Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner debuted in the majors in 2008, but it’s possible this will be the 37-year-old’s final season in the bigs. If it’s up to Gardner, though, that won’t be the case. He said Friday (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that he would “love to” play in 2021.
The Yankees, with whom Gardner has spent his entire career and racked up 37.3 fWAR, have a $10MM option over him for 2021, but it’s quite possible they’ll decline it in favor of a $2.5MM buyout. The club re-signed Gardner for a guaranteed $12.5MM after last season, in which he slashed .251/.325/.503 with a career-high 28 home runs and 10 stolen bases across 550 plate appearances, but he has since posted a .198/.333/.387 line with five homers and three steals over 135 PA.
While Gardner has started more games in left than any other Yankee this year, they’ll continue to have Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier in the fold as corner choices in a year. Either of those two or Giancarlo Stanton could be their No. 1 option at the position next season if Aaron Judge is able to man right on a regular basis. So, although he’s the longest-tenured Yankee, one of their heart-and-soul players and someone who has been rather productive throughout his career, Gardner could end up on the outs in the wake of a down season. However, even if the Yankees decline Gardner’s option, they could choose to bring him back on a more team-friendly deal.
If the Yankees win the World Series he’ll retire and go out on top
Lol
so, he’ll be back next year
IDK, when the Rangers trade for Clint Frazier, the Yankees will need a left fielder.
Sadly, the Yankees will lose both Andujar and Frazier in Buehner/Phelps type deals. Cashman is unable to accept the reality that neither Judge nor Stanton can play 100 games in a normal season. Instead, the GM is likely to hold onto his Twin Towers fantasy.
I don’t see the Yanks trading Frazier @ranger29. He looks like he’ll be added to the present core.
I *do* like Gallo, however. I’m a super shetty GM, man. I’ll be upfront about that. 🙂
I also hate the homer template of:
We trade; crappy players
We get; good players
That being said, I still throw one of those out there – ya know – every so often.
Uh?
So.
Is Andujar, Gil, & a lottery ticket prospect for Gallo a horrible trade proposal?
Of course, as Mr Axisa always stated; my trade proposal sucks. I’m just wondering if this is completely laughable or not.
Merci.
Frazier is NOT going anywhere and the Yankees future. I’m willing to bet Frazier ends up in RF permanently as there is zero chance Judge is signed long term with his injury history. They could trade Judge for the right pkg as he cannot stay healthy for a half a season.
I get your logic but it’s kind of hard to trade the face of the franchise.
i would usually agree with you, but the yankees have so many they can put in there, They have Cole, they have Torres, Urshela is another. While it would be unpopular to trade him they may lose him for nothing in FA because he will probably get a sizable deal elsewhere at this point from name alone.
Matt Harvey got 10M from the angels and he had nothing really left. Yes the angels are questionable for pitching and FA in general but still he got it.
Urshela as the face of the franchise? I get he became a solid player with the yanks, but no.
You can be the face of a franchise when you can’t be on the field more than 50 percent of the schedule.
You can’t…
Judge has two more years of arbitration so they can afford to wait and see if he can right the ship before shelling out huge money to keep him.
I think they have to wait as long as possible before making the decision. He’ll be 30 when he hits free agency. Maybe the extend him but they cannot sign him long term. Gleyber on the other hand they should consider signing and getting him at somewhat of a discount buying out his arbitration. Also have to extend DJ.
Red Sox fan says the Yanks have “high” class problems, I would not want to face them in a three-game series, even with the big-name pitching off the board, Paxton I mean
I am hoping to play as well in 2021
Hahaha I literally lol’ed at that comment… I know it was stupid/silly but I enjoyed it. Thanks! And for the record I’m also hoping to play next season… even willing to take a minor league contract at this point :-p
Even though he’s a pending free agent it’s obvious who he’s playing for next year. Surprising he’s one of the few career long Yankees in recent years given the amount of money they have.
Honestly still shocked we didn’t keep Cano. Obviously the right choice in the long run, but it still is one of those things I’ll always look back on
Cant blame them 10/$240 was insane for a 32 year old.
Letting Cano walk was the wiser move financially. Same will apply this winter with LeMahieu — who will expect too many guaranteed years to make sense for a club with others about to make mega money.
A wise move indeed, but it was overshadowed by an incredibly stupid move by signing Ellsbury. They already had Gardy for CF, finally his first opportunity to own the position, and they blow it by signing Ells. Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but come on, they already had a gold glove caliber CF! That deal was just as bad as if they kept Cano.
another season of unbridled rage!
He hasn’t been good in 6 years. Who cares. Yankees should have ate his contact 3 years ago and traded him. Bad contract for bad contract.
last season he was your 3rd best player on the team. While not great he still put up a 4 WAR. Gleybar put up a 3.
And that right there is a perfect example of how WAR is an imperfect science at best.
He’s made like 70-80 mil his career… I doubt any contract he’s had is that bad considering how valuable he’s been overall
Theyre talking about Brett Gardner not Jacoby Ellsbury. In case you were confused.
You’re right ellsbury was turrible for the jankees
Turrible is now my favorite typo, I may owe royalties for it = )
Yeah you owe it to Frankie Caliendo and Charles Barkley.
Plus Gardy rarely gets hurt, while the other 3 OF cannot stay on the field. That is very valuable in itself. He is what he is. Prior to this year he’ll bat .250 with a solid obp, hit some homers, steal some bases, play good defense and there is to plug in everyday if needed.
I agree that it is probably time for Gardner to call it a day while he is still an average hitter (his OPS is actually higher that Tauschman even though his BA is lower yet they both have about same playing time). We dont need another Jose Reyes type hanging on at a lesser level. He still would be a solid 4th or 5th OF at this point which is what he keeps getting signed to be. Unfortunately, they keep pushing him as a regular starter. I would say offer him 3-5 mil offer as a goodbye / thank you tour type deal and make him your 5th OF that can play all 3 spots while being a guy that has a decent ops. Anything more than that he can go else where.
Texas Rangers can have Stanton or Andujar. They can’t have Frazier until Florial or The Martian is ready. I would consider trading Stanton for Odor. Gardner needs to retire. Tauchman better suited for the 4th outfielder. I can only hope Injury prone Judge gets dealt. However his value is at the lowest point
Stanton has a no trade and the money and years aren’t close…
Stanton isn’t getting traded- stop trying to make it happen. No one is taking that contract after all his injuries, even in a bad contract swap. It’s silly to even suggest it, it’s just not happening.
The Yankees will almost certainly decline the option on Gardner, they will probably re-sign him to lower contract.
It’s going to be interesting to see how teams evaluate players after this season. Most numbers are terrible across the league
He might think about playing in 2020…
Time for a Gardy retirement party
Never heard so much hype for a career 258 hitter and 45 RBI a year guy. Had he played anywhere else nobody would of said 2 words.
Have you met Refsnyder ?
Man, it’s almost like RBI’s don’t represent a player’s actual contributions, especially when over half of your plate appearances come out of the leadoff spot. Garner has a 42.6 career bWAR, and 101 OPS+. People say Molina is a sure-fire HOF guy, but look at the overall numbers:
Molina: .281/.333/.404, 98 OPS+, 40.2 bWAR
Gardy: .258/.342/.401, 101 OPS+, 42.6 bWAR.
Nice stats
The Yankees are losing 3 starting pitchers to free agency this year (Happ, Paxton & Tanaka) and their most valuable player (DJ LeMahieu) is a free agent as well. They also have 14 arbitration eligible players this year, some of whom are very important players (Judge, Torres, Frazier, Sanchez, Urshela, Andujar). After declining Gardner’s option, their payroll obligations are around $135M for 2021, EXCLUDING all of the 14 arb-eligible players current salaries and DJL current salary. Assuming the Yankees want to resign LeMahieu, that number comes up to $155M and they’ll still need to sign the majority of their 14 arbitration players (Judge will get $18M+ himself) and possibly add at least 1 if not 2 free agent pitchers. So it seems almost impossible for the Yankees to stay under the highest CBT threshold of $250M+ if they want to keep this team together and make a run at a championship. As 3 time CBT offenders, they’ll pay a 100% tax on the highest tier of overages. So bringing Gardy back seems like a long shot even if he agrees to come back for $5M as that really becomes $10M after the tax. The Yankees have some tough decisions to make this off season for sure. If they want to avoid the highest tax bracket, they might have to let DJL walk and/or only sign one starting pitcher and hope that both of their rookies are ready to pitch a full season and that Severino and Monty can stay healthy for the full year as well. I’m guessing they’ll decide to resign DJL & Tanaka and try to put the screws to Judge, Torres, etc. in arbitration to avoid that highest tax bracket. This year’s team salary is $275M so it’s going to be challenging to accomplish this goal even without Gardy on the payroll.
DJL has been great, but he is getting up there. Go with some younger guys.
Ah, DJ is 32 and will probably be offered and most probably accept a 3-4 year deal which is right in line for a player with his resume backwards, and looking at his probable future contributions both offensively and defensively to the club. Seemingly as a Bob Gibson fan would you have traded or let Bob Gibson walk when he was 32 because he was “getting up there”?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees bring back Gardner on a (much) cheaper contract to be their 4th OF… sure he’s having a terrible season at the plate this year… but again it has only been 115 or so ABs… he may well be done, BUT it’s also possible that in a regular length season he could’ve picked things up in the second half. At 36/37 years old — he may not have much left in the tank. But given his leadership abilities, still above average baserunning and solid enough defense coupled with what I’d assume would be a willingness to sign a team friendly deal to keep playing/stay in NY — there’s not much downside to resigning him as a backup OF — especially given the injury history of the other OF’s ahead of him on the depth chart. At the very worst… he could still provide ‘professional’ at-bats in a pinch for the Yanks next season off the bench.
cash will overpay and bring him back then fail to sign a real difference maker like a bauer over money….like the 29.5 mil spent this year on gardy and happ, or the 29 .5 mil spent last year on gardy and happless.
Didn’t know where else to put it. You have given us the Mets, the Giants and the Jets, the Knicks and the Nets, the Rangers, and de Blasio. Way to go NYC.
I’d be happy to have Gardner back on the Yankees but it’s got to be a 1 year deal and to be the 4th outfielder. His time starting is over and it’s time Frazier take on LF, he’s looked great there this season
Somewhere else because he is trash. Always has been. Good riddance
Lindor and Plesac for Andujar,Nelson,& a catching prospect.
I’d try trading Stanton to LA before dumping Andujar. That guy’s bat at DH is .300 30/100.