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C.C. Sabathia

Yankees Interested In Re-Signing CC Sabathia; Sonny Gray Drawing Trade Interest

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman met with reporters today and expressed a desire to re-sign lefty CC Sabathia while also adding that “a lot” of teams have reached out to express trade interest in Sonny Gray (Twitter links via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand).

Despite the fact that Cashman has all but admitted he expects to trade Gray, rotation stability will be an area of focus for the Yankees’ front office this winter. With Sabathia and J.A. Happ hitting the open market, Jordan Montgomery out early in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and Gray likely to be moved, the only experienced arms slotted into New York’s 2019 rotation are Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka. There’s plenty of internal depth in the form of Justus Sheffield, Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga and Chance Adams, among others, but a team with division title aspirations and the Yankees’ payroll capacity is likely to bolster that group in notable fashion.

[Related: New York Yankees depth chart]

The 38-year-old Sabathia, presumably, wouldn’t be viewed as more than a back-of-the-rotation option. However, he’s been an integral part of the team for the past decade and, despite his age and ongoing knee issues, he enjoyed a very solid 2018 season. In 153 innings (29 starts), the veteran Sabathia worked to a 3.65 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.12 HR/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. His swinging-strike and chase rates were the best they’d been since 2012, and his fastball velocity still checked in a bit north of 90 mph — roughly in line with his past four seasons.

Sabathia has already indicated that he hopes to continue pitching in 2019, though his recent success and what figures to be a relatively reasonable price tag could lead to interest elsewhere. While Sabathia is surely open to a reunion with the Yankees, he suggested back in September that he planned to continue pitching even if it meant signing elsewhere (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Marc Carig). The Vallejo, Calif. native did draw interest from the Angels last winter, and speculatively speaking, he’d have plenty of options on the West Coast if he wished to play closer to home.

As for Gray, the right-hander was shelled more often than not when pitching at Yankee Stadium in 2018 but thrived on the road, so it’s not surprising to see numerous clubs expressing interest. Gray’s fastball velocity held strong in 2018, and his swinging-strike rate (10.1 percent) was right in line with that of a league-average starter. Gray’s ground-ball, strikeout and home-run rates were all sharp, as well. The Yankees seemingly altered his pitch selection without much success in ’18, as he threw fewer four-seamers and more curves and two-seamers than ever before.

It’s easy to see why several clubs in larger parks would carry interest — especially if they believe that a return to a more traditional pitch mix for Gray would help him inch toward his peak form. He’s something of a pricey roll of the dice, depending on the interested party, as MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Gray to earn $9.1MM in 2019 — his final season of arbitration eligibility. But Gray’s track record, home/road splits and some solid peripheral metrics place him among the game’s more intriguing buy-low pieces this offseason.

AL East Notes: Yanks, Happ, Sabathia, O’s, Gaston, Rays, Baldelli

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A few notes from the AL East:

  • With the offseason now underway for the Yankees, general manager Brian Cashman discussed several topics of interest in an interview with Mike Francesa of WFAN earlier this week. As free agency and trade season approach, the Yankees are expected to be among the majors’ most active teams in the starting pitching market – especially considering left-handers J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia are without contracts. Indeed, Cashman revealed: “We’re excited about adding to our rotation. It’s going to be a focus point for us, and there’s going to be a lot of competition, regardless of the available players out there. We need to continue to reinforce that rotation.” As for Happ and Sabathia, Cashman declared that “they’re going to get a lot of consideration, not just from us but from a lot of people.” The 36-year-old Happ, whom New York acquired from Toronto in July, fit in well with the Yankees during the regular season and is now fresh off his fourth straight strong campaign. He seems like a shoo-in to land a multiyear deal, whereas Sabathia, 38, may have to settle for his second consecutive one-year pact. A Yankee since 2009, Sabathia re-signed with the team for $10MM last offseason and then continued his late-career renaissance during the 2018 campaign.
  • Although the Orioles lost out on the Mesa brothers, two highly touted outfield prospects who chose the Marlins over the O’s on Saturday, Baltimore’s still “hopeful” about signing young right-hander Sandy Gaston, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. Even after their Saturday signings, the Marlins may still try for Gaston – who, like the Mesas, hails from Cuba – but the Orioles could easily outbid them (or anyone else) at this point.
  • Even though he has never managed at any level, Rays coach Rocco Baldelli has interviewed with five skipper-needy teams in recent weeks. Despite his inexperience, it’s no surprise the 37-year-old has drawn serious interest from teams seeking a manager, argues the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, who notes Baldelli packages youth, intelligence, communication skills and a knowledge of analytics. That’s a coveted blend in the modern game, and as Topkin points out, it doesn’t hurt that a.) Baldelli comes with front office/scouting experience and b.) is part of a club that just wrapped up a successful season under his boss, manager Kevin Cash. The Cash-led Rays plan to return the same coaching staff in 2019, Topkin reports, though they may have to replace Baldelli.

Yankees Notes: Corbin, Sabathia, Payroll

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A few notes on the Yankees, whom the archrival Red Sox eliminated from the postseason earlier this week:

  • It’s “expected” that the Yankees will go after left-hander Patrick Corbin in free agency, sources tell Jon Heyman of Fancred. It’s notable but not surprising that the Yankees may pursue Corbin, as they’re in need of quality starters and he’ll be among the best on the open market. Further, the Bombers attempted to acquire Corbin last winter, and the New York state native explained to Bob Nightengale of USA Today in April that the rumors “excited” his Yankees-loving family. Regardless of where Corbin pitches in 2019, he figures to do so after receiving one of the richest contracts awarded during the upcoming offseason. The 29-year-old, a career-long Diamondback to this point, is coming off a personal-best season in which he logged a 3.15 ERA/2.47 FIP with 11.07 K/9 and 2.16 BB/9 over 200 innings.
  • While Corbin may soon end up a Yankee, “it would appear” they’ll say goodbye to fellow pending free-agent starter CC Sabathia, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Heyman passes along different information, writing that a reunion “hasn’t necessarily been ruled out.” A Yankee since 2009, the potential Hall of Famer would be difficult to replace both on and off the field for the Bombers, with whom he turned in another fine season in 2018. Despite his age (he turned 38 in July), the big lefty posted a 3.65 ERA across 153 innings. ERA estimators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA haven’t been as bullish on Sabathia’s work in recent years, though he’s so difficult to square up against that it has enabled him to defy serious regression. Sabathia finished fifth among all pitchers in average exit velocity against (84 mph) this past regular season, per Statcast. Because he’s still such an effective starter, Sabathia has made it known he’ll resume his career in 2019. While he did just undergo knee surgery Friday, it doesn’t seem as if it’ll affect Sabathia’s outlook heading into next year.
  • For the first time in 15 years, the Yankees stayed under the luxury-tax threshold this season, David Lennon of Newsday notes. That means if the Yankees exceed the $206MM figure in 2019 (up from $197MM this year), they’ll pay a 20 percent tax for every dollar spent over the mark, as opposed to 50 percent. On paper, that puts them in better position to pursue top free agents such as Corbin, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. But it’s not a slam dunk the Yankees – led by owner Hal Steinbrenner – will spend in excess of $206MM next year, as general manager Brian Cashman told Lennon on Friday: “I don’t want to speak for Hal, but my general feeling from him and for us has been not wanting to line the pockets of others to let them utilize that excess against us. It was mission accomplished in terms of the payroll this year, and taking away advantages that teams have been getting from us because we were exceeding those thresholds.” Cashman added, though, that he believes Steinbrenner’s “a very open-minded person” with respect to spending, perhaps leaving the door open for some big-money moves.

CC Sabathia Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Yankees southpaw CC Sabathia underwent knee surgery today, Jack Curry of YES Network was among those to cover on Twitter. It does not sound as if the news will impact the veteran hurler’s plans to pitch in 2019.

GM Brian Cashman says it’s the same procedure that Sabathia underwent this time last year, though it’s tough to find documentation of that. If Sabathia went under the knife in 2017, it may have been a repeat of a 2016 cleanup procedure. Or, perhaps, that two-year-old operation is what Cashman was referring to.

Regardless, the prior work did not prevent Sabathia from turning in a third-consecutive productive campaign. The 38-year-old has not tallied big innings totals of late, but it’s hard to turn up your nose at the output, particularly given his age. Since the start of the 2016 campaign, Sabathia has spun 481 1/3 frames of 3.76 ERA ball with 7.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.

Most importantly, those solid results have come without any significant injury troubles. Though Sabathia has taken some time off here and there, he has averaged 29 starts annually since a 2014 campaign that was cut short by knee surgery. In that light, perhaps, the newest procedure represents just another part of an ongoing maintenance regimen that has proved to be successful.

Surgery aside, whether or not another reunion is to occur isn’t yet clear. But Sabathia certainly gave the Yanks everything they hoped for when they promised him $10MM for a single-season term last winter. And with the club making clear they’re ready to move on from rotation mate Sonny Gray, it seems there’ll be plenty of room for Sabathia to fit in the payroll and the rotation if the club so wishes.

East Notes: Phillies, Quinn, Herrera, Yanks, CC, Rays, Jays, Estrada

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Thanks to the presence of rookie Roman Quinn, Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera has recently shifted from center field to right. It’s unclear whether that alignment will hold up in 2019, but manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday (via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) that he wants both players to enter next season prepared to handle center. Kapler also suggested that Herrera hasn’t been at top physical condition this season, per Zolecki, saying: “I think he can come into camp in better shape in 2019 than he came in 2018. … This is something that he and I have discussed and will continue to discuss. I think he can be in incredible physical shape. We’ve seen it from him in the past. If you look back a couple years you see a version of him that is fast, athletic, explosive and I think that’s in there and I’m excited about helping him and supporting him to bring that out.”

Going by fWAR (1.1), this has been a dud of a season for Herrera, who posted between 2.9 and 3.8 in that category from 2015-17. Perhaps Herrera will be an offseason trade candidate, then, though the Phillies would be “selling low” on him, Zolecki points out. He also notes Quinn’s history of injuries could make it all the more difficult to part with Herrera, who’s set to turn 27 in December and has four guaranteed seasons left on the five-year, $30.5MM extension he signed prior to 2017.

Here’s more from the East Coast…

  • Major League Baseball has issued a five-game suspension to Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and a three-game ban to Rays right-hander Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Kramer of MLB.com was among those to report. Both players will serve their suspensions at the beginning of the 2019 season, if they’re upheld through the appeals process. Sabathia was ejected from a win over the Rays on Thursday after throwing at catcher Jesus Sucre, a retaliatory move which served as a response to Kittredge nearly hitting Yankees backstop Austin Romine in the previous half-inning. Sabathia’s ejection may have cost him a significant amount of money, considering he was cruising through five innings and was only two frames away from notching 155 for the season. Had Sabathia reached that mark, he’d have secured a $500K bonus. It’s still possible the 38-year-old will earn that money, though, with George A. King III of the New York Post noting the Yankees could use him for a couple innings Sunday in Boston in a postseason tuneup. However, Sabathia told reporters on Saturday that he’s not interested in doing that (via Erik Boland of Newsday). “Nah, man, the season’s over for me. I’m ready for the lights to come on,” he said.
  • Blue Jays righty Marco Estrada won’t make his scheduled start Sunday on account of a sore back, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, meaning the pending free agent may have thrown his last pitch as a member of the team. The 35-year-old Estrada, a Blue Jay since 2015, said he’d “love to hear from” the club again and is “comfortable” in Toronto, though he’s not sure whether the club’s interested in re-signing him. Thanks in part to the Jays’ youth movement, not to mention Estrada’s struggles this season, a parting of ways may be in order. Estrada had been a quality starter for the Jays from 2015-17, but he only managed a 5.64 ERA/5.44 FIP over 143 2/3 innings this year.

AL East Notes: Sabathia, Sale, Yankees Pen, Showalter

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Yankees lefty C.C. Sabathia cost himself a $500K bonus during today’s matchup against the Rays after he was ejected for plunking catcher Jesus Sucre in retaliatory fashion.  As Steve Gardner of the USA Today details, Sabathia’s contract included incentive bonuses in the amount of $500K for eclipsing each of the 155, 165, 175, and 185 inning plateaus.  As it stood, Sabathia, who sat at 54 pitches in the 6th inning of game in which the Yankees led 11-0, was a near sure bet to hit the first mark, standing just six outs from the total at the time of the incident, though later he confessed ignorance regarding the matter in a soirée with reporters. The 38-year-old, who’s earned upwards of $250MM in his MLB career, turned in another solid campaign for the Bombers this season, comfortably outperforming his peripheral marks (4.22 FIP, 4.28 SIERA) for the third consecutive year on the way to 3.77 ERA, all while posting his highest strikeout rate since 2012.  Sabathia has already expressed a desire to pitch next season, and figures to be in line for a similar (one year, $10MM) deal to the one he inked before the ’18 campaign, should he choose to continue.

In other news from around the division…

  • Chris Sale’s radar gun readings are sounding alarm bells in Boston, where the left-hander sat at a career low 90.1 MPH with his fastball in Wednesday’s outing against the Orioles, the fourth in a series of diminished-velocity starts since his return from the DL after a bout with left shoulder inflammation.  For his part, Sale insists that a balky shoulder is not to blame, placing much of the onus on an out-of-sync lower body, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe explains in an information-packed overview of the situation.  As Speier notes, Sale’s extension toward home plate has lessened a bit since his return from the disabled list, and is a good deal lower than the 6.19 ft average he established during his lights-out run of mid-summer.  A correlation between the extension figures and Sale’s overall performance is somewhat murky, though it’s certainly a mark worth monitoring as the Red Sox enter the 2018 postseason on the heels of their most successful campaign in franchise history.  Sale, whose $13.5MM option for 2019 will almost certainly be picked up before he hits Free Agency the following offseason, appears to have capped off a sensational 2018 campaign that saw the hurler post otherworldly marks across the board – his 1.97 FIP and 48 FIP- each rank in the top three in AL history during the live-ball era, and his 13.5 K/9 stands as the best total for a starter (min. 150 IP) since stats were first compiled in 1871.
  • Marc Carig of the The Athletic dives deep into the Yankees bullpen and the manner in which it’s deployed in a fabulously detailed piece that’s unquestionably a must-read for all Pinstripe fanatics.  The Yankee pen of ’18 ranks, per fWAR and K/9, as the best in baseball history, a fact that likely comes as little surprise to anyone who’s followed the incredible collection of talent assembled in the unit over the last few seasons.  Notably, Carig also canvasses the depths to which the unit is influenced by new analytics, making particular mention of rookie manager Aaron Boone’s number-crunching preferences: Boone, it seems, has bucked convention by eschewing previous batter/pitcher history and platoon advantages in favor of new-wave proprietary data based primarily on pitch types, spin rates, and recent velocity totals while aiming to deploy the best possible arm for the situation.  Though the Bombers have a firmly entrenched reputation as one of the league’s most data-hungry franchises, it no doubt helps to feature a cavalcade of relievers capable of setting down batters from both sides at almost any point throughout the game.
  • Orioles manager Buck Showalter, whose contract is set to expire at the end of a disastrous 2018 campaign, addressed his future status for the first time in an interview with reporters (link via Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com), praising the team for “how good they’ve been” and claiming that the uncertainty regarding his future job status is “[not that] difficult.”  Showalter, who led the club through a series of overachieving campaigns in the middle part of the decade, sports a 668-681 record with the O’s since his start in 2010, and figures to be in high demand this offseason should the club decide to move on.

AL East Notes: Sabathia, Red Sox Bullpen, Second Basemen

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Per a tweet from Marc Carig of The Athletic, Yankees lefty CC Sabathia has decided to play next year. Though he’d indicated early on in the season that he might retire under certain circumstances, more recent statements from Sabathia had suggested he’d like to play another season. Most notably, he’d said he was taking a start-to-start approach to see how he felt, as his ability to pitch in 2019 would probably be contingent upon the health of his troublesome knee. Sabathia has continued to be a useful pitcher for the Yankees; across the past two seasons he’s taken the mound for 55 starts while posting a serviceable 3.73 ERA. There have been some small signs of decline, such as his dwindling innings per start figures across the past three seasons (Sabathia’s only averaged 5.28 innings across his 28 starts so far in 2018), but it seems reasonable to think that even if the Yankees decided not to bring him back, some team would probably be willing to pay for his services next year. That’s notable, considering Carig’s mention that Sabathia intends to play “even if it means signing with a team other than the Yankees.”

Now for a pair of notes related to the Yankees’ chief AL East rivals…

  • In his latest piece for The Athletic, Eno Sarris takes a deep dive into the statistics in order to answer an interesting question: does Dave Dombrowski have a bullpen problem? Dombrowski, of course, has a track record of success wherever he’s gone throughout the course of his lengthy career (and indeed has helped this year’s Boston team to a stunningly successful campaign). But whether by shortcomings or simply coincidence, the current Red Sox and former Tigers GM has had to answer for poor bullpen production from both of those teams. Notably, Sarris points out that Boston’s bullpen ranks in the bottom 20% of all MLB teams since the club did not acquire a reliever at the August deadline. Of course, it should be noted that one of his first moves as the club’s GM was to acquire Craig Kimbrel, who’s been a fantastic success. And it’s not as though Dombrowski hasn’t made other key moves in the past couple of years to acquire bullpen help; Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg were headline acquisitions but simply haven’t worked out as fans may have hoped. Overall, Sarris’ piece is quite interesting, and comes with the added benefit of a player-by-player breakdown of the club’s relief corps.
  • Also for The Athletic, Chad Jennings writes about how three infielders in the Red Sox organization have helped shape expectations about second basemen. Brandon Phillips, Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia have all enjoyed paramount success throughout their careers. “We’re all different in our own ways,” Phillips said. “We’re all productive, and the way we approach the game, we all went out there, and we swung that bat. That’s what we do. We swung the bat.” The piece provides some entertaining insight into the pasts of these three players, and is well worth a read in its entirety, particularly for Red Sox fans.

Yankees Select Contract Of George Kontos, Place CC Sabathia On DL

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4:00pm: The Yankees announced that they’ve selected Kontos’ contract and placed lefty CC Sabathia on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his right knee. Jordan Montgomery, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year, was moved to the 60-day DL to open a roster spot for Kontos. Additionally, the Yankees recalled Ronald Torreyes from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned Luke Voit to Triple-A in his place.

It’s not yet clear who’ll step into Sabathia’s rotation spot, although right-handers Sonny Gray and Chance Adams would appear to be the likeliest choices. Gray was recently demoted to a bullpen role after struggling for much of the season, while Adams made his MLB debut and struggled in a spot start earlier this month.

2:55pm: The Yankees have selected the contract of right-hander George Kontos, tweets George A. King III of the New York Post. A corresponding move has yet to be announced, but Lindsey Adler of The Athletic tweets that Kontos is already in the clubhouse, so a corresponding move should be revealed in short order.

It’s a full-circle promotion for Kontos, whom the Yankees drafted in the fifth round back in 2006. Kontos was taken by the Padres in the 2010 Rule 5 Draft but returned to the Yanks before appearing in the Majors, and he ultimately debuted in the Bronx during the 2011 season. However, Kontos only totaled six innings in pinstripes, as the Yankees flipped him to the Giants in exchange for catcher Chris Stewart the following April.

Kontos went on to cement himself as a quality bullpen option in San Francisco over the next six seasons, working to a 3.05 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 309 innings as a Giant before being somewhat surprisingly let go on waivers last summer. The Pirates picked him up at that point and enjoyed 14 2/3 quality innings out of Kontos down the stretch in 2017 (1.84 ERA), but his strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate and velocity cratered in Pittsburgh earlier this season, leading him to eventually be designated for assignment. Kontos had a stop in the Indians organization as well but was recently flipped to the Yankees in exchange for cash considerations.

All in all, Kontos returns to the Yankees organization with a career 3.12 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9 and a 43.6 percent ground-ball rate in 355 2/3 innings at the big league level. He’ll presumably slide into a middle-relief role, though given the general depth of the New York bullpen, it’s far from a guarantee that he’s ticketed for a lengthy stint in the Bronx.

CC Sabathia Hopes To Pitch In 2019

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Yankees left-hander C.C. Sabathia indicated earlier this season that this could be the last year of his career, but now he seems likely to return in 2019. Sabathia recently told Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com that he aims to play next year, health permitting.

“I’m [going] start to start,” Sabathia said. “I go out one start and feel like I can pitch five more years. I go out another start and I’m [feeling] done. But if I can stay healthy — if my knee holds up — hopefully I’ll play one more.”

It’s not a given that the big-bodied Sabathia’s knee will continue to cooperate, given that he dealt with serious troubles in that area as recently as last year. The pain in Sabathia’s right knee was so acute last summer that he nearly retired, in fact, before receiving a painkilling injection that helped him finish the season. His ongoing presence was a major positive for the Yankees, whom he helped pitch to the ALCS before they lost in seven games to the eventual world champion Astros.

Thanks in part to Sabathia’s strong finish in 2017, the Yankees re-signed the then-free agent to a one-year, $10MM guarantee in the offseason. The 38-year-old (his birthday is today) has been more than worth the investment so far in his 10th season with the Yankees, having pitched to a 3.51 ERA with 6.93 K/9, 2.61 BB/9 and a 45.3 percent groundball rate through 100 innings (18 starts). Although ERA estimators such as FIP (4.55), xFIP (4.52) and SIERA (4.45) haven’t been enamored of Sabathia’s work, it’s worth pointing out he has managed to defy severe regression by serving as a soft contact artist. Among qualified pitchers, only Milwaukee’s Brent Suter has induced a lower average exit velocity against than Sabathia’s 84.5 mph, per Statcast (via Baseball Savant), which also shows little difference between his wOBA allowed (.316) and xwOBA (.306).

Based on Sabathia’s performance, it seems the Yankees would have interest in retaining him beyond this season if he remains healthy. It’s unclear whether the Yankees will acquire a controllable starter this summer or during the winter, but even if they do, they’d likely still have room for an effective Sabathia in their rotation. He’s arguably New York’s second-best starter right now, after all, trailing ace Luis Severino. The club also has the home run-prone Masahiro Tanaka and the much-maligned Sonny Gray under wraps past this season. Beyond that, there are plenty of unproven young arms in the fold, with the highly touted Justus Sheffield, the struggling Domingo German and the currently injured Jonathan Loaisiga among them.

At the very least, Sabathia’s a superior option to each member of that group at the moment, and returning in 2019 could help him further his Hall of Fame case. The former ace, who was previously with the Indians and Brewers, owns a 3.70 ERA in 3,417 innings and ranks 36th all-time in pitcher fWAR (66.3), 53rd in wins (243) and 55th in pitcher rWAR (61.0).

AL East Notes: Machado, Sabathia, Blue Jays

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With the Orioles having failed to extend Manny Machado in the past, the shortstop noted this weekend (via Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun) that “they never reached out and showed that appreciation like the Angels did to (Mike) Trout. It was a totally different situation.” Machado was referring to the Angels’ decision in 2014 to give the then-22-year-old Trout a six-year, $144.5MM extension – one that canceled out three arbitration-eligible seasons and three free-agent years. Now, Machado says he’s “grateful” he’ll hit free agency this offseason at the age of 26. So, while the Orioles are all but guaranteed to trade Machado to a contender in the next few months, it doesn’t sound as if his next employer will have a legitimate chance to prevent him from reaching the open market with a new contract. Of course, given that Machado is in line to sign one of the majors’ richest deals ever, it’s no surprise he’s eager to test the open market.

Here’s more on a couple other AL East teams:

  • Left-hander CC Sabathia suggested last month that he’d retire at year’s end if the Yankees were to win the World Series. But the 37-year-old now seems more open to returning in 2019 even if the Yankees aren’t the last team standing this season. “If we win the World Series and I pitch well and I’m healthy at the end of the year, then it’s 50-50 that I come back,” Sabathia said (via Marc Carig of The Athletic; subscription required). “It’s not an absolute.” Considering how well he’s pitching, it stands to reason the Yankees would welcome back a healthy Sabathia next year if he decides to keep pitching. In his age 37-season, Sabathia has pitched to a 3.02 ERA/4.04 FIP in 83 1/3 innings, thanks in part to his ability to limit hard contact. Sabathia ranks third among qualified pitchers in average exit velocity against (84.2 mph).
  • The value of Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak’s 2019 club option has climbed from $6MM to $7MM, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. In order for that to happen, Smoak needed to accrue 950 plate appearances from 2017-18. He surpassed that figure Saturday. And Smoak’s option will go from $7MM to $8MM if he amasses 150 more PAs this year (1,100 total from 2017-18), Davidi notes. Whether his salary ends up at $7MM or $8MM, both numbers look like reasonable salaries for Smoak – who’s enjoying his second straight above-average offensive season. Although, Smoak’s .235/.359/.438 line in 315 PAs falls well short of last year’s .270/.355/.529 showing.
  • More on the Blue Jays, whose willingness to eat portions of veterans’ contracts in trades has them in a good position as the July 31 non-waiver deadline nears, Davidi observes. When Toronto sent infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce to Boston this week, it acquired infield prospect Santiago Espinal in part because it ate $1.66MM of Pearce’s remaining salary. With Pearce gone, the Jays still have several other veteran trade candidates, and paying some of their contracts would improve the team’s returns in deals. Notably, the Jays “have the support of the organization to do it,” general manager Ross Atkins said.
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