1:32pm: The Yankees have now formally announced the full slate of moves. Stanton, Donaldson and Kahnle have all been reinstated from the injured list, while Cabrera, Cordero and Krook have been optioned. They indeed transferred Rodon to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Kahnle. Again, that’s a formality and doesn’t impact Rodon’s eligibility to return. He’s already missed more than 60 days, and the “60-day” term of his IL stint is retroactive to his initial placement on the injured list.
10:57am: The Yankees announced this morning they’ve optioned outfielders Oswaldo Cabrera and Franchy Cordero and reliever Matt Krook to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported Cabrera’s forthcoming demotion last night.) As Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty of the Athletic write, that clears the way for New York to formally reinstate Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle from the injured list before tomorrow’s series opener against the Dodgers.
Kahnle is coming back from the 60-day IL and will require a 40-man roster spot, though that can be opened by transferring Carlos Rodón to the 60-day IL. Rodón has already missed more than two months, so that transfer would be a strictly procedural move that doesn’t affect his return eligibility.
Cabrera is the most notable of the players being sent out. He was New York’s Opening Day left fielder and has started 41 of 58 games overall. The majority of his time has been spent in the corner outfield, though he’s also logged some action at each of the non-first base infield spots.
While Cabrera has shown plenty of defensive flexibility, he’s not offered much at the plate. He owns just a .195/.246/.292 line with a trio of home runs over 168 trips. Cabrera logged a similar amount of playing time last season but had a more formidable .247/.312/.429 showing as a rookie. In light of his sophomore slump, the Yankees will send him back for a reset against upper minors pitching.
Paired with Aaron Hicks’ recent release, Cabrera’s demotion leaves left field to some combination of Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jake Bauers and Willie Calhoun. Stanton may eventually log some corner outfield reps as well, but manager Aaron Boone said yesterday he’ll break back in as a strict designated hitter for the first few weeks (via Kirschner). The club wants to be cautious about his responsibilities after a near six week absence due to a strained left hamstring.
Stanton had connected on four home runs in 13 games over the season’s first couple weeks. He returns to build on a .269/.296/.558 slash line. The former NL MVP has topped 30 homers in each of the last two seasons.
He’s not the only veteran right-handed bat returning to Boone’s lineup. Donaldson has been out for nearly the entire season thanks to a balky right hamstring. He’s gotten into just five games, a disappointing start to what he’d hoped what be a bounceback second season in the Bronx. Donaldson hit only .222/.308/.374 last year but Boone has already indicated he’ll be back in the lineup on an everyday basis once healthy. That should push DJ LeMahieu back into a multi-positional role after he’s been mostly at the hot corner of late.
Kahnle will be making his first appearance during his second MLB stint as a Yankee. The veteran righty returned to the Bronx on a two-year, $11.5MM free agent deal. He’d thrown just 12 2/3 innings for the Dodgers last season but showed mid-90s velocity and excellent ground-ball numbers in that brief look. Kahnle had been delayed by biceps soreness earlier in the season but has returned to throw five innings over as many outings on a minor league rehab appearance.
Oswaldo needed a reset but in favor of Donaldson is not an upgrade
Hey listen up buddy anyone is an upgrade over Cabrera. He is god awful. At least Donaldson will be a replacement level player at worst.
Your right, Donaldson and his .125 batting avg and his 21mil are a massive upgrade … oh is Donaldson also the future?
In 17 plate appearances genius. You must be one of the ones that think IKF is a superstar because he’s been good for a week? Lmao
He’s the future for the rest of this year. Besides he’s being paid whether on the DL or playing 3rd base. He’s still a plus player defensively and will show more power and OBP than last year.
Interesting observation. He will show more power and OBP this year? Why? Because he is a year wiser? It is far more likely that Donaldson is cooked and only his salary and Cashman’s vanity has him still here.
Why? Why not? I hate Cashman haters….
I liked how Donaldson adjusted his swing this spring. Hoping it plays
Donaldson DFA’d by July 1.
Acquiring overpaid, declining, faded “sluggers” has always been Cashman’s go-to move.
Stanton just told them to keep his spot on the IL warm, He’ll be back soon.
Stanton needs to get back so he can hit the links with Bader
Love Oswaldo but he needed time at Scranton to rediscover his stroke. If they eventually decide to part ways with Donaldson, it may be Peraza that is recalled. They will only have a 3 man bench plus a left fielder in time. They seem to find Allen valuable and IKF has rebounded nicely that leaves 2 spots Donaldson, Peraza, or Cabrera will get 1 spot. The “LF” is it Bauers, Calhoun or ?
Peraza looks like he found his bat at AAA, I’d like to see him called up again
Oswaldo has a 50% GB rate and 33% hard hit rate. When you have been that bad and are consistently hitting soft ground balls you can expect your BABIP to be much lower than average. He has just been genuinely god awful. No bad luck.
I think you’ve made your point. A number of times.
Yeah but your brain is very tiny, so 1 or 2 times isn’t enough.
Do you suffer from Napoleon Syndrome, Little Stevie?
Only a small person would throw out insults at anyone that disagrees with them
Who’s throwing out insults? Who disagrees with me? You self reflecting bud?
Give it to ‘em Stevie.
Nicee,
Couldn’t agree more. MAYBE he becomes the SS and Volpe moves to 2nd or third. Think both are future stars.
@Mick Oswaldo has had a bit of bad luck with balls hit from his BABIP of .225. I agree that he needs to keep working so sending him down isn’t a bad idea with the roster crunch. I like Judge, Allen, and IKF defensively in the outfield. I also think Allen will stick around all year.
We have a very fine center fielder who won’t be out too much longer. I also expect Cashman will upgrade LF at the trade deadline. Suspect Allen will be gone then.
Isn’t Cashman still maxed on payroll and trying to avoid the next level of penalty? It will be interesting to see if an “upgrade” can be signed after clearing waivers. Will you settle for a “warm body”?
It’s not bad luck. He’s not making hard contact. His 46% groundball percentage is almost twice as much as his first cup of coffee last season. His hardhit% is an abomination at 12%. By baseball-savant’s estimation he’s in the 22nd percentile.
@Mickey777: If he’s like most guys, all Oswaldo needs to rediscover his stroke is a bottle of lotion, a box of tissues, and a little privacy!
Not much faith in Donaldson at this point, though he at least showed some spark on his rehab assignment. Since this is the final year of his contract, I really doubt the Yankees are interested in giving him much of a leash. It seems like the front office is in the mood to purge the anchors on the team as much as possible, especially given the surprising strength of the Rays and Orioles thus far. Obviously, Donaldson has everything to play for as his career likely ends with another poor season and that ends his opportunity to re-write his legacy a little.
Stanton will possibly go down as the worst contract in MLB history, right up there with the Angels’ gift of 10/240 to Albert Pujols and the Tigers giving an 8/248 extension to Miggy. After 4 straight years of middling, injury riddled performance, this year looks no different, but there still seems to be some hope as Stanton isn’t a negative value yet. Unfortunately for New York, Stanton is still left with 5 years and $150MM in guaranteed contract including 2023. Cutting him at this point is impossible.
The only “upside” of the Stanton deal for the Yankees is that the Marlins are on the hook for $30 million towards the end of the albatross contract ($20 million in his age 36-37 seasons plus $10 million for either a buyout or option).
Chris Davis called, he wants his ‘worst contract ever’ label back.
Stanton’s isn’t even as bad as Jacoby Ellsbury’s, A-Rod’s last one, Carl Pavano’s and a few others.
Stanton can still DH. He’s overpaid, but it’s not as if he’s not producing anything.
Rodriguez’s contract was 10/275 for 2008-2017 and he earned his money posting 4.0-6.0 fWAR seasons for a total of 17.9 fWAR from 2008-2011. After that, things took a big turn for the worse, but he still a solid producer through 2015. It was a bad contract for multiple reasons, but he provided a lot of value to NY.
Pavano was 4 yrs and $40MM. Chump change for the Yankees.
Ellsbury’s contract was 7yrs $153MM. He provided a solid first season, even if he wasn’t really worth starting after that, he still wasn’t worthless over the next 3 years before his career was ended by injuries. So Yeah, pretty awful… but
Stanton’s 13 year, $325MM (10yr $285MM) is just so much larger and potentially worse. He’s had 1 decent year over a 5 year span including this one. In 2021, he generated 2.5 fWAR. He’s on pace for his 4th year of 1.2 fWAR or less in the past 5. That’s as bad as Ellsbury was, only Stanton has 5 years (including this one) still to go and he’s already 33 and aging.
Donaldson and Stanton are verteran ML players, whether you like them or not. They are much better than what most teams have in their line-up.
I want Stanton on my team. He’s a monster, a home run threat with any contact, drives in a ton of runs, and scares opposing pitchers. To suggest he’s on the worst contract in MLB history is ridiculous. Bobby Bonilla has that cast in stone.
Rodon transferred to permanent IL
No Rodon is feeling better after the cortisone injection, and should be back by July if he’s still pain-free. Maybe Donaldson is DFA’d, when Rodon is ready.
Once Donaldson goes on a little tear, you haters will find someone else. He’s a strong addition, leagues above Cabrera at this stage.
Donaldson isn’t horrible or anything but he’s more of what they need less of…swing and miss, low average hitters without speed. He’s been a great player before so there’s always a chance but he’s 37 coming off the IL and a league average (again, not bad) season hitting.
If one had to capture the vibe around the Yankees in recent years in one headline, without using “Judge” or “Cashman”, this does a very good job. Only idea missing is “team is still pretty good somehow”
I wonder how many home runs Stanton will hit before he returns to the IL?
That’s a nice positive thought process.
One
I wonder how many of these reinstated players we will see in tomorrows game. How many of them will need rest already, or become injured before they can even swing a bat
Yanks almost at full strength, need to get Rodon back to make true run at it. Peraza should be on the team, 2 homers last night and he hit over ,300 when they brought him up last year. Right now he is hitting .347 in AAA, they are waisting his talent., The bottom of the Yanks line-up has be below or near the Mendoza line
This situation with Rodon just gets more and more ridiculous. Montas and him literally haven’t seen the field all year.
That was to be expected with Montas. Rodon has thrown two bullpen sessions with no issues. Facing live hitters next week. Could see him take the mound by the end of June.
Let’s hope so. We have a lot riding on that too
Salaries of players never match ability from year to year in MLB players, so it makes no sense to talk about what a player makes. There are very few players that have 5 good seasons in a row, they are the star players.
I still think Peraza should be the SS for the Yanks, and Volpe should play 2nd or third. Volpe reminds me of Bregman. with more speed. I first thought 2nd but Gleyber is playing good there right now. He is the third best hitter on the team.
Stanton needs a designated base runner. Just let him get his whacks and have someone else run the bases. New rule for 2024.
Ok, so basically he may get 1 at bat and you take him out?
It’s meant to be humorous McFly, chill dude. I love Stanton and hope he mashes like he’s capable of, just gets hurt a lot that’s all. To many muscles sometimes can be an issue.
Definitely a good idea, from your lips to Cashmans ears
Oswaldo may be a plus defender, in the infield, but he has never hit with any consistency at any level, strikes out too much and does not get on base enough. Another call up to the Majors with a hot start will get him traded to one of the also ran teams looking to catch lightning in a bottle. Remember Miggy Andujar who suffered the same pitch selection problem. His injury just made it impossible for him to recover from the monster rookie season, but the league was catching up to him. Who do you sit now to get Donaldson into games? It has to be Volpe, and that might destroy him.
Volpe is not going to ride the bench. They’ve pushed all their chips with him. He’s got 8 HRs in a third of a season. The kid needs to play everyday. We’ll probably see Rizzo, Calhoun, and Bauers sit more.
You are quite correct about Volpe. They have a lot riding on him. They passed up on big-time free agents over the last few years allegedly because of this super player that was coming. Cashman would look like a complete idiot if it didn’t work out. and he still might, but they’re going to give it as much time as they can
Way too early to pivot off the Volpe plan. Look at Jeter’s first year (in lesser ABs of course). Same OPS+ and Volpe didn’t spend much time in AAA.
No, those big FAs didn’t fit the budget. They only had room for Judge and a pitcher or two for their IL.
Yes, you’re right about that. They will ride him till the end of the Earth . if he was to fail, it would be a massive blow to Cashman and his administration.
andujar ops’d .917 the second half of 2018. the league didn’t catch up to him, he just got hurt
In a way this Rodon guy is worse than Hicks. He hasn’t even played.
Rodon has accomplished a vast amount greater in his career in two years than Hicks’ whole mediocre career
Would be great if this site was for people across the USA and Canada to comment positively on day to day Yankee news. Really sad that a group of guys use this site as there personal communication network. Negative and back and forth jibber jabber not needed for those of us who would like to participate with the social media on a day to day fix. Why not start your own buddie network.
Mute them; I have a very long mute list. Now I only see baseball related comments.
Yeah, its the other five years Rondon spent on the CWS disabled list that’s so comparable to Hicks. Its always good to sign someone who has been healthy and effective for 1 3/4 years out of 7 to a big money contract, long term. What could possibly go wrong?
No knock on the guy but Rodon never seemed like a Yankee-type player in my opinion. Seemed destined for the As or Marlins, a low market team in the NL preferably with no pressure. This opinion is hardly even related to his injury concerns.
I just think the Yankees paid too much and realized what they got. A glorified Matt Harvey
Lets hope not. He has a six year contract
Rodon is on extended millionaires worth vacation.
Do they sell Rodon jerseys in NY? because that is the only way you will see his name in the stadium
Except even then, you won’t, since their names aren’t even on the backs. He’ll experience a setback in his rehab and you’ll never see him in the field. CWS all over again, but with more money.
It’s quite an accomplishment that the Yankees can still win with a significant portion of the roster watching from the IL the entire season every year.
That is very true
All these ignorant KB warriors on here talking smack about Carlos Rodon. There is an old adage in sports that you cannot coach through injury. Trying to paint Rodon as almost a coward or at least unable to perform on the big stage is absurd. I’ll even go so far as to predict that, if healthy, Rodon will play a huge role for NYY down the stretch.