The New York Yankees all offseason have been in pursuit for free agent pitcher Yu Darvish and pitcher Gerrit Cole (before he was traded to the Astros.) Despite all the offseason rumors, the Yankees may have a change of plans regarding Darvish and his future coming to New York. With general manager Brian Cashman's mind possibly off Darvish, who does he have his eyes set on now? These questions and more will be answered in today's Yankees rumors roundup.
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Yu Darvish Not Going To Be A Yankee
The Yankees all offseason have been linked to Darvish, but according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, the Yankees are not in play for Darvish.
In the report, Cafardo states that Cashman "acknowledged the team would have to shed a major contract in order to fit in Darvish and remain under the luxury tax.”
“I’m very happy with our rotation right now and I don’t think we need to do something unless it makes sense for us,” Cashman said to Cafardo.
The Yankees pitching rotation as of now is CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray, Luis Severino, and Jordan Montgomery. Darvish will likely cost too much in free agency, which will put the Yankees over the luxury tax and Cashman has stated numerous times he doesn't want to do that.
Rookies Starting At Second and Third Base
Erik Boland of Newsday writes that Cashman is prepared to start a rookie at both second and third base in 2018.
“We’re more than prepared to go into spring training with what we have,” Cashman said by phone this past week. “We’re fully prepared to do that unless an opportunity presents itself that fits in our current (financial) environment.”
With the Yankees committed to staying under the luxury tax and in little less than a month pitcher and catchers will be reporting for Spring Training, the team may be forced to start two rookies. The Yankees are in this current situation from the trades they made sending Chase Headley to the Padres and Starlin Castro to the Marlins earlier in the offseason.
Currently, the Yankees have $25 million left to spend before hitting the $197 million luxury tax, so expect Cashman to try and land a veteran infielder or else they will be stuck starting two rookies in the infield. The rookies in the mix to get starting time for the Yankees are Gleyber Torres, Miguel Anjuar, Tyler Wade, and Thiaro Estrada. Torres is considered the top prospect in baseball and Miguel Andujar is also a highly regarded prospect. Wade struggled hitting only .155, but showed great glove and Estrada played well in Double-A Trenton hitting .301 in 122 games.
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Yankees Targeting Cuban Prospect
New York has a plethora of talent in the outfield (thanks to the Miami Marlins trading outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees) at both the major league level and in the minors, New York is one of a handful of teams showing a lot of interest in Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America.
The Yankees have a gaggle of outfielders and outfield prospects. That’s no reason not to add another, right? Right! They currently have their sights set on Julio Pablo Martinez, a CF prospect from Cuba. Martinez is 21-years old and many scouts say that he would be a first-round draft pick. The Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins are also looking at him. Both the Yankees and Marlins have held private workouts for him already. Keep an eye on this one.
Martinez is still waiting for the MLB to declare him as a free agent, which should happen before June 15, when the current 2017-18 international signing period ends.
However, since New York has limited pool space available in the current international signing period, Martinez would likely wait until July 2 - when the 2018-19 period starts - if he wanted to sign with the Yankees.
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