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Miguel Andujar

Yankees Place DJ LeMahieu On 10-Day IL

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AUG. 17: The Yankees expect LeMahieu to miss two to three weeks, manager Aaron Boone told Hoch and other reporters.

AUG. 16, 3:05pm: LeMahieu will receive a second opinion on his hand tomorrow, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, who adds that LeMahieu will visit the same specialist who treated him for a similar injury in 2018. As of now, there’s no timetable for LeMahieu’s return, though the Yankees are confident that the sprain will not require surgery.

11:34am: The Yankees announced they’ve placed DJ LeMahieu on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain. Miguel Andújar has been recalled from the alternate training site to replace him on the active roster.

LeMahieu was removed from last night’s game against the Red Sox. While x-rays came back negative, manager Aaron Boone acknowledged then an IL stint was a possibility. That’s evidently come to pass. LeMahieu has been a big part of the Yankees’ AL East leading 14-6 start. He’s hitting .411/.456/.534 (177 wRC+) over 79 plate appearances, more than doubling down on his breakout 2019 season, in which he hit .327/.375/.518 en route to a 4th-place finish in AL MVP balloting.

The Yankees didn’t announce a timetable for his potential return, but the hope is today’s move is merely out of an abundance of caution. After all, New York sits in prime postseason position already and surely wants LeMahieu at full strength for the stretch run. An impending free agent, the 32-year-old no doubt is targeting a healthy, productive finish to the season himself.

Andújar was seemingly a victim of a roster crunch when he was optioned ten days ago. The 25-year-old was highly productive as a rookie (at least offensively) in 2018, but he’s since been passed at the hot corner through little fault of his own by Gio Urshela. It’s seemingly still questionable whether he’ll find everyday run, given that he won’t be seen as an option to replace LeMahieu at the keystone. That role figures to be handled by Tyler Wade and/or Thairo Estrada.

Yankees Option Miguel Andujar

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The Yankees have optioned infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar to their alternate training site, per a club announcement. Fellow infielder Thairo Estrada and righty Nick Nelson were sent down with him.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Andujar dropped, but he had struggled in limited opportunities thus far. The 25-year-old has reached base just one time in 14 plate appearances.

Andujar turned in a high-powered rookie season in 2018, but was knocked out early last year due to a shoulder injury. He entered the current campaign at full health, but was bypassed in the meantime by Gio Urshela, who has thus far maintained a shocking 2019 breakout.

The depth on hand left the Yanks looking for ways to get Andujar into the lineup. But there aren’t many more opportunities in an outfield that is fully loaded with healthy, productive hitters at the moment. And Andujar isn’t exactly a natural out in left field.

Just about any other club would’ve had a much longer leash. But the Yanks have a bevy of alternatives. Perhaps it’s best for all involved if Andujar gets some more time re-polishing his swing in camp.

It’s certainly fair to wonder what the future holds for Andujar in New York. Given the limits on trades this year, he could be an interesting chip to dangle. If he’s not able to re-take an active roster spot, he’ll finish the season shy of three full years of MLB service, which would mean waiting an extra season for arbitration and eventual free agency.

Miguel Andujar Feeling “100 Percent” After Shoulder Rehab

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After a small tear in his right labrum limited Miguel Andujar to just 12 games last season, the Yankees slugger declared himself healthy and ready to hit the field whenever (or if) the 2020 season gets underway.  In an e-mail to George A. King III of the New York Post, Andujar said he is “very happy where I am at physically” as he approaches one full year since his last MLB game (last May 12).

“I feel great.  I am working out five days a week building strength, working with the trainers, exercising and doing my best to stay sharp,” Andujar wrote.  “It’s been almost a year since my injury and I feel 100 percent….For a while I was working out away from (Steinbrenner Field) with a trainer, hitting and staying sharp. I am back at the complex doing everything I can to prepare myself.”

Andujar was tentatively expected to be ready for Opening Day even if the season had started on time, and the 25-year-old admitted to being especially anxious to get back to action given that he missed virtually all of the 2019 campaign.  That lost season opened the door for Gio Urshela to unexpectedly emerge as a big offensive contributor at third base, leading to the Yankees’ desire to try Andujar out at first base and left field during Spring Training in order to figure out ways to keep his bat in the lineup.

For his part, Andujar is happy to learn these new positions.  “I am ready to play wherever the team needs me. I am ready to play, period,” he said.  “I’ve continued to prepare to play any position I am asked to play.  I look at it as having a number of doors open for me.  They are all opportunities for me to play and I am going to try to take advantage of everything that is presented to me.”

Given that Andujar has struggled defensively over 143 career games as a third baseman, there was speculation even before his injury that a move off the hot corner was inevitable.  His spring audition as a first baseman was a little shaky, and he was slated for much more corner outfield playing time in camp before the COVID-19 shutdown.

Delivering even passable glovework at any position would make Andujar all the more valuable, considering what Andujar has already shown at the plate.  Andujar quickly emerged as one of the game’s top young hitters in 2018, batting .297/.328/.527 with 27 homers over 606 plate appearances and finishing second to Shohei Ohtani in AL Rookie Of The Year voting.

Yankees Have Shown Interest In Steven Matz

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Following injuries to Luis Severino and James Paxton, the Yankees have reached out to the Mets to inquire on the availability of left-hander Steven Matz, per Ken Davidoff and Mike Puma of the New York Post. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that while there’s been contact between the two teams, however, a deal is quite unlikely.

The 28-year-old Matz has started 30 games in each of the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 4.09 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 1.49 HR/9 and a 48 percent ground-ball rate in 314 1/3 frames. The Mets control him through the 2021 season as an arbitration-eligible player.

A deal between the two sides coming together would indeed face numerous obstacles. The Yankees and Mets generally don’t trade with one another, and the Mets themselves have some question marks among their starting staff. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Rick Porcello are locks at this point, and there’s been talk of taking a less-conventional approach to the fifth spot, using both Matz and Michael Wacha in nontraditional capacities. After that, the 40-man roster contains Stephen Gonsalves, Walker Lockett, Corey Oswalt and Franklyn Kilome, while veteran righty Erasmo Ramirez is in camp on a non-roster deal. Wacha and Porcello are already in need of their own rebounds, and a trade of Matz followed by an injury elsewhere on the starting staff would leave the Mets with a good bit of uncertainty.

From a financial vantage point, Matz’s $5MM salary for the 2020 season would cost the Yankees more than it appears at first glance. After adding Gerrit Cole to the mix and giving out arbitration raises to the likes of Paxton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gio Urshela, Tommy Kahnle and others, the Yankees find themselves more than $50MM north of the luxury barrier. Because they’re more than $40MM above that $208MM line and would be in luxury-tax territory for a second straight season, the Yankees would owe a 75 percent tax on any additional dollars added to the payroll. In effect, Matz would cost them $8.75MM. It’s not a backbreaking difference, but it’d certainly impact the manner in which the club determines Matz’s value and what he should cost in a theoretical trade.

Perhaps the biggest roadblock, though, is the simple fact that the Mets would covet MLB talent in return for Matz, according to the Post’s reporting. Puma and Davidoff suggest that Miguel Andujar would “likely” intrigue the Mets but that the Yankees wouldn’t be keen on such a swap.

Not long after Severino’s injury was announced, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman downplayed the possibility of making a move. “The winter marketplace this time of year, it doesn’t exist,” he said when asked about the possibility of going outside the organization for help. That’s not a declaration that he wouldn’t make any type of effort, but as the previously laid-out obstacles illustrate, making a deal this time of year (particularly in the case of these two teams) can be problematic.

The Yankees have surely asked about other starters — they’ve also scouted free agent Henderson Alvarez — but inquiring and acquiring are two very different things. There’s still a bit more than three weeks to try to pull something together before Opening Day, but it’s difficult to envision a Matz swap coming to fruition.

Camp Battles: Yankees’ First Base Situation

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The Yankees have gotten more from first baseman Luke Voit than they realistically could have expected when they acquired him from the Cardinals in July 2018. A 22nd-round pick of the Cardinals in 2013, Voit ultimately managed just 137 plate appearances with the team before it sent him to the Yankees in a swap that has worked out well for both sides. Voit has been quite productive as a member of the Yankees, with whom he has hit .280/.384/.517 in 658 trips to the plate, while reliever Giovanny Gallegos emerged as an integral piece of the Cardinals’ bullpen a year ago. However, despite the good numbers Voit has put up with the Bronx Bombers, he doesn’t necessarily have first base on lockdown heading into the new season. Rather, the team’s “open to other options” there, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News writes. Let’s take a look at who’s in the mix…

  • Luke Voit: The 29-year-old slashed a robust .263/.378/.464 with 21 home runs in 510 PA in 2019, his first full campaign as a Yankee, but his production dropped precipitously in the second half. Voit battled sports hernia issues throughout, though he insists those problems are behind him. “I had a bunch of MRIs during the season and I finally saw Dr. Myers, a specialist in Philadelphia, and he told me I tore everything down there,” Voit told Ackert. “I was just like, ‘Wow,’ I didn’t really know it was that bad. I tried to fight through it. I’m a competitor I want to play… the past is the past, but now I’m feeling good and ready to get things rolling.”
  • Mike Ford: Voit’s injury troubles last year helped pave the way for the lefty-hitting Ford’s major league debut, and he took full advantage. The 27-year-old batted .259/.350/.559 with prodigious power numbers (.301 ISO, 12 homers) over 163 plate appearances. And Ford didn’t sell out for more power by racking up a lot of strikeouts, as he fanned just 17.2 percent of the time (compared to a 10.4 percent walk rate). Moreover, his swinging-strike rate (8.1) checked in exactly 3 percent better than average, and he was actually far more effective versus same-handed pitchers than righties (albeit during a limited sample of work). The track record in the bigs is still small – even Ford recently said to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, “Anyone could be good for 160 at-bats” – but he also held his own in Triple-A, where he owns a .274/.364/.514 mark in almost 900 PA.
  • Miguel Andujar: An AL Rookie of the Year candidate back in 2018, Andujar fell on hard times last season because of shoulder woes that held him to a mere 12 games. Andujar was the Yankees’ starting third baseman in his first year, but Gio Urshela filled that role with aplomb when he was down last season and is in line to enter 2020 as their starter there. Andujar, 24, could therefore pick up time at first base and in the corner outfield if the Yankees want to keep his bat in the lineup.

Fortunately for the Yankees, they’re not at immediate risk of losing any of these players if they don’t earn MLB roster spots to begin the season. All three have two minor league options apiece remaining, so New York could send any of them to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre if it wants. But they’ve all shown well as big league hitters so far, and the Yankees do have the luxury of deploying a DH. So, regardless of position, Voit, Ford and Andujar could each make a notable impact in the majors this season.

MLBTR Poll: Yankees’ Third Base Situation

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A year ago at this time, Miguel Andujar was the clear-cut favorite to open the season at third base for the Yankees. Had it not been for an out-of-this-world two-way showing from the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani in 2018, Andujar would have entered the season fresh off AL Rookie of the Year honors. Andujar fell short to Ohtani, though, and then endured a year to forget in the second season of his career.

Shoulder problems limited Andujar to just 12 games in 2019, but the Yankees had no trouble carrying on without him, evidenced by their 103-59 record and their first AL East title since 2012. One reason the Yankees finally regained control of the division? Gio Urshela, who grabbed the reins at third base as a result of Andujar’s health woes and became one of the injury-riddled Yankees’ most valuable players. It was a shocking rise for Urshela, who had never been known for his offense in prior major league stints with the Indians (2015, 2017) and Blue Jays (2018).

Before last year, Urshela had not hit more than 15 home runs in a professional season, yet he managed to mash 21 in the majors in 2019. That career-high HR total helped Urshela to an outstanding .314/.355/.534 line with 3.1 fWAR and a personal-best hard-hit rate in 476 plate appearances.

Urshela’s track record of success isn’t long, but the World Series hopeful Yankees are believers. General manager Brian Cashman has made it known that Urshela’s the front-runner to open the upcoming campaign at the hot corner for New York. So, despite his impressive performance as a rookie, Andujar’s behind on the Yankees’ depth chart. They’re even giving the soon-to-be 25-year-old work at first base and in the outfield early this spring in an effort to keep his bat in the lineup, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

Andujar may be hard-pressed to struggle more at first or in the outfield than he has at third, where he accounted for minus-25 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-16 Ultimate Zone Rating in his first season. But make no mistake, Andujar can hit. In his first season in the majors, he piled up 606 trips to the plate and batted .297/.328/.527 with 76 extra-base hits (47 doubles, 27 homers, two triples).

Considering his offensive upside, Andujar may well return to his past role as the Yankees’ primary third baseman sometime this year. Urshela, 28, will have to relinquish the job first, though. Which of the two do you think will log more time at the hot corner for the Yankees in 2020?

(Poll link for app users)

Yankees Want Miguel Andujar To Learn To Play 1B, LF

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The Yankees’ Miguel Andujar spent 2018 at third base, where he endured his fair share of struggles. Andujar posted a horrid minus-25 Defensive Runs Saved and a similarly poor minus-16 Ultimate Zone Rating, but the doubles machine’s outstanding offensive production overshadowed his difficulties in the field. While Andujar finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in his first season, he wasn’t able to follow it up in 2019 on account of shoulder troubles that shelved him for almost the whole campaign.

In Andujar’s absence last year, the Yankees saw fill-in Gio Urshela enjoy an out-of-nowhere breakout. Urshela’s now set to enter 2020 as the Yankees’ top option at the hot corner, which could force Andujar to another position. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has told Andujar that he’ll have to learn to play first base and left field in spring training, Randy Miller of NJ.com reports.

Andujar’s no sure thing to begin 2020 with the Yankees if he’s unable to adapt to his new spots. Considering he has minor league options left, the Yankees could opt to send him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. But Andujar’s “makeup is off the chart,” general manager Brian Cashman told the YES Network, so the Yankees are still banking on him doing enough to crack their 26-man roster.

If Andujar does start the season in the majors, it’s up in the air how much playing time he’ll receive from the get-go. As mentioned, he’s now the Yankees’ No. 2 guy at third. Meanwhile, the Yankees have fellow right-handed hitter Luke Voit, who has been quite productive since he joined the club in 2018, as well as lefty Mike Ford as first base possibilities. They also boast Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier as left field choices. So, there doesn’t appear to be an easy path to early season playing time in New York for Andujar, despite the .297/.328/.527 line he recorded and the 76 extra-base hits he amassed during his rookie campaign.

Quick Hits: Yankees, Urshela, Orioles, Gonzalez, Sherman

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It’s an NFL day, but there’s time enough for some quick hits in MLB…

  • Gio Urshela projects as the Opening Day third baseman after a breakout year in the Bronx.  He put up 3.4 rWAR while Miguel Andujar missed the year with injuries, and since Andujar has minor league options remaining, Urshela’s case looks even stronger. Urshela could even expand his portfolio to include backup shortstop duties in 2020, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, though Thairo Estrada and Tyler Wade are the more likely options to take that on should Gleyber Torres need a day off.
  • Second-year Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde will have a veteran voice in his ear this season now that Fredi Gonzalez has joined his staff. Gonzalez is listed as a general Major League Coach, but the veteran manager looks forward to being freed up to contribute in a lot of different areas, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Gonzalez will team with Major League Field Coordinator Tim Cossins to fill the duties traditionally assigned to a bench coach – but the important thing for the Orioles is that Hyde has another influence that he trusts as he looks to build on the development of a very young Orioles’ squad. Gonzalez certainly knows the terrain, having spent the last few seasons as the third base coach for the Miami Marlins. When the 2019 season came to a close, Gonzalez didn’t know exactly what would await him, but he decided it was time to move on from Miami and make himself a free agent. Hyde, meanwhile, managed the High-A and Double-A affiliates in Florida during Gonzalez’ managerial tenure from 2007 to 2010, and he didn’t wait long to add Gonzalez to his staff.
  • As they say, the ball don’t lie, and that’s good enough for Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who marks the Nationals as the winners of last year’s offseason thanks to their championship in October. Of course, a year makes all the difference, as Sherman names the Red Sox the top loser of last year’s offseason for their ill-fated attempt to keep the good vibes going after their 2018 World Series title. Sherman makes this particularly interesting note about the fates of those giving multi-year offers to relief pitchers: “There were 11 relievers who signed for multiple years last season. Six had zero or negative WAR (Baseball Reference version). Just two improved on their WAR from 2018 to 2019, and just three ([Zack] Britton, [Adam] Ottavino and Justin Wilson) improved their ERA.” For what it’s worth, the Nationals can be counted among the group of team’s handing out multi-year deals to a reliever this offseason.

Quick Hits: Arenado, Boyd, Andujar, Giants

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Nolan Arenado’s name has frequented the rumor mill of late, but ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required) that one evaluator whose team has spoken to the Rockies about Arenado is under the impression that the club isn’t aggressively looking to offload the contract. Arenado has seven years and $234MM remaining on his contract, an opt-out clause after 2021 and a full o-trade clause, making him a difficult player to trade even if the front office was strongly motivated to do so. Colorado GM Jeff Bridich rather broadly acknowledged that “this is the time of year where we at least listen” earlier this month, but there’s been little indication that there’s anything more significant than that “listening” going on with regard to Arenado.

Some more trade talk from around the league…

  • Matthew Boyd’s second-half struggles won’t push the Tigers to back down from the high asking price they’ve set in trade talks, writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. General manager Al Avila has repeatedly downplayed the notion that he’s shopping Boyd while also acknowledging that he’s been willing to listen to offers when approached by another club. Fenech, though, suggests that Boyd is likely to be Spring Training with the Tigers and might have to endure another half season’s worth of trade inquiries leading up to the July 31 trade deadline in 2020. He adds that Avila and the Tigers have yet to approach Boyd regarding an extension, which isn’t a huge surprise given the team’s rebuilding status and the fact that Boyd is controlled through 2022 anyhow.
  • Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone both said Friday that they expect third baseman Miguel Andujar to be ready for Spring Training, per Dan Martin of the New York Post. A shoulder injury that required surgery torpedoed Andujar’s would-be sophomore season in the Bronx. In his absence, he was both a subject of trade inquiries and at least somewhat pushed for his starting job by the surprise breakout of Gio Urshela. Andujar and Urshela seem likely to compete for at-bats this spring, though Cashman has previously called the hot corner Urshela’s position to lose. Andujar has minor league options remaining if he shows signs of rust in Florida; Urshela is out of minor league options.
  • The Giants will likely continue experimenting with the roles of their pitchers in 2020, writes Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Shaun Anderson is one of several younger pitchers identified by Pavlovic for a potential hybrid starter/reliever role, and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi tells Pavlovic that the right-hander expressed a willingness to pitch in any role in a meeting between the two after the season. It’s hard to imagine veterans Johnny Cueto or Jeff Samrdzija being deployed as anything other than conventional starters, and the Giants will surely want some continuity in their starting staff beyond that. (Offseason signee Kevin Gausman has been primarily a starter in the big leagues and was compensated as such with his $9MM deal.) But, as Pavlovic explores, the Giants also have several fringe rotation candidates who could get looks in multi-inning roles as the team looks to build out its pitching staff for the foreseeable future.

Quick Hits: Rangers, Andujar, Nishikawa, Giants, Bleier

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We’ll check out a few notes as we wrap up a quiet weekend around baseball.

  • The Rangers are “definitely intrigued” by the idea of acquiring Miguel Andújar from the Yankees to fill their third base vacancy, hears T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. The Yankees have gotten numerous hits on Andújar this offseason, with interested teams perhaps looking to buy low after a labrum tear ended the 24-year-old’s season in April. With Gio Urshela having supplanted Andújar at the hot corner in the Bronx, the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up now looks like an interesting trade candidate. Free agency remains an option for Texas, too; Sullivan hears the Rangers are still interested in Josh Donaldson, whom the MLBTR staff guessed would end up in Arlington on a three year, $75MM deal.
  • Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Haruki Nishikawa hopes the team will make him available to MLB clubs via the posting system next offseason, reports Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times. Nishikawa, whom Coskrey describes as a “speedy, left-handed hitter,” has a cumulative .284/.376/.393 line in parts of eight NPB seasons. 2019 marked a bit of a step back from the past few years for the 27-year-old, as he slashed .288/.393/.385 with 19 stolen bases. Every year between 2016-18, though, Nishikawa stole at least 39 bags with an OPS north of .790. Nishikawa’s entering his final year under contract with the Fighters, but he won’t qualify for international free agency. Thus, he will need the Fighters, whom Coskrey notes has historically been the most amenable NPB team to posting its top players, including Shohei Ohtani, to agree to post him if he’s to gauge MLB interest in 2020.
  • The Giants are negotiating a deal with Indians’ infield coach/defensive coordinator Kai Correa, reports Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic (via Twitter). San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler is a “huge fan” of Correa’s, Baggarly adds. Correa has spent the past two years working with infielders in the Cleveland organization. He’d previously spent seven seasons coaching at the college level, including four at the University of Northern Colorado.
  • The Orioles are nearing a deal with reliever Richard Bleier to avoid arbitration, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN (via Twitter). Bleier is projected for a modest $1.1MM award in his first foray through the process. The left-handed sinkerballer has consistently posted an elite ground ball rate and been particularly stingy with walks, helping to overcome one of the game’s worst strikeout rates. Unfortunately, Bleier’s 5.37 ERA last season was over three runs per nine higher than the 1.97 career mark he carried entering the year.
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