The New York Yankees have been very active on the trade market this offseason and have been trying to deal a few players in order to help clear out the logjam of outfielders they have on the roster.
Clint Frazier has been one of those names the Yankees have been fielding offers for, but he's openly campaigning to be kept by the franchise, something he tweeted about this offseason.
"I want to be here and I want to let it be known that I want to be here, which is why I was tweeting some of the things," Frazier said. "I don't want to get beat by this group. I don't want to play against this team.
"I'm just glad that I made it to spring and now I get the chance to show everything that I worked on this offseason."
The 23-year-old went through a rocky 2017 season, batting just .231 with four home runs and 17 RBIs in 39 games last season, and he says that he knows he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way last year - which is why he has made some changes.
"I think the biggest thing that was harmful for me coming here was my whole life I've been used to the spotlight being on me," Frazier said. "And when it's not, how was a reacting in a sense, it looked like I was acting out in a way and trying not to be part of the group. But in reality, I was just trying to be myself.
"I stepped on people's toes and I'm not going to do that this year. I cut my hair. I actually cut my hair once a week in the offseason, so I enjoy how it looks right now. I'm getting it cut (this weekend), so we're not going to have stories with that. I do have some fun that comes across as immature to people, but in reality I needed to go through some of the struggles that I did last year to be ready for this year."
Frazier has been traded before - New York acquired him in the deal that sent Andrew Miller to Cleveland in 2016 - and he while he doesn't want it to happen, he's preparing himself for anything.
"Where there's smoke, there's fire, but a lot of these people who say that trades are about to happen, a lot of them fell through," he said. "So you never really know. I'm just going to wait for the phone call if it happens, just like I did last time."
Frazier has also met with new manager Aaron Boone and expressed a willingness to play anywhere in the outfield, particularly center field, where he thinks he can compete for the starting job. However, he's currently expected to start the season in Triple-A.
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