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

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

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

(Presswire)

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

(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty)

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?

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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?
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Thoughts on a Rainy Sunday

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(Presswire)

Good Sunday morning, readers. If you’re in the tri-state area, I hope you’re staying dry today and warm tomorrow. Today, I’ll offer a few random thoughts on the Yankees as we sit a little less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting.

Clint’s Comeback

This is one of the best Yankee-related tweets of the offseason. I know I’m not alone in this, but I’m incredibly excited for the return of Clint Frazier. He had just about the worst year a player can have last year and seeing him get back into the swing of things is more than enough to bring a smile to my face. Red Thunder The Panther will likely have to start out the year in the minors, but it’s not hard to see him taking over for Brett Gardner as Mike alluded to in the Friday mailbag. While Frazier shouldn’t stand in the way of signing him, one positive thing about the Yankees not signing Bryce Harper is that it keeps Frazier’s future within the organization. I’ve long been a big believer in him and his talent and, if healthy, I think he can establish himself as a big league player this year. Good luck in 2019, Clint. We’re rooting for you.

Playoff Pitching Prowess

Bobby is completely right when he says that the Yankees have one of the best rotations in baseball going into 2019. I’ve harped on this before, but the talent in the Yankee rotation is almost astounding. At peak levels, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and James Paxton are aces. J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia as back end starters are great–an experienced, proven lefty and a borderline Hall of Famer? Hard to beat that. Paired with an elite bullpen, the Yankees’ pitching staff could make noise in the playoffs. There’s just one catch: they need to win the division to do that.

The Yankees are a damn good team and will likely win well north of 90 games, but will it be enough? They haven’t won a division title since 2012 and have played in three of the last four wild card games. Despite similar talent in the rotation at times, they’ve been unable to use it properly in a series because of that one game playoff.

If the Yankees manage to beat out Boston for the division title this year, they’ll finally be able to set their rotation the way they want and not have to worry about a gassed bullpen heading into the start of the ALDS. A top three of Severino, Tanaka, and Paxton is more than formidable in any series, especially a short one, and throwing Happ and/or Sabathia as long men out of the bullpen can help, too. Winning the division is much easier said than done, but it’s something the Yankees need to do to fully exploit the pitching talent they have.

(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Andujar Endgame 

At this point, it seems clear that the Yankees are hitching their third base wagon to Miguel Andujar. For good reason, they clearly believe in his bat. They also likely think that he can improve on defense or that they can mitigate his poor fielding through substitutions and lineup shuffling. But given how they treated him in the field in the playoffs, how long can we really buy that? Playing a significant amount of time at DH or a new position like first would probably cut down on the value Andujar has as a third baseman, even a bad one. On the other hand, his bad defense does the same thing the more he spends time at third.  And, with that aforementioned treatment in mind, are we sure that Andujar is most valuable to the Yankees as a third baseman or as a potential trade piece?

Obviously, anything can happen at any time and the Yankees could sign Manny Machado and deal Andujar at a moment’s notice, but I’m not holding my breath for that one. Hell, I’m not even waiting for it, and I’m barely bothering to hope for it.

One More Time

Despite what I said in the last bit, there’s still a part of me in disbelief that neither one of Machado or Bryce Harper isn’t a Yankee (or both!). I’ve seen people–mostly writers–make the argument that the Yankees don’t necessarily need either player because of how good they were last year, but that’s a half-truth.

Yes, the Yankees won 100 games, but it still wasn’t enough to win the division and avoid being embarrassed in the playoffs. Yes, they will win lots of games with the roster as currently constructed and could, conceivably, win the World Series with it. No, having the most talent doesn’t guarantee anything. But it helps.

The Yankees were good last year, and at times great. They have a solid young core with some good veterans mixed in. This is exactly the team and exactly the time to push over the edge in a big way. They’ve added to the team with good pieces so far, but adding great ones in Machado and/or Harper would go a long way towards helping win number 28.

It’s undeniable that the team has been improved. But it’s also undeniable that it hasn’t been improved as much as it could’ve been.

CC Sabathia cleared to resume baseball activities following heart procedure

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(Presswire)

Earlier today the Yankees announced CC Sabathia was cleared to resume baseball activities following the latest follow-up exam for his heart condition. He underwent a stress test earlier today and was given the thumbs up for increased physical activities. Good news all around.

Sabathia underwent an angioplasty last month, meaning a stent was inserted to open a blockage. He resumed light workouts roughly a week later and has now been cleared to resume his usual offseason workouts. Pitchers and catchers are due to report to Tampa five weeks from tomorrow.

Brian Cashman recently said Sonny Gray trade talks were essentially put on hold until the team felt confident about Sabathia’s recovery. He might’ve just been trying to create leverage though. Now that Sabathia has been cleared to resume workouts, I suppose a Gray trade could soon follow. We’ll see.

Sabathia, 38, is closing in on 3,000 career strikeouts (14 away) and 250 wins (four away). He’ll join Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only lefties in the 3,000 strikeout club. Sabathia has said 2019 will be his final season.

Sabathia’s heart condition has allowed the Yankees to walk back their Sonny Gray comments

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(NY Post)

Spring Training is five weeks and one day away and, rather surprisingly, Sonny Gray is still a Yankee. The Yankees and Brian Cashman have made it crystal clear they want to trade Gray. That was the case even before they filled out the rotation with James Paxton, J.A. Happ, and CC Sabathia over the last few weeks. The Yankees proceeded this winter as if Gray were a non-factor.

“I’m not pounding on Sonny Gray,” said Brian Cashman to Bryan Hoch late last week when asked about his Gray comments. “I’m just answering everybody’s questions in the media, but sometimes people take it as a perceived (slight) that I’m piling on. No, I’ve been fully transparent with Sonny first and foremost, and with members of the media so they can communicate properly to our fan base.”

Two weeks ago I said there are three possible reasons why Sonny has not yet been traded. Either the Yankees haven’t found the right trade, they’ve had a change of heart and want to keep him, or Cashman’s public comments have backfired and no one wants Gray. Last week Cashman doubled down (quadrupled down at this point, really) on wanting to trade Sonny, but added Sabathia’s heart condition has changed the equation.

“Our intention is to move Sonny Gray and relocate him when we get the proper return, in our estimation. It’ll happen this winter, it’ll happen in the spring, or it’ll happen sometime during the season,” Cashman said to Hoch and Ron Blum. “… The CC thing, certainly when it developed it slowed down my conversations with intent because we have to see how this played out first. And so once he has these follow-up appointments, I’ll be in a much better position to either fully engage moving forward the Sonny Gray conversations that we’ve had, or continue to slow walk it while we make sure that CC is taken care of health-wise first and foremost.”

On one hand, wanting to keep Gray as rotation insurance following Sabathia’s angioplasty makes sense. I am okay with carrying Sonny into Spring Training even though he stunk last season. On the other hand, Cashman has made it pretty clear the Yankees don’t believe Sonny can succeed in New York, and if that is truly the case, what kind of rotation insurance is he, really? Has anything changed other than Sabathia’s condition? Two quick thoughts on this.

1. The Yankees kinda sorta have more leverage now. In a very screwed up way Sabathia’s heart condition gives the Yankees increased leverage in trade talks because keeping Gray is more viable. After filling up the rotation, it was clear the Yankees had little use for (or little desire to keep) him, so why would teams come forward with great offers? Now the Yankees keeping Gray is much more believable because they need protection against Sabathia.

2. Waiting too long can be costly. Patience is generally a good thing but there is an inflection point where it becomes counterproductive. Eventually teams turn their attention elsewhere. The Reds, for example, are said to have faded out of the Gray picture because they acquired Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. There are still a lot — a lot — of free agents out there. At some point other Gray suitors (Brewers, Padres, etc.) will turn their attention elsewhere, especially since Sonny only has the one year of team control. He’s not a long-term buy.

The obvious caveat here is that starting pitching is always and forever in demand. There are 150 rotation spots around baseball but there are not 150 better starting pitchers than Gray, and of course injuries open rotation spots all the time. Some team will lose a starter to injury in Spring Training and it could spark interest in Gray. Hey, maybe the Yankees will lose a starter to injury and decide keeping Sonny is their best option going forward. It’s possible!

I think this is most likely what happened: The Yankees came into the offseason fully intending to trade Gray, offers weren’t great at the outset and we’re getting any better, then Sabathia had his angioplasty and allowed Cashman to walk back his comments a bit. Keeping Gray made little sense a few weeks ago and other teams knew it. Now keeping him is justifiable. The Yankees want protection for that fifth starter’s spot.

By all accounts Sabathia is doing well following his heart procedure and he’s expected to be ready for Spring Training. The Yankees will take it easy on him in camp because they always take it easy on him in camp — Sabathia’s  made two Grapefruit League road starts since 2014 and he does most of his work in simulated games nowadays — and also because they’ll want to make sure his heart is healthy. There are bigger concerns than baseball here.

While keeping Gray makes more sense now than it did a month ago, I don’t think the Yankees would hesitate to trade him if the right offer comes along. What is that right offer? I’m not sure how the Yankees value Sonny, but I think they’d trade him for that right offer in an instant, and find a sixth starter elsewhere. Will that sixth starter offer the same upside as Gray? Not likely. Will that sixth starter cost upwards of $9M like Gray? Almost certainly not.

The Sonny Gray situation has been unusual from the start because Cashman’s been so public about trading him. I don’t ever remember a general manager announcing his intentions to trade a player like this. And the longer this has dragged on, the weirder it’s become. As poorly as he pitched last year, keeping Gray is not unreasonable, and that was true before Sabathia’s heart issue. Now that Sabathia is more of a question, Cashman can tell other teams he wants to keep Sonny and have it actually be believable. That wasn’t the case earlier this offseason.

Sabathia expected to be ready for Spring Training following heart procedure

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(Mike Ehrmann/Getty)

According to Ken Rosenthal (no subs. req’d), CC Sabathia is expected to be ready for Spring Training after undergoing a heart procedure earlier this month. He began to experience symptoms (heartburn, chest pains, etc.) and went to the doctor, and was told he needed an angioplasty, meaning a stent was inserted to open a blocked artery.

“CC was experiencing some chest pain which turned out to be a blockage in one artery to his heart,” Sabathia’s agent told Rosenthal. “A procedure was done to insert a stent to clear the blockage on December 11th. CC is doing great and will be reporting to Spring Training on time to get ready to play for his upcoming final season in 2019.”

“We are thankful that CC was smart enough to convey his symptoms to our medical staff, and in turn they immediately engaged New York-Presbyterian Hospital, who quickly determined the root cause of what ailed him,” said Brian Cashman in a statement. “We are also encouraged that the procedure CC underwent was performed as planned.

“He is such a dynamic person beyond his excellence on the field, and we will proceed with his health at the forefront of our priorities,” Cashman added. “We will continue to follow the guidance and expertise of the doctors — who have conveyed that CC will report as scheduled to Tampa in February to prepare for the 2019 season.”

Rosenthal says Sabathia went for a follow-up exam today and was informed his short and long-term prognosis is excellent. He’s already resumed some offseason workouts — Sabathia was back at Yankee Stadium earlier this week — and will gradually increase his workload. More follow-up exams are on the schedule for the coming weeks, obviously.

The Yankees re-signed Sabathia to a one-year contact worth $8M earlier this winter and he’s said next year will be his final season. He’ll go into 2019 as the fifth starter and I suppose the heart procedure could push the Yankees to seek out a better sixth starter option than Luis Cessa or Domingo German.

Clearly though, the baseball side of this is a secondary concern. The priority is Sabathia’s healthy. A blocked artery is serious stuff, but it was caught early and Sabathia is doing well, so that’s good news. Get well soon, big guy.

Tuesday Notes: Sabathia, Luxury Tax, Severino, London Series

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(Getty)

The 2018 Winter Meetings are over and, historically, this last week before the Christmas and New Years holidays is a busy hot stove week. Teams and players like to get things settled before the calendar flips to next year. There should be some signings this week. Will the Yankees make any? We’ll see. Anyway, here are some miscellaneous notes to check out.

Yankees paid Sabathia innings bonus

Remember when CC Sabathia forfeited that $500,000 bonus because he threw at Jesus Sucre in his last regular season start? Of course you do. That was the “that’s for you, bitch” incident. Turns out Sabathia didn’t forfeit the bonus at all. According to Ronald Blum, the Yankees paid Sabathia the $500,000 bonus anyway even though he fell two innings short of triggering the bonus. Pretty cool.

“We thought it was a very nice gesture by the Yankees. CC was very appreciative and is really excited to come back next year and hopefully win a championship,” said Sabathia’s agent to Blum. Considering the score (Yankees led 11-0) and the way he was pitching (five one-hit innings), it seemed very likely Sabathia would throw those last two innings he needed to trigger the bonus. I have to say, I didn’t think the Yankees would pay the bonus. Paying out a bonus the player didn’t reach doesn’t seem like a precedent they’d want to set. Glad to see they paid Sabathia. Dude’s been worth every penny.

Yankees get $23,877.11 in luxury tax money

According to Blum, the Red Sox and Nationals were the only clubs to exceed the $197 million luxury tax threshold in 2018. Boston owes $11,951,091 in luxury tax and the Nationals owe $2,386,097. Because the Red Sox exceeded the threshold by more than $40M, they were hit with the maximum possible penalties, meaning two surtaxes plus having their first round pick moved back ten spots. I doubt they mind it after winning the World Series. The $14,337,188 owed by the Red Sox and Nationals is the smallest luxury tax bill since teams owed $11,798,357 in 2003.

The Yankees finished the season with a $192.98M luxury tax payroll. Add in the Sabathia bonus and my calculations had them at $192.99M. I am pretty darn proud to be that close. Go me. Anyway, the Yankees had paid luxury tax every year since the system was put in place in 2003 before getting under this year. Their total luxury tax bill from 2003-17 was north of $340M. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the first $13M of that $14,337,188 is used to pay for player benefits. Half the remainder goes to retirement accounts and the other half is distributed to the non-luxury tax paying teams. So congrats to the Yankees for getting $23,877.11 in luxury tax money this year. Hang a banner.

White Sox wanted Severino for Sale

Here’s a fun retroactive rumor. Brian Cashman recently told Ken Davidoff the White Sox wanted Luis Severino and another unnamed young core Yankee in exchange for Chris Sale during the 2016-17 offseason. I imagine that other player was either Gary Sanchez or Aaron Judge. “Thank God I didn’t do that, actually, because you’d be missing some serious components of our Major League club right now that are under control. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere if I did anything like that with the White Sox back then,” said Cashman.

In the two years since trade talks, Sale has Severino beat in bWAR (+12.9 to +10.1) and fWAR (+14.2 to +11.5) but not by an enormous amount, and besides, who knows how each would’ve performed had the trade gone down. Their entire career paths would’ve changed in different organizations. Add in the second piece and gosh, I am a-okay with passing on Sale at that price. He’s a great pitcher. No doubt. The Yankees needed more than an ace pitcher at the time though. They needed as much young talent as possible and now they have a ton of it.

Start times for London Games announced

Olympic Stadium. (Getty)

A few days ago MLB announced the start times for the London Series games next June. The Yankees and Red Sox are playing a quick two-game set at London Stadium next year as MLB looks to grow the game globally and make money (not necessarily in that order). The Yankees will be the road team for those two games. Here are the start times:

  • Saturday, June 29th: 1:10pm ET (6pm in London) on FOX
  • Sunday, June 30th: 10:10am ET (3pm in London) on ESPN

Morning baseball on a Sunday? Pretty cool. The Yankees have back-to-back off-days prior to the London Series — it’s my understanding MLB has some promotional events scheduled for Friday, so I’m sure Yankees and Red Sox players will be involved — and one off-day following the London Series. They have a ten-game homestand, then they go to London for two games, then they come right back to New York for a road series against the Mets.

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Games moved up

It is a baseball miracle. Last week at the Winter Meetings it was announced ESPN Sunday Night Baseball games will be moved up one hour from 8pm ET to 7pm ET next season. Thank goodness for that. Now all those Sunday night Yankees-Red Sox games might actually end before midnight on the East Coast. The Yankees play a ton of Sunday night games each year and this means we’ll all get to bed at a more reasonable hour those nights.

The change was made because players hate those 8pm ET start times too. At least one team has to travel after the late Sunday game and get into their next city super early the next morning. Now they’ll have that extra hour. ESPN has released a partial 2019 Sunday Night Baseball schedule and already there are three Yankees-Red Sox games on the schedule (June 2nd, July 28th, August 4th). I’m sure the Yankees will play several other Sunday night games as well. They are unavoidable.

Yankee Stadium food safety rates poorly

According to an ESPN investigation, Yankee Stadium ranked dead last among the 30 MLB stadiums in food safety violations from 2016-17. That is a bad thing. Forty-three Yankee Stadium food service outlets were inspected and 34 contained high-level violations, including food that was “adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded” properly. Pretty gross! The Yankees and Dan Smith, president of Yankee Stadium food service provider Legends Hospitality, fired back at the report in a statement:

“We treat food safety with the utmost care. We disagree with the ESPN report, whose methodology is unexplainable. We work closely on regular inspections with the New York City Department of Health, whose rigorous participation is welcomed. We also complete our own independent assessments with various consultants and auditors, including food safety companies. If any violation is pointed out, it is addressed and corrected immediately. As a result, in 2018, all of our food stands received an A-level grade, which is the highest level in New York City.”

I suppose I should note the violation level at Yankee Stadium (0.67 high-level violations per inspection) is far lower than the violation level in the surrounding South Bronx area (1.47) so … yay? If at all possible, don’t eat at Yankee Stadium, and I would’ve said that even before seeing this report. The food is expensive and compared to other ballparks around the league, the concessions are seriously lacking. Seriously, how do the Yankees with their new ballpark have such crummy concessions? Folks, eat before or after the game if you can.

Yankees re-sign CC Sabathia to one-year, $8M contract

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(Adam Hunger/Getty)

Wednesday: It is a done deal. The Yankees announced the signing earlier this afternoon, so Sabathia passed his physical and everything. Also, Sabathia released a video about the signing, during which he reiterated 2019 will be his final season. Send this man out with another ring, Yankees.

Tuesday: Welcome back, CC Sabathia. According to Joel Sherman, the Yankees and Sabathia have agreed to a one-year contract worth $8M. That’s exactly what I gave him as part of my offseason plan. Jon Heyman says the new contract includes no incentives. Sabathia worked on a one-year deal worth $10M this past season with another $2M in incentives, which he didn’t reach (for good reason).

A reunion with Sabathia always made sense and, truly, it felt like a formality. The Yankees need starters and, even at this point of his career, Sabathia is a reliable back-end starter who we all know can handle New York and fit into the clubhouse. If you listen to the R2C2 podcast, you know Sabathia didn’t want to leave. He made that pretty clear these last few weeks and months. “This is my home. I’m a Yankee,” Sabathia said during a recent episode.

For what it’s worth, Mark Feinsand says three other clubs reached out to Sabathia early in free agency, and Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) identifies one of those clubs as the Astros. Houston just lost Lance McCullers Jr. to Tommy John surgery and both Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton are free agents. They need starters. Sabathia wanted to return to the Yankees though, and he didn’t want to wait around to sign either, so the deal is done on November 6th.

This past season the 38-year-old Sabathia threw 153 innings with a 3.65 ERA (4.16 FIP), and he was again among the league’s best at limiting hard contact. He was one of only 30 pitches to throw at least 150 innings with a 120 ERA+. I think you pencil him in for 140-ish league average innings next year and consider anything more a bonus. That’s not sexy, but it ain’t cheap to acquire either. Getting 140-ish league average innings for $8M would be pretty neat.

Sabathia should hit several notable career milestones early next season. He’s four wins away from 250 and 14 strikeouts away from 3,000. Once he gets there, Sabathia will join Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only lefties in the 3,000 strikeout club. “I know I want to pitch next year, 2019, and it’s going to be my last,” Sabathia said during a recent R2C2 episode. After next season, the Hall of Fame conversation can begin.

It’s worth noting Sabathia will be suspended to begin next season. He was suspended five games for the “that’s for you, bitch” incident this year and is appealing. The appeal will be heard at some point this offseason. An early season off-day allows the Yankees to skip their fifth starter the first time through the rotation next year, so, even if Sabathia has to serve the full five games, it won’t be much of a problem. It’ll just cost him some money.

The new one-year contract is pending a physical and Sabathia did have his annual right knee cleanup procedure a few weeks back. The Yankees know better than any team what’s going on in his arm and knee, and, obviously, they’re comfortable enough with his health to agree to a deal. In a perfect world the Yankees will add two more pitchers and Sabathia will be the fifth starter. That’s the way to go.