October 20th, 2020: Arbitration Projections, 40-Man Roster, 2021 Draft, Bold Predictions

In a 60-game season with a 16-team postseason field ripe for weird and random stuff, the two No. 1 seeds will meet in the World Series. Go figure. First time that's happened since 2013. Lifelong Dodgers fan here. Go Mookie & Co. Beat them Rays. Now here are today’s thoughts as the Coles and Tanakas have a sushi date night.

1. 2021 arbitration projections. Last week MLBTR posted their annual arbitration salary projections. The March agreement calls for the arbitration system to be “adjusted to consider lessened counting statistics because of the shorter season,” according to Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel, but we have no idea how that will actually happen.

Neither does MLBTR, so they adjusted their model and gave us three different projections for each player:

• Method 1: Applies model directly with actual statistics from this 60-game season
• Method 2: Extrapolates all counting stats to would-be 162-game totals.  One home run becomes 2.7 home runs
• Method 3: For non-first-time eligibles, finds the raise they’d get in a 162 game season, then gives them 37% of that raise

Method 1 is not fair to players at all. You’re using a 162-game model with 60-game stats, which will keep salaries down. Gleyber Torres going into arbitration coming off a three-homer season? No, come on. Method 2 takes small sample sizes and extrapolates them, which only makes the numbers more unreliable. Luke Voit hit 22 homers in 60 games. That’s a 59-homer pace in a full season. That’s the number Method 2 is built on. Eh.

Method 3 is most reasonable to me but even that one isn’t great. Method 3 only covers players not entering arbitration for the first time though, and those players have a larger body of work to fall back on when building their arbitration cases. Here’s what Method 3 has for the Yankees:

• Aaron Judge: $9.3M (second time eligible)
• Gary Sanchez: $5.5M (second time eligible)
• Luke Voit: $3.7M (first time eligible as Super Two)
• Gio Urshela: $3.5M (second time eligible as Super Two)
• Tommy Kahnle: $2.7M (fourth time eligible as Super Two)
• Gleyber Torres: $2.5M (first time eligible as Super Two)
• Chad Green: $1.6M (second time eligible)
• Clint Frazier: $1.6M (first time eligible as Super Two)
• Jordan Montgomery: $1.3M (second time eligible as Super Two)
• Luis Cessa: $1.1M (second time eligible as Super Two)
• Jonathan Holder: $900,000 (second time eligible as Super Two)
• Ben Heller: $700,000 (first time eligible)

Those 12 players combined to make $22.35885M in full season salary this past season. Method 3 projects them at $34.4M next season, which is a pretty big raise. Kahnle is a goner though, so it’s really $31.7M for 11 players. Still a decent chunk of change for a decent chunk of the roster.

A few things stand out about the arbitration projections. One, Gleyber’s projection seems awfully low to me. Didi Gregorius, another Super Two middle infielder, received $2.425M in his first arbitration year despite no All-Star Games, no MVP votes, and 22 career homers. Torres has two All-Star Games, MVP votes in two seasons, and 65 homers. Weird season, I know, but Gleyber's $2.5M projection strikes me as low given his resume.

Two, Judge ($8.5M in 2020) and Sanchez ($5M) coming in at $9.3M and $5.5M, respectively, is good news for the team’s wallet. Both have two All-Star Games, both have received MVP votes (Judge has an MVP runner-up), both have a top two finish in the Rookie of the Year voting, and both have 100+ career homers, yet their combined projected raise is $1.3M in their second trip through arbitration. The Yankees can thank Judge’s injuries and Sanchez’s poor season. Gotta think the Yankees were penciling them in for much larger raises as part of their long-term payroll planning not too long ago.

Three, Heller has to be a non-tender candidate. His $700,000 projection is a pittance, but he’s 29 now, he has 31.1 big league innings to his credit, and he’s hurt all the time. Non-tendering him and re-signing him to a split minor league contract that pays him the same $700,000 at the MLB level but a lesser salary in the minors makes the most sense. It saves a little against the luxury tax and, more importantly, it opens a 40-man roster spot. If another team is willing to put Heller on their 40-man roster, so be it. The Yankees haven't exactly been eager to give him a longer look.

And four, is Cessa in trouble at that projection? He has been a perfectly fine long man the last two years (3.94 ERA and 4.64 FIP in 102.2 innings) but every dollar counts this winter, and Mike King or Nick Nelson might be able to give the Yankees similar production at the league minimum salary. Cessa’s full season salary was $895,000 in 2020. I could see the Yankees putting the squeeze on this winter. “Take $900,000 or we’ll non-tender you and you’ll be stuck looking for work in a flooded free agent market.” Harsh, but possible.

I know folks within baseball are bracing for a massive wave of non-tenders but eight of those 12 arbitration-eligible players are core Yankees (Frazier, Green, Judge, Montgomery, Sanchez, Torres, Urshela, Voit) and not getting non-tendered. Kahnle is getting non-tendered and the other three guys (Cessa, Heller, Holder) wouldn’t move the payroll needle much. Seems like a straightforward arbitration year for the Yankees even with all the weirdness. I don’t see any hard decisions.

2. 40-man roster and the Rule 5 Draft. It’s that time of year again. The offseason is a week away, give or take, and soon the Yankees will begin the annual exercise of getting their roster in order and figuring out who is part of the solution, and who is part of the problem. Part of that is cleaning up the 40-man roster and protecting players from the Rule 5 Draft.

The Yankees currently have 44 players on the 40-man roster. That’s the 40 “active” players plus four 45-day injured list guys: Ben Heller (biceps nerve issue), Tommy Kahnle (Tommy John surgery), James Paxton (flexor strain), and Luis Severino (Tommy John surgery). Here are the players the Yankees have coming off the 40-man after the World Series:

• Free agents (5): J.A. Happ, Erik Kratz, DJ LeMahieu, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka
• Other possible free agents (2): Zack Britton, Brett Gardner
• Easily removable (3): Mike Ford, Ben Heller, Tommy Kahnle

Fun fact: Kratz qualifies for free agency for the first time in his career this offseason. Each time he’d been a free agent previously -- which is many, many times --  it was because he was released, non-tendered, or elected free agency after being dropped from the 40-man roster. This year Kratz reached six years of service time and qualified as a true free agent.

Anyway, we can assume Happ’s option didn't vest. The smart money is on Britton returning one way (Yankees pick up their two-year club option) or the other (Britton exercises his one-year player option), so we shouldn’t expect him to clear a 40-man spot. My guess is the Yankees will decline Gardner’s club option and re-sign him at a lower salary. That could happen quickly (like in 2018) or it could drag out (he didn’t re-sign until mid-December last winter).

Kahnle is an obvious non-tender candidate and I think Ford and Heller are candidates to be non-tendered and re-signed to a minor league contract. The Yankees have done that plenty over the years, including with Domingo German and Slade Heathcott. The risk is they leave and get MLB deals elsewhere, but so be it. Lefty platoon first base/DH types aren’t hard to find and Heller is an unestablished 29-year-old with injury problems. They’re expendable.

Five free agents plus Gardner’s option being declined and Kahnle getting non-tendered -- he’ll likely be released before the Dec. 2nd non-tender deadline because the Yankees will need the 40-man spot sooner than that -- get the Yankees down to 37 players on the 40-man roster. Here are their notable Rule 5 Draft eligible players, via Pinstriped Prospects:

• Catchers: None!
• Infielders: Kyle Holder, Oswald Peraza
• Outfielders: Trey Amburgey
• Righties: Roansy Contreras, Yoendrys Gomez, Glenn Otto, Addison Russ, Trevor Stephan, Alex Vizcaino, Garrett Whitlock
• Lefties: None!

There was no minor league season this year and thus no opportunity for a Brooks Kriske type to emerge. That afterthought prospect who breaks out and puts himself on the 40-man roster map. Maybe someone had that kinda year at the alternate site? Impossible to know given how little information came out of Scranton this summer. 

Amburgey and Holder have been passed over in previous Rule 5 Drafts and I’m sure the same will be true again this year. Whitlock should be nearing the end of his Tommy John surgery rehab and I suppose a rebuilding team could select him and stash him on the injured list early next year. Otto’s had a ton of injuries in pro ball. Stephan pitched so poorly last year he was demoted from Double-A Trenton to High-A Tampa at midseason. Eh.

This was supposed to be a big year for Vizcaino, who had a breakout 2019 season but was not selected in the Rule 5 Draft. Had he shown last year was no fluke, he would’ve been in position to either be added to the 40-man or picked in the Rule 5 Draft. Now? Who knows. Maybe he was lights out at the alternate site. Vizcaino is the toughest call among this year’s Rule 5 Draft eligibles. I could see it going either way.

Depending who you ask, Contreras is either among the top prospects in the organization or a good mid-range prospect, but nothing more. I’m in the former camp -- I ranked him as the No. 4 prospect in the system before the season -- because I love the stuff and pitching know-how. He is an easy 40-man roster add for me. I also thought he was an obvious alternate site candidate this summer and that didn’t happen, so what do I know?

Gomez and Peraza have never played above Single-A and gosh, it sure would’ve been nice to have a minor league season to evaluate them. Peraza has a great skill set (good defense at short, bat-to-ball ability, etc.) with questions about his power. Good middle infielders are hard to find and I think that lands him on the 40-man. Gomez is a candidate to be traded before the Rule 5 Draft protection deadline. Make some other team make the 40-man decision.

Russ came over in the David Hale trade with the Phillies -- Russ isn’t a top prospect by any means but it is a minor miracle the Yankees got a guy like him for a journeyman depth arm who had been designated for assignment -- and is a fastball-splitter reliever. Optionable relievers with a chance to miss bats are a necessity these days. I think Russ is going on the 40-man unless he completely bombed at the alternate site following the trade.

Payrolls will be cut following the shutdown and that will put a premium on inexpensive talent, so I expect the Rule 5 Draft to be busier than usual this winter. That has to be considered when time comes to make those 40-man decisions. For example, Vizcaino was passed over last year, but that might not be the case now even after the lost minor league season. Teams will see a 23-year-old with mid-to-upper-90s gas and a knockout changeup, and give him a look in 2021.

My guess -- and I emphasize this is just a guess (moreso than usual this year) -- is the Yankees add Contreras, Gomez, Peraza, Russ, and Vizcaino to the 40-man roster prior to the deadline. As noted earlier, the Yankees will have three open 40-man spots after the season. They’d need to open two more, which is probably bad news for Ford and Heller. Trades are always possible, with guys like Gomez, Albert Abreu (out of minor league options), and Miguel Yajure candidates to be flipped for non-40-man roster, non-Rule 5 Draft-eligible prospects.

3. 2021 draft updates. I have not seen a press release, but Alex Speier reports MLB will indeed set the 2021 draft order in the reverse order of the 2020 standings. It’s official. The March agreement allowed MLB to modify the draft order if fewer than 81 regular season games were played, but that was to protect against the season being shut down at some point. That didn’t happen, so they won’t use combined 2019-20 records or something like that. Here are the top five picks in the 2021 draft:

1. Pirates (19-41)
2. Rangers (22-38)
3. Tigers (23-35)
4. Red Sox (24-36)
5. Diamondbacks (25-35)

The Yankees went 33-27 this past season and that would give them the 21st overall pick, but two things to remember. One, the Astros forfeited their first and second round picks as part of the sign-stealing scandal punishment. They went 29-31 and would have held the 16th overall pick. Remove that Astros pick and the Yankees move up a spot to 20th overall.

And two, the Yankees exceeded the $248M third luxury tax tier this year, so their top pick moves back to 10 spots. The 20th overall pick suddenly becomes the 30th overall pick. A pick that late is nothing new. The Yankees held the 28th overall pick this summer (Austin Wells) and the 30th overall pick last year (Anthony Volpe). When you go to the postseason every season, picking late in the first round comes with the territory.

The March agreement stipulates the draft slot values will remain the same as 2020, which were the same as 2019. That 30th overall pick comes with a $2.3655M slot value and the Yankees' total bonus pool will be in the $4.93M range. That will change slightly as picks are gained and lost through free agent compensation and whatnot, but $4.93M is the ballpark number.

The draft can be no fewer than 20 rounds next year -- I would expect it to be exactly 20 rounds (MLB won’t expand it out of the kindness of their hearts) -- and it is way too early to judge the quality of the draft class. Prospects barely played this spring and who knows how much they’ll be able to play next spring. If you’re interested, Jonathan Mayo has some info on the top 20 prospects for next year’s draft. Just remember a lot can and will change between now and then.

To MLB’s credit, they have put together a series of invitation-only scouting combines for draft prospects this month. There are five events scheduled throughout the country that will include workouts and games, and scouting opportunities for the 30 teams. Here’s Mayo with the details:

All pitchers will have a TrackMan/Rapsodo paired dataset from in-game action as well as Force Plate data from a series of lower-body jumps. Hitters will have a Blast Motion, K-Vest and Rapsodo paired dataset from cage work and sprint data (30-yard splits). All players will be filmed with multi-angle video from games as well as high-speed video and MLB video tech captured pregame.

Good start and I hope MLB holds more scouting events in the coming weeks and months, even if we get something close to a full amateur season this spring. The more opportunities for kids to showcase themselves, the better, especially after a lost 2020 season and what figures to be a less than full 2021 season. It’s about time MLB did something to help amateurs.

“Players who will be eligible for the next year’s Draft faced difficult circumstances this year, with many amateur showcases and leagues cancelled due to the pandemic,” MLB senior vice president of operations Morgan Sword told Mayo. “We thought it was important to step in and provide those players with opportunities to be evaluated by our Clubs in a safe and responsible way … Hopefully we are creating a model here that can increase access to Major League Clubs for players all around the country.”

Anyway, the Yankees hold the 30th overall pick next year because of their luxury tax situation, and it is far too early to know who they might target with that pick. They are locked into that pick though. They can’t give it up as free agent compensation and it can’t move forward or back as teams gain and lose picks. The Yankees are locked in at 30th overall.

4. Reviewing my 2020 bold predictions. I posted my annual bold predictions back in July and, once again, I went 0-for-5. Third straight year. I think I’ve overcompensated for my 7-for-10 showing in 2017 by going too bold the last three years. Whatever. Let’s review my bold predictions and see what went wrong.

Gleyber starts all 60 games

This wouldn’t have happened even if Gleyber Torres hadn’t managed to strain his quad and hamstring on the same play. He spent 12 days on the injured list and missed 13 games because the Yankees had so many dang doubleheaders. Torres started 40 of 60 games this year, so he did not start seven times even while on the active roster. That’s entirely too many off-days in a season this short. Whatever. Over and done with now.

Aaron Hicks led the Yankees with 48 starts this year and only nine players started all 60 games: Jose Abreu, Maikel Franco, Francisco Lindor, Manny Machado, Starling Marte, Whit Merrifield, Marcell Ozuna, Carlos Santana, and Dansby Swanson. I’m not sure whether I’m surprised that many players started all 60 games or surprised that few players started all 60 games. I guess it’s the latter. I mean, that’s it? Nine, across the entire league? Huh.

Marte managed to play 61 games this year because he was traded at midseason. He’s the first player to play more games than scheduled since Justin Morneau played 163 games thanks to a tiebreaker in 2008. Marte is the first to do it without the benefit of a Game 163 tiebreaker since Todd Zeile was traded at midseason and played 163 games in 1996.

Andujar finishes third on the Yankees in outfield appearances

lol nope. Miguel Andujar spent the season shuttling back and forth between the Bronx and the alternate site, and he was sent down even after he started hitting in September. He did make a few starts in the outfield though, the first outfield starts of his career, but he was nowhere near the top three on the team. The outfield starts leaderboard:

1. Aaron Hicks: 48 starts (all in center)
2. Brett Gardner: 40 starts (31 in left and nine in center)
3. Clint Frazier: 34 starts (27 in right and seven in left)
4. Mike Tauchman: 27 starts (15 in left, 10 in right, two in center)
5. Aaron Judge: 23 starts (all in right)
6. Miguel Andujar: 7 starts (all in left)
7. Estevan Florial: 1 start (in center)

I was all ready to complain that Andujar (.242/.277/.355 and 71 wRC+) started fewer games than Mike Ford (.135/.226/.270 and 36 wRC+) but it turns out they started 18 apiece. Huh. Ford came off the bench more often though (11 times to three) and spent more time on the active roster in general. Another lost year for Andujar, except this time it was not injury related.

Sanchez is an average or better defender across the board

I took the plunge and bet on the new one-knee catching stance correcting Gary Sanchez’s framing without costing him blocking ability. That didn’t really happen. Sanchez went from 12.8 innings per passed pitch (wild pitches plus passed balls) in 2017 to 10.4 in 2018 to 20.1 in 2019 (!) to 13.4 in 2020. Blah. The MLB average was 19.0 innings per passed pitch in 2020.

This bold prediction was not based on counting passed balls or wild pitches though. It was based on the catcher defense metrics at Baseball Prospectus. One thing I did not consider at the time: the run totals would be really small in a short season. Whoops. Sanchez’s final totals:

• Framing: 0.000 runs (41st among 99 catchers to appear in a game in 2020)
• Blocking: 0.001 runs (10th)
• Throwing: -0.11 runs (78th)

Oh come on. Sanchez manages to be average in framing and blocking in the small sample -- he was at -5.1 framing runs and -0.8 blocking runs last year -- yet his throwing went in the tank. Go figure. Gary went 5-for-19 (26%) throwing out base stealers this year, which was exactly league average. With his arm, league average is disappointing.

The throwing prevents my bold prediction from being correct even though Sanchez did have an average caught stealing rate. I could blame the pitchers -- the Yankees have some guys who are really slow to the plate -- but that does no good. Taking the L. Onward.

Loaisiga becomes the next great Yankees reliever

We saw flashes but this is a no. Jonathan Loaisiga was actually better as a starter than as a reliever this season …

• as SP: 3.24 ERA (3.67 FIP) with 26.5 K% and 5.9 BB% in 8.1 IP
• as RP: 3.68 ERA (4.83 FIP) with 19.7 K% and 7.6 BB% in 14.2 IP

… but the sample is so small it’s basically meaningless. Loaisiga was a one time through the order guy in both roles -- he faced seven hitters the second time through the lineup as a starter and four as a reliever -- and he had his most success early in his outings.

• First 25 pitches: .212/.293/.345 with 21.6 K% and 6.7 BB%
• Pitches 26+: .286/.375/.514 with 22.5 K% and 7.5 BB%

Loaisiga is a former starter and it’s tempting (and it was necessary, at times) to use him as a multi-inning relief guy, but I’d like to see what he could do in a one-inning air-it-out role at some point. For now, Loaisiga spent just about the entire regular season on the active roster, and he was unable to work his way into the Circle of Trust™.

Cole leads MLB in strikeouts

The bold prediction with the best chance to come true and it didn’t happen. Gerrit Cole finished sixth in baseball (and second in the American League) in strikeouts this year. The 2020 strikeout leaderboard:

1. Shane Bieber: 122 (41.1 K%)
2. Jacob deGrom: 104 (38.8 K%)
3. Trevor Bauer: 100 (36.0 K%)
4. Lucas Giolito: 97 (33.7 K%)
5. Aaron Nola: 96 (33.2 K%)
6. Gerrit Cole: 95 (32.6 K%)

Bauer started 11 games while the others started 12, so Cole didn’t fall short of the strikeout lead because the Yankees had their schedule thrown out of whack by COVID-19 outbreaks on other teams. He had the same number of opportunities as everyone else and just had fewer strikeouts. Cole wasn’t bad by any means. Other guys just struck out more batters.

Only one Yankee has ever led MLB in strikeouts: Lefty Gomez with 194 in 1937. That was the basis for this bold prediction. Cole would do something that has only happened once before. Instead, he settled for being the first Yankee to finish second in the American League in strikeouts since CC Sabathia in 2011. Sabathia finished fourth in baseball with 230 strikeouts that year, behind Justin Verlander (250), Clayton Kershaw (248), and Cliff Lee (238).

UPDATE: I'm an idiot. Cole was third in the American League in strikeouts behind Bieber and Giolito. Forget all that I just said.

5. Remembering a random Yankee: Frank Tanana. Our next random Yankee comes by request and had a very long and very decorated career before wearing pinstripes. Here's the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Tanana broke into the big leagues as a Sept. call-up with the Angels in 1973 and was one of the game’s premier workhorses the next two decades. From 1974-92, he averaged 208.4 innings per year and went 231-217 with a 3.63 ERA (107 ERA+). Tanana went to three All-Star Games and twice finished in the top four of the Cy Young voting. He played for the Angels (1973-80), Red Sox (1981), Rangers (1982-85), and Tigers (1985-92).

The Mets signed Tanana, then 39, in Dec. 1992 in part so he could mentor young lefty Pete Schourek. Tanana was serviceable in 1993, making 29 starts and throwing 183 innings with a 4.48 ERA. The Mets were horrible though -- they went 59-103 last year -- and there was no real reason to keep Tanana, so on the late-season trade block he went.

The Yankees, meanwhile, were enjoying their first winning season since 1988, and the foundation of the late-1990s dynasty was taking shape. Bernie Williams was blossoming, Jimmy Key and Jim Abbott were brought in to reinforce the rotation, and Paul O’Neill and Wade Boggs were acquired to strengthen the lineup. Going into September, the Yankees were 75-58 and 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East.

The problem? The Yankees were short on arms behind Abbott and Key. They didn’t make any moves at the trade deadline -- where have we heard that before? -- despite persistent Randy Johnson trade rumors, and Melido Perez and Scott Kamieniecki went down with injuries. The Yankees had three rookies (Sterling Hitchcock, Mark Hutton, Domingo Jean) in the rotation at one point down the stretch.

“We thought we should give one young pitcher a chance,” then-GM Gene Michael told Jack Curry. "To give three a chance is not good."

On Sept. 17th, with the Yankees three games out of first place with 14 to play, Michael phoned the Mets and completed the rare crosstown trade. He acquired Tanana for minor league righty Kenny Greer, who went on to throw a total of 13 MLB innings in his career. 

“If I lose, I'll be a bum. I understand that mentality. No problem,” Tanana told Curry. "... I have nothing to show to anyone. My record and career stand on their own merits. I've pitched in this atmosphere before. Hopefully, I'll win some games for this team and help get them into the World Series."

Tanana made three starts as a Yankee and they were pretty good. Not great but good, and certainly better than what the Yankees had been getting from the rookies. Tanana’s three starts in pinstripes:

• Sept. 19th vs. Red Sox: 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
• Sept. 15th at Blue Jays: 6.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
• Oct. 1st vs. Tigers: 6.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR

It works out to a 3.20 ERA in 19.2 innings. The Yankees lost the Red Sox and Blue Jays games -- the offense scored four total runs in those two games -- and they ultimately bombed out of the postseason race, going 5-7 in their final 12 games. They finished seven games behind Toronto, the eventual World Series champions, in the AL East.

The Yankees at least made a run at it though. They had not been to the postseason since 1981 and a spot was within reach. Because he was acquired after Aug. 31st, Tanana would not have been eligible for the postseason roster had the Yankees qualified, but it would’ve been worth it had he helped get them to October. Alas, it did not happen.

Tanana signed a minor league deal with the Angels in 1994 but did not make the Opening Day roster and called it a career after being released in Spring Training. He retired with a 240-236 record and a 3.66 ERA (106 ERA+) in 4,188.1 innings, the 35th most all-time. 19.2 of those 4,188.1 innings, or 0.47%, came as a Yankee.

6. Rapid fire thoughts. Former Blue Jay and personal favorite Aaron Sanchez threw for about 20 teams last week, reports Tim Brown. It's unclear whether the Yankees were among them. Sanchez missed the season with shoulder capsule surgery (he would’ve missed a full 162-game season, not just the shortened 60-game season) and is a free agent. He's still only 28 and he had some good years in Toronto. Shoulder capsule surgery can be the kiss of death, but Julio Urias shows it’s not always a career-ender, and there is no such thing as a bad minor league contract. I would be totally cool with picking Sanchez up and seeing what he has, though I admit he is a personal fave and this may be irrational … According to Sahadev Sharma (subs. req’d), MLB’s current focus is on getting Spring Training and the 2021 regular season underway as scheduled, though they are preparing for the possibility of a smaller Spring Training camp and an alternate site again next year. From Sharma:

Many teams are preparing for a situation where there isn’t a second group of minor leaguers at spring training working on the backfields after big-league camp is done for the day. In this scenario, teams would break camp for the regular season and once again have a primary roster and an alternate site roster ... There would potentially be a third site, a minor-league camp at the team’s spring-training facility. Those players would either play intrasquad games or, perhaps as organizations have done for instructional league, they could collaborate to create a schedule for some real games.

MLB and Minor League Baseball are still working on the Professional Baseball Agreement, the agreement that allows the two parties to conduct a proper minor league season, though any plans for the smaller spring camp and alternate site next year are presumably COVID-19 related, not MLB threatening to walk away from MiLB. MLB managed to conduct a 60-game regular season with travel this year. It was also a massive undertaking, and it’s hard to see them doing the same thing on a much larger scale in the minors next year. MLB has four months to figure this and approximately a million other things out, though so much of it is out of their hands. I’m not sure a normal minor league season will be possible next year. Maybe they can go with the alternate site early on and then have a short minor league season that begins in June or July? … And finally, Evan Drellich reports oral arguments regarding the sign-stealing letter are tentatively scheduled to begin Dec. 14th. That could always change, but that’s the plan right now. Yankees president Randy Levine is planning to argue the team’s case himself. The Yankees are trying to prevent the letter from being made public because they’re not a party in the original lawsuit (fantasy sports players sued MLB, the Astros, and the Red Sox claiming the sign-stealing scandals defrauded them). No idea where this is heading, but we have a date. Just passing the info along.

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)