1:01PM: Gittens has been officially signed to a Major League deal and selected to the Yankees’ roster. Corey Kluber was moved to the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man spot for Gittens.
9:37AM: The Yankees will select the contract of first baseman Chris Gittens prior to today’s game against the Red Sox, The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler reports (Twitter link). Reliever Nick Nelson was optioned to Triple-A after last night’s game, so while there is an opening on the active roster, another transaction is necessary to add Gittens to the 40-man roster.
Now in his seventh pro season, “Hard Hittin’ Gittens” is set to make his Major League debut after being a 12th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2014 draft. The 27-year-old is a classic first base/DH slugger, though not quite a three-true-outcomes type — Gittens has a .265/.375/.476 slash line and 75 homers over 1727 career plate appearances in the minors. He does have 476 strikeouts on his resume, though Gittens has cut down on his strikeout rate considerably during what has been a breakout season at Triple-A.
Playing at Triple-A for the first time in his career, Gittens has hit .283/.486/.585 over 74 PA for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. These offensive numbers would stand out in any circumstance, but they especially appeal to a Yankees team that has been surprisingly mediocre at the plate this season, with especially little coming from the first base position. Luke Voit has missed much of the year due to injury, and New York first basemen have combined for a 76 wRC+, ranking 26th of 30 teams.
The door is certainly open for Gittens to earn some regular playing time if he can even approach his Triple-A production, as Voit isn’t expected back from his oblique strain until late June. Gittens’ audition at first base will essentially push Rougned Odor out of New York’s lineup, as DJ LeMahieu will likely move from regular first-base duty to supplant the struggling Odor at second base.
Finally!
They come and go. If Gittens starts raking out of the gate, Voit’s 15 minutes of fame will be over.
I think Voit has shown he can hold down 1b on a good team. Health will always be his limiting factor.
About freaking time. He might suck, but he deserves the chance. Can’t be worse than the embarrassment on the field now.
The bar is pretty low. If he can match odors production than they are a better team with him at 1b and DJM at 2b.
Odor is at 0 fWAR so Gittens only has to be not worst than replacement level. **Sigh**
Need to get the bats going somehow.
Perhaps, Gittens is part of that solution. I really can’t believe just how abysmal our “hitting” has been.
I – however – remain wary of the, “can’t be any worse” stuff, @Joe.
Ducky.. I understand about being wary of can’t be any worse but: Gittens is a very good defensive first baseman, this allows DJLM to move to his natural position, Ford has just been plain bad and gets Odor’s bat out of the lineup.
Trust me, @Joe.
I am plenty excited to see this kid play.
& the bar for “production” out of first is disgustingly low. Mercy. It is: Bad.
I don’t care how we get them in the lineup (i.e. Judge in Center). Or where we find them: call ups (Gittens, Florial), the trade market, etc. But we need above average bats.
Can’t believe it’s like this. Sure. I can be a homer. But based on past precedent I just assumed we’d be a top 3 scoring offense.
That has not been the case.
At all.
Ya know…
Never sail upwind unless you are really & truly desperate.
It is June 5th.
Time to contemplate sailing upwind with this lineup.
Hope his increase in OBP in ‘19 and ‘21 translates to success at the plate at the MLB level.
We need Chris to do what Shelley Duncan did in 2007
Odor is hitting .182 and striking out 25% of the time. If Gittens can exceed these marks, his value will be realized. Stud is correct the bar is low.
I still can’t believe they traded multiple minor leaguers for Odor.
JD they didn’t give anything of value.
Vintage first 6 weeks of Kevin Mass
Bring them all up. It beats watching the current whack-a-do.
If he can be better than Odor, that won’t stink so bad.
And I guess they can’t a Ford to Voit his contract.
That’s all I got.
Well, as Jed Clampett would say, ‘They need to be Gittens on”……
Sounds like a Luke Voit 2018 minor league line when the Yankees picked him up from the Cardinals. Hope he takes advantage of his chance like Luke did then.
I have not heard “hard hitten” since Mark Whiten. Sure think he deserves an opportunity looking at his seven year tenure in the minors. Will look good in that uni at first base. Another big bopper in the Yankee line up. Good luck Chris.
Nice mention with Mark Whiten! Unfortunately, most millennials haven’t heard of players who debuted before the turn of the century. Quite a few millennial Rockies fans were surprised the team existed before the 2007 World Series!
I’m down for a Kevin mass Shelley Duncan Shane Spencer type of neophyte performance.
Someone needs to let the front office know, Yankee fans are looking for some kind of leadership. Where’s Buck!?!? I think they need to replace Boone ASAP. I’ve watched him get out managed again and again. All I needed to see was last years playoffs…. Boone thought he could out ray the rays with Devi…. then bring in ja happ who was clearly not happy.. did Boone magically forget that the team was purposely limiting his appearances to ensure his option wasn’t triggered?? What a joke. For all those who say he guided the Yankees to 100 wins.. this team basically manages itself. They really need to move Torres back to 2nd and have DJL play super utility again. Unfortunately resigning Gardner was the right move considering all of the injuries, it’s time to move on from this mentality. Yankees should have signed Brantley, would have been a nice addition.
I really feel for this team. Signing hicks to that deal was a head scratcher considering he hasn’t played in more than 120 games a year. He did give us that one game against the twins where he tied it up in the 9th with a homer then made a game saving catch . The catch.
Agreed that Boone consistently gets out managed…especially by Cora!
He also is and has always been to prone to excuses for his players lack of production. The Yankees have no situational hitting, no speed, don’t run the bases well, and have no small ball game…..combined with what is already showing to be an over-worked bullpen, and you have the recipe for them not making the playoffs.
I actually think the BP is fine in spite of it missing Britton and O’Day but I agree with the rest.
It’s about time but who’s getting released to make room for Gittens?
Our pen has been nothing short of fantastic.
Both according to fangraphs & what we all see.
Britton, O’day, & a healthy Wilson are going to give us the deepest bullpen we’ve seen Cashman construct. Which is high praise, indeed.
@mlbnyyfan I have no idea but it will be someone of consequence. Let’s all pray Gittens can contribute.
Well…that post certainly aged poorly.
Going to be difficult waters indeed if we can’t count on our pen.
Not a very fun game to watch.
To be honest, this really isn’t all that fun of a team to watch play in general. I can handle all the TTO guys & the endless high octane or matchup relievers when we are winning.
But watching these guys lose with our particular brand of baseball kinda sucks, bro.
But hey.
I tied a nice green comet salmon streamer during the game.
So.
Greene was bound to have a rough outing as he’s been pitching above expectation. Typically, it’s with the Yankees in the lead by a decent margin. Yeah, it’s not all that fun watching this team now. The Yankees used to feast on other teams’ mistakes and extra outs given. Now it’s the other way around.
We give far too many outs away with the gloves & on the bases, @BleacherCreature.
I’m sure you know, but I do place this on Boone. We weren’t like this under Joe G.
Yeah.
Greene had to give it up sometime. Lousy timing, uh? Added almost a run & half(!) to his ERA. I will keep watching & rooting because I will simply never be able to turn my back on the Yanks & Jints.
At the moment, however, my expectations are quite a bit lower than they were over the offseason. I’m pretty much hoping we can eke out a Wild Card birth & then – ya know – “get hot”.
Unless something changes, we are not really all that threatening. I keep beating a dead horse. But the bats really need to get going or it will be a very short playoff run. & perhaps, there will be no playoff run at all, if they don’t.
Amen brother
Traded some bums to Miami for Don Mattingly! The Yanks need somebody that played for the team. Boone barely qualifies.
Don’t blame Boone for that playoff game. He doesn’t make any decisions without running it through Cashman or somebody else in the front office. The only reason why he was hired in the first place is because Cashman wanted somebody who would be a complete Yes man.
The players know this, that is why they don’t respond when he has a tantrum in the locker room or on the field. Boone has no power over them or anybody else in the organization.
Cashman appears to be a real nice guy…but never as nice as BigAl Avila.
You would think BigAl would learn to make friends…..
He must be more socially inept than I am! Poor B@stard!
Boone can only manage the Players he has on hand. When will Yankees realize it’s Cashman fault by putting together a team with several flaws and zero flexibility because of budget constraints.
Disagree. Boone is a horrible manager, he was given outstanding teams by Cashman and failed to get the Yankees to the WS. now he has to manage and it is showing that he has no idea what to do. He makes ridiculous excuses for Judge and Stanton about playing time and injuries. The team lacks discipline, constantly running themselves out of innings. That isn’t Cashman’s fault, that is poor coaching and managing. He mismanages the bullpen all the time.. He changes the lineup every day and never gives the players a chance to get into a routine because everyone is always batting in different spots. It is so hard to watch Yankee games, especially knowing the other teams outsmart them constantly.
The Yankees are playing horribly on the field, spotty fielding, the worst base running by a Yankee team in the last 60 years, and an appalling lack of hustle. That’s on Boone and yes the players! The roster is poorly constructed and that’s on Cashman. The team is way too right handed and
loaded with sluggers that strike out way too often and other than Gio and maybe DJ are not situational hitters. They should have pursued Michael Brantley this off season. If Hank thinks he lost money last season, if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs this year he’s really going to lose money. His father understood you have to spend money to make money.
Having said all of that I was calling for Chris Gittens when Voit had the knee surgery. I think Gittens will help and if they can acquire a left handed hitter that can hit situationally then they could find themselves truly back in the race!
A
I don’t know about the losing money part. YS is one of many party scenes for NY’s rich. Plenty of deep-pocketed corporations buy up luxury suites (all-inclusive booze and food) and pricey season tickets as a status symbol. The Yankees don’t actually even try to sell out every seat bc they don’t have to. Those empty seats behind homeplate years prior? They’re sold with no one bothering to show up unless their opponent is a good team. Meanwhile, it’s the blue-collars that are priced out.
Blame Boone? Blame Cashman? How about blaming the players? These aren’t the “Baby Bombers” anymore. This is a veteran team. I’ve never seen a veteran team make so many outs on the bases or overthrow so many cut off men. The strikeouts, the lack of situational hitting, that’s baseball 2021. But if they were more fundamentally sound maybe they’d have a few more wins.
This
I can’t defend some of their terrible baserunning. Even Judge has made a few. Guys like Jeter, Bernie, O’Neill, and even Posada and Giambi never made them.
Personally I think the problems are very basic. Sanchez & Torres aren’t able to overcome the adjustments opposing pitchers are making against them. Neither one seems very bright, to put it politely. I love Gardy but Cashman should have moved on 2 years ago, and gotten an OF upgrade off the market. You can’t fault Voit & Hicks for constantly being injured but I can fault Cashman for not selling high on Voit after last season, which was publicly discussed. Voit will never be a good defender at a position that requires a great fielder. And someone needs to give Frazier & Torres a kick in the @ss, each for different head case reasons. Boone is NOT impressive but who knows how much autonomy he really has?
I think it’s simpler than that. If NY is going to be competitive this year they need to manage a better than average offense. They have the pitching this year. Bringing in a Peralta or Schwarber would help. But ultimately it’s going to depend on Frazier (or Andujar), Torres, DJM and Voit contributing more. The majority of the offensive fix will need to come from within.
Mike Ford hurt?
Mike Ford suck.
But he went to Princeton!
Sounds like Gittens is an easy guy to root for – good luck.
Why aren’t the NYY on the phone with JD either the Rangers to get Nate Lowe and or Joey Gallo , and put DJLM permanently at 2nd.
Yankees have next to nothing to trade to the Rangers for either player. They were gifted Odor. I don’t see them being gifted either Lowe or Gallo
I don’t get the infactuation with Gallo. Other than ’19 he is just a slightly above average run producer with positive defensive value. He’s not a star a on a good team and he’s not worth a top prospect. Not that he would not help the current situation at all but he’s not a “solution”.
Why would Yankees want Gallo Yankees don’t need another all or nothing hitter. Yankees strike out too much already. Now unless Yankees do a trade like Sanchez or Stanton for Gallo then it doesn’t make sense to add another similar style hitter.
Because Hal calls the shots not Cash….
After another poor performance vs Boston & the K’s & GIDP (leading the league) with the team hitting as bad as the 1968 team, worst in Yankee history – ITS time to FIRE the hitting coach and out Boone on warning – he’s next!
If George was still alive Cash, Boone & Batting would be gone.
I cannot even comment specifically on this because the Yankees are just so unwatchable this year. What I have seen in the few games I have watched and in highlights Is that fundamental baseball has gone out the window and that is on the coaches. Might be time for a new voice. Analytics doesn’t work if you can’t execute fundamental baseball like base running. It seems stupidly is more of a hindrance than injuries.
Time to fire the hitting coach, too many strikeouts, too many .100 hitters, not many homers, too many dbl.plays, too many swings out of the strike zone and they all swing the same. The pitchers have to pitch no-hitters to win, that’s not a good feeling when taking the mound. Bring up triple A hitting coach, can’t do any worse !!!!
Batting Gittens 6th too high.