December 1st, 2022: Judge, Winter Meetings, Cortes, Mattingly, Mailbag

I apologize if you saw this post in your inbox and thought it was Friday. I know how soul-crushing it can be to think it’s Friday, only to realize it’s really Thursday. It’s the worst. I have something else in the works for Friday though, so I figured I’d run this post a day early. Sorry it's shorter than usual, but again, something else is coming Friday. Let’s get to it.

1. Latest hot stove news. There’s not a whole lot going on right now. Here’s the latest as we await the Winter Meetings next week.

Yankees offer Judge eight years and $300M

According to Jeff Passan (subs. req’d), the Yankees have made Aaron Judge an offer “in the neighborhood of eight years and $300 million and could increase it.” The important first step in sussing out a hot stove rumor is determining whether it passes the sniff test and yes, this one absolutely does. That’s a reasonable place to begin Judge negotiations.

In fact, I’d argue eight years and $300M is the bare minimum to be taken seriously. Unless you're going to try something outside the box like five years at $50M a year, eight years and $300M is probably what it takes just to get your foot in the door. And if the Giants are as serious about Judge as they seem to be, I gotta think they have a similar offer on the table.

Eight years and $300M is $37.5M a year and that’s an important number. It would be the largest average annual salary for a position player and the second largest overall. Here’s the average annual value leaderboard:

1. Max Scherzer, Mets: $43.3M
2. Gerrit Cole, Yankees: $36M
3. Mike Trout, Angels: $35.4M
4. Carlos Correa, Twins: $35.1M
5. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals: $35M
6. Anthony Rendon, Angels: $35M

Beating Cole’s average annual value is a given, right? Maybe Judge won’t beat Cole’s franchise record for total value ($324M), but the Yankees gotta at least make him the highest paid player on the team. Some players really care about that stuff but I don’t think Cole would mind. He's a hardcore union guy (he thanked Curt Flood and Marvin Miller at his introductory press conference) and presumably wants to see the salary bar raised again.

As I said in the Offseason Plan, I think the ninth year gets it done. If the Giants are right there with an eight-year offer, going back and forth and adding another $100,000 a year until Judge says yes isn’t gonna be what decides it. The ninth season is what will separate the offers. Maybe there’s some give and take there – we’ll give you the ninth year but you have to cut us a little break on annual value – but the ninth year could be the deciding factor.

Will the Yankees go there? I think so, yeah. I don’t think they want to go there, I think they want to keep it to eight years, but will go to nine years if that’s what it takes. It’ll come down to the Giants (and whoever else is involved). Will they put a ninth year on the table? If yes, would the Yankees do 10 years? Hoo boy, I dunno. Ultimately, I think Hal Steinbrenner would grit his teeth and do it. Think about all the leverage Judge holds over the Yankees:

• He is the team’s most popular player since Derek Jeter and he’s coming off a historic season that saw him set a new American League single-season home run record. They would have blown the division without Judge.
• I’m comfortable saying the majority of Yankees fans dislike Hal and are frustrated with the team. After another postseason loss to the Astros, the fan base is unhappy. Letting Judge leave would be deeply unpopular.
• The Yankees had the brilliant idea of announcing their Spring Training extension offer, so now everyone knows exactly how much they're raising their offer(s). Small, incremental increases will make them look cheap.
• The team does not have anyone close to as marketable as Judge, a larger than life player who says all the right things, has a distinctive name, a cool uniform number, and hits lots and lots of dingers.

I will reiterate this doesn’t appear to be a half-hearted pursuit like Manny Machado. The Yankees want Judge and are being loud about it, and when the Yankees truly want a player, they remind the sport of their financial might and go bigger than everyone expects. I bet it happens with Judge the same way it happened with Cole, and CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka before him.

Winter Meetings next week

The Winter Meetings are next week in San Diego and they will be the first “normal” Winter Meetings in three years. There were no Winter Meetings last offseason because of the lockout, and the Winter Meetings were virtual the year before because of the pandemic. These will be the first in-person Winter Meetings since the Yankees signed Cole in Dec. 2019.

The various insider types say the hot stove will finally fire up at the Winter Meetings and I can’t tell if that’s true and things really will pick up, or just an educated guess based on history. This offseason has been really boring. I’m ready for stuff to happen. On that note, here’s what to monitor next week (in order of importance). Consider this a mini Winter Meetings preview.

The Judge race. I mean, duh. He is the franchise player and, either way, Judge’s decision will affect how the Yankees operate the rest of the offseason. I never got the sense Judge is a rush to sign, he seems very willing to move at his own pace, but I do think teams will make their best offers at the Winter Meetings and look to get this wrapped up. Of course they will be respectful of the process. I just think the serious suitors will begin to nudge him toward a decision.

What else are the Yankees doing? Judge is the top priority but the Yankees do need to do other things to improve, you know? They’ve re-signed Anthony Rizzo and that’s great. Bring Judge back and that’s great too, except the Yankees will not have actually added anything. They’ll only have reassembled most of the 2022 team. They have to do more to, you know, get better.

How can the Yankees improve? They can add a starting pitcher to bump Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt down the rotation depth chart. The left side of the infield is in obvious need of an upgrade. I don’t know if that means dumping Josh Donaldson or replacing Isiah Kiner-Falefa with Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe or signing a top free agent or all of the above, but the left side of the infield needs work. The Yankees also need a left fielder. More offense at catcher would be nice, but I’m not expecting a change behind the plate. Then you have the usual (bullpen help, the bench, minor league depth, etc.).

Again, Judge is the No. 1 priority and his decision will shape the rest of the offseason, but we should begin to hear the Yankees more seriously connected to other players at the Winter Meetings. Free agents and trade candidates, and I’m not talking about generic “they checked in on this guy” stuff. Stuff that can plausibly happen. Maybe the Yankees don’t get any secondary stuff done at the Winter Meetings, but the rest of the offseason should start coming into focus. They can’t just re-sign Judge and call it a winter. There has to be more.

The coaching staff. Most importantly, is pitching coach Matt Blake coming back? His contract expired after the season. Blake said he wants to come back and Brian Cashman said he wants Blake to come back, but that doesn’t mean a new contract is fait accompli. Blake wasn’t exactly subtle when Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson left the team in the middle of the season to take a massive raise from LSU ($350,000 annually to $750,000).

“Anytime you see someone with a similar skill set go and do something like that you say, ‘interesting.’ You see the market moving. When I came over to Cleveland and got promotions and raises because the industry kept wanting my skill set, it’s the same thing here now,” Blake said in July. “... I’m compensated well now. What does that mean for the best team in baseball in New York City and the way we’ve performed? What do they think it’s worth? I love working for these guys and I think they like having me here, so what does that mean for both sides?”

The Yankees can afford anything and coach salaries don’t count against the luxury tax payroll, so just pay Blake and be done with it, right? It’s not that simple though. The Yankees could find Blake’s contract demands unreasonable and say this person with a similar skill set (assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel?) would cost much less, so let’s pivot to him. It happens all the time.

Cashman and Aaron Boone will speak at the Winter Meetings and we should get some clarity on the pitching coach situation. Hopefully Blake comes back. He seems to have a handle on things. If the Yankees are moving on, then they’re moving on. Either way, we should find out next week. It would be unusual for a major coaching position to remain unsettled beyond the Winter Meetings.

As for the rest of the coaching staff, assistant hitting coach Hensley Meulens left to become the Rockies’ primary hitting coach last month. How will the Yankees replace Meulens, if they replace him at all? What about the rest of the coaching staff? Any other changes coming? These are all questions that should be answered next week.

Rule 5 Draft. The Yankees lost two good relievers (Trevor Stephan and Garrett Whitlock) in the Rule 5 Draft two years ago and I swear, it will be the new Kevin Maas. A young player came up and hit a bunch of homers? Oh wow, maybe he’s next Maas, who debuted 32 (!) years ago. We’re gonna see Whitlock references after the Rule 5 Draft in 2045. People can’t let it go.

(The Yankees screwed up with Stephan and Whitlock but geez, they are the only two players of note they’ve lost in the Rule 5 Draft in the last decade, and it happened after a bizarre pandemic season in which neither player took the mound because there was no minor league baseball. They slipped through the cracks. Life goes on.)

ANYWAY, the Rule 5 Draft is next week and the Yankees will likely have a player or three taken because they always have players taken. They’ve had 13 players selected in the last five Rule 5 Drafts, five more than any other team. The Yankees have an open 40-man roster spot, so they could make a Rule 5 Draft pick themselves, but I’d bet against it. That spot is earmarked Judge, plus they have to do other stuff (they could always open more spots, of course).

This is the build-a-pitcher era and it’s worth paying attention to the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft now. The Yankees found Matt Krook in the 2020 minor league phase and he’s now a depth option on the 40-man roster. The Athletics found a serviceable reliever in Zach Jackson five picks after the Yankees took Krook. The Mets dug up Adam Oller in the 2019 minor league phase, developed him into a trade chip, then flipped him for Chris Bassitt. He's a big leaguer.

The Yankees have made multiple picks in the minor league phase in each of the last two Rule 5 Drafts and they were all pitchers (Krook is the most notable). That started right after the Yankees overhauled their pitcher development group with Blake, Druschel, director of pitching Sam Briend, and others. That’s not a coincidence. We’ll see who the Yankees lose in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft next week, and also which long shot arms they grab in the minor league phase.

(I have no Rule 5 Draft dirt to pass along other than Diamondbacks righty Conor Grammes and Rays infielder Ronny Simon are popular selection candidates. The Royals didn’t protect T.J. Sikkema after the Andrew Benintendi trade. He’s available in the Rule 5 Draft.)

Does Cashman have a contract? This is a minor thing because Cashman is obviously returning, but does he have a contract yet? The longer he works without one, the weirder it will be. Judge is the biggest story, then what else are the Yankees doing, then the coaching staff and the Rule 5 Draft, then Cashman. Those are the things to watch at the Winter Meetings next week.

2. Mining the news. Got two quick pieces of news to pass along. Let’s tackle ‘em.

Cortes commits to World Baseball Classic

At least one Yankee will play in next spring’s World Baseball Classic: Nestor Cortes has committed to Team USA, he announced on Instagram earlier this week. Cortes was born in Cuba and his family moved to Florida when he was an infant after his father won a visa lottery. Here’s what Nestor wrote about joining Team USA:

First, I want to thank team USA for even considering me to be part of the team USA. I'm completely honored and humbled as It’s truly a full-circle moment for me. Not too long ago in 2013 while still in High School, I experience the excitement as a fan at Marlins Park and right next to that thrill, the hunger to one day play in this great Baseball Classic. In the past, I’ve expressed of playing for team Cuba one day, but when team USA reached out to me towards the end of October I immediately said YES! I was born in Cuba and arrived in the United States very young as my parents were chasing the American dream they so strongly believed in and still stand by. Today I can say another dream of mine has come true as I will represent TEAM USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. I love my Cuban roots and the Cuban blood that runs through my veins, but the land of opportunity has once again put me in a position to be part of what I once saw only as a dream, and to some this dream is more than just baseball, but all I am is a baseball player, and I will represent this great country with honor and thankfulness as nothing less should be expected.

For a long time the Baseball Federation of Cuba did not allow players who defected to represent the country in international play. They are more willing to let players leave the island to pursue baseball careers now and have loosened their rules about international play (Luis Robert, who defected in Nov. 2016, is reportedly on Cuba’s preliminary WBC roster). Nestor did not defect and I assume playing for Cuba was an option, but he’ll play for Team USA instead.

MLB and the WBC folks tweak the rules for each event, but as of the last WBC in 2017, teams could not deny their players permission to play unless there’s an injury. An MLB team could block a player from participating in the WBC under these conditions in 2017:

• Spent 60 total days on the injured list during the most recent MLB season, including at least 15 of the final 60 days of the season.
• Physically unable to play in two of his team’s last three games in the most recent season (regular season or postseason games).
• Had surgery since last Opening Day or is scheduled to have surgery in the future.
• On the injured list on the last day of August of the most recent MLB season.

Cortes was on the injured list on the last day of August! The groin injury sent him to the injured list on Aug. 22nd and he was activated Sept. 8th. At least under the 2017 rules, the Yankees could block him from playing in the WBC, but again, I don’t know whether the same rules apply. MLB has looked for ways to get bigger names involved, so maybe they changed the rules.

That all said, I don’t think Nestor and MLB itself would announce he’s playing in the WBC unless the Yankees okayed it. MLB has already announced a lot of big names are playing for Team USA. It would be kinda embarrassing to walk a bunch of them back in March because their MLB clubs weren’t consulted ahead of time. I think Nestor’s WBC bound.

Obviously the biggest concern with the WBC is injury and the Yankees know this firsthand: Mark Teixeira tore the tendon sheath in his right wrist with Team USA in 2013 and it sabotaged his season. Former Yankee Luis Ayala blew out his elbow at the 2006 WBC and Drew Smyly hurt his elbow at the 2017 WBC, and eventually needed Tommy John surgery.

"Injury is injury and it can happen at any time in any place," Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told the Associated Press about Smyly’s injury at the time. "It’s hard to point the finger back. I'd rather look forward and figure out how we create a solution rather than placing blame."

Cortes could get hurt pitching in Grapefruit League games just as easily as he could in the WBC, though intent matters, and WBC games can be intense. The risk is he goes too hard, too soon, and hurts himself. It’s also possible there are no ill effects and Nestor goes on to have the best season of his career, like Marcus Stroman after the 2017 WBC.

(Dellin Betances also pitched in the 2017 WBC and was dominant the first three months of the season, then he fell apart in the second half. I don’t think that was WBC related though. Dellin was prone to completely losing it at times and that was a bad extended stretch.)

As of right now Cortes will join Merrill Kelly and Adam Wainwright in the Team USA rotation and yeah, that’s the kinda starting pitchers usually drawn to this event. The Gerrit Coles and Max Scherzers and Justin Verlanders never sign up. These were the WBC pitch count rules in 2017:

• 65-pitch max in pool play, 80-pitch max in quarterfinals, 95-pitch max in finals.
• Minimum four days of rest after a 50-pitch outing.
• Minimum one day of rest after a 30-pitch outing.
• Minimum one day of rest after pitching back-to-back days.

There are 20 teams in the WBC this time around and preliminary 50-man rosters were due Nov. 18th. The final rosters are still weeks away. The preliminary rosters are not public but Wandy Peralta is on the Dominican Republic’s. I know this because GM Nelson Cruz said so. I gotta think they inquired about Luis Severino as well and he might be on the preliminary roster for all I know, but I could see the Yankees denying him permission given his injury history (Severino was on the injured list on Aug. 31st like Cortes).

Other Yankees who could get involved with the WBC include Oswaldo Cabrera (Venezuela), Domingo German (Dominican Republic), Clay Holmes (USA), Jonathan Loaisiga (Nicaragua), Frankie Montas (Dominican Republic), Oswald Peraza (Venezuela), Gleyber Torres (Venezuela), and Lou Trivino (USA). Anthony Rizzo (2013) and Giancarlo Stanton (2013 and 2017) have played in the WBC previously. Not sure they have the appetite to do it again at this point in their careers.

Mattingly joins Blue Jays

So much for Donnie Baseball in the YES Network booth. The Blue Jays named Don Mattingly their new bench coach earlier this week. Mattingly hinted at having “something else burning fairly hot right now” when asked about a potential YES gig. I guess this was it.

“It was great getting to know Don throughout this process and we are very excited about the experience he brings with him, from the variety of roles he has had over the years,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said in a statement. “The organization and I are looking forward to his impact on the players and staff, as we look ahead to an exciting 2023 season.”

All it will take is the Blue Jays spending one (1) day ahead of the Yankees in the standings for the “the Yankees should’ve named Mattingly manager!” takes to arrive, and if the Blue Jays manage to finish ahead of the Yankees, forget it. We’ll never hear the end of it. I am not an Aaron Boone fan. I’m also unconvinced Mattingly was the answer. Eh, whatever.

As for YES, it doesn’t sound like they were all that optimistic of landing Mattingly in the first place, so I don’t think this is a shock to them. It was not until February that it was announced Carlos Beltran and Cameron Maybin were joining YES this past season, so we might be waiting a little while until they announce any booth changes (if any).

(The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee will announce its Hall of Fame voting results Sunday and Mattingly is on the ballot. The 16-person committee seems designed to get Fred McGriff in. It includes some of his former teammates, an executive who had McGriff on his team, and several Hall of Famers who were outspoken against performance-enhancing drugs and similarly spent a long time on the BBWAA’s ballot. McGriff, who is third all-time among Yankees’ draft picks in WAR behind Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, is likely getting in. Not sure Mattingly will, but he has a better shot with the committee than he did with the BBWAA.)

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Bob asks: Don't you think it is time for Cashman and the Yankees to adopt a more modern policy regarding early extensions? Cleveland has long attempted to lock up its best players early and Atlanta has done a great job locking up Acuna, Riley, and Albies, etc. If the Yankees had chosen that path Torres might have several more affordable years ahead as might Judge. Yes, there will be misses (i.e. Hicks) but any misses will be at a lower cost than say paying Judge $40M annually until he is 38 or 39 and surely knowing the last 2-5 years will be ugly.

Yes, absolutely. I feel like I’ve written about this in the past but I don’t remember when and where. There will definitely be misses along the way (imagine if they’d extended Miguel Andujar or Gary Sanchez?) and it takes two to tango (it may have been impossible to extend Aaron Judge given his approach to free agency), but yeah, the Yankees should be more open to extensions.

Two things about this. One, I think the Yankees were on the path to being more aggressive with extensions, but the Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks deals blew up so insanely fast that it might’ve spooked them a bit. Brian Cashman did talk about the desire to sign the core long-term back in the day, and while it might’ve been lip service, I do think the Yankees were genuinely interested.

And two, the Yankees are not alone with this approach. The Dodgers haven’t locked up any of their young stars. The previous regime gave Clayton Kershaw his seven-year, $215M contract deal back in the day, and Mookie Betts was a year away from free agency when he signed his extension. That was essentially a free agent deal. Others like Max Muncy and Chris Taylor signed short-term contracts that bought out 2-3 arbitration years, and that’s it. The Dodgers have gone year-to-year with Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Corey Seager, Will Smith, Julio Urias, etc.

I think the Yankees should be more active locking up their young players and they will (hopefully) have the opportunity to do so soon with Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza, and Anthony Volpe. You don’t have to lock up everyone. Bullpen guys and role players don’t need extensions. But the core players? Sure. The Yankees can afford to go through arbitration with their players and pay top dollar, but if you can put yourself in better position financially, why not do it?

Also, I think the Yankees should maybe be more open to deferrals as well. They are obsessed with the luxury tax and deferrals lower the luxury tax hit. Edwin Diaz’s new five-year, $102M contract is a $20.4M average annual value, but deferrals lower the luxury tax hit to $18.6M. I can understand not wanting to push off too much money into the future, but with some contracts, like a potential $300M deal for a certain reigning MVP, yeah, deferrals could be helpful. Long story short, yes, the Yankees should be more creative with their contracts.

CJ asks: What do you think would be a reasonable framework for a trade sending Gleyber Torres to MIL and getting either Burnes or Woodruff back? The Yankees would have to kick in other pieces, but Torres, Woodruff, and Burnes each have 2 years of control left. Seems like there could be something to build off of there.

The Brewers have done nothing but subtract early this offseason. Hunter Renfroe was traded for three meh pitching prospects, Brent Suter was lost on waivers, and Brad Boxberger’s affordable club option was declined. They did pick up Kolten Wong’s $10M option, but he’s said to be on the trade block as well. With Jon Singleton (yes, that Jon Singleton) now on the 40-man roster, Rowdy Tellez and his projected $5.3M salary figures to be next to go.

There is no chance the Brewers, who annually run one of baseball’s smallest payrolls, will keep both Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff long-term. The sense is Woodruff, who is almost two years older than Burnes, is more likely to sign an extension that fits the team’s budget. Locking up Woodruff and trading Burnes for a godfather package is the most likely outcome.

Thanks to this summer’s Luis Castillo trade, we have a pretty good idea what it’ll take to acquire two years (or two postseason runs) of a top flight pitcher. Jose Berrios, Frankie Montas, and Marcus Stroman were recently traded with two postseason runs of control, though I think we can all agree they’re lesser pitchers than Castillo. The Yankees’ equivalent of the Castillo package:

• SS Noelvi Marte: SS Anthony Volpe
• SS Edwin Arroyo: SS Oswald Peraza
• RHP Levi Stoudt: RHP Randy Vasquez
• RHP Andrew Moore: RHP Jack Neely (an interesting enough bullpen prospect)

A Burnes trade package would probably look something like that, right? The thing is, the Brewers are not rebuilding like the Reds, and presumably want at least some MLB talent in return for their ace. They received Taylor Rogers (and prospects) in the Josh Hader trade to keep the bullpen afloat, and I imagine they’ll want a player(s) they could put on their roster right away for Burnes.

Gleyber Torres and his projected $9.8M salary might be too rich for Milwaukee, plus they already have Wong at second base. Is there a larger Burnes/Wong for Gleyber/stuff trade to be made? The two prospects in the Hader trade are good but not great. There was definitely a financial component to that deal. If the Brewers are desperate enough to shed money (and want to trade Burnes quickly to avoid the injury risk), it could work to the Yankees’ advantage.

The thing is, we’re still talking about one the very best pitchers in the game, and there will be a bidding war to get Burnes. I don’t think the Brewers are that desperate to shed his money. Just to put some names and numbers on it:

I mean, yeah, right? Look what Castillo fetched. Torres is an above-average player at his position but he’s not elite, and the extra year of (expensive for Milwaukee) control he gives the Brewers over Wong isn’t gonna be enough to avoid surrendering top prospects. Maybe the Yankees could trade Torres for prospects and flip them to Milwaukee, but you’re not getting Volpe types for him.

Burnes for Torres plus stuff is a workable framework as long as the stuff is significant and does the heavy lifting in the trade. Burnes is really great and I’d love him on the Yankees. The prospect cost for two years of him will be so exorbitant that I think you just pivot to the free agent market. Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander are looking at 2-3 years, so give them the money (the Yankees’ greatest resource) and keep your prospects.

Liam asks: So as I understand the current CBA, the Swallows would only be able to receive a posting fee for Munetaka Murakami under $2 million because of the International bonus pool. But looking back at Ohtani (who also was subject to the bonus pool), the Ham Fighters were able to get a $20 million posting because the NPB and the MLB agreed to extend the old posting system. Outside of the obvious reason (owners want to spend less money), why did the MLB change this? Wouldn't the MLB want to encourage NPB teams to post their young stars? And would the MLB be interested in fixing the system for a superstar like Murakami (as they essentially did for Ohtani)?

That’s the only reason MLB changed the posting agreement: to save the owners money. I think It’s pretty clear the league’s No. 1 priority the last few years (and dating back longer than that) is money, even when it involves doing things that aren’t necessarily great for the sport overall. They keep agreeing to new streaming deals that peel games away from the usual networks and MLB.tv and and force fans to sign up for new services, they locked out the players, so on and so forth.

NPB pushed back against the current posting system but posting players is an important revenue stream for NPB teams. MLB threatened to let the posting agreement expire, in which case Japanese players would have had no path to MLB other than international free agency after nine years of service time. MLB essentially strong-armed NPB into the current agreement. (I don’t know when the current posting agreement expires, but I know it’s not this offseason.)

Yes, MLB should want NPB teams to post their players and ensure the world’s best and most talented players are playing in their league. No, MLB would not be interested in changing the posting agreement to encourage the Yakult Swallows to post Murakami. The system is working as intended! It’s keeping costs down. The Nippon Ham Fighters posted Shohei Ohtani under these terms. MLB expects other NPB teams to do the same.

Thomas asks: The Yankees haven't acquired a hated former Red Sox in recent years, so why not relive old times? Seriously - isn't Alex Verdugo for Gleyber Torres pretty much a perfect match? I can't stand Verdugo personally, but he's a left handed hitting left fielder who doesn't strike out, and has some pop, and is under team control for the next two years, same as Gleyber. The kicker is that Statcast says he would have nearly doubled his home run total had he played in Yankee Stadium last season. He doesn't walk much or play great defense, but unless the Yankees are going to splurge on Brandon Nimmo, they might have a hard time finding that anyway, and Verdugo is still only 26 and could reasonably improve. For the Red Sox, they'd get a second baseman who easily allows them to push Trevor Story over to short and replace Bogaerts (who I am assuming they are not realistically going to re-sign).

Oh geez, it does fit, right? The Yankees would have to get another piece in the trade because it’s a +3 WAR middle infielder for a +2 WAR corner outfielder, but Torres for Verdugo does solve a problem for each team. The Yankees don’t just need a left fielder, they need a left fielder with a very specific skill set (lefty hitter, contact, good defense) and Verdugo provides it. Unless the Red Sox still believe in Jeter Downs, they have no way to replace Xander Bogaerts internally.

Verdugo is a bat control guy (13.4% strikeouts and 6.3% swinging strikes in 2022) who can pull the ball for power. The downside is he’s put close to half his batted balls on the ground the last few years, muting his power output. Get him to elevate the ball just a little more and I think he would get to 20-25 homers in the Bronx. Verdugo’s left field defense is good but not amazing, kinda like Torres at second base. He would help in several ways.

Obviously this trade isn’t happening and I’m happy it won’t because I hate Verdugo’s stupid face, but yeah, I can buy this as a sensible baseball trade for each team. The Yankees get a badly needed lefty contact bat with good left field defense and the Red Sox get a quality middle infielder at a time when they’re tough to acquire (if you’re unwilling to spend big money).

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)