New York Yankees FA target, Kevin Gausman, accepts Giants’ qualifying offer

One of the New York Yankees targets in the free agent pitching market is off the board. First reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Kevin Gausman has decided to accept the qualifying offer from the San Francisco Giants.

Gausman’s decision comes on the heels of Marcus Stroman also accepting his qualifying offer from the New York Mets. With those two decisions, two potential targets for the Yankees are off the board.

There was no word on the potential interest in terms of the Yankees and Marcus Stroman. However, there were some rumors that the Yankees were intrigued and interested in Gausman who had a fantastic year for the Giants.

Gausman was a pitcher that the Yankees were also interested in back at the August trade deadline. However, a deal never materialized and Gausman stayed with the Giants. It was reported that Gausman had multiple year deals on the table.

However, in the end, the Giants starting pitcher decided it would be best to stick with San Francisco for another year. Perhaps hoping there will be more money in the FA market after a somewhat normal 2021 MLB season.

Yankees Options From Here

Gausman was definitely someone that the Yankees were interested in for the back end of the rotation. Of course, the Yankees are also talking and thinking about bringing back Masahiro Tanaka on a short-term deal.

Tanaka has only been with the Yankees since he made the jump to the majors seven years ago. In addition to the interest in Tanaka, the bombers are said to be interested in potentially bringing in Charlie Morton on a one or two year deal.

Despite Stroman and Gausman being taken off the board, there are still options for the Yankees. The top prize is Trevor Bauer, however, early reports seem to indidicate that the Yankees won’t spend the money required to get a guy like Bauer.

Expect the Yankees to look at a couple of pitchers to fill out their rotation. It was reported today that bringing back Tanaka wouldn’t take the bombers out of the running for a guy like Charlie Morton. It’ll all come down to the dollars at the end of the day.