Around the Empire: Yankees news - 12/18/21

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams and Anthony Franco The Detroit Tigers ended up signing shortstop Javier Báez to a six-year, $140 million deal before the lockout. However, they apparently had their sights in one of the Yankees’ primary targets this offseason, Carlos Correa.

ESPN’s Buster Olney revealed that the Tigers approached Correa’s agents with a 10-year, $275MM offer at one point in the past few weeks, presumably before committing to Báez as their franchise shortstop. Correa has made it clear that he wants at least $300 million, and some say he’d like to be paid like Francisco Lindor ($341MM over ten years). It’s unclear if he will get that kind of money after the lockout, but several teams will be in on him, possibly including the Bombers.

NJ Advance Media | Mike Rosenstein The Yankees have several positions of need on their roster, and the folks at the New York Post got creative with some hypothetical trade proposals. One of them involves acquiring Matt Olson and Elvis Andrus from the Oakland Athletics, another one has the Yanks getting Ketel Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the third one has Trent Grisham, Austin Nola and Jurickson Profar coming over to the Bronx.

SI.com | Pat Ragazzo: Joey Gallo is a very good defensive outfielder: he has won two straight Gold Gloves in right field. The numbers say he is excellent out there in the corners. However, according to this proposal by Ragazzo, the Yankees could move him to center field to accommodate a potential free agent target.

The Yankees are said to be interested in Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki. The 27-year-old plays primarily right field and is coming off a stellar performance in his country in 2021, slashing .317/.433/.636 with a 1.069 OPS and 38 home runs.

Gallo is obviously better suited at the corners, but he is capable of playing a passable center field. In 410.2 innings at the position in his career, all with the Texas Rangers, he has 4 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and a 13.4 UZR/150.