Bronx Bomber Ball

The Yankees’ offseason is off to a great start. The club’s main focus all along was to add Gerrit Cole, finally giving New York the true, dominant Ace, they have needed.  In the days following, the team was able to retain veteran outfielder Brett Gardner.  Now, the Yankees could look to the trade market to round out their roster and get set for 2020. Let’s take a look at who could be available and how they could fit in pinstripes. Photo Credit: CBS Sports

It’s official: Yankee veteran Brett Gardner will remain in the Bronx in 2020. Photo Credit: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

With Cole-a-palooza officially out of the way , the Yankees can turn their attention on filling out the remainder of their roster this Winter, and the first moves to be made should be taking care of the family business.   Per SNY’s Andy Martino, the Yankees could be closing in on a deal to bring back Brett Gardner soon.

Rejoice. The New York Yankees have signed Gerrit Cole to a nine-year deal worth $324 million. The deal comes with an opt-out clause after the 2024 season, according to Jeff Passan. It’s an obvious record-breaker for a pitcher, shattering the seven-year, $245 million pact signed earlier this week by Stephen Strasburg, who also happens to be a Scott Boras client. Photo Credit: AP Cole shined this past season in just about every way possible. The California native went 20-5 for the Houston Astros, leading the league with a 2.50 ERA (185 ERA+) and a whopping 326 strikeouts in 212.1 innings. He was the runner-up for the AL Cy Young award, finishing behind his former teammate Justin Verlander. He continued his dominance in the postseason, where in five starts (36.2 IP) he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA. Cole’s path to pinstripes has been a unique one. He was a 1st round draft pick of the Yankees in 2008, but opted instead to attend UCLA and was selected 1st overall by the Pirates in 20...

The belief around the league is that the Yankees have pushed all other free agents to the back burner during their paramount pursuit of Gerrit Cole. Initial offers have been made within the last 24 hours and a potential deal could come to fruition by the end of the week. While the priority this winter is clear, that isn’t to say there’s no other business Brian Cashman needs to attend to. See here: Blake Treinen became a free agent last Monday, and the Yankees would be foolish to let him pass.

It's the offseason news that Yankees fans have longed to hear.   While nothing is "in stone" yet, and anything can change in the coming weeks, the Yankees Front Office is reportedly in talks with both Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.  Photo Credit: New York Post

The Yankees announced on Monday that they finalized a trade deal that will send Nestor Cortez Jr. to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for $28, 300 in international signing bonus pool allocation.   Photo Credit: Newsday 

According to ESPN’s Jeff  Passan , Aroldis Chapman has reworked his contract with the Yankees, adding an extra year at $18 million to the two years, $30 million he already had, keeping him in New York until 2022.    https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1190851498122653696   Photo Credit: Getty Images Chapman had an excellent 2019, posting 37 saves with a 2.21 ERA, good enough to win him AL Reliever of the Year honors.  This deal keeps together a Yankees bullpen that is among the very best in the major leagues, and ensures Zack Britton, Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle and others will not deviate largely from their 2019 roles.  Article by: Gus Wetekamp Follow @gus_wetekamp_23 Follow @bronxbomberball

Last offseason, Yankees' manager Aaron Boone floated around the idea of batting Yankees’ star Aaron Judge in the leadoff role following the team’s acquisition of reigning NL MVP at the time, Giancarlo Stanton.  When asked about the possibility of batting the big man in the number one spot, Boone answered “I wouldn't necessarily say it's likely, but something like that I would consider, I've thought about it." We will look at the possibility of Boone employing Judge in the leadoff role, and what a possible lineup would look like with the slugger stepping into the box first for the team. Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images

For most of the offseason, amid the rumors surrounding Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the Yankees were rumored to be seeking extensions with some of their impending 2019-2020 free agents; most notably Aaron Hicks, Dellin Betances, and Didi Gregorius. Exactly one third of those dominoes has now fallen, after Hicks and the Yankees agreed to a seven-year, $70 million extension early Monday morning. It was reported later that day that the Yankees were laying the groundwork on extending Betances as well. Next up for Yankees: Dellin Betances. Yanks are working on extending him. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 25, 2019 With an extension reached with Hicks, and work being done on extending Betances, the only impending free agent left is Gregorius, who is one of the top all around shortstops in the game, and arguably one of the most fun players the Yankees have. If the Yankees choose to extend Didi as well, what might that look like? Abbie Parr/Getty Images

Over the course of the 2018 regular season, the Yankees saw a parade of minor league pitchers sent up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to have a shot at The Show, due to injuries in the rotation and bullpen. I will admit, there came a point at which I could not even remember who was who. Chance Adams was called up to start in Boston late in the year. Tommy Kahnle was in the Majors… oh wait no, he is pitching in Triple-A, now he’s back, and now he’s gone. Domingo German experienced the ultimate baptism by fire when he just did not appear ready to be a major league starter. Finally, there was Jonathan Loaisiga , who, as far as most casual fans could tell, seemed like just another minor leaguer coming through on the Scranton Shuttle. Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports

On Friday morning, the Yankees avoided a potentially messy arbitration hearing with their ace by agreeing to a four-year contract with Luis Severino that will buy out all four of his arbitration-eligible seasons.   The deal, first reported by Joel Sherman, is for $40 million guaranteed and comes with a $15 million option for a fifth year, or a $2.75 million buyout.   Should the deal go to term, Severino will be paid out $52.25 million over five seasons. Severino package: Sign $2M. 2019: $4M. 2020: $10M 2021: $10.25M. 2022: $11M 2023 (club option): $15M with $2.75M buyout. So can max out at $52.25M #Yankees — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 15, 2019 Severino was the lone Yankee not to settle on a contract prior to arbitration, seeking $5.25 million for this upcoming season, while the team countered with a $4.4 million figure.  When all is said and done, Severino will earn $6 million in 2019 ($4 million base + $2 million signing bonus), but will be o...

News broke today from Padres’ reporter Dennis Lin of the Athletic that the San Diego Padres are interested in acquiring Indians’ RHP Corey Kluber. This makes sense as the Padres have a plethora of young talent to deal, but also a strong core of players they can build around. However, there is a twist. The report of the Padres’ interest also included that the Padres would be interested in flipping him for a third baseman to anchor their infield. Kluber would instantly help the Friars, but with his window of solid years left closing, the match is not perfect.   Photo Credit: Getty Images

Major League Baseball’s deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to exchange salary figures for the upcoming season was this past Friday, January the 11th. The Yankees had nine eligible players on the roster and were able to come to terms with eight of them – the lone exception being ace RHP Luis Severino. Photo Credit: Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees have reached an agreement with free agent infielder DJ LeMahieu, according to multiple reports. The reported contract is for two years and $24 million. LeMahieu, who won a batting title in 2016 and Gold Gloves in 2014, 2017 and 2018, has spent the majority of his career with the Colorado Rockies. Source confirms: Free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu heading to #Yankees on two-year deal. Believed to be in $24M range. First reported: @JackCurryYES . — Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 11, 2019 The Yankees plan to use LeMahieu as a versatile player around the infield. They will use him at second base, first base and third base. — Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) January 11, 2019

Along with being Yankee enthusiasts, the staff here at BBB is comprised of avid baseball fans across the entirety of the sport. With that being said, we decided to complete a mock Hall of Fame voting using the 2019 candidates. Similar to the official voting, our ballots could only comprise of up to ten candidates, but choosing less than ten candidates was surely an option. Any player with a mark above 75% would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, if the voting rested in our hands. Here are the results of the eleven ballots casted: Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic/MLB Network and Jeff  Passan  of ESPN last night, the Yankees have come to terms with LHP Zach Britton on a new contract that will keep the lefty in the Bronx for at minimum two season.  The contract has a base of three years, $39 million guaranteed, however, after year two the Yankees have an option in which they can extend the deal to a fourth year.  If the Yankees decline the option, Britton can then opt out and hit free agency after the second year.  If neither team enacts their respective options, the deal will be for three  season .   Zach Britton's financial details: Three years, $39 million guaranteed. If Yankees opt into fourth year, $53 million guaranteed. If Yankees don't and Britton opts out, he'll have made $26 million over the first two seasons. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 6, 2019

The Yankees’ minor league systems is deep even beyond the flashy prospects, and as a result, they had six players they chose not to protect on the 40-man roster selected by other clubs in the Rule-5 draft. Only one of the six Yankees, RHP Nick Green, was selected in the Major League phase, while five players were selected in the Triple-A phase. The Yankees chose one player of their own in the Triple-A phase in RHP Adonis De la Cruz. A friendly reminder for those who are not familiar with the Rule-5 draft, the teams who select these players must keep them on their active roster of either the Major League or Triple-A team, depending on the phase of selection, or be offered back to their former club. Here is a breakdown of Cruz and who the Yankees lost:   Photo Credit: Medium

*Editor's note: A prior version of this article appeared stating that Yangervis Solarte was a free-agent this Winter.  Solarte's option was declined by the Blue Jays but he remains under team control through this season under arbitration eligibility* ‘Tis the season! The most wonderful time of the year is upon us, whether you’d like to associate that with the holidays or the hot stove. This time of year wouldn’t be complete, of course, without the annual chaos of Black Friday. While millions of Americans scramble to make the most of their money and take advantage of great deals this weekend, MLB front offices will likely be doing the same on the free agent market. With that, let’s take a look at some cost-effective free agents who should most definitely be on the Yankees’ radar. Credit: Denis Poroy/Getty Images

The Yankees have made their first splash of the offseason by acquiring the Big Maple, James Paxton, from the Seattle Mariners. Fresh off his second-consecutive season at the top of the Mariner’s rotation, Paxton did not come cheap as the Yankees traded away their top prospect, Justus Sheffield, along with breakout prospects Erik Swanson and Dominic Thompson-Williams.   Photo Credit: AP