26 New Free Agents Enter the Fold, Any of Them Interest the Yankees?

The deadline to tender or non-tender contracts to players has come and gone this offseason and while the New York Yankees tendered contracts to all their arbitration eligible players there were 26 players who were not as lucky. These 26 players now enter the free agent pool, should the Yankees be interested in any of them for the 2018 season?

Here is the complete list of new free agents thanks to the USA Today:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

CHICAGO (4) — Al Alburquerque, rhp; Alen Hanson, ss; Jake Petricka, rhp; Zach Putnam, rhp.

DETROIT (1) — Bruce Rondon, rhp.

HOUSTON (1) — Mike Fiers, rhp.

KANSAS CITY (1) — Terrance Gore, of.

SEATTLE (2) — Shae Simmons, rhp; Drew Smyly, lhp.

TAMPA BAY (1) — Xavier Cedeno, lhp.

TEXAS (4) — Hanser Alberto, ss; Alex Gonzalez, rhp; A.J. Griffin, rhp; Nick Martinez, rhp.

TORONTO (2) — Ryan Goins, 2b; Tom Koehler, rhp.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ARIZONA (2) — J.J. Hoover, rhp; T.J. McFarland, lhp.

ATLANTA (3) — Matt Adams, 1b; Jace Peterson, inf-of; Danny Santana, of.

CHICAGO (2) — Taylor Davis, c; Hector Rondon, rhp.

CINCINNATI (1) — Kyle Crockett, lhp.

MILWAUKEE (1) — Jared Hughes, rhp.

SAN FRANCISCO (1) — Albert Suarez, rhp.

Obviously the most notable names on the list are Hector Rondon formerly of the Chicago Cubs, Ryan Goins formerly of the Toronto Blue Jays, Mike Fiers of the Houston Astros, Matt Adams formerly of the Atlanta Braves and Bruce Rondon formerly of the Detroit Tigers. Honestly I feel like it is highly unlikely that the Yankees add any sort of relief pitching this offseason automatically taking the Rondon twins, they aren’t really twins just as an FYI, off the list leaving Fiers, a right-handed starting pitcher, Adams, a first baseman/designated hitter and Goins, a second baseman by trade who needs to work on his hidden ball trick. You’re killing me smalls!!

I want to focus on Adams in depth and give him his own post so for the sake of that I will leave him out of this post, look out for the Adams post later on today if you’re interested!

The Yankees need for a second baseman, or a middle infielder in general, is probably pretty small with Starlin Castro manning the position, Ronald Torreyes on the bench and Gleyber Torres knocking at the door but Fiers may be an interesting one to look at for New York. Fiers was part of the World Series champion Astros last season posting an 8-10 record with a 5.22 ERA. If the pitching starving Astros don’t want you, isn’t that your sign if you are Brian Cashman? Could CC Sabathia not give you that and more for a presumable fraction of the cost? The answer is yes to both questions, so it looks like the newly added free agents won’t make an impact for the Yankees this season. It is nice to look around, but just don’t buy. My opinion only, leave yours below in the comments section. Thanks in advance.

By the way, I am well aware that Terrence Gore has since signed a minor league deal with his former club but I wanted to include him on the list anyway since he was one of the 26 that were technically non-tendered by their former teams. Thanks again. 

It’s Bird, it’s a Plane, no, it’s Gardyman!…

Credit:  David Banks/USA TODAY Sports

It is frustrating when the Yankees lose games they should have won so there was satisfaction with Friday afternoon’s stunning victory over the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, thanks to a ninth inning two-out, two-strike three-run home run by Brett Gardner.  The Yankees had their chances early in the game, but seemed to self-sabotage every attempt to push runs across the plate.  

The Yankees were fortunate that Cubs closer Wade Davis was unavailable after pitching in the three preceding games for the Northsiders.  Davis is currently 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA in 13 1/3 innings.  He has 15 strikeouts and has only given up four hits and walks.  His WHIP is a paltry 0.60.  I’ve read a few Chicago articles that think the Cubs upgraded the closing position with the addition of Wade Davis (a bit of a slam against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman).  But with Davis unavailable, the Cubs were forced to turn to former closer, Hector Rondon, who had been displaced last July when Chapman arrived.  

Honestly, it didn’t feel like Gardner was going to emerge from the day victorious.  After he reached two strikes, he fouled off a couple of Rondon pitches to stay alive.  It felt like Rondon just needed to put one in the outside corner to earn his first save of the season.  Instead, he left the pitch in the exact spot that he shouldn’t have…low and inside.  That’s all Gardner needed to deposit the pitch in the outfield bleachers.  

The Gardner home run put the game in the hands of former Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman.  It wasn’t pretty when the first batter, Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, reached second base as a result of a Chase Headley error.  With the game-tying run on second and no outs, Chapman retired the next three batters which included a swinging third strike by Cubs powerful second baseman Javier Baez to end the game.

Hats off to Michael Pineda.  I know that he gave up two home runs, but he could’ve folded like a cheap suit as he has in years past.  He held the Cubs to only two runs on the solo homers and only three hits overall in six innings of work.  He struck out six and walked only one.  It was a quality start and there’s no way the Yankees could have staged the improbable comeback if not for Pineda’s efforts.  

The win moved the Yankees to 18-9.  They precariously remain in sole possession of first place in the AL East by a half-game over the Baltimore Orioles.  The Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 despite starting pitcher Wade Miley being hit by successive line drives 12 pitches into the game that forced his departure.  

Aroldis Chapman received his World Series ring prior to the start of the game.  It was good to see him receive recognition for his contributions for helping to bring the first World Series championship to Chicago for the Cubs in 108 years.  People tend to remember the game-tying home run that a weary Chapman gave up in Game 7 but the Cubs would not have been in the World Series if not for #54.  

Credit:  Tannen Maury/EPA

Adam Warren also received his World Series ring as a member of the 2016 Cubs, but he chose a private ceremony (he wanted the spotlight on the Yankees closer since Chapman was part of the post-season team that won the World Series plus he didn't feel right wearing Yankees gear with a Cubs ring...'Attaboy, Adam!).  

It was also a fun day for former Cubs shortstop/second baseman Starlin Castro.  He received a standing ovation as the Cubs played his walk-up music when he came up to bat for the first time.  There’s no doubt it was an emotional day for Castro who remains appreciative of the Cubs for giving him his first opportunity in Major League Baseball.  

Credit:  Getty Images

Gary Sanchez was activated before the game and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.  Kyle Higashioka was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre after failing to record in a hit in 18 at-bats.  I had really been hoping that he could have gotten that first one out of the way before heading back to Eastern Pennsylvania.  

Have a great Saturday!  Sounds like it may be a cold, windy night in Chicago.  Hopefully it will be a memorable evening for the Baby Bombers in the Windy City.  

Bullpen's dominance, late rally lead Yankees to 13-inning win over Cubs

This game couldn't have gone better.

Not only the Yankees see that Jeff Samardzija is the real deal, but they also got a much-needed W today at Wrigley Field, beating the Cubs in a 13-frame thriller 4-2.

For just about all of the contest, the Bombers' offense showed no life, getting no runs in 7 innings against one of their possible future-starters in Samardzija.

Still, the Pinstripes did find a way to win in the end, picking up a pair of runs in the top of the ninth (Cubs led 2-0 after 8) off Chicago Closer Hector Rondon. The rally wasn't at all fancy, as its main highlight was just a bases-loaded Fielder's Choice from Ichiro followed by a run-scoring error, but overall it was definitely exciting. 

Anyway, after that AB this one became a battle of the bullpens, with the Yankees getting threw the ninth, tenth, and 1/3 of the eleventh thanks to a scorless outings from Matt Daly and Matt Thornton. Following Thornton's departure, the eventual winning pitcher Preston Claiborne came in, collecting another 5 outs.

In the top of the thirteenth, the Yankees would finally get to the Cubs' bullpen, scoring twice off Jose Veras when Claiborne bunted a couple of runners into scoring position, Brendan Ryan scored on a wild pitch, and John Ryan Murphy singled home an insurance run. Following those heroics, David Robertson would end the game in the bottom of the frame, recording the last three outs for his ninth save of the young season.