The Yankees picked up the options on Robinson Cano ($15M), Curtis Granderson ($15M) and pitcher David Aardsma ($500,000) for the 2013 season. Aardsma is coming off Tommy John surgery. Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano won Gold Gloves at 1st base and 2nd base, respectively. It is Teixeira's fifth win and Cano's second.
Rafael Soriano opted out of the final year of his contract and is a free agent. He was due $14M in 2013 from the Yankees but will get a $1.5M buyout instead. Soriano's agent, Scott Boras, says he thinks he can negotiate a 4-year, $60M deal with some club. The Yanks plan to make a qualifying offer of 13.3M to assure themselves a draft pick if Soriano signs with another team. Mariano Rivera has been hinting at retirement but hasn't given the Yankees a timetable on when he may reach a final decision about whether to return or not. If the Yanks lose both Soriano and Rivera, David Robertson will be the main in-house candidate to assume closer duties.
The Yankees have made qualifying offers worth 13.3M each to Rafael Soriano, Hiroki Kuroda and Nick Swisher. They have until Friday to accept the 1-year deals. If any of them sign with another team, the Yanks will receive draft compensation. Russell Martin did not get an offer.
The Yankees claimed catcher Eli Whiteside, 33, off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. He appeared in 12 games for the Giants in 2012, going 1-for-11. He played most of the season with Triple-A Fresno, batting .224 with 11 doubles, 1 home run, 20 RBIs and 27 runs scored in 60 games. He's a .215 lifetime major league hitter.
The Yankees claimed 2 pitchers off waivers: righty David Herndon from the Toronto Blue Jays and lefty Josh Spence from the San Diego Padres. Hearndon, 27, appeared in 97 games during the last 3 seasons, all in relief with the Philadelphia Phillies, going 2-8 with 1 save and a 3.85 ERA. He only pitched in 5 games for the Phillies in 2012 before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. He had been claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays in October. Spence, 24, made 11 relief appearances last season, going 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA. Over his 2 years with the Padres, he was 0-3 with a 3.15 ERA. He spent most of 2012 with Triple-A Tucson, going 4-2 with a 4.20 ERA in 31 games.
Hiroki Kuroda, Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano all turned down qualifying offers. The Yankees are free to continue negotiating, knowing they'll get a first round draft pick from whatever team signs any of them. I want Kuroda back but he may be looking for 2 years, which could interfere with the Yanks desire to get under the $189M payroll luxury tax in 2014. Swisher is definately history. With Mariano returning, Soriano can go -- especially since Steve Boras is prepared to drive a hard bargain in years and dollars.
Hiroki Kuroda and the Yankees agreed to a 1-year deal for $15M and $500,000 worth of incentives. Great news! It looked like he might get taken away by the Dodgers or even return to Japan.
Andy Pettitte has signed a 1-year, $12M contract. Mariano Rivera is expected to be re-signed before next week's GM Winter Meetings begin in Nashville. There was a report from Japan's Nikkan Sports that Ichiro Suzuki has agreed to 1-year/$5M deal plus incentives, but that's being called premature by sources over here.
Russell Martin accepted a 2-year/$17M deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Anyone who wants to know how I felt about Martin can go to this post from earlier this year... https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/2012-new-york-yankees.1905251/#post-25244306 Martin proceeded to bat a whopping .211, although he did knock out 21 homers. The pitchers supposedly loved having him behind the plate. But basically the guy was a big bust in his walk-year. I'm not sorry to see him go and since the Yankees didn't put forth an offer to him I guess Brian Cashman wasn't too keen on keeping him around, either. To prove what a genius Russell Martin is, besides the Pirates and the Yankees, the only other club that made overtures to him were the Texas Rangers. So instead of waiting a bit and seeing what the Yanks and Rangers -- both likely to end up in the A.L. playoffs again in 2013 -- would eventually offer, he runs to a team on a 20-season losing streak! Hey Russell, say "hi" to A.J. Burnett for us... Fool!!!
Mariano Rivera has been re-signed for 1-year/$10M plus incentives. Utilityman Jayson Nix is returning on a 1-year deal and will be assigned to Triple A Scranton. Righty reliever Jim Miller was picked off waivers from the Oakland A's. Last season, he pitched 48 2/3 innings, going 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA.
Alex Rodriguez will need to undergo extensive surgery on his left hip. He is expected to be out until late June, at least. (Alex had surgery on his right hip in March 2009 and was back by early May.) There's already talk of what the situation would be if he is forced to miss the entire season... Most of A-Rod's Owed Money Insured - ESPN
Brett Gardner has signed for 1-year/$285M, avoiding arbitration. He can earn $150M more in performance bonuses. The surgery on Alex Rodriguez's left hip will take place in mid-January. The Yankees are still waiting on the Kevin Youkilis front. They've offered him 1-year/$12M. The Cleveland Indians are after him with a 2-year/$16-$18M deal. His former Red Sox manager, Terry Francona, is now the Indians manager. And the Yanks are reportedly doing a background check on free agent Josh Hamilton.
Ichiro Suzuki's deal is finally complete. He turned down more money from elsewhere to stay with the Yankees! He signed for 2-years/$13M.
Losing Raul Ibanez to the Seattle Mariners is the first move -- or lack of one -- that has made me angry this off-season with Cashman. Jerk!!!
Over the last week, the Yankees avoided arbitration by signing these players: --Phil Hughes at 1 year/$7.15M; a raise of $3.75M. --Boone Logan at 1 year/$3.15M; a raise of $1.2M. --Joba Chamberlain at 1 year/$1.875M; a raise of $200,000. It contains $275,000 in incentives for games finished. The contract is non-guaranteed. The Yankees and David Robertson look like they are headed towards arbitration. Robertson wants $3.55M and the Yanks have offered $2.85M.
The Yankees and David Robertson have reached agreement on a 1 year/$3.1M deal, a raise of $1.475M. The Yanks have cleared up all their arbitration-eligible cases. As of now, the projected payroll for 2013 is about $206M.
Now we know why the Yankees wouldn't let this guy near the major league roster all of last season. Nobody's going to tell me they didn't have an idea about this. Similar to why they let Bartolo Colon go before last season but kept Freddy Garcia, although a good case could have been made for holding onto Colon instead of Freddy. They smelled something fishy. Yankees Catcher Cervelli on PED Lab List - N.Y. Post