’s upside doesn’t merit the agita he creates? The Yankees should be approaching that point. They must, for the good of everyone else they employ.

After all, when your team’s player representative, Zack Britton, one of the more affable humans to ever roam the Earth, proclaims, “Sometimes you don’t get to control who your teammates are and that’s the situation,” as he did Thursday about his fellow pitcher, that speaks volumes about German’s status here.

Yankees and Brett Gardner agree to one-year deal with options for 2022

Sources tell SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino that the Yankees and Gardner have reached a deal on a one-year contract worth $4 million with club and team options for 2022.

Martino notes that setting up the contract as a one-year deal with an option actually lowers the luxury tax number for the Yankees, which made it preferable to a straight one-year deal.

A 13-year veteran, Gardner reached free agency last offseason before ultimately signing back with the Yankees on a one-year deal worth $12.5 million.

And even if Clint Frazier is the Bombers’ everyday left fielder as Aaron Boone recently stated, having Gardner would give the Yankees a great insurance policy and fourth outfielder, along with a needed left-handed bat. Having both Gardner and Mike Tauchman could give the Yankees a lot of flexibility with their outfield depth.

Source: New York Yankees agree to deal with LHP Justin Wilson

Left-hander Justin Wilson returned to the New York Yankees after two seasons with the Mets, agreeing Monday to a deal, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Wilson joins a bullpen headed by closer Aroldis Chapman and Zack Britton, both left-handers. Hard-throwing right-hander Chad Green is joined by side-arming right-hander Darren O’Day, who was signed after the Yankees dealt Adam Ottovino to Boston in a cost-cutting move.

The 33-year-old Wilson was 5-0 with a 3.10 ERA in 74 appearances for the Yankees in 2015, then moved on to Detroit and the Chicago Cubs before spending 2019 and 2020 with the Mets.

Yankees sign Darren O’Day to bolster bullpen after Adam Ottavino trade

The Post’s Ken Davidoff confirmed that the Yankees agreed to a deal with side-arm throwing righty Darren O’Day on Wednesday.

O’Day, 38, spent most of his career with the Orioles, with whom he was an All-Star in 2015, but played the past two seasons with the Braves. O’Day pitched to a 1.10 ERA in 19 appearances and 16 1/3 innings for Atlanta last season.

O’Day guaranteed to make $2.5M for 1 year (and there is the dual option)

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 27, 2021

Yankees trade Ottavino to Red Sox

In a deal between rivals, the Yankees traded Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Monday. New York’s return in the deal was not immediately known. The clubs have not confirmed the deal, which was first reported by The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler.

Ottavino, a 10-year MLB veteran, has a 3.53 career ERA but scuffled last season, posting a 5.89 mark in 18 1/3 innings with New York.

THE CURSE OF OTTAVINO!

Sources: New York Yankees acquire pitcher Jameson Taillon from Pittsburgh Pirates for four prospects

The New York Yankees have added another bounce-back candidate to their starting rotation, acquiring Jameson Taillon from the Pittsburgh Pirates for four minor-league prospects, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan and multiple reports.

Pittsburgh will receive pitchers Miguel Yajure and Roansy Contreras, infielder Maikol Escotto and outfielder Canaan Smith in the trade, sources tell Passan.

Reds wanted Gleyber Torres from Yankees in rumored Luis Castillo deal

No wonder the rumored Luis Castillo trade to the Yankees isn’t happening.

In exchange for Castillo, the Reds asked for Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres and more, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported on Monday.

The internet was abuzz over the weekend with erroneous reports of a trade involving Castillo, the Reds’ star pitcher, going to the Yankees for Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar. But Reds general manager Nick Krall strongly denied the reports, even addressing them publicly.

“[The rumors] are completely false,” Krall wrote in a text to MLB.com. “We intend to have [Castillo] as a member of our rotation for 2021.”

Yankees sign pitcher Corey Kluber, two-time Cy Young Award winner

Just hours after bringing back The Machine, the Yankees acquired a Klubot.

An incredibly busy 24-hour span for the Yankees — arguably busier than the previous 96 days of their offseason combined — concluded when they signed two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber to a one-year, $11 million contract, an industry source confirmed. “Talkin’ Jake” from Jomboy Media first reported the agreement.

Combined with the re-signing of top priority DJ “The Machine” LeMahieu to a six-year, $90-million pact and avoiding arbitration with eight players, the Yankees provided a great deal more clarity to both their roster and their payroll. If they are resolute on not exceeding the $210 million luxury-tax threshold, then they are rapidly approaching that limit — with the structure and luxury-tax implications of the Kluber deal not yet clear — unless they trade veterans to create more space.

New York Yankees, DJ LeMahieu finalizing six-year, $90M contract, sources say

Second baseman DJ LeMahieu and the New York Yankees are finalizing a six-year, $90 million contract, sources familiar with the agreement told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

LeMahieu finished third in the American League MVP voting after winning the AL batting title with an MLB-leading .364 average over the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, becoming just the fourth player in Yankees history to lead the majors in that category, along with Mickey Mantle (.353 in 1956), Joe DiMaggio (.381 in 1939) and Lou Gehrig (.363 in 1934).

It was the second career batting title for the 32-year-old LeMahieu, who won the National League crown with a .348 batting average for the Colorado Rockies in 2016. He joined Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty (1899, 1902) as the only players to win batting titles in both leagues.

DJ LeMahieu engaging other teams in free agency with Yankees slow to meet his price

A two-time batting champ and the New York Yankees’ best player for two seasons running, LeMahieu, according to a source close to his family, has become dismayed by the slow-play tactics of the Yankees, along with other clubs. Teams that have engaged with the LeMahieu camp say LeMahieu expects more than Josh Donaldson’s four-year, $92 million deal with the Minnesota Twins and at least on par with J.D. Martinez’s five years and $110 million with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees, LeMahieu’s preferred club after two successful seasons in the Bronx, have not met those terms.

The 32-year-old LeMahieu has, therefore, asked his representatives to re-engage with teams that have previously shown the most interest, the source said, among them the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets, and to reconnect with teams that reached out early in the free agent period, including the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox and others.

LeMahieu expects to meet virtually with several teams this week, according to the source, that are seeking to fill holes at second or third base.

Yankees trade for speedy outfielder Greg Allen in deal with Padres

The Yankees added some outfield depth by trading for outfielder Greg Allen, a source confirmed.

The speedy Allen, a switch-hitter, was designated for assignment by the Padres earlier in the week. The Yankees sent 27-year-old left-hander James Reeves to San Diego in the deal.

Reeves, a 10th-round pick by the Yankees in 2015, reached Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2018.

Allen, also 27, was DFA’d by the Padres to make room on their 40-man roster for Ha-Seong Kim, an infielder from South Korea signed by the Padres.

‘I didn’t know why I wasn’t playing’: Gary Sanchez on getting benched in the playoffs

There is some vitriol in social media among Yankees fans and even members of the media that you are a “lazy” player. What do you say to that?

I simply do not understand. I am always working hard. Yankees fans are great, but at the same time, they are very demanding. If you’re hitting well, fans love you, they do whatever it takes for you. But when you are not doing well, then it starts ... and you know. They will yell anything at you. Sometimes it can be difficult not to have a little encouragement. But those are Yankees fans, and the only thing that matters are results. And I would not have it any other way. I love the high expectations. I can be booed one day when I have a bad game, and the next day I am the hero of the game. But I think sometimes people do not understand that baseball is a game where you are going to fail many more times than you are going to succeed. I just don’t understand that criticism. The results were not there; that is true. But it was never due to lack of work.

Yankees, DJ LeMahieu are more than $25 million apart, agreement not quite imminent

As of Saturday night, the gulf between the Yankees and free agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu was wider than $25 million, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

A report that circulated Friday night pegged the sides off by $25 million. The report said the Yankees wanted LeMahieu at four years and $75 million while LeMahieu wants five years and $100 million.

“The years are right,” the person said. “The money is wrong.”

Staten Island Yankees cease operations, sue New York Yankees, MLB

“The New York Yankees announced on November 7, 2020 that the Staten Island Yankees were no longer part of the Yankees minor league affiliation structure, even though the Yankees had made repeated assurances we would always be a minor league partner.

“Although we still have not heard this from the Yankees directly, it would appear from their press release that they would like us to go from the past arrangement in which the Staten Island Yankees were an affiliated minor league team of the New York Yankees — where we facilitated player development and brand exposure, among other benefits to the New York Yankees — to one in which we play unaffiliated baseball with no relationship to the Yankees whatsoever.

This would force Staten Island to field a subpar team with players that have no connection to the Yankees farm system. Additionally, this would require additional expenses including payroll for players, coaches and staff. Unfortunately, that additional expense and the loss of the connection to the Yankees in our shared city makes it impossible for the Staten Island Yankees to pursue this business model.

MLB During COVID-19 Behind The Scenes

Before the 2020 season began, New York Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino decided to document what was sure to be one of the most unusual years in MLB history.

Armed with a Leica M240, a trio of lenses and an iPhone, he snapped photos of his teammates and their often surreal surroundings, keeping an eye out for moments that highlighted the quirks, oddities and absurdities of playing professional baseball in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Personally I thought this was really cool stuff.

Mets, Yankees Have Shown Interest In Yadier Molina

oth the Mets and Yankees have reached out to Yadier Molina’s camp to express interest in the veteran catcher, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). The Cardinals icon has also heard from at least three others, per Heyman.

It’s not surprising that either New York club would at least explore the possibility of bringing the 38-year-old Molina into the fold. As noted here at MLBTR last week, signing Molina would be a major narrative shift in the Bronx, where Gary Sanchez’s defensive struggles and prolific strikeout rates have drawn the ire of many fans. Molina, of course, is a generational defender at his position and still possesses some of the best bat-to-ball skills in baseball (13.5 percent strikeout rate in 2020).

As for the Mets, they’ve been oft-connected to J.T. Realmuto since it became clear that Steve Cohen would purchase the club from the Wilpon family. Wilson Ramos is a free agent, leaving Tomas Nido atop the team’s depth chart behind the dish. For a club with immediate postseason aspirations under new ownership, that doesn’t cut it. Molina would be a more affordable option than Realmuto, leaving more resource available to pursue other top free agents and trade targets (e.g. George Springer, Trevor Bauer, Francisco Lindor). Outgoing White Sox catcher James McCann stands out as a younger alternative as well.

Agent Melvin Roman told Heyman a couple weeks back that he’s seeking a two-year deal for Molina, and Roman told MLB.com’s Jon Morosi last week that they’ve heard from at least three clubs beyond the Cardinals.

Brian Cashman says Yankees must reevaulate at catcher after Gary Sanchez’s struggles, Kyle Higashioka’s breakout 2020 season

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday via Zoom, GM Brian Cashman was very frank in his answer about his catchers and what to expect heading into next season.

“I think it’s certainly a fair question obviously the way Gary Sanchez’ season transpired, and then the way it ended with Higashioka actually starting in the postseason as many games as he did,” he said. “I think it’s one of the discussion points we’re going to have to focus on.”

Sanchez truly labored this season right from the start going 0-for-15 in the five July games the Yankees played. He, then, posted a .155 average in August and .171 in Sept. and Oct. to bring it to .147 on the season.

“It was a struggle for him the first month of the season, just timing was off, chasing a lot, leaving the zone,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone added, though, that “it didn’t necessarily show up in the numbers” where Sanchez improved in front of his coaches. The Yankees believed he was putting together better at-bats and just not having luck on his side.

Yankees try to make sense of another season that ends with crushing postseason loss

In the end, the Yankees were hurt by a lack of starting pitching depth with Luis Severino missing the year after Tommy John surgery. James Paxton was shut down in August with a flexor tendon strain. Domingo German spent the season serving a suspension under the league’s joint domestic violence policy.

Voit led the majors with home runs in the weird 60-game season and DJ LeMahieu, who is a free agent and should be a priority to re-sign, won the batting title. Judge and Giancarlo Stanton missed half the season with injuries. And on Friday, their bats went quiet. Judge’s home run was the Yankees’ only offense.

But Stanton was not ready to look at 2020 and diagnose the issues, nor was he ready to describe what the Yankees need to get over the hump.

“We have the talent to do it. I mean, I’m not gonna pick apart changes. We have the talent to do it,” Stanton said. “It’s just a matter of you haven’t got it done. And that’s, that.”

Sorry, But The Yankees Are The Good Guys

It may be difficult to stomach, but at least philosophically and perhaps ethically, the New York Yankees should be the neutral fan’s heroes in their ALDS series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Yeah, sorry, but it’s true! Though it might be traditional to look at the younger team who’s never won a title as the scrappy underdogs and, though it might feel really, really good to despise the institution that is the New York Yankees with all their history, arrogance, and opulence, the reality of this series is that one team is trying its damnedest to win a frickin’ world championship and the other has tried to optimize the work of building a roster so much that the idea of “entertainment” feels like a tertiary concern at best.

While nearly every team in baseball, including Tampa’s ownership group, has avoided lavish free-agency spending and instead tried to either tank or field a team that’s just good enough to make the playoffs and potentially luck into a deep run, the Yankees are still the stereotypical Evil Empire of old. Only nowadays, with the way that the sport’s ultra-rich have worked to break baseball’s economic logic, bucking the trend by having the highest payroll in the game feels more like a virtue than a sin.

There was no easier way to contrast the two rivals, and their $81 million difference in team salaries this year (or $172 million if the season hadn’t been prorated), than the pitching match-up on Monday night, in a game the Yanks won 9-3. The slightly better performance on the mound came from last winter’s premier free agent, Gerrit Cole, whom the Yankees signed for an all-time-high of nine years and $324 million, or $80 million more than any other team committed to a free agent in the offseason.

The Yankees Win an Epic That Shows the Flaws in Our Obsession With Bad Managing

On Wednesday night—or early Thursday morning, in the Eastern time zone—the Yankees topped Cleveland 10-9 in the longest nine-inning game in MLB history, a back-and-forth, four-hour-and-50-minute epic whose ending was further deferred by multiple rain delays. New York’s victory, which followed the team’s Tuesday trouncing of Cy Young favorite Shane Bieber, knocked Cleveland out of the postseason and set up the Yankees for an ALDS matchup with the division-rival Rays. The best-of-three series was a battle between stylistic opposites, pitting a Cleveland club that allowed the fewest runs in the majors against a Yankees squad that scored the most runs in the American League. In this case, offensive firepower won, contradicting the dubious saying about the fate of good hitting against good pitching.

The decisive game featured four erased deficits and at least as many divisive managerial moves, a few of which caused rage-tweeting fans to demand the dismissals of skippers Aaron Boone and Sandy Alomar Jr. (who’s acting in place of the sidelined Terry Francona). Some of the duo’s most-maligned decisions were defensible; at certain times, tactical miscues worked out well, while in other situations seemingly smart moves backfired. In the final accounting, the outcome came down not to the former playoff heroes at the helms of the two teams, but to the actions of active athletes: the unsurprising stars (DJ LeMahieu, José Ramírez, Gio Urshela), unexpected standouts (Jordan Luplow, Gary Sánchez), and unlikely goats (James Karinchak, Brad Hand) who drove in or gave up the runs. Although the playoffs place managers under the microscope, the Yankees’ hard-earned win was a reminder that middle-aged men in the dugout usually don’t deserve the bulk of the blame or the credit for which way a game goes. Consider this a postseason PSA: Players matter much more than managers.

Clint Frazier’s Patience Pays Off For the Yankees

As you can see, Frazier spread his hits around the field. Though his pull percentage through Wednesday (42.0%) is close to his career mark (40.3%), he’s doing a better job of taking advantage of Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch than ever. Three of this year’s seven homers have come that way, though all of them had estimated distances of at least 374 feet. He’s as likely if not more so to go deep to his pull side; three of this year’s homers have gone to left or left center in the Bronx, and from among his 23 career homers, the balance is 12 to the pull side and seven to the opposite side.

And lest you worry too much that Frazier is merely loading up in garbage time — as was admittedly the case on Tuesday given the double-digit margins visible in those clips — it’s worth noting that through Wednesday he ranked fourth on the team in WPA (0.65, behind Giovanny Urshela’s 1.63, Judge’s 0.90, and LeMahieu’s 0.78) while being tied for seventh in plate appearances (121) and hitting .303/.422/.596 for a 174 wRC+. He was 31 PA short of qualifying for the official leaderboards, but among AL players with at least 120 PA, his on-base percentage ranked second, his wRC+ fourth, and his slugging percentage eighth.

That’s been a huge boon to the Yankees in a season where Judge has served two stints on the injured list — separated by a one-game return — due to a right calf strain, and Stanton spent 37 days on the IL due to a left hamstring strain

Subscriber Exclusive Somerset Patriots in, Trenton Thunder out? Yankees considering Class AA affiliation change

...the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League could become a Yankees farm club.  If that occurs, the Thunder could be squeezed out, too.  Minor-league officials spoke to NJ Advance Media about the possible changes, and requested anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the plans. 
“The Yankees aren’t going to have two minor-league teams in New Jersey,” a Thunder official told NJ Advance Media…

Unpacking the Yankees’ Three Week Nosedive

The Yankees are in a terrible stretch of baseball, and having such a stretch in a season that’s only 60 games long has probably cost them the division. It probably won’t keep costing them in terms of a playoff berth, but this bad stretch has been a total team effort. Their ace isn’t pitching like one. The team’s three best hitters are missing from the lineup, while others have struggled to step up. The best arms in their bullpen aren’t getting results commensurate with their talent or careers to date. All of that has come together for a very bad three weeks. The team can’t afford to have another three weeks like their last three, but we can probably expect the performance to tick up, particularly in the lineup and the bullpen. The Yankees only have to go .500 the rest of the way to make the playoffs, and then hope they’re healthy once they’re there.

Rays-Yanks rivalry boils over: ‘It’s a tired act’

Following the game, Cash and the Rays players said they were unsure of the intent behind Chapman’s pitch, but that didn’t stop Cash from delivering some strong comments.

“It’s poor judgement, poor coaching, it’s just poor teaching what they’re doing and what they’re allowing to do,” Cash said. “The chirping from the dugout. Somebody needs to tell me, go pull up the numbers, who has hit who more, but I can assure you that other than three years ago, there hasn’t been one pitch thrown with intent from any of our guys. Period. Somebody has to be held accountable. And the last thing I’ll say on it, is that I have a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 mph. Period.”

Jim Kaat: Will we finally get The Real Deal?

Kaat Said: Orientalism.

A couple of short stories about Asian pitchers and Irabu: I was announcing Yankee games in the mid-90s when I said over the air, “I wonder if we’ll ever see an Oriental position player in the Major Leagues?” Dion James was playing for the Yankees at the time, and told me about an exciting 19-year old named Ichiro Suzuki who had a chance to be the first. We all know that story. Big fan of Bernie Williams from watching Yankee games in Japan. Wears number 51 because of that.

So, I get a letter about a week later from an Asian baseball fan. Not a malicious letter but scolding me gently for referring to Asian players as “Oriental.” He said, “Noodles and rugs are Oriental, not people. We are Asians.” Fortunately for me, he put his phone number in the letter, so I called him.

We had a pleasant conversation and I told him I certainly didn’t intentionally say “Oriental’ as a slur or condescending remark. It was said innocently out of ignorance. He understood. I asked him if he would be watching the next game we televised. He said he would. He was a huge baseball fan and was complimentary of our telecasts on the MSG Network. I asked if he would please watch and listen in the top of the 4th inning. He said he would.  I took the opportunity to clear up the Oriental/Asian situation.

...So, I’lll be keeping a close eye on Yu Darvish and see if he is finally the one to be able to challenge and dominate our bigger, more powerful big league hitters. For his and the Rangers’ sake, I hope he does. It will be good for the game and the Rangers profit and loss statement!