The New York Yankees offseason has been quite entertaining to watch and with Robinson Cano signing a mega deal with the Seattle Mariners, the team has responded with Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran and now it could mean that Ichiro Suzuki and Brett Gardner are options to get traded with the outfield getting very crowded and Jeff Samardzija could be a target.
The Yankees were happy to let Cano and his $240 million go and now the team has brought in three high profile free agents and could be in for more, especially when it comes to pitching. The Yankees brought back Hiroki Kuroda and now ESPN.com is reporting that Gardner and Ichiro could be trade options for the team and that the team may be more interested in trading for Samardzija rather than David Price, who has a high price tag for the Rays. The Cubs reportedly are working on an extension with Samardzija, but that could change if they get an offer they like from a team like the Yankees. Suzuki would likely not be a part of this deal because of his age and Gardner would probably be the center piece.
Last season Samardzija went 8-13 with a 4.34 ERA and he pitched for a career high amount of innings and also had 214 strikeouts and he is still relatively young and could be a solid starter in the rotation with Kuroda, CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova. The Yankees are expected to make another major move at the pitching position and names like Matt Garza and Ervin Santana could be in the mix on the free agent market. The crop of players has quickly started to dry and up and the Yankees have now lost two players in Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano, who shocked the MLB with his contract with the Seattle Mariners for 10-years and $240 million dollars.
Gardner looks like a prime player to move, as he has a year of arbitration left and has trade value for teams and Suzuki could be a fit with the San Francisco Giants. Gardner is a speedy outfielder with a solid glove and he can steal bases very well and he also had 10 triples last season and can help generate runs. The Yankees have already improved over last season when they missed the playoffs by adding McCann, Ellsbury and Beltran and even without Cano they are expecting to add another piece in a trade or on the market.
Check here for more on MLB trades and the Robinson Cano contract.
Ellsbury has a .297 career batting average with 476 runs, 155 doubles, 65 home runs, 314 runs batted in (RBI) and 241 stolen bases in 715 games over seven seasons.
He led the majors last season with 52 stolen bases and in 16 playoff games hit .344 (22-for-64), leading all postseason players in hits and runs (14) en route to winning his second career World Series.
"I think it gives you tremendous defense in your outfield, where these guys are going to cover a lot of ground," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said on the club's official website.
"They (Ellsbury and current team member Brett Gardner) both can put a lot of pressure on a pitcher when they're on the basepaths, and their ability to go from first to third or first to home on a number of base hits.
"We think Jacoby's home run total will probably rise a little bit playing in this park compared to Fenway."
Kuroda, the 38-year-old Japanese starting pitcher, agreed to a $16 million one-year deal after going 11-13 with a 3.31 ERA in 32 starts with the Yankees in 2013.
He made nine scoreless starts, the most among all American League pitchers and second-most in the Majors behind only the LA Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (10). The Yankees announced on Saturday they have signed former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year, $153 million deal and have also locked up Japanese right hander Hiroki Kuroda for one more season.
Ellsbury made the switch between the bitter division rivals after winning the World Series with Boston this year, agreeing to the deal which also has a $21 million team option for the 2021 season, with a $5 million buyout.
The total package could be worth $169 million over eight years.
(Reuters)
