RAB Thoughts

January 28th, 2025: Fried, Hernández, Braves, Winans, Contreras, Rivera

Here’s a thing I did not know until recently: Joe DiMaggio did not get into the Hall of Fame until his fourth year on the BBWAA’s ballot. DiMaggio lost his age 28-30 seasons to World War II and played only 13 big league seasons, but still. A three-time MVP who had a career 155 OPS+ and was an All-Star literally every year he played had to wait four years to get into Cooperstown. Crazy, man. For all the grief about Ichiro not being unanimous, the voters were way stingier back...

Previewing the Yankees’ potential non-roster invitees to Spring Training 2025

In just two weeks and one day, Yankees’ pitchers and catchers will report to Tampa and begin the very long journey that is the 2025 baseball season. Position players will follow a few days later. The first Grapefruit League game is only three weeks and four days away. It’s so close! The offseason really flies by when you go to the World Series. Too bad the Yankees didn’t win it. Maybe this year...

January 24th, 2025: Hall of Fame, Sabathia, Coaches, Mailbag

The Yankees made two waiver claims Thursday afternoon and I didn’t have time to write them up, so they’ll have to wait until Tuesday. The first, righty Allan Winans, came over from the Braves and is a depth No. 6-7(-8) starter type. The second, righty Roansy Contreras, is a former Yankees prospect, which I’m guessing you know if you’re reading this. They sent him to the Pirates in the Jameson Taillon trade. The Yankees are Contreras’ fifth team this offseason: Angels, Rangers, Reds,...

January 21st, 2025: Hall of Fame, Sasaki, Dodgers, Bullpen, Alonso, Bat Speed, Jones

On this date in 2020, Derek Jeter was announced as the newest Hall of Famer. He appeared on 396 of 397 ballots. The voter who omitted Jeter hasn’t been revealed and Derek took it in stride – “I could care less,” he said about not being unanimous (it’s couldn’t! couldn’t care less!) – but I can�...

January 17th, 2025: International Free Agency, Arias, Smith, Hill, Mailbag

My Hall of Fame ballot and explainer is up at CBS. Feel free to yell at me and call me stupid, or, preferably, tell me how smart and handsome I am. I tried to write in Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Joba Chamberlain, but they told me that wasn’t allowed. Jokes aside, I took the responsibility seriously, and did wh...

January 14th, 2025: Domínguez, Infield, Stroman, Bullpen, Shields

13 years and one day ago, the Yankees traded Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda and signed Hiroki Kuroda (the first time) in the span of about 50 minutes. The rotation went from questionable to rock solid in less than an hour, at least unt...

Very quick thoughts after the Yankees are told they’re out on Roki Sasaki

In news that hardly qualifies as surprising, the Yankees have been informed Japanese righty Roki Sasaki will not be signing with them, per Jack Curry. It was always a long shot. The Dodgers have been considered the favorite to sign Sasaki for over a year now. I think it’s 98% Dodgers, 1% Padres, 1% everyon...

January 10th, 2025: Arraez, Polanco, Rodgers, Cabrera, Arbitration, Sasaki, Mailbag

The Yankees made their Spring Training reporting dates official earlier this week. Pitchers and catchers will report on Tuesday, Feb. 11th, and position players will follow on Sunday, Feb. 16th. The first Grapefruit League game is Friday, Feb. 21st. That means my annual Top 30 Prospects list will run Friday, Feb. 7th, so I better get started. I swear, it feels like they c...

January 7th, 2025: Non-Roster Signings, Prospects, Minor League Awards

Can you believe pitchers and catchers report in only five weeks? The offseason has flown by. The Yankees went to the World Series, so right off the bat the offseason was shorter than usual. Then Juan Soto’s free agency kept us busy for a few weeks, then the Yankees were active for another few weeks after that with their post-Soto transaction spree. I find this much more preferable to a slower, more drawn out offseason. Because of all that stuff though, I fell behind on minor league signings...

January 3rd, 2025: Leadoff, LeMahieu, Hart, Mailbag

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the year the Yankees win the World Series. If it happens, I’ll look like a genius. If not, I’ll pretend this post never happened. 2025, eh? Crazy, man. Younger me would have been disappointed we don’t have flying skateboards yet. Anyway, I liked the throwback quick hit format I used last week, so I'm gonna go back to that today, and maybe a bit more regula...

December 31st, 2024: Torres, Burnes, Sasaki, Williams, Chafin, Payroll, Infield Trade Targets

Welcome to the final day of 2024. A good year, it was. The Yankees went to the World Series, and even though they didn’t win the damn thing, it was a pretty fun season. Fun year, but I’m ready to turn the page and move onto 2025. I hope you had a good holiday last week and I hope you have a great 2025. Here now is today’s post as I wonder how many home runs Aaron Judge will hit once 2024-12-31 11:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post

December 23rd, 2024: Henderson, Goldschmidt, Chisholm, Fried, OBP

Reminder: I am skipping Friday’s post and taking a long holiday weekend. I don’t expect any breaking news, but if there is, I’ve got it covered. Otherwise I’m gonna take it easy after the deep postseason run, the Offseason Plan, Juan Soto’s free agency, the Winter Meetings, and all the recent moves kept me extra busy these last few weeks. Thanks for understanding. Here is Tuesday’s pos...

Quick thoughts after the Yankees sign Paul Goldschmidt

The Yankees sat through two years of rapidly declining Anthony Rizzo, and decided to get older at first base. They have a one-year deal worth $12.5M in place with Paul Goldschmidt, according to Jack Curry. 2024-12-21 19:08:47 +0000 UTC View Post

Thoughts after the Yankees trade Jose Trevino to the Reds

The Yankees have not gone more than four days without making a trade or free agent signing since Juan Soto left for the Mets two Sundays ago. Friday night, the Yankees sent Jose Trevino to the Reds for righty reliever Fernando Cruz and journeyman catcher Alex Jackson. The press release hit my inbox at 10:34pm ET. On a Friday. Please keep it to normal business hours, guys.

Trevino is the second ...

December 20th, 2024: Bellinger, Sasaki, Mailbag

Devin Williams (Tuesday), Max Fried (Wednesday), and Cody Bellinger (Thursday) had their introductory Zoom call/press conferences earlier this week and the most interesting thing to come out of them was Fried revealing his dog’s name is Apollo Fried. The second most interesting thing was Williams saying Trent Grisham had a hand in developing his Airbender. Back when they were Brewers’ prospects, Grisham faced Williams in an intrasquad game and told him he could easily pick up the spin on ...

Quick thoughts after the Yankees trade for Cody Bellinger

Coming soon to the Bronx.

UPDATE: The Yankees have announced the trade. It is official and as reported: Poteet for Bellinger and cash. Also, the Yankees announced the Max Fried deal earlier in the day Tuesday, so that's official too.

ORIGINAL POST: For a team that lost Juan Soto, the Yankees are having a pretty good offseason. What felt inevit...

December 17th, 2024: Tucker, Bregman, Walker, Bellinger, ZiPS

Twenty-eight years and one day ago, 1996 World Series MVP John Wetteland left the Yankees and signed a four-year deal with the Rangers. Younger and dumber me thought letting Wetteland leave was a colossal mistake. Turned out the Yankees were in pretty good hands in the ninth inning. 1996 was the first Yankees’ World Series title of my lifetime and I can’t sa...

Quick thoughts after the Yankees acquire Devin Williams

UPDATE: It is official. The Yankees have announced the trade and it is as reported: Williams for Cortes, Durbin, and cash ($2M per Bob Nightengale). The Yankees open next season at home against the Brewers, so Williams will get to face his former team right away. Nestor should get a nic...

December 13th, 2024: Loáisiga, Rodriguez-Cruz, Rule 5 Draft, Mailbag

I've made the executive decision to skip the regularly scheduled post on Friday, Dec. 27th. That is two weeks from today. Between the deep postseason run and the Offseason Plan and Juan Soto’s free agency and the Winter Meetings, I feel like I’ve been working overtime for two months straight. I’m gonna skip that post and take a long holiday weekend to recharge. If there’s breaking new...

December 12th, 2024: Loáisiga, Narváez, Tucker, Bregman, Bellinger, Sasaki

The Winter Meetings are over. Thursday is, technically, the last day, though everyone is on their way home or already there, and the last day of the Winter Meetings is usually pretty quiet. The Yankees left Dallas with Max Fried and that’s it. I thought they would get Christian Walker done this week given the persistent rumors, but nope. That will happen another time, if it happens at all. Th...

December 11th, 2024: Crochet, Tucker, Williams, Walker, Alonso

Old pal Estevan Florial is heading to South Korea. He signed with the Hanwha Eagles in KBO, per Jon Heyman. Florial went 17-for-98 (.173) with three homers (two against the Yankees, go figure) and 41 strikeouts with Cleveland in 2024. He cleared waivers in May and finished ou...

Quick thoughts after the Yankees sign Max Fried to an eight-year deal

Plan B is underway. The Yankees have agreed to an eight-year, $218M contract with left-hander Max Fried, according to all the trustworthy reporters. There is a full no-trade clause and no deferrals. $218M is the fourth richest pitching contract in history behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325M), Gerrit Cole ($324M), and Stephen Strasburg ($245M). It’s the richest contract ever for a southpaw. Give it a f...

December 10th, 2024: Arenado, Santander, Bullpen, Estrada, Rule 5 Draft, Coaching Turnover

If you’re still miserable over Juan Soto leaving for the Mets, do not look at his ZiPS projection. ZiPS has him putting up +65 WAR and hitting over 370 home runs during the 15-year contract, which would put him in the +100 WAR and 570-homer range for his career. No, I do not believe any system can accurately project 15 years into the future, but I saw the +65 WAR and 370 hom...

Plan B

Juan and done.

Juan Soto is a New York Met (or will be soon, officially) and now the Yankees must pick up the pieces, and try to build a roster that can do something the Yankees were unable to do with Soto: Win the World Series. There is no sense in downplaying it, losing Soto is a disaster. He’s one of the best hitters in the world and he’s only 26. There is no replacing him short or...

Quick thoughts after Juan Soto agrees to sign with the Mets

It was fun for a year.

In the end, Steve Cohen’s largesse was too much to pass up. Juan Soto has agreed to a massive 15-year contract worth $765M with the Mets, according to all the trustworthy reporters. That’s $51M per year. There’s a $75M signing bonus, an opt out after the fifth year (that can be voided by adding $4M per year to the rest of the contract), and no deferrals. Soto ...

December 7th, 2024: Obsessive Soto Watch

Well, so much for my revised “Juan Soto will sign on Friday” prediction. As I write this Saturday night, Soto remains unsigned, though things should wrap up any day now. There has been a lot of silliness the last few days. Carlos Mendoza’s son leaked the offer on TikTok! Soto’s sister is apartment shopping on his behalf in Boston! The betting markets are moving because front office people know what’s up!

With Soto’s decision seemingly imminent, it sounds like things are righ...

December 6th, 2024: Adames, Rizzo, Torres, Bellinger, Bold Predictions, International Free Agency, Mailbag

Happy Juan Soto trade anniversary. The Yankees agreed to acquire Soto from the Padres one year ago today (the trade was made official a day later) and it sure would be swell if they celebrate that anniversary by locking Soto up for the next 12-15 years later today. The other day I revised my Soto signing prediction from next Wednesday to today. So, we’ll see how the next few hours play out. Her...

December 4th, 2024: Obsessive Soto Watch

For the first time since we got word about meetings with specific teams, there was some actual Juan Soto free agency news Tuesday. Stuff that is important enough that I don’t want to wait until Friday’s post to talk about it. Here’s the latest:

• Soto has “begun the process of eliminating teams,” Scott Boras said at Blake Snell’s introductory press conference Tuesday (per 2024-12-04 14:23:18 +0000 UTC View Post

December 3rd, 2024: Soto, Snell, Kim, Kahnle, Cardinals

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We went out to eat this year, which was nice because there was no cooking/cleanup, but it also meant fewer leftovers. Small price to pay, I guess. Anyway, the next 10 days or so figure to be the busiest of the offseason. Pitchers are signing, the Winter Meetings are next week, and the rest of the market will move once Juan Soto signs. The Yankees thus far have been quiet other a few minor league signings that I promise I will get to soon (the most nota...

November 26th, 2024: Judge, Soto, Buehler, Non-Tenders, Walker, Mailbag

Reminder: I am skipping Friday’s post so I can take it easy the rest of this week and during Thanksgiving weekend. If there is breaking news, I will happily cover it, otherwise I’ll see you folks again next Tuesday. I hope you have a great Turkey Day. Here is the 2024-25 Offseason Plan in case you missed it, and here now is today’s post.

1. Judge named AL MVP. Onc...