Yankees GM Brian Cashman says club will ‘address’ shortstop and ‘evaluate’ catcher positions

“Shortstop is an area of need. We have to address it,” Cashman said during the press conference to officially announce Boone’s extension, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

The Yankees’ primary shortstop this season was Gleyber Torres, whose defensive shortcomings make him a better fit at second base. Once the Yankees accepted that reality, moving Torres to the keystone late in the year, they turned to third baseman Gio Urshela at the six. (DJ LeMahieu and Rougned Odor took over at the hot corner.) The Yankees’ infield situation was considered to be one of the biggest unanswered questions entering this offseason.

Clearly the Yankees don’t consider that arrangement to be a tenable one heading forward, and that’s perfectly fine. The free-agent market is teeming with high-grade shortstops, including the likes of Carlos Correa and Corey Seager. Presuming the Yankees do show interest in either or both, they’re likely to face steep competition from the likes of the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, among others.

Aaron Boone to return as manager of New York Yankees

Aaron Boone, who has led the New York Yankees to the postseason in each of his four seasons in the Bronx, will return as manager on a new three-year deal with a club option for 2025, it was announced Tuesday.

“We have a person and manager in Aaron Boone who possesses the baseball acumen and widespread respect in our clubhouse to continue to guide us forward,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. “As a team and as an organization, we must grow, evolve and improve. We need to get better. Period.

“I know Aaron fully embraces our expectations of success, and I look forward to drawing on his intelligence, instincts and leadership in pursuit of our next World Series championship.”

Sources: New York Yankees shake up staff under Aaron Boone, won’t renew contracts of hitting coach Marcus Thames, 3B coach Phil Nevin

The fallout from the Yankees’ disappointing 2021 season has started, as New York will not renew the contracts of hitting coach Marcus Thames and third base coach Phil Nevin, sources have confirmed to ESPN.

The Yankees also are expected to not renew the deal of assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere, sources confirm to ESPN.

The moves mark a staff shakeup under manager Aaron Boone, whose job security also has come under scrutiny after the Yankees’ third-place finish in the AL East and loss to the rival Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild-Card Game.

Sources told ESPN earlier this week that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner is inclined to keep Boone as manager, although the situation remains fluid. Boone has managed the Yankees to the postseason in each of his four seasons in The Bronx but does not have a contract for 2022.

Joel Sherman: How the Yankees can fix the biggest flaw holding them back

And the Yankees in their fanaticism behind velocity — out of the hand and, especially, off the bat — lost their way with a bunch of decisions that might make sense individually, but not collectively. It drained them of defense, diversity and athleticism. It was as if they never looked up to see what the Rays were doing on a shoestring budget to become the dominant force in the AL East or their West Coast doppelganger Dodgers were doing with the largest payroll in the majors.

Really, all they had to do was turn on the TV last year and watch the World Series between those teams to see how much less athletic they were by comparison.

Instead, stubbornness set in. They stuck with Gary Sanchez behind the plate and Gleyber Torres at shortstop and an offensive philosophy that bigger and stronger would generate enough runs to overcome all the other foibles. Even when they decided to add lefty bats, they did it largely by giving up prospect depth to land Joey Gallo, who was screaming from Texas in every way that he was the left-handed Sanchez and would never hit good top pitching when it mattered. The Yanks grew literally larger in physique, yet less intimidating.

The mystique and aura that once was the Yankees’ 10th and 11th men are gone.

Boston Red Sox to host New York Yankees in AL wild-card game

The Boston Red Sox will host the New York Yankees in the American League wild-card game Tuesday night after clutch hits by their biggest stars helped to avoid several Game 163 scenarios.

Aaron Judge drove home the winning run with a one-out single in the ninth inning of the Yankees’ 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday while Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers’ 2-run homer in the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie with the Washington Nationals.

Yankees shortstop Gio Urshela made a Jeter-esque catch, charging recklessly into the visiting dugout, and New York finished the year 92-70, punching a fifth consecutive postseason ticket after nearly falling into a labyrinth of tiebreaker scenarios.


Rougned Odor led off the ninth with a single against Josh Fleming (10-8), just New York’s second hit. Pinch-runner Tyler Wade advanced to second on Gleyber Torres’ flyout to the warning track in center, and Anthony Rizzo moved Wade to third with a one-out single.

Andrew Kittredge came on to face Judge, who ripped a 104.4 mph line drive off the right-hander’s glove. The ball skipped toward drawn-in second baseman Brandon Lowe, whose off-balance throw home wasn’t nearly in time to catch a sliding Wade.

Fit to be tied? AL Wild Card chaos abounds

Example: Yankees go 0-3; Red Sox go 2-1, Mariners go 2-1, Blue Jays go 3-0

What happens next: The above scenario is the only possible four-way tie, and it means all four teams finish with 91 wins (which is Toronto’s win ceiling). Each team would choose or receive an A, B, C or D designation. The club with the highest winning percentage in games among the tied clubs chooses first, second-highest chooses second, etc. In this scenario, the Red Sox (24-21 against the others) get first choice, the Blue Jays (22-22) choose second, the Yankees (22-23) choose third and the Mariners (15-17) get the leftover spot.

On Monday, Club A (likely the Red Sox) would host Club B, and Club C (likely the Blue Jays) would host Club D. So for the Yankees, it would come down to a choice of traveling to either Boston or Toronto.

The winners of those two games on Monday would face each other Tuesday in the AL Wild Card Game.

Benches clear in Yankees-Mets game over alleged whistling drama

The Yankees whistled while they worked, and the Subway Series turned testy as a result.

It came to a head during the seventh inning of Sunday’s 7-6 Mets win, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a game-tying, two-run home run and slowed down after he passed second base to exchange words with Francisco Lindor, leading to the benches clearing before Stanton even touched home.

Lindor had jabbered at the Yankees as he rounded the bases during his second home run of the night in the bottom of the sixth, delivering a whistling gesture towards their dugout and then appearing to do the same toward pitcher Wandy Peralta.

“Over the past couple days — I can’t accuse them of whistling for the signs because I’m not 100 percent [sure],” Lindor said. “But I know what I heard. I felt like there was something out of the ordinary going on. I heard what I heard. I’m not accusing them. I’m not saying I heard them doing it 100 percent, because I don’t know 100 percent. But it definitely felt that way and I took that personally.”

Are the New York Yankees for real? What you should—and shouldn’t—believe

If the Yankees miss the playoffs, or exit early, what would it mean for manager Aaron Boone? And how might it affect the team’s offseason plan?

Lee: I think part of this would be dependent on exactly how the Yankees exit. Boone certainly needs to take some of the blame for how this team performed early, but he also deserves credit for helping turn things around. Beyond Boone, I’m curious to see how the Yankees approach Gleyber Torres’ future, given his struggles this season—especially with a marquee shortstop like Trevor Story available as a free agent.

Schoenfield: Boone is in the final year of his contract and there has been little public discussion of an extension, so it does feel like the Yankees have to at least make the postseason for him to keep his job, especially in a season in which they were the AL favorites for the World Series—where the Yankees haven’t been since 2009. I don’t think a wild card is enough, however, after disappointing losses in the ALDS to the Red Sox in 2018, to the Astros in the 2019 ALCS, and to the Rays in the 2020 ALDS. Boone might have to win the AL to be back in pinstripes in 2022.

As for the offseason, we’ll have to see how the new CBA plays out and how willing the Yankees will be to blow past the luxury tax (if there is one) after staying under it this year. I’m with Joon: They’ll have a new shortstop next season, with the issue whether Torres slides over to second base or is traded for some prospects/pitching help. They need to become a little more athletic (Gallo helps in that regard) and a good two-way player like Story is a good fit, with his power, defense and baserunning. Aaron Hicks is still under contract, but a new center fielder might be in order as well.

Yankees’ Luke Voit not ready to cede playing time when Anthony Rizzo returns: ‘I deserve to play just as much as he does’

With Anthony Rizzo due to come off the COVID-19 injured list sometime soon, New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit said he still expects to play when the three-time All-Star returns.

“I was top-10 MVP last year and I’ve been a great player for this organization for the last three years,” Voit said after Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

“I’m not going down. I want to play. Obviously, I know it will be tough with Rizzo, but I deserve to play just as much as he does. I led the league in home runs last year. I feel really good again.”

Voit was on the injured list with knee inflammation—his third IL stint of the season—when the Yankees acquired Rizzo from the Cubs at the trade deadline. Rizzo has been out since Aug. 7, while Voit returned to the lineup on Aug. 8.

Despite struggling for most of this season after hitting 22 home runs in 56 games last year, Voit has hit .243/.317/.486 with 3 homers and 9 RBIs in 10 games since his return, including a home run in the second game of the doubleheader.

New York Yankees reliever Zack Britton to manager Aaron Boone: Remove me from closer role

New York Yankees reliever Zack Britton told manager Aaron Boone to remove him from his current role as the team’s closer after his latest blown save of the season.

Britton spoke to Boone in the wake of giving up a walk-off, two-run shot by White Sox All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson in Chicago’s 9-8 win over the Yankees in Thursday’s “Field of Dreams” game in Iowa.

“I told him I don’t deserve to be out there in the ninth inning; other guys deserve it,” Britton said Saturday before Game 2 of the Yankees-White Sox series at Guaranteed Rate Field. “I haven’t been pitching the way I should be to be out there when the team needs wins. I told [Boone] I want to pitch, whenever you need me I’ll be ready, but I don’t deserve to be out there in those situations.”

Subbing in as the team’s closer, and put in charge of the ninth inning with Aroldis Chapman on the injured list due to left elbow inflammation, Britton has had four save opportunities and converted only one. Britton has an 8.10 ERA in those four appearances, giving up three earned runs over 3⅓ innings pitched.

Yankees edge Royals in extras, become first team in MLB history to win despite four blown saves in the game

With their 8-6 win in 11 innings over the Royals on Monday night in Kansas City (box score), the New York Yankees became the first team in MLB history to blow four saves in one game and still win. With the unlikely victory, the Yankees have won nine of their past 11 and are 16-7 in the second half. They’re also now just two games behind the Red Sox for the second AL wild card spot.

The Yankees on Monday night got six scoreless from the surging Jameson Taillon—he now has a 1.45 ERA over his past seven starts—but they weren’t able to push across a run of their own until Luke Voit’s RBI single in the seventh. Voit, back at first base in place of deadline acquisition Anthony Rizzo, who’s on the IL after testing positive for COVID, also homered in the ninth.

The Yankees and Royals traded runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, and each plated a pair of runs in the 10th. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that made for the first time in MLB history in which both teams scored in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings. While the automatic runner rule presently in force abetted the run-scoring in the 10th, it’s an elusive feat in any context. Along the way, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green, Zack Britton and Clay Holmes all blew save opportunities for New York. As Katie Sharp noted on Twitter, only one other team, the 1995 Astros, ever blew four save chances in a game, but they wound up losing that game.

Yankees Nearly Traded Luke Voit Before Deadline

The Yankees came very close to trading Luke Voit before last week’s trade deadline, Andy Martino of SNY reports. The Yankees discussed three potential deals involving Voit, per the report, one of which fell apart just before the deadline when the trade partner in question backed out of the swap.

With no trade coming together, Voit’s role on the Yankees has rather surprisingly become unclear. Despite the fact that the 30-year-old slugger paced the Majors with 22 home runs last summer and has generally been a well above-average hitter from the moment he arrived on the scene in the Bronx, the 2021 campaign has been something of a nightmare. Voit has endured three IL stints thanks to a torn meniscus, a strained oblique and a bone bruise in his knee, and he’s managed a tepid .241/.328/.370 output in 122 plate appearances when healthy.

Voit’s offense looked to be coming around in the weeks between his two most recent IL stints. From June 22 through July 11, he tallied 72 plate appearances and turned in a .281/.361/.453 batting line with two homers, three doubles and a triple. However, the Yankees acquired Anthony Rizzo at the trade deadline and already have a crowded designated hitter scene now that Joey Gallo has been added to an outfield mix that also includes Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton. Per Martino, the team has at least discussed the possibility of optioning Voit to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — a notion that not long ago would’ve seemed unthinkable.

New York Yankees acquire LHP Andrew Heaney from Los Angeles Angels for minor leaguers

he New York Yankees acquired Los Angeles Angels starter Andrew Heaney on Friday, adding a pitcher after making two big trades for sluggers.

The Yankees got the 30-year-old lefty and cash for minor league right-handers Janson Junk and Elvis Peguero.

New York began the day at 53-48, fourth in the AL wild-card race for two spots. As Friday’s trade deadline approached, the Yankees got All-Star outfielder Joey Gallo from Texas and star first baseman Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs.

Heaney was 6-7 with a 5.27 ERA in 18 starts for the Angels this year. He is 30-36 with a 4.57 ERA in eight seasons with Miami and Los Angeles. He posted his first big league win against the Yankees in 2015.

Yankees To Acquire Anthony Rizzo | MLBTR

5:47 pm: In exchange, Chicago will pick up two prospects — outfielder Kevin Alcantara and right-hander Alexander Vizcaino –– Curry reports. He adds that the Cubs will retain the entirety of Rizzo’s remaining salary.

New York Yankees set to acquire Joey Gallo from Texas Rangers for six minor leaguers, sources say

The New York Yankees are finalizing a deal to acquire outfielder Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday night.

The deal is pending a medical review.

The Rangers will receive right-handers Glenn Otto and Randy Vasquez, second baseman Ezequiel Duran, shortstop Josh Smith, second baseman/outfielder Trevor Hauver and outfielder Everson Pereira from New York, sources told Passan.

Gallo was a late scratch from the Rangers’ lineup ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, with speculation that a trade was in the works.

New York Yankees trade relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to Cincinnati Reds

The New York Yankees traded relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to the Cincinnati Reds late Tuesday night for a player to be named.

The move could signal the Yankees are pursuing a big addition to their bullpen and were looking to create room.

The deal was announced hours after New York won 4-3 at Tampa Bay, and Cincinnati finished off a 7-4 road victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

The Yankees also made a bullpen move Monday, acquiring reliever Clay Holmes from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league infielders Hoy Park and Diego Castillo.

The 29-year-old Cessa went 3-1 with a 2.82 ERA in 29 relief appearances for the Yankees this season.

Wilson, 33, was 1-1 with a 7.50 ERA in 21 outings. The left-hander missed a combined 34 games during two stints on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation (March 29 to April 9) and a strained right hamstring (May 29 to June 30). He signed a one-year contract in February with a player option for 2022.

New York Yankees acquire reliever Clay Holmes from Pittsburgh Pirates for 2 minor league infielders

The New York Yankees, facing some important decisions with Friday’s trade deadline looming, on Monday acquired right-handed reliever Clay Holmes from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league infielders Diego Castillo and Hoy Park.

Holmes, 28, is 3-2 in 44 relief appearances with 44 strikeouts and 35 walks in 42 innings. He has held right-handed batters to a .173 average (17-for-98). Holmes is 5-7 with a 5.57 ERA over 91 games, including four starts, in four major league seasons.

Park, 25, appeared in one major league game, on July 16 against Boston. He is batting .307 with 10 doubles, 11 homers and 32 RBIs for Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Boston Red Sox end Domingo German’s no-hit bid in 8th inning, storm back to beat New York Yankees

Domingo German was simply dominating the Boston Red Sox. Never more so than in the seventh inning, when the New York Yankees right-hander struck out stars J.D. Martinez, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and rookie Jarren Duran.

As German walked off the mound then with a no-hitter intact and a solid lead, there was no way to envision what was on deck.

Held hitless into the eighth by German and looking feeble, Alex Verdugo and the Red Sox suddenly erupted for five runs to shake Fenway Park and storm past New York 5-4 on Sunday.

The old ballpark was almost silent all afternoon, until Verdugo opened the eighth with a long double for Boston’s first hit, and he raised his arms in celebration at second base.

By the time Kike Hernandez slid home headfirst on Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly with the go-ahead run to cap the rally, fans were fired up.

“I felt like just getting that hit out of the way had everybody just take that big deep breath, didn’t have to worry about getting no-hit anymore,’’ Verdugo said. “That inning was crazy. From going no-hit to seven innings to putting five up in the eighth, that’s one of the craziest comebacks I’ve ever been a part of.’‘

Former New York Yankees star Joe Pepitone sues Hall of Fame to get valued bat teammate Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run with

Mantle was nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career when he smacked a pitch from Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles into the right-field bleachers at old Yankee Stadium in May 1967. The lawsuit says Mantle wanted to use a lighter bat than his signature model in order to generate bat speed, and Pepitone obliged after hitting a home run the previous inning.

Yankees, MLB ban fan for life after throwing baseball at Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo

The New York Yankees have banned the fan who threw a baseball and hit Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo from Yankee Stadium for life, a team spokesman said Sunday afternoon.

Major League Baseball has also banned the fan from its other 29 ballparks, the spokesman added.

“While the Yankees appreciate the spirit and passion of our fans in our various rivalries—especially with the Red Sox – reckless, disorderly and dangerous behavior that puts the safety of players, field staff or fellow fans in jeopardy will not be tolerated,” the Yankees said in a statement. “There is absolutely no place for it at Yankee Stadium. The safety of everyone at Yankee Stadium, including guests in the stands and players on the field, will always be the top priority for the Yankees organization every time we open our doors.”

The Yankees plan to meet with authorities later Sunday night to provide them with all information they have about the incident, the spokesman said.

‘Embarrassed’ Suzyn Waldman frustrated with Yankees’ broadcasting situation

Suzyn Waldman was embarrassed. She couldn’t sleep. And the root of it all was that she was in The Bronx, at Yankee Stadium, broadcasting on WFAN the Yankees-Blue Jays game that was being played in Buffalo.

In the ninth inning Wednesday, when the controversial foul tip-or-no foul tip play with Gary Sanchez behind the plate happened, Waldman was looking down at her notes for a moment – and didn’t see it. That’s the life of calling games off a monitor.

“I didn’t sleep all night,” Waldman told The Post. “I was really embarrassed.”

While it is true Waldman could have been looking at her notes, even if she were in Buffalo, she would have been able to see for herself the rhythm of the game. In her mind, being present would have helped.

This isn’t the only reason why the vaccinated 74-year-old Waldman and 82-year-old John Sterling — and while we are at it, the YES announcers as well — should be on the road soon, but it is an example of what is gained by announcers being at the ballpark.

In person, the game is presented better with more details. Anyone in the business and fans should hear it. Bean counters, be damned.

Analytics boss answers all with MLB buzzing about Yankees obsession

The strongest complaint about the Yankees — one that I believe — is that there has been a loss of feel in assembling a roster. I am no enemy of analytics. They are vital and even the angriest Yankees fan should not lose perspective that it helped — among many other items — the Yanks score Luis Cessa and Chad Green for Justin Wilson. But is there too much concentration on obtaining the best paint colors at the expense of making sure those colors work in unison on a canvas?

For the 2021 Yankees, each individual decision can be explained and, often, the individual decision is a winning one. However, once assembled, particularly regarding the positional group, there are too few lefty hitters, too little athleticism and limited baseball smarts.

“To that, a lot of this is the same team that has had success,” Fishman said of a lineup that was top four each season in runs from 2017-20 and scored the most overall in that period and was central to a playoff team each season. “So this was individual players who were brought together and they are not having success this year, but they had success in the past. This was a lineup that produced runs the last couple of years and isn’t this year. So the same argument can be used, it is individual players brought in together, but it worked together as a productive lineup. And it hasn’t been a productive lineup this year.

Yankees acquire Tim Locastro from Diamondbacks as season crumbles

The Yankees are starting small in an attempt to turn their miserable 41-39 season around.

The team announced it obtained Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Tim Locastro for Double-A right-hander Keegan Curtis.

Locastro will take some of the weight off Aaron Judge, as he can make starts in center field against left-handers.

In addition, the 28-year-old is a major speed threat. In 2019, he stole 17 bases in 91 games. He holds the record of most stolen bases without being caught to start a career at 29.

New York GM Brian Cashman blunt about state of struggling Yankees

- Yankees general manager Brian Cashman isn’t beating around the bush about the performance of the Bronx Bombers.

“We suck right now,” Cashman said ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium. “As bad as we can be.”

However, for the third time this season, Cashman offered support behind manager Aaron Boone and the coaching staff.

“This is not an Aaron Boone problem,” Cashman said. “This is not a coaching staff problem.”

Cashman shifted the blame away from Boone toward himself.

“It’s easy from my chair to say, ‘Let me throw something overboard to just satisfy the masses.’ It’s harder to actually stick with what you’ve got because you believe in it,” he said. “These people care. They’re working their ass off. They’re really good at what they do. We’re not getting the results. I’m the head of baseball operations. That’s more on me than them.”

Yankees are a broken team, so why is Brian Cashman doing nothing?

Something drastic is going to happen soon. Can’t you feel it? Will it be Aaron Boone getting banged? Have you noticed the manager hasn’t received a recent vote of confidence after getting one after the Yankees started 5-10?

Interesting.

If Boone survives, and you can argue he shouldn’t be the No. 1 fall guy, then Cashman has to at least try for a quick fix even if it means overpaying for immediate help by selling the farm while making Jasson Dominguez the only untouchable.

Everything you hear coming out of Yankees land is how they’re built to win championships, yet it’s obvious from the outside looking in that Cashman has put together a flawed team that has a flawed blueprint. Sooner or later, you’ll get eaten up for loading lineups with nine right-handed sluggers who are being preached analytics, and these Yankees have become shark bait to a lot of pitching.

It’s painfully obvious that the Yankees need a center fielder with Aaron Hicks done for the season after more underachieving and Brett Gardner looking 37 going on 47 a lot of the time. The 20-45 Diamondbacks will be blowing up their team before the July 31 trade deadline and have a 27-year-old, switch-hitting center fielder with an affordable contract available. Why hasn’t Cashman traded for Ketel Marte, a .347 hitter this season who has a 31-homer campaign on his resume?

Seriously, call the Diamondbacks and offer them a great return, two or three elite prospects and Clint Frazier if that’s what it takes. Look at all the ranked prospects that the Yankees have traded over the last 10 years and try naming just one who turned into a star.