7:38pm: “False false false,” said Brian Cashman to reporters when asked about the report this afternoon. He confirmed the Yankees never had talks with Valverde’s camp and they didn’t offer him even a minor league contract. Shouldn’t lie about stuff like that Jose, it’s unbecoming.
5:15pm: Via Jon Morosi: Right-hander Jose Valverde said the Yankees were one of two teams to offer him a guaranteed Major League contract this past offseason. The Mets were the other. He eventually took a minor league deal from the Tigers and was added to the roster just yesterday.
Valverde, 35, pitched to 3.78 ERA (3.62 FIP) in 69 innings for Detroit last summer, but he was dreadful down the stretch and basically unusable in the postseason. His velocity, strikeout rate, and ground ball have all been trending in the wrong direction for a few years now, which is hardly ideal. I wonder if the Yankees made the offer late in the offseason, but pulled it after acquiring Shawn Kelley on the second day of Spring Training. Still seems very much unlike them to offer someone like Valverde a big league deal.
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