Pitchers and catchers report and guess who is hurt again?

So as pitchers and catchers report, guess what Yankee player will miss the first couple of weeks of spring training because he is hurt again (foot)?

If you said Jacoby Ellsbury, this decade’s version of Carl Pavano, advance to the head of the class.

Personally, I’d like to just cut Ellsbury, eat the two years and $47mm and move on with Gardner and Frazier platooning in LF.

Anyone surprised at this news?

Manager Aaron Boone all but appointed Luis Severino the Opening Day Starter (barring something unforeseen). No shock there.

CC will have a press conference Saturday. Apparently to confirm his retirement at the end of the season.

Bad news concerning top prospect Michael King, who rose from High A to AAA last year. He’ll be shut down for 3 weeks due to elbow soreness. You fear TJ surgery.

 

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When will free agents sign?

We are about two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting, and there are still a lot of free agents still unsigned, including four major ones in Harper, Machado, Kimbrel,  and Keuchel. There are others.

When will they finally sign?

Freddy Galvis signed a 1 yr, $4MM deal with Toronto.

Ex-Yankee Neil Walker went to the Marlins, 1 yr, $2MM.

The Red Sox signed Jennry Mejia to a minor league deal, even though he has been suspended 3x for PEDs. He last pitched in the majors in 2015.

Shawn Kelley to Texas 1 yr, $2.5 MM, option for a 2nd yr.

 

 

Yanks place two prospects in top 100 list.

With the Yanks having had players like Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar making the jump to the majors, and having traded away some other prospects, there are only two prospects in the top 100.

#57. Estevan Florial. 21, OF. Lefty bat. Hit .255-3-27 with 11 SB at High A Tampa in 2018, 75 games. Missed a lot of 2018 with an injury.

#66. Jonathan Loaisiga. RHP. 24. Got in 9 games with the Yanks in 2018, 4 starts. 2-0, 5.11 (ERA+ 86). Was 6-1, 2.89 between High A and AA last season in 14 starts. Hasn’t even pitched in AAA yet.

 

Ottavino #0, Dodgers sign Pollock, cap preference, Bell new mgr. at SWB

The Yanks announced today that Adam Ottavino will, indeed, be the first Yankee to wear the number zero.

All numbers 1 through 10 have been retired.

The Dodgers signed a deal with the 2nd best OF on the marker, A.J. Pollock, 5 yr., $60MM.

The best OF still Harper.

The Yanks promoted Jay Bell to AAA manager at SWB. Bell scored the winning run of the 2001 ws against the Yanks. He finished first in 2017 with A+ Tampa, and first in 2018 with AA Trenton.

He is working his way up.

Update: Forgot to mention the cap preference. Roy Halladay’s family announced that Halladay’s cap will be blank. I am a bit surprised, since Halladay spent 12 years with Toronto, 4 with the Phillies as opposed to Mike Mussina’s 10 with Baltimore and 8 with the Yankees. It is not like Halladay’s was as even as Mussina’s split time.

Mussina is still making up his mind (the HOF has final say) and could be (ala Greg Maddux and Halladay) having a blank cap on his plaque as well.

 

Yanks re-sign Hale to minor league deal.

He was there, then gone, then here again and then gone again. Now back again.

Now, with a minor league deal, David Hale is back as the Yanks have a very busy day today (Gray, Farquhar, Hale).

Hale, 10-10 in his MLB career with a 4.49 ERA (ERA+ 92) pitched in one game for the Yanks in 2018, (two scoreless innings), then went to the Twins where he got in one game, giving up 4 runs in three innings, then he returned to the Yanks for two games (3 runs in 8 2/3 IP) before leaving again.

He is 31 and a righty pitcher.

 

Yanks sign Farquhar to minor league deal

From Lohud.com:

Danny Farquhar is returning to baseball.

The Yankees are reportedly signing Farquhar to a minor-league deal, according to Fancred’s Jon Heyman.

Farquhar survived a scary incident this past season, when he suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm in the dugout while playing for the Chicago White Sox. Farquhar suddenly collapsed in the dugout after pitching in relief in a game on April 20, but he was rushed to the hospital and survived.

He was later discharged on May 7.

The Yanks had Farquhar for a month in 2012 but he never pitched for them.

Farquhar has pitched for the Blue Jays (2011), Mariners (2013-2015), Rays (2016-2017) and White Sox (2017-2018).

He saved 16 games for the 2013 Mariners. Soon to be 32, and a RHP, he has a career record of 10-15, 3.93 with 18 saves and an ERA of 3.93 (ERA + 99).

It is a low-risk, high-reward kind of deal. You are taking a chance on him, and it’s a minor league deal.

And after what he’s been through, how could you NOT root for him?

 

Gray deal to Reds finalized.

The Yanks trade of Sonny Gray to the Reds is now finalized after Gray agreed to an extension with Cincinnati.

Gray and relief pitcher Reiver Sanmartin go to the Reds. The Yanks get the Reds #7 prospect, 2B/C Shed Long, and a competitive balance pick in the 2019 draft, someone between rounds 1 and 2.

Long won’t be Long with the Yankees, however. The NY Post states that the Yanks are flipping Long to the Mariners for minor league CF Josh Stowers, who was the Mariners’ 2nd round pick in 2018.

While Long would have had to be added to the 40-man roster, such is not the case with Stowers. (per MLB.com).

The trade(s) haven’t been confirmed as of yet, per MLB.com, but various sources now say it’s a done deal.

The Reds get Gray for $7.5MM this year (what he agreed to with the Yankees) and got a 3-yr. extension 2020-2022 for him for $30.5MM. There is a club option for 2023 for $12 MM.

Nice to get raises for a job not well done, right?

The trade reunites Gray with his pitching coach at Vanderbilt, Derek Johnson.

Ok, the particulars:

Gray, 29, RHP, was 11-9, 4.90 (ERA+ 89) for the Yanks in 2018. The problem was (30 games, 23 starts) he was 3.17 on the road, 6.98 at home. So there is hope for the Reds of a rebound. Maybe it was an “I cannot handle NY” kind of thing.

Gray was 4-7, 3.72 in 2017 after the Yanks acquired him in midseason. So his total time with the Yanks came out to 15-16, 4.51 (ERA+ 98, 100 being average).

He is 59-52, 3.66 (ERA+ 110) in his MLB career, which gives a 162 g. average of 13-12, 3.66. Going to a small market and to the NL could really help him. Gray was an All-Star and finished 3rd in the CYA voting in 2015.

Sanmartin 22, is a LHP who pitched in 4 levels in 2018, from Staten Island summer league right up to AA Trenton. His combined record was 5-7, 2.81 in 10 starts and 3 relief appearances. With Texas in 2017, in A ball, he was 7-2, 2.45 in 11 starts and 3 relief appearances.

Long is a lefty hitter, a 2B who has also caught some in the minors. He is 23 and in AA last year, hit .261-12-56 with 19 SB. In 2017, between High A and AA, he hit .281-16-50. Has a little pop for a 5’8″ 184 lb. guy.

Stowers turns 22 in February. A righty bat (I know, another RIGHTY bat, Yankees?) he played 58 games in low A in 2018, hitting .260-5-28 with 20 SB.