For the New York Yankees and the other 29 MLB teams, they find themselves almost two weeks from the Atlanta Braves World Series win, their first since 1995, two weeks from the baseball collective bargaining agreement deadline, the Rule 5 draft, you get the idea, there is a lot going on as the postseason heats up.
Yankees look to Justin Verlander to shore up pitching staff?
Is there a reuniting of starting pitchers Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander in the Yankees near future? It seems the Yankees may be stalling a bit in their desire to get the best Yankee shortstop on the market, in favor of zoning in on solving the Yankees starting rotation first. This may be caused by all the early movement in the pitching market ongoing. The Mets’ Noah Syndergaard going with the Angels, the Tigers officially announced their five-year deal for Eduardo Rodriguez. The Blue Jays announced they would be extending José BerrÃos for $131 million. That’s a lot of movement this early in the postseason.
The news floating around is the the New York Yankees have spoken to Verlander and his agent about a two year deal. Justin will be 39 at the beginning of the 2022 season. ESPNS’ Jeff Passan indicated Verlander could sign with a team as early as this week. But that’s not all, Passan went as far as to predict that Verlander will end up signing with the Yankees. According to Passan the two sides spoke on November 9th, but at that time a deal was not imminent. The scuttlebutt is that Verlander is open to playing in the Bronx.
Update: According to Verlander’s brother he will remain with the Astros, the team that turned his career around. He will sign a one year $25 million deal. So it’s back to the drawing board for Cashman and the Yankees.
Hold on, maybe no big name SS after all
Very early on in the postseason general manager Brian Cashman made it known that he wanted a new shortstop for the Yankees and most likely a big name. Over the last few weeks that idea may have changed somewhat in favor of a stop gap measure while the Yankees wait a year or two for the Yankees’ two prospects to mature to major league ready.
The Yankees have been considering Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, among others, but the Yankees may surprise with a short contract deal as a stop gap, instead of spending the big money. Instead putting some of the money into centerfield and first base.
John Heyman of MLB.com says first base is a leading need for the Yankees
One of the earlier situations the Yankees must solve is what to do with free agent Anthony Rizzo. Once they solve that, they can move on to other infield moves. As it is right now, the Yankees have three possible first basemen. Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit. Luke Voit, the once-heralded player, hasn’t been able to stay healthy for the last few years and is probably on the trading block. Gold Glover DJ LeMahieu played all the infield positions other than shortstop due to Gleyber Torres being moved back to second base after a two-year failed experiment as a shortstop.
There is no question that the Yankees still want a production lefty at first base. There is also news swirling around that they are looking at Oakland’s slugger Matt Olson, a rising star that the Yankees would like to trade for. This writer believes that Luke Voit’s time with the Yankees is limited. He is a righty that can’t stay healthy. A big name first baseman may leave Gleyber Torres in a Miguel Andujar situation, a past talent with no place to play.