Most Popular Article of the Week: Yankees Potential Trade Partners: Los Angeles Dodgers

The New York Yankees need starting pitching and pitching of any kind this winter if the team wants to compete for a playoff spot again in 2017. As we look at a list of potential trade partners for the team I wanted to focus on that first before I start thinking about any potential additions to the offense or the bench because pitching wins championships and pitching is what the Yankees lack most. The team has a ton of depth, don’t get me wrong, but the team lacks that starting rotation that can scare teams in a best-of-five or best-of-seven series in October. Could the Los Angeles Dodgers be of some help to the Yankees in this department?


The Dodgers have a lot of good-to-great pitchers but their problem is they haven’t been able to rely on many of them as much as they could have wanted due to injury. Clayton Kershaw battled a bad back this season and when the team was eliminated from the postseason they did so without three of their more high-paid pitchers in Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu. Would any of the three be dangled this winter in trades and would the Yankees be interested?


The last thing the Yankees need is another injury-prone or risk in their starting rotation but with the free agent market as barren as it’s ever been the team might be able to use that logic and acquire one of these guys for less than their values because of the injury. Ryu has two years left and $14 million on his contract with McCarthy, a former Yankee who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, has two years and $20 million remaining on his deal. Kazmir has a larger deal but can opt out this season leaving two years and $32 million on the table. Interesting.


Honestly I don’t believe the Yankees would be interested in Ryu and I personally don’t put much stock into what McCarthy did while with the Yankees a few seasons back but Kazmir is an interesting option if he decides to opt out this winter. Kazmir pitched poorly with the Dodgers last season and for much of this season while he also missed a month with a neck injury and many inside the Dodgers organization have speculated that Kazmir may want to leave the team. How it all works out will decide it all though. If Kazmir opts out the Dodgers could offer him a qualifying offer which means, assuming he rejects it and all signs seem to point to that he would, he would be linked to draft pick compensation. I’m not comfortable with giving up a draft pick that early in the first round for Kazmir but if he stays and doesn’t opt out I’d love to have him and his salary for a smaller prospect package.





We’re monitoring this one closely. Stay tuned. Kazmir has three days from the end of the World Series to opt out.

Yankees Potential Trade Partners: Los Angeles Dodgers

The New York Yankees need starting pitching and pitching of any kind this winter if the team wants to compete for a playoff spot again in 2017. As we look at a list of potential trade partners for the team I wanted to focus on that first before I start thinking about any potential additions to the offense or the bench because pitching wins championships and pitching is what the Yankees lack most. The team has a ton of depth, don’t get me wrong, but the team lacks that starting rotation that can scare teams in a best-of-five or best-of-seven series in October. Could the Los Angeles Dodgers be of some help to the Yankees in this department?

The Dodgers have a lot of good-to-great pitchers but their problem is they haven’t been able to rely on many of them as much as they could have wanted due to injury. Clayton Kershaw battled a bad back this season and when the team was eliminated from the postseason they did so without three of their more high-paid pitchers in Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu. Would any of the three be dangled this winter in trades and would the Yankees be interested?

The last thing the Yankees need is another injury-prone or risk in their starting rotation but with the free agent market as barren as it’s ever been the team might be able to use that logic and acquire one of these guys for less than their values because of the injury. Ryu has two years left and $14 million on his contract with McCarthy, a former Yankee who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, has two years and $20 million remaining on his deal. Kazmir has a larger deal but can opt out this season leaving two years and $32 million on the table. Interesting.

Honestly I don’t believe the Yankees would be interested in Ryu and I personally don’t put much stock into what McCarthy did while with the Yankees a few seasons back but Kazmir is an interesting option if he decides to opt out this winter. Kazmir pitched poorly with the Dodgers last season and for much of this season while he also missed a month with a neck injury and many inside the Dodgers organization have speculated that Kazmir may want to leave the team. How it all works out will decide it all though. If Kazmir opts out the Dodgers could offer him a qualifying offer which means, assuming he rejects it and all signs seem to point to that he would, he would be linked to draft pick compensation. I’m not comfortable with giving up a draft pick that early in the first round for Kazmir but if he stays and doesn’t opt out I’d love to have him and his salary for a smaller prospect package.

We’re monitoring this one closely. Stay tuned. Kazmir has three days from the end of the World Series to opt out. 

The KBO Posting System Is About to Change

This would normally be the Yankees spring training Grapefruit League post but the Yankees are off today as they prepare to play host to the New York Mets tomorrow. With that said we will cover something that could not only affect the Yankees and the Mets but the entire league, the Korean Baseball Organization posting rules are about to change.

Currently the way Korean-born ballplayers make their way to the United States and the Major Leagues is through the blind posting system much like the Japanese League and Nippon Professional Baseball Organization had until recently. Major League Baseball wants the KBO to adopt a similar or identical policy as well after an influx of talent including Jung-Ho Kang and Byung-Ho Park have made their way over to the states in recent years.

When a Japanese league player is posted a MLB team has to basically post up $20 million to be in the pool of teams that the player picks from and the same will likely come from the KBO players as well. The posting fee will not be as high, the rumor right now is just $8 million, but the basic premise of the policy will be the same.

Yankees & Dodgers May be Trade Partners

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost one of their best starting pitchers this offseason in Zack Greinke but the team replaces him the way they replace everything and everyone, by throwing money at free agents. The Dodgers gave $16 million a season for three years to left-hander Scott Kazmir giving the team an all left-handed starting rotation that includes Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brett Anderson and Alex Wood. The Dodgers needed a right-handed arm to add to their rotation and they went a long way to add one, all the way to Japan in fact. The Dodgers added Kenta Maeda to their already talented rotation leaving Los Angeles seemingly with too many pitchers and not enough rotation spots for them all, could that benefit the Yankees?

Kershaw, LOL, but Ryu, Anderson or Wood could be made available by Los Angeles. Then again the team could always convert one of them into a relief pitcher and add them to their bullpen but for the sake of this post let's assume Los Angeles makes one of them available. Which would interest the Yankees? New York is said to be interested in a left-handed pitcher that they consider cheap and controllable with two or three years of team control left as the ideal candidate.

Is that Ryu? No, not really. Ryu is only 28-years old so he is considered young but $7.833 million is considered expensive in many households whether it's for the next three seasons or not. Anderson is on a one-year deal after accepting a qualifying offer this winter and is a huge risk, the Yankees have enough risks and question marks in their rotation already, while Wood may be the most attractive piece of them all. Wood is 24-years old and is not a free agent until after the 2019 season. Wood is still going through the arbitration process and would likely be the most ideal for New York. Although there is something that comes hand-in-hand with being young, cheap and controllable. You get expensive.

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system and I'm not an expert on their MLB team either to be honest so what the team would want in exchange for Wood is anyone's guess. Since the team attempted to sign Aroldis Chapman you would think the bullpen would be a concern for the Dodgers but I'm not sure I would be comfortable trading away Andrew Miller truth be told. The team may also need a second baseman to pair with Chase Utley so maybe a Robert Refsnyder would be attractive to them? I know one thing for sure though, they don't need any outfield help leaving Brett Gardner still in the Bronx for now.

I'm not sure if the Yankees have the pieces they are willing to give up for Wood and I'm not even sure that LA would make Wood available after signing Maeda, remember that, but if they did I think New York should be interested. Wood checks a lot of boxes for the Yankees and he likely makes the team a whole lot better than it is right now, and that's all that matters to me.

Yankees Interested In Suk Min Yoon

It was funny because when I posted that Suk Min Yoon, the best available pitcher from Korea, was a free agent and coming to the major leagues I got questions on whether the post was a joke or not. Well it's not a joke as we learned today that Scott Boras will talk to the Yankees about Yoon this week as both the Yankees and Yoon have mutual interest.

Yoon is 27 so he is a true free agent and would not affect our international spending cap or anything like that and would not require a posting fee either. Yoon has been trying to be posted for three seasons now and his Korean team, the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization, refused to post their pitcher.

Yoon posted a 4.00 ERA in 87.2 IP with 76 strike outs this season while walking 26 batters in mostly relief. Yoon was sent to the bullpen because of an on again and off again shoulder injury that we should obviously be worried about before signing. Yoon was the MVP in 2011 though while throwing 172+ innings and also has World Baseball Classic and Olympic experience so it's not like we would be getting a complete unproven.

Yoon tops out at about 92 MPH with the fastball but has a hard slider and an above average changeup to keep batters off balance at the plate. Yoon has been the best Korean pitcher ever since the Dodgers Hyun Jin Ryu came to the states which will surely affect his asking price. Will his shoulder issues and lack of innings pitched in 2013 make him a full time reliever in the states or will he be a back end of the rotation starter? Personally I lean towards the former, which is why I initially say pass, but Scott Boras will surely push him as a starter.

You can look at Wei Yin Chen's contract of three years and $11,000,000 million and Hyun Jin Ryu's contract of six years and $36,000,000 as an idea of what Boras will likely be asking for Yoon. The Twins are early suitors for Yoon as well and at this point, if your asking me, they can have him.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ New York Yankees Game 2 6/19

The Yankees and the Dodgers will play game two of their split day and night double header today with the same pitching match up as was supposed to happen last night. The Yankees will send Phil Hughes to the mound to face off with Hyun-Jin Ryu. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on YES, ESPN, and MLB TV.

Buy your Yankees tickets for this series here

Dodgers Win Bidding On Hyun-Jin Ryu

Blogger Mike Petriello, of the Dodgers' blog Mike Sciocia's Tragic Illness, confirmed that the Dodgers did indeed win the bidding for Hyun-Jin Ryu.

I'm not upset at all by this news, as LA paid quite a bit just to speak with Ryu about a contract ($25.737 million). And the good news about this is that this makes the likelihood of the Dodgers luring back Hiroki Kuroda even less. So if the Yankees re-sign Kuroda, and Pettitte returns, then I think the rotation will be in really good shape next season.

Somebody Bid $25.737... Million For Ryu

UPDATE: Ken Rosenthal has word that it was the Dodgers that won the bidding.

Jon Heyman said that the winning bidder for the right to negotiate (yes, just to negotiate) a deal with Hyun-Jin Ryu paid $27.5 $25,737,737.33 million. Unfortunately, we don't know what team paid that much. It was first thought that the Cubs had won the bidden on Ryu, but it turns out they in fact did not win. Evan Grant, of the Dallas Morning News, reports that the Rangers also did not win the rights to speak with Ryu regarding a contract.

Hyun-Jin Ryu To Be Posted

I posted an article regarding Ichiro Suzuki this morning, and now there's another Asian player making the news.

The Yonhap News reported that Hyun-Jin Ryu, who plays for the Nanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization, will be posted by his team. The Eagles had originally said they would not post Hyun-jin, as they wanted him for their rotation the next season, but apparently they will give in to Ryu's wishes. However, the team seems a little more willing to reject an offer, should it not live up to their expectations. Unfortunately they are not making their expectations known.

Mike Axisa at River Avenue Blues suggested that it could cost $20-$25 million to cover the posting fee and contract for Ryu, but he admits that it's just a guess. Just keep in mind that we're not talking about the next Yu Darvish here. The KBO is not on the same level as Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. But Hyun-Jin is only 25 years old, and is a lefty with four average to above average pitches, so he's at least intriguing to the Yankees.