Tag: Kike

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: While the Yankees’ brass continues to tell us that they feel comfortable heading into the season with DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Oswald Peraza as the principal options to start at third base, the team remains engaged with a number of infielders. The latest pair to land on the Yankees’ radar are Kiké Hernández and Yoan Moncada a day after one of their other options was taken off the board, Jorge Polanco signing a one-year, $7.75 million contract to return to the Mariners.

Hernández won a World Series with the Dodgers as the team’s postseason center field starter after signing a one-year deal in the previous offseason as a super utility player. He has experience playing every position except catcher with center and second base his most frequent landing spots. The Yankees were finalists for his signature last winter before he returned to the Dodgers, and he slashed .229/.281/.373 with 12 home runs, 42 RBIs, an 83 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR in 126 games (393 PA) before turning it on in the playoffs. (For more on Kiké, check out Estevão‘s free agent target article here.)

It was hoped that Moncada would form part of the foundation of a White Sox window of contention that never materialized. The former top prospect missed all but 12 games in 2024 with a strained adductor muscle and has dealt with injury his whole career, appearing in more than 130 games just three times in a nine-year big league career. Interested teams are hoping they can tap into the talent that made him an almost four-win player as recently as 2021, but three straight years of injures have clouded the future of a player entering his age-30 season. (For more on Moncada, check out John’s free agent target article here.)

New York Post | Greg Joyce: Part of the reason the Yankees are shopping in the discount bin to fill their infield vacancy is Hal Steinbrenner’s desire to dip below the $301 million luxury tax threshold. However, the team maintains that they are unable to sign a player even of Hernández’s or Moncada’s ilk until they find a trade partner for Marcus Stroman and his $18 million salary for 2025. Joyce throws out three possible teams who could facilitate a swap, either based on need or as part of a bad contract swap.

He wondered if the Padres would take on Stroman in exchange for Luis Arraez, which doesn’t make much sense given San Diego’s similar desire to shed payroll this winter. He revisited a possible trade with the Cardinals for Nolan Arenado, but again, this doesn’t make much sense given Arenado has three years and $74 million left on his deal which would increase rather than pare back New York’s payroll. Finally, he identified the Marlins and their MLB-low $83.9 million payroll as well as a thin and injury-affected rotation of Sandy Alcantara, Ryan Weathers, Edward Cabrera, and Max Meyer.

NJ Advance Media | Max Goodman ($): It is hard to understand why the Yankees feel that LeMahieu is a tenable solution to the third base vacancy, but Aaron Boone insists that the poor results of the last two seasons are due to injury rather than age-related decline:

“I think a lot of people are counting out DJ. It wasn’t long ago when DJ was one of the best hitters in the American League. I just want to remind people that the reason he hasn’t is because he’s not been healthy. With health, we think there’s that great hitter still in there a little bit.”

Citing a batting title won five years ago is perhaps not reflective of the player LeMahieu is at this point, and it would take quite a feat for a player who turns 37 before the All-Star break to rebound from an 85 wRC+ over the last two seasons.

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: The Yankees took a player to arbitration for the first time since Dellin Betances in 2017, with Mark Leiter Jr. filing at $2.5 million and the team filing at $2.05 million. The arbitration panel ruled in favor of the Yankees which is no surprise given the way that saves tend to be value for relievers in these hearings. Leiter struggled after joining the Yankees from the Cubs at the Trade Deadline, with a 4.98 ERA and six home runs allowed in 21.2 innings but recorded some huge outs in the postseason to set him on a positive trajectory heading into the 2025 season.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Just days after officially being announced as the next voice of the Yankees on the radio, Dave Sims visited Bill White to pay homage to a man who blazed a trail for many broadcasters to come after him:

“What a great day. Visited with one of my heroes, the great Bill White. What a career in baseball as a World Series champion, All-Star, Gold Glove 1B, outstanding Yankees broadcaster and NL president. He should be in the Hall of Fame as a broadcaster. And, to think he originally wanted to be a doctor. His time with Phil Rizzuto on the Yankees broadcasts were terrifically entertaining & memorable… It was just great to see him. He just turned 91. I told him, ‘You were the first Black guy that I saw do sports on TV. Thanks for paving the path for me.’ He said, ‘Get out of here, come on. You did it yourself.’ I said, ‘No, I’ll tell you what, seeing you do that was certainly inspiration.’”

White became the first African-American to be named regular play-by-play announcer for a major-league sports team when he joined Phil Rizzuto and Frank Messer in the booth in 1971 and would go on to call Yankees games for 17 years before becoming President of the National League from 1989 to 1994.