The Yankees take on the Red Sox tomorrow in their Grapefruit League opener. The roster will be light on major league caliber players, but Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, and Miguel Andujar headline the group. A full schedule and how to watch the games can be found here.
Jon Heyman reports that San Diego's brass is meeting today to discuss adding a second "mega star." General Manager A.J. Preller was specifically asked if the Padres might still be in on Bryce Harper, and he refused to rule it out (reported by Jared Diamond). This news comes only one day after the Padres announce the signing of Manny Machado to a 10-year, $300 million contract. Could San Diego end up landing two generational talents in a single offseason?
Cortes gets the ball against the Red Sox Saturday afternoon, with Jonathan Loaisiga going on Sunday. Cortes, 24, pitched to a 3.71 ERA (4.17 FIP) over 111.2 innings with Triple-A Scranton in 2018. He also got a cup of coffee with the Baltimore Orioles, funny enough. Baseball is almost here!
For crying out loud, man. How did Tommy Kahnle not have heart palpitations with all that caffeine? Let's see if this adjustment works for him.
"The last couple of years the money that has come off, we've kind of had to put it back in to fill voids, again, because we haven't had the young players to do it with,'' Steinbrenner said. "The [free agents] that we picked up two years ago, the Ellsburys and the McCanns, they've been great, I'm glad we did it, but a couple years from now the payroll situation will be different. I will have flexibility, we will be active on the free-agent market. We always are, but I've got other options.'' It's been a few years Hal. What happened?
MLB Trade Rumors reports the latest on the Manny Machado free agency saga. USA Today MLB columnist Bob Nightengale tweeted that some teams were told that the #Padres offered Machado as much as $280 million over 8 years, while others were told $240 million. Either way, it's more than the Yankees' reported offer of $200-220 million.
Hal Steinbrenner says the Yankees didn't fully pursue Manny Machado or Bryce Harper because the team doesn't need an infielder or an outfielder? Huh. That's a pretty lame excuse from a team that signed Brett Gardner, Troy Tulowitzki, and DJ LeMahieu.
There was some hope that the Yankees and Luis Severino might be able to work out a contract extension and avoid an arbitration hearing, but it doesn't sound like they've made any progress. Bummer. In case you forgot, the Yankees are squabbling about $800,000. Hopefully the arb hearing goes better than the one with Dellin Betances a couple of years ago!
Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Padres General Manager A.J. Preller flew to Miami to meet with Manny Machado and his wife at some point during the past week. Acee writes that Machado is the Friars' first choice to fill their vacancy at third base, but that Machado is not believed to be close to choosing his new team yet. This news leads me to wonder: Where is Brian Cashman in all this? Why aren't the Yankees being more aggressive in their pursuit of Machado?