Yankees 2018 Free Agent Tracker

CC Sabathia

Matt Holliday

Masahiro Tanaka (opt-out clause)

Todd Frazier

Michael Pineda

Jaime Garcia

Sam Demel

Fernando Martinez

Joe Girardi (fired as manager)

Current Batch Of Yankees Minor League Free Agents

Baseball America has listed their annual list of minor league free agents and quite a few members of the New York Yankees have made the list. Some of these guys you may have heard of and most you probably have not and some may be back for 2014 depending on how the winter goes. Oh and one was suspended for 50 games for being part of the Biogenesis scandal, go figure. Anyway, here is the list:

RHP: Cory Arbiso (AA), Sam Demel (AAA), Yoshinori Tateyama (AAA)

C: Bobby Wilson (AAA)

1B: Andrew Clark (AA), Randy Ruiz (AAA)

2B: Reegie Corona (AA)

SS: Walter Ibarra (AAA)

OF: Fernando Martinez (AAA), Corey Patterson (AAA)

Fernando Martinez was the third member of the Yankees to be suspended for the Biogenesis fallout just in case you were wondering and have been living under a rock for the past four or five months or so and is not expected to be back. Corey Patterson was a veteran depth signing to help an ailing Scranton outfield and is also not expected back in pinstripes in 2014. I do not expect Bobby Wilson, Andrew Clark, Cory Arbiso, or Yoshinori Tateyama back with the Yankees next season. 

Walter Ibarra may come back as the Yankees utility guy in the minor leagues as he has a lot of familiarity within the organization as long as he has been here. Same with Corona as he has spent his entire professional career with the Yankees bouncing around. Sam Demel pitched his butt off in Scranton and has major league experience and with so much uncertainty coming from the Yankees bullpen in 2014 he may stick around for a shot at the big club. 

Not any eye popping names here that we absolutely have to bring back but one thing the Yankees lacked last year was depth and bringing a few of these guys back, namely Ibarra and Demel, will be mutually beneficial in 2014.

Sam Demel, Ronnier Mustelier, & Melky Mesa To DL

A trio of Scranton Wilkes Barre Railriders have been added to the AA DL. Melky Mesa has been added retroactive to June 13th after his right shoulder was injured after a collision in the outfield with the wall. Ronnier Mustelier was added retroactive to June 15th after experiencing some tightness in his groin muscle. Sam Demel was added retroactive to June 16th but the reason has not yet been released to the media and the fans. Adam Warren was activated finally to take Demel's spot while Randy Ruiz will rake Mustelier's spot and Caleb Cotham will take Melky Mesa's spot on the roster. The roster shake up continues for the New York Yankees on all levels huh?

Off-Day Notes: Chamberlain, Robertson, Rodriguez, Jeter, Teixeira, Pineda, Nelson, Granderson

Beauty comes with a price, doesn't it? On a day where it's 73 degrees in New York City...there had to be some news about the Yankees somewhere. Let's get to them.

Joba Chamberlain

-- Joba Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a tight oblique. He said he felt something when he was warming up to pitch on Tuesday and complained of soreness when he arrived at the stadium yesterday. Brian Cashman said that the strain is "mild" and Joba should be back to pitch in two weeks. There wasn't a move on the roster to replace Chamberlain but Cashman did say that he had three names in mind when it came to taking that roster spot: Mark Montgomery, Preston Claiborne and Sam Demel.

David Robertson

-- David Robertson spent his off-day at the doctors office after feeling discomfort near his knee/hamstring. The doctors did an MRI and the diagnosis is a "cranky hamstring". Robertson won't have to go on the DL; instead he is day-to-day.

Alex Rodriguez

-- Alex Rodriguez posted on Facebook that he had been cleared to do baseball activities and that he will head to Tampa on Monday in order to join Curtis Granderson rehabbing their way back to the team. Rodriguez is still expected to be back after the All-Star break, along with Derek Jeter.

Derek Jeter

-- Derek Jeter is still in the walking boot, but he's able to remove it to do exercises. He's expected to be back after the All-Star Break.

Mark Teixeira

-- After doing tee and toss, Teixeira will stay with the Yankees until the end of the homestand, then head off to Florida to rehab with A-Rod and Granderson. Teixeira is expected to be back in June.

Michael Pineda

-- Michael Pineda is throwing to hitters down in Florida. He's reached 93-95 MPH on his fastball.

Chris Nelson

-- After being acquired by the Yankees late last night, he's officially been put on the 25-man roster and is activated for tomorrow. Corban Joseph was optioned to Triple-AAA to complete the roster move.

Curtis Granderson

-- Curtis Granderson is on the road back to the Yankees today. He took more at-bats in an extended Spring Training game. If all goes well, Granderson is slated to come back in about two weeks.

Yankees Claim Sam Demel, DFA Dan Otero

I just caught wind of some interesting news.

It turns out that the Yankees have claimed Sam Demel from the Astros. Sam is a right-handed pitcher whose career starting with the Oakland Athletics system, before spending a couple of years with Arizona, and moving onto Houston this year.

Demel has only thrown 2.1 innings this spring, but my God were they awful ones. In that time he's given up four... yes 4... home runs. On top of those 4 bombs were 6 more hits and 3 walks, while striking out just one batter. Sam threw 66.1 innings for AAA Reno last season, putting up a 4.07 ERA. However his K/9 of 10.2 is quite intriguing. He did have some shoulder issues in 2011, which cost him 37 games, so perhaps he hasn't quite gotten over that. I guess we'll see.

Along with this news comes the fact that the team has already DFAd Dan Otero, who they claimed yesterday. Which makes me wonder if releasing David Adams made any sense at all. I'm guessing "no", and that somebody within the Yankee organization is getting a lot of "you're an idiot" looks around the office.