TODAY: Rosario has cleared DFA waivers and been outrighted to Double-A, the Yankees announced.
APRIL 7: The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve designated outfielder Jeisson Rosario for assignment and formally selected the contract of veteran utilityman Marwin Gonzalez.
Rosario, 22, was claimed off waivers from the archrival Red Sox last month. He’s yet to make his big league debut or even take a plate appearance at the Triple-A level. Rosario spent the 2021 season with Boston’s Double-A affiliate and slashed .232/.335/.307 with three homers, 15 doubles, a triple and a 12.3% walk rate against a concerning 27.9% strikeout rate.
Acquired from the Padres in the trade that sent Mitch Moreland to San Diego, Rosario draws praise from scouts for his speed, plate discipline and defense in center field. Most scouting reports raise concerns about his hit tool, and his performance thus far in his minor league career has indeed reflected those red flags. Rosario could yet develop into at least a quality bench piece whose game is centered around value with the glove and on the bases, but he’ll need a good bit more refinement in the upper minors before that happens. The Yankees will have a week to trade Rosario or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
The Yankees also announced Thursday morning that catcher Ben Rortvedt has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right oblique. It’s not an unexpected move, as Rortvedt has been ailing for some time now. Acquired in the trade that brought Josh Donaldson to the Bronx and sent Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez to Minnesota, Rortvedt is a glove-first backstop who’ll give the Yankees a backup option to Kyle Higashioka. New York more recently acquired another defensive-minded catcher, Jose Trevino, in a trade with the Rangers. Given Rortvedt’s injury, Higashioka and Trevino will be the two catchers on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster.
game changer
A needle mover
It was the haircut that did him in. That hair works on the Sox but not on the Yankees…
Expected.
Perhaps he will soon be claimed by a team who can keep him.
Friday – Yankees begin the first game of their epic 162-0 season!
Clipp, Love your optimism!!! Opening day tomorrow got to feel good about that. If we have good health for a change we’ve got a chance! Cashman’s strategy— Let’s see how it goes and we have at least 1 major move left depending on what we need.
Hey, Mick, we have what we have, might as well be positive about it, right?
This season is going to be interesting. If the pitching staff continues to pitch really well & the offense resurrects, they’re good enough to fight for the division.
If the pitching regresses and the hitting comes back they’re bad enough to finish fourth and not even sniff the playoffs.
I don’t see Cash/Hal missing the playoffs – that’s where the line is drawn. I could see a repeat of last year with a battle for the wild card though.
They are undefeated going in to tomorrow – it is possible
He should claim himself and play in his own league.
Take that Red Sox!
Trevor Story or a beardless Marwin Gonzalez? I thought so!
We see this picture every week lol.
These moves almost seem like high school tryouts. A couple of days and you either make it or you’re cut. Next!
If we wanted a player like this, why didn’t we just sign Villar? He’s actually – ya know – good.
Ducky no doubt Villar is better with the bat at this point. Marwin is probably a little more versatile as he can play all the positions passably outside of catcher/pitcher/center field. The true story I’m afraid might be money. Villar is making 3.55 million to Marwin’s 1.15 million.
I was wrong Villar is making a 4.5 million base salary.
Oh, yeah, McGriff. It was about money.
Villar probably wants to play. On paper, he’ll play more in CHI than with the Yanks.
Good point
Campaigned for Villar. Left handed bat, speed to burn, and diversity. What’s not to like?
Yeah, Ducky, you and I felt the same about him too. Both very similar, but Villar is just a better version of the two, and doesn’t have the…aura of the ‘17 team looming.
If we were going to take someone from that team, we picked the wrong someone. I don’t get it.
I’m already tired of hearing Boone talk in circles and put positive spin on guys going 0-3, or pitchers going 1/3 of an inning and getting hammered, and we haven’t even played our first game yet. All is good in Booneland though…just ask him, he will talk for an hour in circles.
I don’t mind being fiscally prudent or whatever.
But: we didn’t go high-end with a single choice we made this off-season.
– Not a 1B. We went with Rizzo. Which is fine. Freeman & Olson are superior – albeit pricier – players though.
– Nor did we are at SS though either. Went with a pre -arb glove first guy.
– Did the exact same thing at C we did at SS(!).
– Didn’t invest a dollar into the rotation.
– even chose the cheap crappy player at UTIL.
Over & over. The same thing.
We went with the inexpensive option every single time. & we sit in the exact same spot we ended in. Like always, I just wanted to see us get better. We’re not. An entire off-season with so many opportunities & it’s just plain pissed away.
Ducky, You are right on every point. I think we were lead to believe that they were saving their money to sign Judge long term. Haven’t got that so far either. I agree with Clipper’s evaluation above. Everything goes right we challenge for the division, everything goes haywire we don’t make the playoffs.
Amen, Ducky. Preach it, brother!
It’s a good team, Mick.
I guess I just thought improving us was important to the front office.
Cash never overbuilds the rotation. But: a solid, durable above average mid-rotation starter would have made our SP look really good. Just think if we’d met the rather low prospect cost for Manaea. Cash typically overbuilds the lineup & pen. He did the bullpen again, but – surprisingly – he merely tinkered with the offense but came away doing nothing to improve that either.
Not having been all that interested in some over-engineering has left us pretty short on depth in the lineup & rotation. Quality depth is what really separates Real Contenders from the rabble.
We don’t have that.
Ducky, Clipp,
10 good players for 9 positions sounds pretty good, but the minute you lose 1 you have NO depth. Hicks, Donaldson, Judge, and Stanton have all had more than their share of injuries, so it’s just a matter of time before at least one of them goes down.
Yeah, Manaea or another mid level starter would have been great and a true 4th outfielder. They have depth in the minors in the infield, but Locastro, Florial, and Inciarte out short term help only.
Well we are to a good start and Maybe our health will continue, although I doubt it.
Cashman needs to go… One World Series appearance in 18 years… One World Series championship in 21 years… With $200 million payrolls every year… How can he still be the GM….. is it possible he could have naked pictures of Hal’s wife??
It is much more difficult to upgrade an 80 win roster than it is a 90 win team. I am not insensitive to that.
In light of that, my general expectation of Cashman is to bring back a better ballclub than what we ended with. We won 92 games last year. We are projected to win…92 games this year. Meaning: although he has had a couple flurries of activity, in the end, he did not improve us.
Which has been what I have been beyotching about all winter. We didn’t get better. We shuffled some things around & swapped out one problem for a different one.
This is the first instance where I have lost patience with Brian Cashman. It seems like a complete loss of patience too.
Ducky,
You are right as far as just using the number of 92 Wins. However, that doesn’t take into account that the rest of the Division and other Clubs have gotten better too which by default reduces the number of Wins available to the Top Teams.
So, 92 wins in 2022 could well represent 95-96 Wins in 2021.
I am unfamiliar with a projection system that incorporates the competition into it’s calculation. Perhaps there is a new one you are using that does that. I would not be familiar with that one.
The two I am familiar with (Zips & Pecota) – however – are merely an internal tabulations. So 92 is 92. No caveats, no adjustments, no handicaps.
I have been saying this entire time that Cash didn’t improve us. It looks like the projections are in accord with my assertion. Perhaps not by the one you are using, I guess. Again, I am not familiar with whichever one that is. I am interested to see how they are including competition into their math. Sounds pretty interesting.
Even if that were true, the fact that Cashman improved us only marginally enough to remain a 92-win team says the same thing… He didn’t improve us at all (whether by relative comparison or not).
I really like this illustration (92-win team) because I think it plainly lays out how Cashman made a lot of moves, on both sides, but didn’t really do anything to advance the team. It confirms what many of us saw happening.
Look, We had a chance to go for the throat of the ALE & AL in general this year, & we secured a wild card spot.
I just find it incredibly disappointing.
There were so many opportunities to improve ourselves. Either via adding a premier player, or by steadfastly upgrading the margins of our roster. At least a dozen instances I can name off the top of my head.
We – however – eschewed all of them.
Every single one. Each time we could have done something to actually improve: Cash sat on his hands. Lame.
Also, I’m tired of hearing him get credit for the late 90s World Series championships… That credit goes to GeneMichael and Bob Watson…
How far do you go with this guy??
Yes but Cashman, to his credit, did have to make trades for O’Neill, Cone, and David Justice, And sign guys like Tino, Brosius, Raines, etc.
And traded away Wells for Clemens.
But that was then, this is now.
Cashman wasn’t the GM when they got Paul O’Neil from the Reds
I really hope the posters claiming his pickup was payback for Whitlock were very sarcastic.
Clint Frazier doubled in his first AB as a Cub, pinch hitting in the seventh. Good for him.
Seiya Suzuki got his first hit and scored the Cubbies’ first run of the game.
And Robertson gets the save for the Cubbies.
I guess if you’re happy with the job Cashman has done the last 20 years… God bless you
Yankee fans will be shocked to hear this. Tyler Wade ended the game in Anaheim in a 3-1 loss to the Astros by grounding into a DP with Mike Trout on first base and one out.
Condolences, Angels fans.
Pretty incredible that Cash was able to find us a worse hitting utility player ain’t it?
Tyler Wade: ’21 OPS – .677
Marwin Gonzalez: ’21 OPS – .579
Basically a 100 point difference. But, yeah. Sure offense looks fine.
That’s true, but I can see a rationale. Since 2019, Wade has been good for 6 Outs Above Average. Marwin’s been good for 15, and he plays first base. DJ is the only backup first baseman besides him, and DJ might be needed elsewhere if another infielder goes down on the IL.
Ya got me there, @Ployd.
I’m just so stuck on the offense. I’m sure that’s reducing my Fun Factor considerably lately. I appreciate the deeper dive & nuance.
All that being acknowledged, I still absolutely despise this move.
Get ready to be more stuck on offense since Judge has his walking papers…. And, he’s going to be the non-spending excuse next offseason too. Double whammy, right into Hal’s account – booyah!
They’ve successfully turned spending on Judge into three rotations of not spending… without actually spending on Judge; very clever, or not at all.
Cashman is as successful as the Orioles right about now…
Oh, hey look. A home run for the lead. Those are good.
Just wanting to remind everyone that we are (supposedly) the Bronx Bombers. Not the – ya know – Bronx Slick Fielders.
Also; I have not been informed where the $$ for Judge’s extension wandered off to. Yet “in Hal’s bank account” is supposedly over done. Please let me know of the proper terminology when you find out what it is.
Thanks, Clip!
No, I’m pretty sure “in Hal’s bank account” will NEVER be overdone so long as he keeps skimping on the potholes our team has in order to fill it up…. Just my two cents (that Hal has now acquired for his… bank account. – too soon?).
Clipper I don’t blame Cashman for Judge having an unreasonable ask. I do blame him for not getting into the negotiation earlier. Then they could have spent some money if they knew there would be no extension with Judge. Or at least gave him a take it or leave it ultimatum with the leverage of the threat of not having the money to resign him.
Joe: No doubt. The offer, by itself, is fine by me. It’s everything leading up to it, everything they allowed to be affected by it & everything that will fail as a result of the aforementioned that is Cashman’s fault. The offer itself though? Nope, Judge’s 10/$360 is outrageous, imo.
I would not be surprised if Judge ends up like Nomar. Red Sox offered 4 year $64,000,000 (one of the largest contracts in MLB in 2003). Nomar turned it down and proceeded to make $32,250,000 over the same period 2005-2008. IMO no team will pay more than 10 year $360 million. Shorter contracts with his injury history will mean smaller money at the end of the contract.
So, Ducky, you were the one Wade fan? : -)
Honestly, I had high hopes for Wader at one point. Until I saw him play. But if the choice is Wade or Gonzalez I am decidedly Pro Tyler Wade.
Rob count me in on Team Wade.
How about the Donaldson fella though, right? I mean, if Cashman did something, anything besides tell us they were going to offer something to Judge, and actually improve the club, it would be a fantastic move. Think JD & Freeman? Or JD & a viable SS, etc. But, whatever. Give Judge an offer in the offseason, and if he delays pivot right to T. Turner for a high AAV shorter-term deal. Get that production & defense right back in value.
With Rizzo killing it right now, JD and a SS would be awesome.
I had high hopes for Wade, but the more I saw of his bat the less enamored I was. He’s useful. It is weird, though, that they in essence replaced Wade with Gonzalez. I almost feel that this was not part of the plan, meaning they wanted someone else for that role and it just didn’t happen. Or, maybe it really is defense related. I am surprised the Angels have turned a full-time job over to Wade. I guess we’ll see if there was more there then we saw with the Yankees.
Clip, my fear is they’ll spend too much time waiting around on Judge, and then they’ll miss other free agents and then also lose Judge.
First, thanks for being so patient with me on this, fellas. There have been Padre & baseball Giants guys who have noted that I am not being my “normal” – for lack of a better term – self.
Second. That’s kind of my overall point. We swapped out two of our better hitters from ’21 for Donaldson.
Seems to me, we would have been a better squad had we just held on to Urshela & Sanchez, & signed Trevor Story with that loot.
Finally; I have waited over a day for some clarity on this. As no answer is forthcoming, I am just going to stick with, “it went into Hal’s bank account.”
Ducky I think a case can be made for a top line SS but JD > Urshela. And any team is better without Sanchez.
Concur on Donaldson > Urshela.
But: the Twins wanted Gary. Not Higashioka. I think Gary Sanchez can be a useful player. But I think his role needed to be altered/reduced in the same manner MN is. Overall, we’d be a little better as a team.
I thoroughly understand that a struggling Gary Sanchez is a truly brutal sight to behold. No argument there, man. & maybe Higgy has indeed found another gear for his power. In that case, I will have been completely errant. Which certainly wouldn’t be a first.
For even today most likely.
Again, I am reacting to last summer’s offense.
Maybe too much. Maybe far too much even. But: I am going to need to see the offense improve. I don’t care how the details get sorted. I harbor some doubts though.
Also: 2 down. 160 to go. We are on pace for Clip’s prediction.
That’s exactly my point Rob. I’m certain they will do that & they will have no issue with it because it will save more money. Which is why they should just pursue other opportunities. They are not getting anywhere near Judge’s asking price, so it’s going to be an exercise in futility, unless it’s their intention to miss out on both, thereby saving boatloads of money, which is exactly what Hal’s goal is.
Ultimate goal: Go way under CBT & make new directive to Cashman – Never cross it again.
Mr. Fent, the money for Judge’s extension isn’t budgeted until the 2023 payroll, so it hasn’t gone anywhere because it doesn’t exist yet. His salary for 2022 will be between $17-21MM, which is already budgeted. They’re already paying him the lower number, and will pay the higher number, or any number between) with interest, when they settle between now and June.
The real question to me is if Judge leaves after 2022, what will happen to that additional $30MM per year they planned to spend? That’s of course your question too. We won’t know that for another 7-10 months. I’m still hopeful they’ll come to an agreement, but Judge’s words and actions don’t indicate a man who is sincere when he says he wants to be a Yankee for life. If he was, they’d have an agreement already. If they’re short on total dollars, they’d continue to hammer out the details over the coming days. That would prevent the distraction Judge says he wants to avoid. He’s being naive and/or disingenuous if he believes the topic won’t continue to be discussed and be an overhang on the team. Judge has now caused this to be a season-long distraction. He’s the one creating the distraction he says he wants to avoid. We know the Yankees pay top dollar for players they want. Has Judge even given a number, or is it a guessing game? I honestly don’t know.
Hopefully he stays, I want him to stay. He seems like a genuinely good person, but since MLB teams all manage to the CBT, I also don’t want them restricting future moves in years 5-10 when Judge is likely in serious decline and being boo’ed by the Bronx faithful. I’ll be unhappy if Judge leaves, but like with Cano, a few years in, they’ll be a moment when I realize that I’m happy they never re-signed him. Up the AAV, stick to seven years, let him walk if some team beats the years.
Where will Hal spend that money? We won’t know until next November/December.
@Yankee Clipper, the Yankees have consistently operated above the CBT, but they also ensure a path to get back under every two to three years before they pay the highest tax. MLB is smart having Hal sit in the Executive Committee. It forces him to be the good corporate citizen. He’ll play by the rules. He’ll spend, but they’ll always be a path to get back under in a couple to three years. Judge leaving, if he does, will make that easier, but ticket and ballpark revenue will take a hit. Fans will be unhappy. They’ll need to make a splash elsewhere. The Judge money will get spent next year, either on Judge or another player. That’s my guess.
2-0.