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ESPN | Associated Press: The Yomiuri Giants have informed Major League Baseball teams that they have officially posted star pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano as of 8 AM ET on Tuesday and will be available for teams to sign until January 7. With the Yankees in desperate need of pitching depth this winter, Sugano, a 31-year-old right-hander, remains somebody that fans should keep an eye on as his market develops. For more information, you can check out the free agent target post that Tom wrote about him this past Saturday.
New York Post | Joel Sherman: Speaking of pitching depth, Joel Sherman recommends that the Yankees seek a reunion with Texas Rangers starter Lance Lynn, who made 11 appearances (9 starts) in pinstripes back in 2018. Since then, he signed an extremely team-friendly deal with the Rangers, with whom he has become one of the league’s most consistent starters: in addition to posting a 3.57 ERA (3.43 FIP) the past two seasons, he has also been an innings-eater, with his 292.1 innings tops in baseball over that span.
Update (12:05 AM EST): ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports Lynn has been traded to the White Sox. Well, so much for that.
MLB.com | Thomas Harrigan: Major League Baseball announced the finalists for the second annual All-MLB Team, of which three Yankees made the cut: Luke Voit at first base, DJ LeMahieu at second, and Gerrit Cole on the mound. With Voit going up against both MVPs in Freddie Freeman and José Abreu, it seems likely that he will be either first- or second-team, but LeMahieu leading MLB in batting average (.364) and the AL in OBP (.421) and OPS (1.011) puts him in the driver’s seat. Cole, meanwhile, seems as good a shot as any to be one of the five starting pitchers to receive the honor.
The All-MLB Team will be announced tomorrow at 7 PM on the MLB Network.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Last year, the Yankees made the biggest splash of the winter at the Winter Meetings in San Diego, signing Gerrit Cole to the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history. But he has not been the only significant player that the Yankees have acquired at the Winter Meetings over the last few decades, and Bryan Hoch breaks down what he considers to be the five most significant: signing CC Sabathia in 2008, trading for Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis, and Ken Brett in 1975, trading for Giancarlo Stanton in 2017, trading for Rickey Henderson in 1984, and the three-team deal in 2009 that brought Curtis Granderson to the Bronx and Max Scherzer to Detroit.
Hmm. With all the talk over free agent targets in recent weeks, history tells us that perhaps we should be looking more at the trade market for any imminent moves.
CBS Sports | Dayn Perry: Ken Rosenthal has reported that MLB has been telling National League teams to proceed as if there will not be a universal designated hitter in 2021. Of course, considering the important impact that this would have on roster construction, the fact that the league has not officially made a decision on neither the DH issue nor the 2021 roster size is nothing short of a failure among the league’s executive leadership.