Dellin Betances Archives - Page 3 of 37

March 19th Spring Training Notes: Betances, Hicks, Gregorius, Gonzalez

March 19, 2019 by Mike

The Yankees beat the Rays this afternoon. I didn’t realize this until it was mentioned on the YES Network broadcast, but the Yankees have the best Spring Training record in baseball at 15-6-4. They haven’t lost a game since March 8th. Huh. Anyway, Greg Bird hit a home run today and Gary Sanchez had two nearly identical rocket doubles into the right-center field gap. Giancarlo Stanton doubled down the line and Aaron Judge picked up his first single of 2019. I was kinda hoping to see him get through the entire spring with extra-base hits only. Alas.

Chad Green allowed one run on two hits in his one inning as the opener thanks in part to a Judge error. “If it comes up during the year, let’s prepare for it now so it’s not anything new for us when the games start,” said Green to Erik Boland when asked about being an opener. Aaron Boone told Jack Curry there is a “good chance” they’ll use an opener at some point this year. Luis Cessa followed Green and was excellent, allowing two hits and striking out five in four scoreless innings. He’s had a great spring (17 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 18 K). Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are today’s notes:

In case you missed it earlier, Dellin Betances will begin the regular season on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. That explains the missing velocity. Betances said he’s “not too concerned” and added he will resume throwing in 3-5 days. [Coley Harvey]
Aaron Hicks (back) said he is pain-free following the second cortisone shot. That’s good news, but Hicks said he was also pain-free following the first shot, and it wasn’t until he tried to swing a bat that it bothered him. Hicks said he’s been diagnosed with muscular “chronic back pain,” which is better than a spinal issue. [James Wagner, Lindsey Adler]
Didi Gregorius (Tommy John surgery) has graduated to hitting off a tee. He is two or three weeks away from hitting a baseball that actually moves. “It’s been way better than expected. There have been no problems,” he said. So far, so good. [George King]
The recently signed Gio Gonzalez arrived in camp today. “Wearing pinstripes for the first time is pretty exciting. I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d be a Yankee,” he said. Gonzalez threw 88 pitches in a simulated game yesterday and won’t get into a Grapefruit League game until this weekend. [Jon Heyman, Brendan Kuty]

The Yankees will make the long road trip across the state to play the Astros tomorrow afternoon. Jonathan Holder will be the opener for that game. I have no idea who is coming out of the bullpen after him. It won’t be Masahiro Tanaka (started yesterday), James Paxton or Jonathan Loaisiga (started Sunday’s split squad games), J.A. Happ (started Saturday), or Domingo German (starting Thursday). I guess it’ll be a surprise. Tomorrow’s game will be televised live.

Dellin Betances to begin regular season on injured list with shoulder inflammation

March 19, 2019 by Mike

Add another injured Yankee to the list. Brian Cashman announced today that Dellin Betances will begin the regular season on the injured list with an impingement and inflammation in his shoulder. He had an MRI earlier today and was given anti-inflammatories. Cashman called it a “time out” more than a complete shutdown like Luis Severino, but he didn’t give a timetable for Dellin’s return.

Here’s what Cashman about the Betances injury (via Brendan Kuty):

“It’s like he’s working against himself, is what we think he’s doing now. He’s trying to force things through and it’s causing more inflammation and it’s preventing him from being fully loose and engaged and we need to call time out. It’s as simple as that. We feel it’s resolvable. Our worry is only that we don’t have him from the beginning. There’s not a worry past that. Unfortunately, since Opening Day is coming, there’s always that feeling that everything has to be perfect or everybody has to be ready to go or in play. We’ve been around long enough to know it doesn’t have to be that way and it shouldn’t be that way. What we need to do is make sure we have him right.”

Betances, 31 this weekend, reported to Spring Training a few days late following the birth of his son, and he’s been playing catch-up ever since. He is typically a slow starter velocity-wise but it has been way down this month — his six fastballs in his most recent outing checked in at 89, 88, 89, 90, 92, and 90 mph — and the Yankees finally got him to admit he doesn’t feel quite right.

A shoulder injury is never good news and Betances did miss time with a shoulder problem in the minors way back in the day. If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that the Yankees have plenty of depth in the bullpen. Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino, and Chad Green is a pretty darn good setup trio ahead of closer Aroldis Chapman. I imagine Stephen Tarpley’s chances of making the team just went way up.

The Yankees have held contract extension talks with several players in recent weeks and Betances, an impending free agent, is reportedly among them. My guess is those talks will be put on hold now. The Yankees presumably want to see Betances healthy and throwing like himself before committing multiple years and eight-figures to a soon-to-be 31-year-old reliever.

With this news, the Yankees will now have four members of their projected Opening Day roster start the season on the injured list: Betances (shoulder), Severino (shoulder), CC Sabathia (knee), and Aaron Hicks (back). Good grief. Sabathia and Hicks are expected back relatively soon. Severino is looking at an early-May return and who knows with Betances right now.

Dellin Betances and the pursuit of reliever history [2019 Season Preview]

February 27, 2019 by Mike

The 2018 season was a very important season for Dellin Betances. Certainly the most important of his big league career and maybe the most important of his professional career. Betances collapsed down the stretch late in 2017 as his control deteriorated. More than a few fans wanted him traded in the offseason. Dellin had to right the ship last year to keep his spot in the organization.

Right the ship he did. Betances was one of the best relievers in baseball last year, throwing 66.2 innings with a 2.70 ERA (2.47 FIP) with an excellent strikeout rate (42.3%) and a walk rate (9.6%) below his career average (11.0%). He reclaimed the eighth inning setup role and, one year after being so far out of the picture that he didn’t even warm up in the 2017 Wild Card Game (despite the Yankees needing 8.2 innings from their bullpen), he was the first man out of the bullpen in 2018 Wild Card Game.

Even after the Yankees bolstered their bullpen with Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino, Betances is firmly entrenched in Aaron Boone’s Circle of Trust™, and he will again be counted on to get big outs this season. The Yankees have a different feel when Good Dellin lurks in the bullpen, ready to handle high-leverage situations. Let’s preview his upcoming 2019 season.

Year two with new mechanics

Although he turns 31 next month and has been in the big leagues five years now, it’s amazing how little has changed with Betances’ stuff. His fastball still hums in the upper-90s and touches triple digits, and his two breaking balls — yes, he throws two different breaking balls — still buckle knees. Stuff wise, the Betances we saw last year was very similar to the Betances we saw back in 2014, when he first broke onto the scene.

Dellin is not the same pitcher as he was back then, however. Following his extreme control issues in 2017 — those weren’t command issues, those were basic strike-throwing issues — pitching coach Larry Rothschild and bullpen coach Mike Harkey helped Betances get back on track by simplifying his mechanics. Specifically, they shortened his leg left. Here is 2017 Betances on the left and 2018 Betances on the right.

Betances is a big dude (6-foot-8 and 265 lbs.) and he’s not the greatest athlete. Reducing the moving parts in his delivery worked wonders last year. It helped him locate and got him back to being that overwhelmingly dominant late-inning reliever. This was not an adjustment to compensate for reduced stuff. This was about Betances being more direct and over the plate, and it worked. The shortened leg kick will remain this year.

Given his history, there is always going to be some level of unpredictability with Betances. His bouts of extreme wildness date back to very early in his career, much further back than 2017, and even when he’s at his best, there are times he’ll come out of the bullpen and not know where the ball is going. You take the bad with the good with Dellin because the good is very good. Better than very good. It’s historically great.

Betances will of course continue with the shortened leg kick this year. This is one of those “don’t fix it until you’re sure it’s broken” situations. Baseball is a game of adjustments and Betances made the adjustment last year. If he has to make another adjustment this year, hopefully it will happen as quickly as it did last season. We’ve seen no loss of stuff at all. It’s amazing, really. With Dellin, it’s all about mechanics and being around the plate.

Going for a sixth straight 100+ strikeout season

Betances set two records last year. First, he struck out at least one batter in 44 straight appearances, the longest such streak for a reliever in American League history and the longest such streak for a reliever in a single-season in MLB history. (Aroldis Chapman and Corey Knebel had longer streaks across two seasons). Also, Betances became the first reliever in history with five consecutive 100-strikeout seasons.

Betances and Goose Gossage are the only relievers in history with five 100-strikeout seasons. (Gossage spread his across eight seasons from 1975-82.) This summer Betances can become the first reliever in history with six 100-strikeout seasons and he has a chance to do it in six consecutive seasons. Yes, all sorts of strikeout records are being broken nowadays, but that doesn’t make this any less impressive. It speaks to Dellin’s dominance and durability.

If Betances falls short of 100 strikeouts this season, my guess is it will because the Yankees scale back on his workload, not because he loses effectiveness. There are no indications Betances is about to stop missing bats. But, with such a deep bullpen, I wonder if the Yankees will look to keep him around 60 innings rather than 70 or so. Shaving ten innings off a reliever’s workload can be really beneficial come postseason time, though it would reduce his chances of striking out 100+ batters again. We’ll see. I hope Dellin sets the record. Would be fun.

“We are very deep and have guys who can strike out guys at a high level and give a lot of options to Boone to play with, and at the same time get our days off when we need them,” Betances said to George King recently. “We still have great guys pitching no matter who that is. We feed off each other and have a great year.”

Is an extension coming?

It sounds like it. The two sides are talking, if nothing else. Betances will be a free agent following the season and he’s ducked extension questions in recent days — “It’s a great team, a great group of guys. We have kind of grown up together. This is special and the years going forward. It’s a great group of guys and I love playing here,” he said to King when asked about a deal recently — which I guess isn’t surprising. Players usually don’t talk about contracts until they’re actually signed.

The free agent market is pretty crummy these days but relievers are still getting paid. The Yankees gave both Zack Britton ($39M) and Adam Ottavino ($27M) three-year deals. Joe Kelly ($25M) and Jeurys Familia ($30M) also received three-year deals. Andrew Miller ($25M) and David Robertson ($23M) both received two guaranteed years. You can drop these guys into three buckets:

Turns 34 soon with elite track record: Miller and Robertson (two years with high annual salary)
Early 30s with elite track record: Britton (three years with high annual salary)
Non-elite track record: Ottavino, Kelly, Familia (three years with lower annual salary)

I’m open to arguments that Familia is elite. For our purposes, we can drop him into that third bucket. Betances hits the sweet spot like Britton. He is nearly three full years younger than Miller and Robertson, so he can demand that third guaranteed year, and he also sports a better and longer track record than Ottavino and Kelly (and Familia), so he can also seek the big dollars.

With the caveat Craig Kimbrel could change the reliever salary scale (probably not), Betances right now seems like a good bet for three years and $12M or $13M per season. Maybe he’d give the Yankees a slight hometown discount to stay in his actual hometown, and also lock in guaranteed money at a time when free agents are being shunned, but three years and $36M to $39M seems reasonable to me.

The Yankees are in the extension giving mode right now — they’ve signed the same number of players to extensions this month (two) as they did from 2005-18, so yeah — and Betances seems to be a top priority. He’s an impending free agent, so there is some urgency to get a deal done soon, and he’s very good. The two sides are talking, and while I wouldn’t call an extension inevitable, it does seem like there’s some momentum toward a deal.

And, if the Yankees do not extend Betances, it doesn’t close the door on his return. The two sides could always revisit talks after the season. Maybe his free agent stock will go up, maybe it’ll go down. It seems any concerns about bad blood stemming from the Yankees renewing Dellin’s salary at the league minimum a few years ago and the acrimonious arbitration hearing were a waste of time. The two sides want to stay together.

* * *

A year ago at this time Betances was an unknown. Would the great version of Betances, the guy we saw from 2014 through the 2017 All-Star break, ever return? He did, and we saw him through the end of last postseason. There will undoubtedly be some hiccups along the way this season, but, on a per inning basis, Dellin is probably the Yankees’ best reliever. He’ll again be counted on to slam the door in the late innings of close games in 2019.

Feb. 25th Spring Training Notes: Hicks, Betances, Gregorius, Sanchez, Andujar, Gardner, Rotation

February 25, 2019 by Mike

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays for their second straight Grapefruit League win this afternoon. Troy Tulowitzki went deep in his first at-bat. “It was the biggest Spring Training homer I’ve ever hit in my life … No doubt (it felt good). That was a team that told me I couldn’t play anymore,” he said to Bryan Hoch and Coley Harvey. Tulowitzki looked quite good in the field too. I was pleasantly surprised. Anyway, Kyle Higashioka socked a dinger and Aaron Judge banged a double off the wall in left-center.

James Paxton made the start tossed two scoreless innings. He struck out two. Paxton was a little wild in the first inning (two walks) before settling down in the second. Domingo German and Luis Cessa each tossed two scoreless innings as well. German allowed a single, Toronto’s only hit of the day. Chad Green and Jonathan Holder had uneventful innings. So far, so good. Here are the box score and video highlights, and here are the day’s notes from Tampa:

In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees signed Aaron Hicks to a seven-year, $70M extension with an eighth year club option. “I’m betting on you,” Brian Cashman said he told Hicks. The GM added he believes Hicks has “a lot more gas in the tank,” which I think means the Yankees believe Hicks has a lot of peak years remaining. Would be cool. [Jack Curry]
Cashman reiterated the Yankees are having extension talks with other players. “We’ve been very vocal that we’ve engaged with a lot of players,” he said. Dellin Betances is among them, though there is nothing imminent with him or Didi Gregorius. [Jack Curry, Andy Martino]
Gary Sanchez is expected to get into a Grapefruit League game at the end of this week. “We are still shooting for March 1st. He is ready to go,” said Aaron Boone. The Yankees are easing Sanchez back into game action this spring following offseason shoulder surgery. [George King]
Miguel Andujar and Brett Gardner were both scratched from today’s lineup. Andujar is sick and Gardner has an ingrown toenail. Neither is serious. Andujar is day-to-day and Gardner is scheduled to play tomorrow. [Bryan Hoch]
The upcoming rotation: Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday (YES, MLB.tv), Albert Abreu on Wednesday (no TV), and J.A. Happ on Thursday (no TV). Damn. Was really hoping to see Abreu. [Coley Harvey]
And finally, in case you missed it earlier, the Yankees have hired Andy Pettitte as a special advisor to Cashman. Pettitte said Derek Jeter tried to woo him to the Marlins.

If you’re interested, this afternoon’s game will be replayed on MLB Network (8pm ET) and YES (after the Nets game). The Yankees are back at it tomorrow afternoon at home against the Phillies. That’s another 1:05pm ET start. YES and MLB.tv will carry the game live.

Feb. 18th Spring Training Notes: Andujar, Stanton, Loaisiga, Betances, Britton

February 18, 2019 by Mike

Position players reported to Spring Training today and Aaron Boone told Coley Harvey everyone has now reported to camp. New father Dellin Betances arrived today, as did righty reliever Raynel Espinal, who had a visa issue. Also, Boone said everyone’s physical came back okay. No surprise injuries to begin Spring Training. Here are the day’s notes from Tampa:

Here’s a good explanation of what Miguel Andujar is/has been working on defensively. Pretty interesting stuff. He’s added a little hop to his pre-pitch setup and is throwing more overhand on routine players. Here’s some video of Andujar fielding grounders today.
Giancarlo Stanton held a quick little start-of-spring press conference and said the biggest difference between playing for the Yankees and playing for the Marlins is “playing in games that mattered past May 7th.” Ouch. Stanton also said he’s feels fortunate to have signed his contract when he did given the current free agent climate. I mean, duh. [Bryan Hoch, James Wagner]
Jonathan Loaisiga hired a trainer this winter and focused on strengthening his shoulder. “We followed the program (the Yankees gave us). I worked to improve the little muscles around the shoulder. That’s one thing that has bothered me throughout my career,” he said. [Randy Miller]
Betances said he has had contract extension talks with the Yankees but declined to give details. “My priority is my baby boy and helping this team win,” he said. Betances will become a free agent after the season. [Pete Caldera, Jack Curry]
Turns out Zack Britton was not available for Game Three of the ALDS last year. He had a calf issue that was serious enough to require an MRI. Apparently the Yankees never announced anything because they didn’t want to hurt Britton’s impending free agency. [Andy Martino]
James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, Chad Green, and Tommy Kahnle were all on the schedule to throw live batting practice today. So was Danny Farquhar. [Lindsey Adler]
And finally, in case you were hoping the Yankees would pick him up for the final bench spot, Derek Dietrich signed a minor league deal with the Reds today. So that’s that. [Ken Rosenthal]

Now that position players are in camp, the Yankees will hold full squad workouts the next four days before opening their Grapefruit League schedule this coming Saturday. The Yankees haven’t announced their starting pitchers for the first few spring games yet. Should happen in a day or two. Here’s the spring television broadcast info.

Poll: After Derek Jeter, who will be the next Yankee voted into the Hall of Fame?

January 24, 2019 by Mike

Mariano Rivera made history throughout his 19-year career and he made history again earlier this week, when he became the first ever unanimous selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. All 425 voters named him on their ballot. I didn’t think it would happen but it did, and it’s pretty awesome. Couldn’t pick a better player to be the first unanimous Hall of Famer.

Mike Mussina, Rivera’s teammate with the Yankees for eight years, was also voted into the Hall of Fame earlier this week. Mussina has not yet decided whether he’ll wear a Yankees hat or an Orioles hat on his Hall of Fame plaque, though he did have more wins (147 to 123), more innings (2,009.2 to 1,553), more All-Star appearances (five to zero), and more WAR (+47.8 to +35.2) with the O’s. Going in as an Oriole seems appropriate.

Derek Jeter joins the Hall of Fame ballot next year and, like Rivera, he is a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer. He might even be unanimous! That would be fun, Rivera and Jeter being the first two unanimous Hall of Famers. Either way, Jeter is getting into the Hall of Fame next year. There’s no doubt about it. After that though, it might be a while until another Yankee gets voted into Cooperstown.

Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada have already dropped off the Hall of Fame ballot, having received less than the 5% needed to remain on the ballot another year. (Williams did spend two years on the ballot. Posada dropped off in year one.) Don Mattingly exhausted his 15 years on the ballot without being voted into the Hall of Fame. I suppose one of the eras committees could vote him in a la Harold Baines. We’ll see.

We know Jeter will be the next Yankee voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. We don’t know who will be the next after that. Let’s go through the upcoming candidates, shall we? Here are the Yankees due to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot in the coming years.

2020 ballot

Jeter is the big name here. He’s the only slam dunk Hall of Famer joining the ball next year. Also joining the ballot are former Yankees Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, and Alfonso Soriano. Abreu has a stathead case for Cooperstown but, if he gets in, he’ll have a Phillies cap on his plaque. He played more games with the Phillies (1,353) than all other teams combined (1,072).

Giambi played more games with the Athletics (1,036) than the Yankees (897), plus he won an MVP and finished second in the MVP voting while with the A’s. Also, there’s the performance-enhancing drug thing. Giambi gave that vague apology for letting people down without ever saying what he did, but we all know what he was talking about. So many Hall of Fame voters are dug in against PEDs that, even if Giambi’s case were stronger than it actually is, I still don’t think he’d get in.

Soriano played more games with the Cubs (889) than the Yankees (626) but he had some of his best seasons in pinstripes. He led the league in hits (209) and homers (41) in 2002 and finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting and third in the MVP voting while with the Yankees. Soriano’s best season, his 40/40 season (46 homers and 41 steals) came with the Nationals in 2006.

I don’t think Giambi has a chance at the Hall of Fame because of the PED stuff. Abreu and Soriano strike me as Hall of Very Good players rather than Hall of Famers, and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. They had great careers and made tons of dough. Also, we’re looking for the next Yankee Hall of Famer here, and I don’t think Giambi, Abreu, or Soriano would have a Yankees hat on his Hall of Fame plaque even if they get in. They did more with other teams.

The best player with a chance to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee next year other than Jeter is Andy Pettitte. Pettitte was on the ballot for the first time this year and he received only 9.9% of the vote. He’s much, much closer to falling off the ballot than he is getting the 75% needed for induction into Cooperstown. It took Mussina six years on the ballot to get into the Hall of Fame. I have to think it’ll take Pettitte at least that long, if not longer to gain induction.

2021 ballot

There are no slam dunk Hall of Famers set to join the ballot in 2021, Yankees or otherwise. The best players joining the ballot are probably Tim Hudson and Mark Buehrle. The best former Yankees set to join the ballot are A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher. Next.

2022 ballot

Now we’re talking. Alex Rodriguez joins the ballot in three years and his career was very obviously worthy of the Hall of Fame. There’s no arguing with the raw numbers. A-Rod is one of the 10-15 best players in the game’s history and, if you take his career at face value, he should be a unanimous selection. You can’t take his career at face value though. Rodriguez admitted to using PEDs and served a year-long suspension for a separate PED transgression.

If Barry Bonds and Rogers Clemens do not get into the Hall of Fame, A-Rod has little hope of getting in. The voting body is skewing younger and thus more forgiving of PEDs, but so many voters are dug in on this subject and will not change their minds. Jeff Passan recently spoke to voters who do not vote for Bonds or Clemens and it’s clear where they stand. Bonds and Clemens have seen their support plateau in recent years. It would take a sea change in the Hall of Fame voting for them to get in before their eligibility expires in three years.

In the unlikely event he does get voted into Cooperstown, it’s safe to assume A-Rod would go in as a Yankee. He played more games as a Yankee (1,509) than he did as a Mariner and Ranger combined (1,275), plus he won two MVPs in pinstripes and his World Series ring. More games, more homers (351 to 345), more hardware, more rings as a Yankee than everywhere else combined. Should he get in — assuming Rodriguez stays on the ballot all ten years, his final year of eligibility will be 2031, which is a looong ways away — A-Rod would go in as a Yankee.

The other notable former Yankee joining the ballot in three years is Mark Teixeira. My hunch is that, if Fred McGriff was unable to get into the Hall of Fame, Teixeira won’t get in either. Teixeira did hit 409 homers and he led the league in homers and total bases once (39 and 344 in 2009, respectively), but that’s pretty much it. Teixeira did play more games as a Yankee (958) than as a Ranger, Brave, and Angel combined (904), so if he gets into the Hall of Fame, I think he’d go in as a Yankee. I’m just not sure he’s getting in.

2023 ballot

The only serious Hall of Fame candidate joining the ballot in four years is Carlos Beltran. I think he’ll get into Cooperstown. If not on the first ballot, than eventually. Beltran is an unlikely candidate to be the next Yankee in the Hall of Fame simply because he played the bulk of his career elsewhere. Only 341 of his 2,586 career games came in pinstripes, or 13.2%. I guess Beltran would go into the Hall of Fame as a Royal or Met? Either way, it won’t be as a Yankee, so Beltran’s not the answer to our question.

2024 ballot

Players who retired following last season will be eligible for Hall of Fame induction in 2024. That means Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, and David Wright. They combined for zero (0) games as a Yankee. Matt Holliday and Curtis Granderson could also join the Hall of Fame ballot in five years if they fail to find work this winter. Holliday spent one kinda crummy year with the Yankees. He’d go in as a Rockie or Cardinal. Granderson had some of his best seasons in pinstripes but played more games with the Tigers (674) and Mets (573) than the Yankees (513). Love the Grandyman but I don’t see him as a serious Hall of Fame candidate.

Active players

Ichiro Suzuki is a clear cut Hall of Famer and he’s going in as a Mariner, as he should. That leaves two active players who spend the bulk of their careers with the Yankees and deserve serious Hall of Fame consideration: Robinson Cano and CC Sabathia. This offseason’s trade ensures Cano would go into Cooperstown as a Yankee. He’ll split the second half of his career between (at least) two teams, meaning he won’t be able to accomplish enough with the Mariners to change his legacy from Yankees great to Mariners great.

Cano of course served a PED suspension last year, which likely ruins his chances at the Hall of Fame. Manny Ramirez has no-doubt Hall of Fame credentials, but, because he served two PED suspensions, he hasn’t topped 24% of the vote in his three years on the Hall of Fame ballot. Cano is closing in on 3,000 hits and Jeff Kent’s home run record for second basemen. Robbie’s the best second baseman of his generation. The suspension means he has a tough hill to climb.

Assuming Cano finishes out the final five years on his contract, that means he’s ten years away from appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot and 20 years away from exhausting his ten years on the ballot. We could still be talking about Robbie being on the ballot as a potential Hall of Famer in 2038! That’s an awfully long way away, man. The voting body can and will change between now and then, and a PED suspension may not be as much of a dealbreaker then as it is now. We’ll see.

Sabathia has more wins (129 to 117) and more starts (284 to 254) as a Yankee than he did as an Indian and Brewer combined, though he has slightly less WAR (+29.7 to +32.5). Also, Sabathia won his Cy Young in Cleveland and split 2008, his best individual season, between the Indians and Brewers. He won his World Series ring (and ALCS MVP) as a Yankee and has three top four finishes in the Cy Young voting in pinstripes. At some point this year he’ll record his 250th win and 3,000th strikeout, which is pretty cool.

I believe Sabathia would have a Yankees hat on his Hall of Fame plaque. The real question is whether he gets into Cooperstown. Mussina was an objectively better pitcher and he had to wait six years on the ballot to get in. Pettitte was a notch below Sabathia but he has the whole legacy Yankee thing going for him, and he didn’t come close to induction this year. (Pettitte is an admitted human growth hormone user though.) Sabathia will retire after this season and that means he’ll hit the Hall of Fame ballot in 2025. If he gets into the Hall of Fame, it’ll probably take several years on the ballot a la Mussina (and Pettitte).

Looking more long-term, Giancarlo Stanton is on a potential Hall of Fame track seeing how he’s at 300 homers and +40 WAR through his age 28 season. Five-hundred homers and +65 WAR is well within reach. Aroldis Chapman is like 60% of the way to Billy Wagner’s career at this point and Wagner hasn’t come close to induction yet, so Chapman has an uphill climb. Aaron Judge was a bit of a late-bloomer (he played his first MLB season at age 25), which puts him behind the Hall of Fame eight-ball. Gary Sanchez? Gleyber Torres? Miguel Andujar? Luis Severino? Great talents who are a long, long way from the Cooperstown combination.

What about Dellin Betances? He is the best setup man of his generation (yup) and it’s possible that, by time he’s eligible to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot, the voters may have very different standards for relief pitchers. As long as Wagner stays so far away from induction — this was Wagner’s fourth year on the ballot and he’s yet to receive even 17% of the vote — I can’t see Betances as a serious Hall of Fame candidate. Gosh, it would be fun though, wouldn’t it?

* * *

We know Jeter will be voted into the Hall of Fame next year. That is a certainty. The next Yankee to go into the Hall of Fame after Jeter is up in the air, largely because A-Rod and Cano have served PED suspensions, which significantly lowers their chances of winding up in Cooperstown. Since we’re here, we might as well turn this into a poll, so let’s get to it.

Who will be the next Yankee voted into the Hall of Fame after Jeter?

Six things the Yankees should do before Spring Training

January 17, 2019 by Mike

Harper waiting for the Yankees to swoop in. (Getty)

In three weeks and six days Yankees pitchers and catchers will report to Tampa to begin Spring Training 2019. We are five weeks and two days away from the first Grapefruit League game. There are still a lot of free agents who have to sign between now and then — a lot of big name free agents, at that — but, soon enough, baseball will return. I can’t wait. I’m totally over the offseason.

The Yankees have, for the most part, handled all their offseason business. The rotation has been bolstered, Didi Gregorius has been replaced, and the bullpen has been shored up. There is always room for improvement, but, generally speaking, the Yankees are in good shape. FanGraphs currently projects them as the second best team in baseball, two games behind the Red Sox, and I’m not sweating a projected two-game difference in January.

Even with the roster largely set, there are still four weeks to go until camp opens, and that gives the Yankees some time to address any remaining items on their to-do list. It also gives them time to pounce on anything unexpected that comes their way. Here are six things the Yankees should look to get done before Spring Training (or shortly thereafter), in rough order of importance.

Monitor the Machado and Harper markets

Has to be done. Manny Machado and Bryce Harper are still unsigned and it doesn’t seem like either player is particularly close to making a decision. As long as these two sit in free agency, the Yankees have to remain engaged in case something falls into their lap. Reports that the White Sox offered Machado seven years and $175M have been shot down several times over. Still, the offers can’t be that good if he and Harper are still unsigned.

If Machado and Harper continue to sit out on the market, I am confident Brian Cashman will lobby ownership to expand payroll and sign them, the same way he (successfully) lobbied for Mark Teixeira. Will ownership say yes? Who knows. I guess it depends on the contract terms. Point is, as long as Machado and Harper remain unsigned and this is their market, the Yankees owe it to themselves to stay involved. Not doing so would be negligent.

Find Another Reliever

The Yankees reportedly want two relievers this winter and so far they’ve only added one, re-signing Zach Britton two weeks ago. They could stand pat with their current bullpen. Britton, Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, and Jonathan Holder form about as strong a bullpen top five as you’ll find. Others like Luis Cessa, Domingo German, Tommy Kahnle, and Stephen Tarpley are interesting enough that giving them a chance is not unreasonable.

That said, the Yankees are built around their bullpen, and any additional depth they can add would surely come in handy. Remember, the Yankees had Britton and David Robertson in their bullpen late last season. Robertson’s gone and has not been replaced. Here, in my opinion, are the top unsigned free agent relievers:

Craig Kimbrel
Adam Ottavino
Mariano Rivera
Cody Allen
Adam Warren

Eventually some team will show interest in Kimbrel, right? His market has been extremely quiet thus far. After Kimbrel there’s Ottavino, a fine fit for the Yankees, and a bunch of reclamation projects and third tier relievers. The free agent reliever market has thinned out quite a bit these last few weeks. Kimbrel and Ottavino are far and away the best available and I can’t see the Yankees splurging for Kimbrel. Ottavino? Maybe.

Either way, Kimbrel and Ottavino or no Kimbrel and Ottavino, the Yankees do have room in their bullpen for one more established reliever. They don’t necessarily need another high-leverage guy but hey, I’d take one. Someone to reduce the reliance on Kahnle bouncing back and Cessa or German figuring it out would be appreciated. Aside from keeping tabs on Machado and Harper, adding another reliever is the top priority right now.

Explore Contract Extensions

The Yankees signed eight of their nine arbitration-eligible players to one-year contracts prior to the salary filing deadline last week. Now that that’s out of the way, the Yankees can begin to explore contract extensions with their impending free agents, specifically Betances, Gregorius, and Aaron Hicks. Those are three really important players! They’re under contract for 2019. That part is out of the way. Now they should discuss 2020 and beyond.

Because Betances, Gregorius, and Hicks all have one-year contracts in place for 2019, the Yankees can sign them to a multi-year extension that begins in 2020 without it changing their luxury tax number this year. Any raise would be pushed back a year for luxury tax purposes, which is helpful. Get them signed long-term without altering your short-term payroll. That’s why the one-year contract for 2019 was so important. It allows the extension to begin in 2020.

There are of course reasons to wait on extending these players. Betances is volatile, Gregorius is hurt, and Hicks seems like the type of player who could get screwed over in free agency. In a normal free agent market, seeking Lorenzo Cain and Dexter Fowler money (five years, $80M or so) would not be unreasonable. Look at what’s happening to A.J. Pollock though. What if he gets, say, three years and $45M? Doesn’t that change things for Hicks?

Keep in mind this applies to players who aren’t impending free agents too. The Yankees have a lot of young and talented players. Why not see what Aaron Judge wants for a long-term contract? Or Luis Severino? Or Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, and James Paxton? There is less urgency to extend players with team control remaining beyond 2019. It never hurts to ask though. Maybe someone is willing to sign cheap to lock in the guaranteed payday.

Late-January through March is extension season. That’s usually when we see teams lock up their young players. Maybe the league-wide unwillingness to spend money will change that and we’ll see fewer extensions than usual. For the Yankees, three important players are due to become free agents after the season and at some point they have to engage them in contract talks. The sooner, the better. At the very least, they have to find out what their contract demands are so they can plan accordingly.

Try To Settle With Severino

Severino is the one arbitration-eligible player the Yankees did not sign prior to last week’s salary filing deadline. He’s seeking $5.25M while the Yankees countered with $4.4M. Seems to me the Yankees will have an easier time defending their number. All signs point to the Yankees and Severino going to an arbitration hearing at some point in February. Supposedly all 30 teams are “file and trial” these days, meaning they cut off contract talks once the two sides file salary figures.

An arbitration hearing is not the end of the world. They can be contentious but they don’t have to ruin relationships long-term. The Yankees and Betances went to a hearing in 2017 and they had no trouble hammering out contracts the last two years. Back in the day the Yankees went to arbitration with Rivera, Bernie Williams, and Derek Jeter, and everything turned out fine. The Red Sox and Mookie Betts went to a hearing last year. They’re all good. It’s not the end of the world.

That said, avoiding an arbitration hearing is preferable, which is why players and teams work so hard to get a deal done before the salary filing deadline. The midpoint between the filing figures is the logical place to start when seeking a settlement. Can the Yankees and Severino agree to $4.825M for 2019? How much wiggle room is there? Bottom line, avoiding a hearing is preferable. The Yankees and Severino should try again to see if it’s possible.

Bargain Shop

There are still a ton of free agents looking for work this coming season. Guys like Machado, Harper, Kimbrel, Ottavino, Pollock, and Dallas Keuchel will be fine. They’ll get paid at some point. Maybe not as much as they were expecting a few months ago, but they’ll be set for life. What about guys like Warren though? Or Neil Walker? Logan Forsythe, Derek Dietrich, Francisco Liriano, so on and so forth? Those guys might be in trouble.

In this current free agent climate, February and March will be a great time to bargain shop because many players will be desperate to sign. That’s exactly how the Yankees landed Walker last season. I hate that it’s come to this for the players. It is what it is though. The Yankees have some open bullpen spots and still an open bench spot even after signing DJ LeMahieu. Scouring the free agent market for bargains as Spring Training draws closer is an obvious move. There could be some real nice depth pieces available on the cheap.

Trade Sonny Gray

My hunch is trading Gray is higher up the Yankees’ priority list than I have it. They seem done with him, and unloading his $7.5M salary frees them up to do other things, like sign Ottavino. I’m fine with bringing Sonny to Spring Training though. It might be a little awkward, but whatever. You can never have enough pitching depth, and all it takes is one spring injury to rekindle trade talks. Hey, maybe the Yankees lose a starter to injury and need Gray for the rotation. That would be kinda funny. Sonny saves the Yankees with 180 innings of 3.25 ERA ball.

But yeah, the Yankees are pretty much done with Gray. They want him gone and have not been shy about saying it. It is (very) surprising to me this has dragged on so long. The sooner the Yankees can move Gray, the sooner everyone can move on from this weird situation. A trade is best for everyone. The Yankees clear payroll and get a player(s) in return and Gray gets a fresh start. I’m okay with keeping Sonny around a little longer. I also think the Yankees want him gone and soon, so get it done.