Even after reaching agreements with DJ LeMahieu and Corey Kluber, the Yankees are still hoping to round out the roster. New York is looking for pitching depth, hears Buster Olney of ESPN, with a “third-tier starter” or relief help most likely. Olney also adds that the Yankees would still like to bring back outfielder Brett Gardner, who has spent his entire career to date in pinstripes.
The Yankees have a few high-upside pitchers who could earn regular rotation jobs behind Gerrit Cole and Kluber, at least until Luis Severino recovers from his February 2020 Tommy John surgery. Jordan Montgomery didn’t do a great job keeping runs off the board last year, but his peripherals were strong and likely earned him another rotation spot. Prospects Clarke Schmidt and Deivi García are at or near the majors, while Domingo Germán is returning from a season-long domestic violence suspension. Given the wide ranges of potential outcomes for most of those players (and Kluber, for that matter), it’s arguable the Yankees should add a stable back-of-the-rotation veteran to the mix. That’s all the more true in a 2021 campaign where pitchers’ workloads are expected to see a massive spike after last year’s shortened season.
In the outfield, the Yankees maintained they had interest in bringing Gardner back immediately after buying out his club option last October. Apparently, that remains the case. The 37-year-old is an organizational favorite whose left-handed bat continues to fit a Yankee lineup that skews right-handed. Gardner had a fairly productive .223/.354/.392 slash line last season but is certainly looking at a contract for less than the $12.5MM guarantee he commanded last offseason.
At the moment, the Yankees’ 2021 payroll sits at a projected $201MM, per Roster Resource. The organization’s luxury tax ledger is estimated at just over $207MM. That leaves essentially no wiggle room for further additions if the organization is committed to staying below the first tax threshold of $210MM. With that in mind, Olney suggests the Yankees could look to move reliever Adam Ottavino, who has a matching $9MM salary and luxury hit in the final season of his contract. The Yankees may have to pay down some of that money and accept a rather minimal return to do so, though, with Ottavino coming off something of a down year.
Get someone to finally take Stanton. Then sign both Gardy and Brantley.
Tanaka-san not even mentioned!?
I don’t think any team is going to want to help the Yankees spend more by taking an expensive contract off the Yankees hands unless NY really sweetens the pot. They’d be better off just using whatever resources they had internally, and save whatever little room they have for a mid season acquisition,
Spencer Turnbull, Matthew Boyd, Daniel Norris, Michael Fulmer 😉
None of those guys
Take out one game where Ottavino got blasted by the Jays and he had a pretty good season. Not great but pretty good. Teams needing bullpen help should be all over this.
Red Sox is one of them.
That’s always been my point no one willing to help the Yankees. They rather trade a Lindor to Mets or Mookie to Dodgers for basically nothing. I could be wrong but teams are jealous of the Yankees for all the past successes. That’s why they need to do a much better job at player development and drafting.
If you are right, I don’t understand that thinking. Everyone plays by the same rules. Put the Yanks on the pay no mind list and build your team. If anything, we could argue the Yanks are at a disadvantage thanks to the luxury tax. Yet they soldier on.
My first thought with Ottavino was dealing him and Tauchman for Benintendi. Something along those lines.
Ottavino and Tauchman for Benintendi??? Red Sox have to add to that offer. Benintendi. His numbers have been declining steadily after his really good rookie year.
Why would Boston get rid of him and when do they stop laughing at your proposal
That’s a little much to say those players were traded for nothing. Red sox got to dump a chunk of Price’s terrible contract with that one year of team control for Mookie and still got back a rookie who was a top 30 prospect in Verdugo and another who is currently a top 60 prospect in Downs. Similar situation for Cleveland.
Fact is yankees have been loathe to spend over the tax since George passed, which has been a much bigger factor in why they seem to come up short more often when they go for someone anymore.
Still, I’d much prefer their current spending habits over the bargain bin signings of the Red Sox the last two years.
I guess lindor’s 20 mil contract escapes you…
SoxRewl: you are correct to say the Yankees operated more like a business since George passed. Not that they are cheap, for they aren’t, but that they don’t spend as recklessly and their prospects have not been overrated by the rest of mlb teams. Maybe if Sanchez can fjnally figiure out how to hit again
If Sanchez figures it out, they will be the force to be reckoned with.
The Yankees will not give him to the Red Sox.
Ah, after watching Ottavino last abbreviated season, there were many, many games where Otto didn’t do the job….this went far beyond this one Jays game you mention…he was not the 7th inning stopper guy he had been previously and it showed through. his own frustration of getting pulled from games. He certainly didn’t have a pretty good season and his lack of performance led to an over dependence on Chad Green who due to the over work, became very hittable and as undependable as Otto.
He struggled…… a lot of people did. 2020 was a mess. People wore masks while driving. Let’s just wait and see before condemning Otto to the pasture.
Thinking the sweetener for something as albatross soup as the Stanton contract starts (and likely thus ends) with Jasson Dominguez…
Gardner at age 37?
Cashman should look at Joc Pederson.
He’s not up to par with Gardner’s defense but his bat is much better.
Joc’s lefty power swing probably plays well in the Bronx.
They just as well see what Tauchman can do.
Joc cannot hit LH pitching at all. Although they do need LH bats, I don’t see a big advantage in getting yet another outfielder for a few more** home runs in RF.
Yankees are good at keeping a player or two around forever to give the team a familiarity that’s fun. I say this as someone who is still bitter that the Sox let Buehrle walk for no reason.
What is with the fascination of fans wanting players to stay with one team their entire career? This comes up with small market franchises all the time crying the franchise player won’t stay? You don’t want them to stay if you want to win. And the media doesn’t want that either. They’ll ask the guy when he’s hurt and broke down, why aren’t you the same player and the guy will leave angry. Happens too frequently. Let them go.
It’s fun to have a few players that you are familiar with. I never said you should keep bad players around. One of the parts of the NHL that totally sucks is the fact that the salary cap means you don’t get to see a lot of players you like stick around for any amount of time.
I doubt Al Avila is even a baseball fan at this point…… Sure as the Dickens- he is NOT a Tiger fan…..
Chris ILLICH has no apparent love for baseball either……
Sports professionals ruining the game for true fans……
STINKS!
Stop thinking about the Yankees giving up Dominguez. Yankees finally got a great prospect and hopefully he can replace Judge who’s Mr DL.
@Joe yes seeing what Tauchman can do is great. I’m just thinking about getting rid of Stanton to also get Brantley to give up another contact hitter like DJ. I only say this because the Yankees are insisting on avoiding the tax. Having it all Stanton and Brantley is great too if Yankees just pay whatever it takes to go all in. It’s been long enough. They are not a small market team.
They’re not doing either. Getting rid of Stanton is a pipe dream. It’s not happening unless he reverts back to MVP-type numbers and the NL gets the DH after next season, and finally the Yankees pony up a bunch of cash.
But if he reverts back to MVP hitting, why the hell would they?
Did I miss the part in the article where they talked about the tigers?
am i the only one who feels a .223/.354/.392 line isn’t that productive?
you aren’t
You aren’t the only one but most of the people who don’t died years ago or have from covid. Still a couple people that don’t understand how current baseball is evaluated though.
all that line says to the positive is he hits a few home runs (which is not hard in today’s game) and can take a walk. (which he’s good at but hardly world-class at) otherwise that slash screams 9 hole hitter to me. compare those numbers to the worst starter or even worst bench hitter on most contending teams. the idea that you’d expend any tangible financial resources for such production is absurd to me.
@darkside830 exactly he’s only useful because he’s a left handed bat that will work a count and maybe walk or homer, nothing in between anymore. Doesn’t steal bases, hit for average and has a noodle for an arm in LF. O yeah he thinks he’s a power hitter cuz he hit 28 a few years ago. I’d be happy to move on from him. I forgot the red Sox are shopping benintendi, I highly doubt they make a trade with NYY but hed be perfect and a way better option than brantly like this other guy keeps saying.
This is impossible to read. Just a series of words with no line breaks, you can’t tell what is a sentence or not. Why go to the trouble of typing this much jibberish if no one can read it?
It’s not impossible to read. I admit it’s not well written but it’s hardly illegible, unless you have a weak mind. And nobody appointed you editor. Get over yourself already.
.245/.323/.418 is the average slash line of mlb last year. The middle part that’s OBP. That’s what teams look at first. .353 is much higher than .323 that’s why teams still want him in 2021.
but the other two matter and “average” isnt a high bar when you want to win a championship.
Yea but we’re talking about a 4th OF. Not a guy who they’re relying on every day.
And he’s on the field everyday, and he’s got intangibles that many organizations would love to have in their players… I like Gardy, and for fourth OF he’s fine. I also hoped he would retire after last year but he wants to go out on a WS.
Yankees need to spend the money during this competitive window, shore up their current weaknesses (especially the BIG pitching ones) and plan for a couple moves next year. Go over the welfare, hem, CBT, and win.
Guys look at it this way. Would you take GS an AO for Arenado and gray if you were a Rockie fan? It’s a resounding NO. Stop looking through the pinstriped glasses and get realistic. Arenado’s glove alone makes him extremely valuable
The motivation for the Yankees to move Stanton is to get rid of the contract. Getting Arenado does nothing but add salary but for a shorter time.
Stanton will be back as a force. As a DH hopefully he can stay healthy and hit those homer’s we were promised. We also need the same out of Arron Judge. They still are the most dangerous home run tandem in all of baseball if they get there acts together.
What do Stanton and 44 DD’s have in common? Answer: A big bust
I think those players moving sounds decently fair but I think that would take a 3rd team to take Ottovino and trade a prospect from their Org. Just dont know that the Red Sox would trade Benintendi for a “now” piece in Ottavino. This seems like a fair move to me:
Red Sox get Tauchman and team X’s prospect.
Yankees get Benitendi
Team X gets Ottavino and 3M from Red Sox/Yankees.
Yankees have as much chance of getting rid of the Stanton contract as the Orioles do with Chris Davis.
Whatever happened to players willing to take a paycut to win a Championship. Maybe Tanaka comes back one year 5 Million
I don’t care what most people think. Trading for Stanton was a mistake now more than ever. The Yankees are on a so called budget by Yankees standards. That contract has hurt them more than helped. His contract was the reason the Yankees couldn’t go higher for Corbin or Wheeler, couldn’t get Lindor etc
If stanton’s contract wasn’t there someones else’s hefty contract would’ve taken its place and still wouldn’t be in the Lindor talks etc
I am sure that Tanaka already has offers in the $10 million range at least.
I do agree that there is such a thing as an injury prone player but hell in 2019 nobody on that team could stay healthy. I’d prefer the reason for his lack of production be a treatable health reason than regression. If(big if)Stanton can remain healthy the Yankees will have one of the best hitters in the game. He was an absolute beast with the Marlins. I’d be concerned with his injuries but slow down with the hot garbage talk.
I expect a lot of ankle injuries because they’re cheap skates.
No one will take Stanton’s contract. He can’t even sneeze with out getting hurt. His contract should of came with a full body cast whenever he was traded to the Yankees.
Frazier, Andujar, Albert Abreu……..for Castillo. Sign Gardy…..Done !!!!
Reds say no. Almost nobody wants Andujar, and certainly not as a piece in a trade for Castillo. Try Schmidt and Garcia with Frazier and Abreu and maybe you’ll start getting traction. I’m not sure the Yankees have the pieces for a Castillo trade.
Lol you guys need to find another hobby and stop playing GM. Frazier is the starting left fielder. Andujar trade value is like nill. Castillo is a top rotation arm in NL who I’m sure once he comes to AL will struggle and Yankee fans will hate the fact they dealt fir him. Just wait sbd see what Clarke Schmidt gives you and Devi and Severino will be back and Montgomery will be better. Just relax! Only deal worth doing is one they cannot and that is get rid of Stanton. Hicks is next to go after Stanton.
Can they please move on from Gardner.
That’s going to be… difficult for some of us, bro.
Stanton is the Yankees latest albatross and he has a full no trade so he’s going no where! Unless he starts hating NY and decides to allow a trade to west coast and then the Yanks would have to eat a ton of money snd no expect any decent return. Just isn’t happening anytime soon if at all. Didn’t like this trade too much at the start and despise it even more now.
Must be nice to have a $12 mil 4th outfielder. Garner, if on the Indians, would be there highest paid player this year. He hit better than any of them…but this is where baseball has gone wrong. Not that the Indians don’t have money and are cost cutting because they have to, but when other teams fan say that they are willing to pay 15 million to another team to “take a mistake” and get little back, there is a huge discrepancy in teams and talent. I do t know how to fix this because neither side would give enough to correct the problem but something has got to give.
The problem with baseball is it has the dumbest fans. It has people that makes suggestions on fixes that the owners, not the players want and neither do the intelligent fans. Intelligent fans know that for years the Indians were competitive and nearly won the World Series in 2016.
The others leagues have done a great job convincing the simpleton fans of their league that a salary cap makes parity when there isn’t. If you even suggest a salary cap you should have to get Marvin Miller family members and all the players from the expos and tony Gwynn any else who lost money in 1994 and they should each spit right in your face all of them one after another. Then if you think it’s still a good idea you can bring up the salary cap.
Caps and CBT = less money. Open it up, let teams spend. It is a self-correcting problem because every business has a limit.
Bringing back Gardner just shows a non committal to winning. He is trash.
As a Redsox fan and an admirer of the Evil Empire team players, i like Popeye and hope they bring him back. He gave 110% when he played, and most players could learn from him. Otto was decent his first yr cuz no one knew him in the AL, but he is a big talker, and not very good. I wish they would keep him and play him in every NYY/Redsox game!!!!
Lol to everyone bashing Gardner. Dude has been signed for like 4 years straight to be the 4th outfielder only to have to play every day and bail out the glass trifecta in Hicks, Judge and Stanton. Is it Gardners fault that he isn’t a wimp like those guys?
Here is an idea….how about Judge, Hicks and Stanton man up and deal with their little paper cuts that keep them out for seasons at a time and we won’t have to worry about Gardner playing more than once or twice a week.
Thank god Cash keeps bring him back. What 4th outfielder would have out performed Gardner over the last 3 years when they are forced to play everyday. Go ahead and compile that list I’ll wait here.
It’s kind of difficult to tough it out if you have oblique muscle tears, torn elbow tendons, and torn hamstring muscles and be expected to play in professional sports, no? At that point, you’re just a warm body and a liability on the field.
I’m no Yankee fan, but from the outside and if my memory holds, the last time they relied on young pitching to carry them into the playoffs, the following offseason they spent like 500M on improvements because that plan failed so hard
I agree with those who think the plan to duck under the first line is gone. I could very well see them trying to Tanaka over a Paxton at this point and biting the tax bullet again
Yanks are done with free agents this year, they will trade for another starter. Blockbuster trades: Torres, Garcia, Schmidt, and Andujar for Marquez and Story, or Gray and Story for Garcia, Perraza, and Ford. Rockies need to rebuild, they are not close right now!
I say offer 2/20 to both Tanaka and Odorizzi who ever takes it is who we have.
& nothing on wether or not the Yankees are truly intending to get below the fist CBT threshold.
A starter + bullpen help + a possible Gardy reunion = way more than $3-4 MM. If the Yanks are willing to incur the lowest level of fines/penalities they would have 20 mil left.
That would do all that.
Although – painful as it is – it may be time to part ways with GGBG.
Ducky from the RAB days?
Tis.
“GGBG” gave it away, huh?
GoodGameBrettGardner – Miss that site! Mike had most level-headed takes covering the team and commenters weren’t just homers wearing horse-blinders.
You had the same screen name there didn’t you?
But, yeah, RAB was awesome. Mr Axisa was an entertaining writer & a very good analyst. & what a cast of characters, man.
No, I was never on their boards. Seemed like a frat and a tough crowd if you weren’t a regular. I was at Pinstripe Alley from the beginning before SB Nation bought them. Then it quickly devolved after a few managing editor turnovers.
Gotcha.
Feel like I’ve seen that name before?
I went from RAB to PSA. I ran into some…problems at PSA.
I’ve nothing untoward to say about the posters – in general – over there, however.
Alright Ducky: My proposition (because I think Castillo is unfortunately out of reach) is German Marquez…. and maybe a combo with Story/Blackmon. What say you, sir? Obviously they have a clogging problem, so mlb talent must return to Colorado and/or another team, and the Yankees would likely have to take on Charlie Blackmon’s (?) contract too.
Oh yeah, I definitely like that.
I’d be pretty stoked to see a trade like that, man.
That’s quite a bit of added payroll. I’m not sure how Hal would feel about it. Blackmon would be a good get. I bet that young man cleans up well, uh?
I’ve been trying to work with adding ~ 20 mil in AAV as something that the Yankees might do.
BTV has Blackmon at – 27.5 MM, & Marquez at 91.2 MM. Absorbing Blackmon’s salary should lessen the the prospect cost.
I like this one. Hadn’t thought about it until now, but that trade would accomplish a lot.