Now that we’re into November, our series looking back at the MLB Trade Rumors archives is heading into the offseason. That’s the best time of the year for free agent and trade rumors. As a reminder, the purpose of this series is to simply look back at things that were being written five years ago to see how silly or spot on they were with the benefit of hindsight. What good are rumors if you read them once and forget ’em?

We’re in November 2011 now. The Yankees went 97-65 and won the AL East in 2011 despite some season-long pitching problems. They lost out on Cliff Lee during the 2010-11 offseason and had to rely on guys like Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. The Yankees wasted no time handling their most pressing offseason business after getting bounced from the ALDS by the Tigers in five games though. They inked CC Sabathia to an extension before he could use his opt-out on October 31st, 2011. Now let’s see what happened in November 2011.

November 1st, 2011: Yankees, Cashman Agree To Extension

The Yankees have agreed to an extension with GM Brian Cashman, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). The sides agreed to a three-year deal, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter) and they are waiting for the World Series to end before making any announcements.

The other pressing piece of offseason business. For a while it seemed Cashman would not return to the Yankees following the 2011 season. There were rumblings he was unhappy ownership had gone over his head to make some moves, most notably the Rafael Soriano signing, though it’s unclear whether that was actually true. Also, after 14 years on the job, some burnout could have been setting in.

Instead, Cashman re-signed with the Yankees the day after the Cardinals won the World Series, which took all the mystery out of it. The Yankees didn’t have to start the offseason with no GM. If Cashman was upset about the way the team was being run, it didn’t stand in his way of coming back. He had options that offseason — the Cubs, Orioles, and Astros all hired new GMs that winter — but chose to stay.

November 1st, 2011: Yankees Decline Option On Andrew Brackman

The Yankees declined their 2012 option on righty Andrew Brackman, GM Brian Cashman told reporters on a conference call today.  The 6’10” 25-year-old righty is now a free agent; ESPN’s Keith Law explains that Brackman’s contract called for the Yankees to release him if they didn’t pick up his option. 

The Yankees swung for the fences in the 2007 draft and came up empty. Brackman was one of the top prospects in the draft class but was also one of the riskiest, because he was a huge guy (6-foot-10) who split time between baseball and basketball in college. His mechanics needed a lot of work. The Yankees gambled on his upside with the 30th overall pick.

It didn’t work out. Brackman had Tommy John surgery almost immediately after signing — the Yankees knew he needed the procedure at the time of the draft — and worked his way up the minors. He did reach the big leagues, appearing in three games with the Yankees at the end of 2011. Brackman allowed one hit and three walks in 2.1 big league innings. He struck out zero and allowed no runs.

Back in those days teams could sign draftees to Major League contracts, and the Yankees gave Brackman a four-year deal worth $4.5M guaranteed. Escalators and options could have pushed the total value to $13M across seven years. The Yankees reportedly ended up paying him around $11M before cutting him loose after 2011.

Brackman spent time with the Reds (2012) and White Sox (2013) before giving up baseball and going to play basketball overseas. I have no idea what happened to him after that. He turns 31 next month. Isn’t that nuts? It still feels like the Yankees just drafted the guy. Geez.

November 1st, 2011: Quick Hits: Moyer, Darvish, Yankees, Tigers

The Yankees expect to be heavily involved in trade talks this offseason because they have prospects to trade and are willing to deal pitching, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (on Twitter).

The Yankees did eventually trade prospects for pitching that offseason. That was the Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda offseason. Prior to the 2012 season, Baseball America ranked New York’s farm system as the 13th best in baseball, and that was after trading Montero. They had some prospects to deal.

Here’s the complete list of starting pitchers traded during the 2011-12 offseason: Jonathan Sanchez, Trevor Cahill, Mat Latos, Edinson Volquez, Travis Wood, Gio Gonzalez, Carlos Zambrano, Jason Hammel, A.J. Burnett, and Pineda. Not the most exciting group there. Gio has been by far the most effective pitcher since that offseason, though Cahill and Latos were also highly regarded at the time. So was Pineda.

November 2nd, 2011: AL East Notes: Red Sox, Oswalt, Sabathia

The Yankees are “open-minded” about the possibility of moving A.J. Burnett or anyone else without a full no-trade clause, according to Chad Jennings of the Journal News. However, the GM sees value in the innings Burnett has provided.

Burnett was coming off his second straight awful season with the Yankees. He had a solid 2009 season (4.04 ERA and 4.33 FIP) before crashing hard from 2010-11 (5.20 ERA and 4.80 FIP). There were two years and $33M left on his contract too. Needless to say, Burnett’s trade value was nil. As soon as the Yankees brought in some other pitchers that offseason, they dumped Burnett as quickly as possible. He had a bad 2010 season, was given a chance to right ship in 2011, then was let go.

November 4th, 2011: Brian Cashman On Wilson, Pujols, Sabathia

“I think he would be on anybody’s wish list,” said Cashman when asked about Albert Pujols. “In our circumstances, our roster, he doesn’t fit. It’s not an efficient way to try to allocate your resources.”

The Yankees had a pretty good first baseman in Mark Teixeira, who was three years into his eight-year contract. Also, Alex Rodriguez needed more time at DH with each passing season. There was no room for Pujols on the roster, but that didn’t stop people from connecting him to New York. Sign Pujols and trade Teixeira, as if it would be that easy. Thankfully the Yankees did not sign Pujols. What a disaster that would have been.

November 5th, 2011: East Notes: Oswalt, Wilson, Garcia, Madson Cuddyer

The Yankees have contacted the agent for free agent starters Roy Oswalt and C.J. Wilson, according to Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger. Bombers GM Brian Cashman, however, cautioned that he’s “in the process of talking to everybody.”

Roy Oswalt! He had a good year with the Phillies in 2011 (3.69 ERA and 3.44 FIP), but no one bothered to sign him until May 2012. People were mad the Yankees didn’t sign Oswalt. People are mad about everything these days. Anyway, Oswalt had a 5.80 ERA (4.23 FIP) with the Rangers in 2012 and people stopped being mad. He did find a job for 2013 …

… and I have zero recollection of Roy Oswalt as a Rockie. None whatsoever. I’m looking at it with my own eyes and I still don’t believe it really happened. Apparently he had a 8.63 ERA (3.08 FIP) in 32.1 innings with Colorado. Hasn’t pitched since.

November 7th, 2011: Yoenis Cespedes To Gain Free Agency

5:49pm: Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed that he saw the Cespedes video, but wouldn’t say whether the Yankees are interested, according to Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger (link on Twitter; the video has been removed). 

2:25pm: The Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Giants, Marlins, Nationals, Indians, Athletics, and Pirates have had a presence at Cespedes’ workouts, reports Yahoo’s Tim Brown.  Giants GM Brian Sabean told reporters today that his team will not be involved on Cespedes, however (via Andrew Baggarly on Twitter).  

Remember the Yoenis Cespedes workout video? No one had heard of the guy, but then he released this over-the-top workout video, and bam, everyone had to have him. The original video has apparently been taken down. Here’s a muted version instead:

Good times. Brings back some memories. I don’t think anyone went from “I’ve never heard of this guy” to “holy crap my favorite team needs to sign him now!” quicker than Cespedes. At least he lived up to the hype. A few too many of these big name Cuban guys are falling short of expectations nowadays.

The Yankees attended Cespedes’ workouts and did their due diligence, but as is the case with every big name Cuban player these days, they didn’t sign him. He went to the A’s of all teams.

November 7th, 2011: Quick Hits: Maddux, Maine, Jackson, Darvish

The Yankees have had preliminary discussions with agent Scott Boras about free agent starter Edwin Jackson, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.

Jackson was a stathead darling for a few years, back before everyone realized a pitcher’s ERA doesn’t have to equal his FIP over the long haul. From 2010-11, he had a 4.14 ERA (3.71 FIP) in 409 innings. After signing a one-year deal with the Nationals — I remember folks being stunned he had to settle for a one-year deal — Jackson had a 4.03 ERA (3.85 FIP) in 189.2 innings. That’s who he was, but because he was young (28) and had the whole ERA > FIP thing going on, people expected more, and it never came. Classic tease pitcher.

November 8th, 2011: Heyman On Posada, Dodgers, Beltran, Morrison

The Yankees were disappointed Jonathan Sanchez went to the Royals, as they believed they had more to offer to the Giants.  The Royals acquired Sanchez and a minor leaguer from the Giants for Melky Cabrera yesterday.

Sanchez, who was 29 during the 2011-12 offseason, had a few good years with the Giants and threw a no-hitter, but he was generally a good stuff/bad command guy. Kinda like Pineda. Someone who left you wanting more. The Yankees were disappointed they didn’t get Sanchez but it’s a good thing they didn’t. He immediately fell apart after the trade. He had an 8.73 ERA (7.15 FIP) in 78.1 innings after the deal and hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2013. As best I can tell, Sanchez was completely out of baseball last year. Still, starters were being moved and the Yankees were missing out. Fans were getting restless.

November 8th, 2011: Yankees, Rangers, Red Sox Interested In Buehrle

1:54pm: The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers are interested in free agent lefty Mark Buehrle, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, and the Marlins are meeting with him today.

I didn’t like the idea of signing Buehrle at all. He was 32 at the time, he’d thrown more than 2,500 innings when you include the postseason, and he was already sitting low-to-mid-80s with his heater. It seemed like his margin for error was nil, and really, it was. He still made it work for a few years.

The Marlins duped Buehrle into signing a big contract with a low base salary in year one — it was a four-year deal worth $56M, and his salary in year one was $6M — then traded him to Toronto the following offseason. They did the same thing with Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes. Even after moving to the AL East, Buehrle remained effective until things started to fall apart late in 2015. In hindsight, yeah the Yankees probably should have made a stronger push to sign him.

November 9th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Sanchez, Catchers, Pitching, Posada

Clubs have already inquired about the Yankees’ young catchers, such as Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, and Francisco Cervelli. “I’ve had a lot of teams express ‘Hey, if you’re ever going to do something there, mark us down,’ that type of things,” said Cashman.

It’s kinda crazy how much catching talent the Yankees have given away in recent years*. Montero, who was nominally a catcher, was traded during the 2011-12 offseason. Russell Martin was allowed to walk during the 2012-13 offseason. Chris Stewart was traded during the 2013-14 offseason, then Francisco Cervelli was traded during the 2014-15 offseason, then John Ryan Murphy was traded during the 2015-16 offseason.

It sounds like this trend will continue too. Reports indicate Brian McCann is very much available, so much so that the Yankees are supposedly open to eating half his remaining contract to facilitate the trade. Pretty crazy that after moving all those catchers, potentially including McCann, the Yankees will still have Gary Sanchez behind the plate. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable at all by saying Sanchez has the best long-term future among all catchers the Yankees have employed since 2011.

* I don’t mean “given away” as in they didn’t get anything in return. I just mean these are guys the Yankees were willing trade — or Martin’s case, let walk as a free agent — because they were comfortable with their catching depth at the time. The Yankees know catching. Give ’em that.

November 15th, 2011: Eight Teams Interested In Grady Sizemore

MONDAY, 7:38pm: There’s no shortage of interest in Grady Sizemore this offseason. The free agent outfielder has drawn interest from eight teams, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. The Cubs, Rangers, Giants and Yankees are potential suitors for Sizemore, along with the Phillies, Rockies, Red Sox and Indians.

Grady Sizemore! Everyone wanted him back in the day because a) he was still only 28, and b) he was a monster when he was healthy. The problem: he hadn’t been healthy since 2009. Sizemore hit .220/.280/.379 (81 wRC+) with -0.1 fWAR and -0.4 bWAR in 104 games from 2010-11. He ended up re-signing with the Indians about a week after this report, then got hurt in Spring Training. Sizemore did not play in MLB at all in 2012 or 2013. He didn’t play in 2016 either, and was reportedly at the GM Meetings lobbying for a coaching job last week.

November 16th, 2011: Minor Moves: Kimball, Corporan, Rottino, Pascucci

The Yankees signed lefty reliever Mike O’Connor, tweets SI’s Jon Heyman.  The 31-year-old appeared briefly in the Majors for the Mets this year, also posting a 5.22 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and 1.0 HR/9 in 60 1/3 Triple-A innings.

O’Connor had some big league time with the Mets and Nationals when the Yankees signed him to be their designated Triple-A innings eater. He had a 3.73 ERA (3.89 FIP) in 108.2 innings spread across 15 starts and 16 relief appearances with Triple-A Scranton in 2012. That was the season Scranton had to play entirely on the road because PNC Field was being renovated. Kinda stinks to go from the big leagues one year to that situation the next like O’Connor did, huh?

November 18th, 2011: Sherman On Yankees’ Search For Pitching

The Yankees have “looked into” Matt Garza, but a Cubs official downplayed the likelihood of any deal involving the right-hander, according to Sherman. The Yankees particularly like Gio Gonzalez and the Athletics are open to anything, but GM Billy Beane is asking for an ace return for Gonzalez or Trevor Cahill.

Theo Epstein had just taken over the 91-loss Cubs and Garza was his biggest trade chip at the time. He was coming off a 3.32 ERA (2.95 FIP) season — easily the best season of his career — and was under control for another two years. Epstein fielded trade offers all winter but decided to hold onto Garza, who in 2012 was hurt and just okay. He was able to salvage things by trading him to the Rangers for, among others, Carl Edwards Jr. at the 2013 trade deadline. Edwards is now Chicago’s closer of the future.

I was all about Garza. I wanted the Yankees to go after him so bad. So, so bad. It didn’t happen. Probably for the best, really. I was never really in on Gio — I liked Cahill more at the time, actually — because his league leading walk rate scared the crap out of me. The Nationals scooped him and his four years of control up for an underwhelming package (Derek Norris and Tommy Milone were the headliners, yawn), and have been rewarded with a solid mid-rotation horse. As with Buehrle, the Yankees probably should have been more aggressive here.

November 18th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Swisher, DePaula, Cashman

A year after signing with the Yankees for a $500K bonus, Dominican right-hander Jose Rafael DePaula still hasn’t made the contract official because he’s been unable to obtain a visa, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America.  DePaula has been working out at the Yankee’s Dominican academy in the interim.

Ah yes, Rafael DePaula. That was an ordeal. Age and identify issues led to a one-year suspension plus a 16-month investigation by MLB before they would approve DePaula’s contract with the Yankees. Eventually they gave the thumbs up, and he spent three and a half years in the system as an occasionally great but mostly good pitching prospect before being traded to the Padres in the Chase Headley deal.

DePaula, now 25, had a really good season as a full-time reliever at Double-A and Triple-A in 2016 (2.66 ERA and 2.17 FIP), so we’ll see what happens with him this offseason. He went unselected in the Rule 5 Draft last winter. The Padres might not want to risk it again. Either way, the Yankees waited an awful long time to sign DePaula, and ultimately he wasn’t really worth the trouble. Alas.

November 20th, 2011: Heyman On Rangers, Pujols, Fielder, Nunez

The Braves have long been interested in Yankees shortstop Eduardo Nunez but the Bombers will have to part with much more to land Jair Jurrjens in a trade, Heyman tweets.

Oy. What a rumor. Jurrjens had two good seasons (2009 and 2011) and one bad season (2010) with the Braves. He was an All-Star in 2011, in fact. Nunez had basically zero good seasons at the time, but he was young and he could play up the middle, so the Yankees put a high price on him.

The two sides never did get close to a Nunez-for-Jurrjens trade as far as we know, and that’s a good thing because Jurrjens broke down the next year. He threw only 48.1 innings of 6.89 ERA (5.64 FIP) ball in 2012. Following that All-Star season in 2011, Jurrjens had a 7.20 ERA (5.76 FIP) in 65 innings the rest of his MLB career. Geez. Between Jurrjens and Jonathan Sanchez, the Yankees really dodged some bullets during the 2012-13 offseason.

November 23rd, 2011: Yankees Sign Jayson Nix

The Yankees have signed Jayson Nix to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Nix, a 29-year-old who bats from the right side, will presumably compete for a utility job next spring.

It begins. The “He’s A Ballplayer” era. Nixy did not make the Opening Day roster in 2012. He spent some time in Triple-A before being called up when Eric Chavez got hurt in May. Nix spent the next two years as the “good gravy why is he playing so much?” utility guy, hitting .239/.307/.340 (78 wRC+) in 505 plate appearances. He was a ballplayer though. He played ball.

November 23rd, 2011: Yankees, Freddy Garcia Nearing Deal

The Yankees are nearing a one-year deal with Freddy Garcia, according to David Waldstein of the New York Times (on Twitter). The Yankees offered the right-hander arbitration earlier tonight.

Sweaty Freddy had a fine season in 2011, pitching to a 3.62 ERA (4.12 FIP) in 146.2 innings. The next year didn’t go as well. He had a 5.20 ERA (4.68 FIP) in 107.1 innings after signing that new one-year contract. Probably should have just let him walk and taken the supplemental first round draft pick (it would have been in the 55th to 60th overall pick range). Can’t have too much pitching though. I understand why the Yankees brought Garcia back. Just didn’t work out.

November 24th, 2011: Olney On Rodriguez, Ibanez, Lee, Yankees

The Yankees are quietly confident that Phil Hughes will start Spring Training in improved physical condition and have a bounce-back season in 2012. They will continue to discuss available starting pitchers, even after agreeing to terms with Freddy Garcia.

Hughes did have a bounceback season in 2012. Shoulder and back trouble limited him to 74.2 crummy innings in 2011 (5.79 ERA and 4.58 FIP). He was healthy in 2012 and gave the team 191.1 innings of 4.19 ERA (4.59 FIP) ball. Not an ace or anything, but a fine back-end starter option. Of course, Hughes was still far below expectations from his prospect days, when he looked like a future front of the rotation guy.

Phil’s tenure with the Yankees wasn’t bad, just disappointing. He gave them +6.3 bWAR and +10.8 fWAR during his team control years, but he never came close to meeting expectations. Expectations that were maybe a little unrealistically high to begin with. Such is life.

November 28th, 2011: Blue Jays Notes: Cooper, Drabek, Rasmus, d’Arnaud

The Yankees are interested in Kyle Drabek, according to Elliott. Drabek started the season in the Blue Jays’ rotation before being demoted to the minor leagues. He had a standout season in 2010, but struggled with command in the Majors (6.3 BB/9) and in the minors (4.9 BB/9) in 2011.

Fun fact: Drabek pitched in the big leagues in 2016. Who knew? He threw two innings with the Diamondbacks. Back during the 2011-12 offseason he was still a Very Big Deal, even after posting a 6.06 ERA (5.52 FIP) in 78.2 innings in 2011. Drabek was a former top prospect and he was the headliner in the Roy Halladay trade, which raised expectations even more.

It’s interesting to hear the Yankees were interested in Drabek considering he played for a division rival. The Blue Jays went 81-81 in 2011, so they weren’t the AL East threat they are now, but an intradivision trade still seemed so very unlikely. I remember reading the Yankees were on Halladay but Toronto was basically unwilling to trade him within the division. I get not wanting to lose a trade to a division rival, but if you’re trading someone as good as Halladay, don’t you have to focus on getting the best possible return no matter what?

Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. Years of injuries and control problems prevented Drabek, who is still only 28, from living up to the hype. I can understand why the Yankees wanted him back in November 2011 given his power arm and pedigree, it just wasn’t going to happen. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos wasn’t going to trade his top young pitcher to an AL East rival. No way, no how.

Now that we’re into October, it’s time for another edition of our MLBTR Archives series. I forgot to do this earlier in the month, so my bad for the tardiness. Anyway, the entire point of his monthly series is to look back at trade and free agent rumors from five years ago to see how silly (or genius!) it all sounds now. What good are rumors if you only read them once?

The Yankees finished the 2011 season with a 97-65 record and a +210 run differential despite serious rotation concerns. Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia really bailed them out. Only the Phillies (102-60) had a better regular season record than New York. Unfortunately, the Yankees didn’t last long in the postseason. The Tigers beat them in five games in the ALDS. That stunk. Let’s get to the October 2011 rumors.

October 1st, 2011: Quick Hits: Pettitte, Granderson, Alomar Jr.

Former Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte is enjoying retirement is highly unlikely to return to pitching, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. “I feel the desire [to play] is gone,” Pettitte said. “I am retired. I would never say never, but God would literally have to give me desire again… I’m really doing good. I just had a good peace about [retiring].“

Hah. Little did we know that a few months later Pettitte would come out of retirement to join the Yankees not only for 2012, but 2013 as well. I never in a million years expected Pettitte to un-retire — I know people talk about it all the time, but it rarely actually happens — but I’m glad he did. He was pretty awesome after coming back. The first round of “will he or won’t he retire” talk during the 2010-11 offseason was the worst though. It never ended.

October 7th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Sabathia, Posada, Cashman

Joel Sherman of the New York Post suspects that the Yankees will wait, instead of extending Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson this offseason. Both players are eligible for free agency after 2013 (assuming New York exercises Cano’s two options).

This was back when the Yankees had that “no extensions” policy that accomplished … I’m not sure what, exactly. Thankfully that is no more. Extending Cano back then would have been a smart move because he was an excellent homegrown Yankee at a hard-to-fill position — there’s no reason to think Robbie would have entertained an extension offer at that time anyway — and those guys are worth locking up.

Granderson was a different matter. He had a monster 2011 season, hitting .262/.364/.552 (146 wRC+) with 41 homers and 25 steals. Granderson finished fourth in the AL MVP voting and Cano finished sixth. That was also Granderson’s first season with that kind of production, so it was fair to wonder whether he’d do it again. The Yankees had him signed for another two years and could afford to be patient. Granderson had another year like that in 2012 but no extension came. Alas.

October 7th. 2011: Eric Chavez “Leaning Heavily Towards Retirement”

Veteran third baseman Eric Chavez is considering retirement, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).  Chavez, 33, is “leaning heavily towards” hanging up his cleats after 14 Major League seasons. 

The Yankees brought Chavez to camp as a non-roster player in 2011 and he wound up making the team as a bench player. He was okay that year, hitting .263/.320/.356 (80 wRC+) while playing the corner infield and missing time with a foot injury. Not great, not awful. Chavez did not retire that offseason, so the Yankees brought him back, and he rewarded them with an incredible 2012 season. He hit .281/.348/.496 (126 wRC+) with 16 homers that year. Pretty awesome. Chavez played another two years with the Diamondbacks after that, so he wasn’t close to retiring this offseason.

October 9th, 2011: Quick Hits: Payrolls, Jay, Wilson, Epstein

Some people think that C.J. Wilson has keen interest as a free agent in New York, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.  He adds that the Yankees are probably the early favorite to sign him.

At the time, Wilson was very desirable as a free agent. The Rangers moved him into the rotation in 2010, and from 2010-11 he had a 3.14 ERA (3.39 FIP) in 427.1 innings. That’s really good! Wilson walked a few too many (9.5%), but he missed bats (21.3%) and got grounders (49.2%), plus he didn’t have nearly as many miles on his arm as most 30-year-old starters because he spent so much time as a reliever.

Alas, the Yankees didn’t sign Wilson, and that was for the best. He actually took less money from the Angels than the Marlins because he thought they were closer to winning. Wilson had a 3.87 ERA (3.95 FIP) in 722.1 innings with the Halos during his five-year, $75M contract. That’s not awful, but it’s not what the team was expecting. Wilson hasn’t pitched since July 2015 due to ongoing elbow and shoulder woes. The Yankees were never seriously in the mix to sign him during the 2011-12 offseason.

October 10th, 2011: AL East Links: Red Sox, Jays, Yanks, Sabathia, O’s

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees are looking for starting pitching and left-handed relievers, tweets Heyman. Our free agent list shows a number of attractive lefty relief options.

The Yankees did indeed get starting pitching that offseason — that was the Michael Pineda trade/Hiroki Kuroda signing offseason — but they took the “let’s bring in a bunch of guys and hope they work out” approach to the lefty relief market. The Yankees added three southpaws that winter: Cesar Cabral, Hideki Okajima (!), and Clay Rapada. Cabral, a Rule 5 Draft, hurt his elbow in Spring Training. Okajima failed his physical and never officially signed with the Yankees.

Rapada? He was nails in 2012. Had a 2.82 ERA (3.20 FIP) overall and held lefties to a .183/.263/.255 batting line with 28.7% strikeouts. Pretty awesome. Rapada and Boone Logan were a very nice left-on-left matchup tandem during that 2012 season. Unfortunately, Rapada got hurt during Spring Training in 2013 and didn’t pitch a whole lot after that. He pitched for the Philippines in the World Baseball Classic qualifier this past February, then retired.

October 11th, 2011: Raul Valdes, Scott Proctor Elect Free Agency

Relievers Raul Valdes and Scott Proctor have elected free agency, the Yankees announced today (Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweeted the news).  Having lost Aaron Laffey as well, the Yankees’ 40-man roster now stands at 37.

Like this offseason, the Yankees got a head start on their 40-man roster cleanup during the 2011-12 offseason. Valdes and Proctor were late-season bullpen depth pickups not unlike Blake Parker and Tommy Layne. I’ll never forget Joe Girardi letting Proctor wear it in Game 162 in Tampa that year. That was the year the Red Sox collapsed and the Rays made the postseason on the final day of the season. Girardi brought Proctor in to pitch extra innings that game and you could tell he was in there until the game ended, one way or the other. He threw 2.2 innings and 56 pitches that game. Proctor spent 2012 in Korea and that was pretty much it for his career.

October 12th, 2011: Front Office Notes: Orioles, Yankees, Angels

The Yankees have granted the Angels permission to interview both Billy Eppler and Damon Oppenheimer for their vacant general manager job, tweets Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

The Angels wound up hiring Jerry Dipoto to be their new GM that offseason, and Eppler was actually the runner-up. Oppenheimer was eliminated from contention earlier in the process. Dipoto resigned last summer — when was the last time a GM resigned? geez — and eventually the Halos hired Eppler as their new GM, partly because they were so impressed during his initial interview in 2011.

October 13th, 2011: David Ortiz Talks Yankees, Red Sox

David Ortiz recently hinted that the offseason could get even more tumultuous for the Red Sox. The designated hitter, who will be eligible for free agency after the World Series, suggested to ESPN’s Colleen Dominguez that he would fit into the Yankees’ culture.

“It’s great from what I hear,” he said. “It’s a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn’t want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way?”

Ortiz says there’s “too much drama” in Boston these days and acknowledged that he’s thinking about moving on. “I don’t know if I want to be part of this drama for next year.”

This was so obviously an attempt to create leverage during contract talks with the Red So that the “Ortiz to the Yankees???” stuff never picked up steam that offseason. Yeah, the Red Sox collapsed hilariously in 2011, but no one actually expected him to leave. The Yankees needed the DH spot for Alex Rodriguez and other veterans, plus Jesus Montero was locked into a roster spot at the time, so signing another DH wasn’t a priority, even one as good as Ortiz. He eventually re-signed with the Red Sox to the surprise of absolutely no one. This was like when Mariano Rivera said he was open to signing with Boston during the 2010-11 offseason. Yeah, sure. Like that was going to happen.

October 19th, 2011: Yankees To Decline Damaso Marte’s Option

The Yankees will announce that they’re declining their 2012 option for Damaso Marte, according to Mark Hale of the New York Post (on Twitter). The left-hander missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing shoulder surgery last October. He’ll get a $250K buyout instead of a $4MM salary for 2012.

That’s World Series hero Damaso Marte to you. The Yankees declined Marte’s $6M option for 2009 and instead gave him a three-year deal worth $12M. He had a 6.39 ERA (5.41 FIP) in 31 innings during the life of the contract and didn’t pitch at all in 2011 due to injuries. But! …

You’re cool with me, Damaso.

October 19th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Kuroda, Darvish, Sabathia, Nova

Rafael Soriano will not opt out of the two years and $25MM remaining on his contract, though there’s nothing official yet, according to Marchand.

I don’t know about you, but I was shocked a pitcher who missed half the season with elbow trouble and had a 4.12 ERA (3.97 FIP) when he did pitch didn’t walk away from a guaranteed $25M.

October 20th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Sabathia, Swisher, Blake, Soriano

The Yankees are “very likely” to pick up Nick Swisher‘s $10.25MM option for 2012, reports ESPN New York’s Wallace Matthews, though they may wait “until the very last minute” (i.e. three days after the World Series) to do so.

I didn’t understand the “the Yankees might decline Swisher’s option!” talk that was going around after the Yankees were eliminated in the 2011 ALDS. Switch-hitters coming off a .260/.374/.449 (124 wRC+) season with 23 homers are a dime a dozen, I guess. No need to keep that guy for $10.25M. What a weird talking point that was. The option was a no-brainer and of course the Yankees picked it up.

October 21st, 2011: Heyman on Friedman, Darvish, Yankees

Free agent starter Freddy Garcia is popular with the Yankees’ front office and could return in 2012. The right-hander barely qualifies as a Type B free agent, according to our rankings.

The good ol’ Type-A/B free agent system. Garcia did qualify as a Type-B, meaning the Yankees would have received a supplemental first round pick had he signed elsewhere. It would have been, like, 55th overall. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Instead, the Yankees re-signed Garcia to a one-year deal worth $4M. There’s no such thing as too much pitching depth, right? Sweaty Freddy was good in 2011 (3.62 ERA and 4.12 FIP) and not so good in 2012 (5.20 ERA and 4.68 FIP). So it goes.

October 24th, 2011: Quick Hits: Yankees, Pirates, Moyer, Oswalt

The Pirates have prioritized catching help this offseason and the Yankees would “definitely” trade Francisco Cervelli in the right deal, according to Sherman. The Pirates may not view Cervelli as a starter, however.

The seeds were planted early. In fact, Brian Cashman said he originally proposed Cervelli for Justin Wilson back in 2012, but the Pirates said no. It wasn’t until November 2014 that they went through with that trade. Anyway, Cervelli missed most of 2011 due to injuries and the Yankees stashed him in Triple-A for all of 2012. His value was at an all-time low at the time.

October 27th, 2011: Boras Kidding About Reworking Cano’s Contract

6:32pm: Boras was just joking about a new contract for Cano, the agent tells George A. King III.  “Cash [Brian Cashman] and I have talked three or four times in the last three days. My statements were in jest. Cash always returns my phone calls,” Boras said. “My conversations with Cash about Robinson have nothing to do with the options. We fully expect the options to be exercised.”

9:57am: Agent Scott Boras phoned Yankees GM Brian Cashman to discuss the possibility of re-working Robinson Cano’s contract, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. Boras says he’s hoping to remove the 2012 and 2013 options on the second baseman’s deal and work out a new contract.

“I called Cash to ask about dropping the options and he hasn’t returned the call,” Boras told King.

Oh that silly Scott Boras. I have a hard time thinking Boras would have seriously discussed a contract extension that offseason, not unless the Yankees talked Mariners money. He was fully intent on getting Cano out on the open market and breaking the bank. And he did.

October 31st, 2011: Yankees, CC Sabathia Agree To Extension

CC Sabathia has agreed to a precedent-setting contract that will keep him in pinstripes and off of the free agent market. The 31-year-old left-hander announced on his Twitter account and on Zoodig.com that he has agreed to a new deal with the Yankees. 

Sabathia’s opt-out was, by far, the biggest story of the 2011-12 offseason — really the entire 2011 season, for that matter — and it was over quick. The Yankees and Sabathia agreed to an extension minutes before the opt-out deadline. He got to say he never did opt-out while still leveraging it into more money. Here’s the video in which Sabathia announced the extension:

All things considered, the opt-out situation could have been much worse. The Yankees tacked one additional year and $30M in guaranteed money on top of the four years and $92M left on his original contract. The extension also included the vesting option that covers next season. There was talk of adding two or three more guaranteed years to his contract.

Sabathia had a phenomenal season in 2011 (3.00 ERA and 2.88 FIP) and letting him walk was not something anyone wanted. The extension hasn’t really worked out as hoped — Sabathia had a great year in 2012, stunk from 2013-15, then rebounded nicely in 2016 — but I still love the big guy. Huge money contracts can work out worse.

The final month of the regular season has arrived, which means it’s time for another trip through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. We’re now in September 2011. September usually isn’t a big month for rumors. Both the trade deadline and the August 31 deadline to acquire postseason eligible players are in the rear-view mirror, so September usually features a lot of speculation and looking ahead to the offseason.

The Yankees entered September 2011 with an 81-53 record despite the season long concerns about their rotation. They were 1.5 games back of the Red Sox in the AL East and 7.5 games up on the Rays for the wildcard spot. That was the last season of the single wildcard system. The Yankees made no notable moves at the trade deadline in 2011, and all they did in August was add some scrap heap relievers. Let’s dig into the MLBTR archives.

September 1st, 2011: List Of Teams Interested In Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish apparently intends to pitch in the Major Leagues next year and it would be surprising if he doesn’t draw interest from ten-plus teams … Here’s a list of which teams have been linked to Darvish in the last calendar year:

• The Yankees have scouted him heavily.

It’s easy to forget now given all the success he’s had, but there were a lot of questions about Darvish back in the day. There were concerns about his slider and how it would translate to MLB with the different baseballs, things like that. The fact Hideki Irabu and Daisuke Matsuzaka fell so short of expectations didn’t help matters either. Darvish was viewed as a potential ace but not a sure thing.

The Yankees did reportedly place a bid for Darvish, though obviously they did not win. It was reported at the time that the Rangers blew everyone else out of the water. Whatever the Yankees bid, it wasn’t close. In hindsight, going hard after Darvish and letting CC Sabathia leave via his opt-out was the right move. It was not so obvious at the time. Darvish was an unknown and Sabathia had a Cy Young caliber season in 2011.

September 1st, 2011: Yankees Designate Ryan Pope For Assignment

The Yankees designated Ryan Pope for assignment, according to Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat (on Twitter). The 25-year-old right-hander was not on the Yankees’ active roster; the club had to designate him to create 40-man roster space for Jesus Montero and Scott Proctor.

Ryan Pope! He was the team’s third round pick in 2007, and the Yankees made him the first player ever drafted out of the Savannah College of Art & Design. (SCAD has had two other players drafted since then.) Pope flamed out as a starter in the minors but showed enough in relief to be protected from the 2010 Rule 5 Draft. Eventually the bullpen didn’t work out either. Pope became a minor league free agent after the 2013 season and has been out of baseball since. He has a 4.34 ERA in 512 career minor league innings, and he did make it as far as Triple-A.

September 3rd, 2011: Front Office Notes: Beane, Cubs, Epstein, Friedman

Three AL East general managers will likely be staying put, says FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (video link).  The Yankees and Brian Cashman are mutually interested in continuing their relationship

For a while in 2011 there was talk Cashman would either leave the Yankees because he was fed up with ownership going over his head — they panic signed Rafael Soriano during the 2010-11 offseason — or ownership would let him go for whatever reason. Whenever Cashman’s contract is up, there’s always talk he could leave or be let go, though I think that 2011 season was the first time I believed it was really possible. Before that it always seemed like pointless sports radio talk. It seemed possible then, but nope, he signed another three-year contract. And another one after that.

September 3rd, 2011: MLB Voids Contract Of Yankees’ Paniagua

THURSDAY: Major League Baseball has voided the $1.1MM contract of Yankees pitching prospect Juan Carlos Paniagua and suspended the right-hander for one year, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. MLB hasn’t specified — even to the Yankees — why Paniagua has been suspended, but “one-year suspensions are usually reserved for a player who presents false information to teams about his age or identity,” writes Badler.

The Paniagua saga went on for several years. He initially signed with the Diamondbacks for $17,000 in 2009, but MLB voided the deal and suspended him for a year because of falsified paperwork. While suspended, Paniagua added like 10 mph to his fastball, so the Yankees gave him $1.1M. Except that deal was voided and he was again suspended for a year after MLB found he was still using falsified documents. Once that suspension was over, the Cubs gave him $1.5M. The paperwork was legitimate that time. Paniagua was a significant prospect at one point, but not any more. He’s 26 and has a 3.75 ERA (4.06 FIP) in 62.1 relief innings for Chicago’s Double-A affiliate. Meh.

September 6th, 2011: Yankees Designate Lance Pendleton For Assignment

The Yankees designated right-hander Lance Pendleton for assignment, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (on Twitter). Though active roster spots are plentiful this time of year, the move opens up a spot on New York’s 40-man roster for George Kontos, whose contract was selected from the minors.

Pants Lendelton! I saw him make his MLB debut at Yankee Stadium wearing No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day. Three scoreless innings too. Pendleton was lost on waivers to the Astros in September 2011 but he only threw 4.2 innings for them. He spent the next season in Triple-A with the Rays and that was it. Out of baseball after 2012. Pendleton was a fringe prospect who kinda got hyped into something more, somehow. It was weird. He was like the Brady Lail of 2011.

September 7th, 2011: New York Notes: Cano, Johan, Reyes

Yankees GM Brian Cashman explained to John Harper of the New York Daily News why he was “very comfortable saying no” to the Mariners’ request to include Ivan Nova or Eduardo Nunez along with Jesus Montero in his offer for Cliff Lee last summer.  Montero’s stock is higher right now, but the debate remains open as to whether the Mariners should have chosen him over Justin Smoak.

To bad they can’t get a redo on that one, huh? The Yankees were a legitimate World Series contender in 2010 and Lee could have very well put them over the top. He would have changed everything. Remember, the Yankees lost to Lee and the Rangers in the ALCS. Imagine if they had him instead?

David Adams’ ankle supposedly threw a wrench into the trade, prompting the Mariners to ask for Nova or Nunez instead. There’s been speculation Smoak was the guy Seattle wanted all along, and once the Rangers put him on the table, they used Adams’ injury to back out of the deal with the Yankees. Who knows. Letting Nova or Nunez stand in the way of a Lee trade was not Cashman’s finest moment.

September 10th, 2011: Quick Hits: Red Sox, Iannetta, Santana, Willis

Andruw Jones has been playing all season with a small tear in his left knee, reports Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger.  The Yankees discovered the injury during Jones’ physical but signed the veteran outfielder anyway  (both Twitter links).

Andruw was awesome with the Yankees in 2011. He was their designated southpaw mashing fourth outfielder, and he hit .247/.356/.495 (132 wRC+) overall that season, including .286/.384/.540 (152 wRC+) against lefties. And he did this too:

Getting Mark Teixeira’s face to do this …

… was Andruw’s finest moment in pinstripes. He really was the perfect complement to Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson. The 2012 season didn’t go too well. But 2011? That was awesome. Pretty amazing Jones played the entire year with some sort of tear in his knee.

September 11th, 2011: Yankees Designate Steve Garrison For Assignment

The Yankees have cleared a 40-man roster spot for Austin Romine by designating Steve Garrison for assignment, tweets Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

Another blast from the past. I forgot all about Steve Garrison. The Yankees claimed him off waivers from the Padres during the 2010-11 offseason and he spent most of 2011 in Triple-A. Garrison did get to pitch in the big leagues that year though. He faced Smoak and Franklin Gutierrez on July 25th, and got them both to fly out. That’s it. That’s his entire MLB career. Nine pitches. Garrison spent last season in an independent league but does not seem to be active anywhere this year.

September 12th, 2011: Pedro Feliciano’s 2012 Season, Career In Question

Pedro Feliciano underwent surgery on his left rotator cuff last week, a procedure that will threaten the southpaw’s 2012 season, reports MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and Taylor Soper.  Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he “would be surprised if [Feliciano] pitched next year” and also noted that it would be difficult for Feliciano to recover from such an operation at age 35.

Blah, what a disaster the Feliciano signing was. At least it was only $8M, I guess. Feliciano did actually pitch in the Yankees’ organization in 2012 though. He was on a minor league rehab assignment following shoulder surgery and was preparing to join the big league roster in September, but he rolled an ankle covering first base in the minors, and that was that. Feliciano never threw a meaningful pitch for the Yankees. He did appear in 25 games for the 2013 Mets though, then spent 2014 in Triple-A with the Cardinals. Hasn’t pitch since.

September 16th, 2011: Martin Expressed Interest In Staying With Yankees

A month ago, Ben Nicholson-Smith identified Russell Martin as a non-tendered player who was contributing with a new team. If Martin gets his way, he’ll be with that new team in 2012 as well. The backstop told George A. King III of The New York Post that he’s interested in staying with the Yankees beyond the season.

Was non-tendering Russell Martin a thing? I don’t remember that being a thing. Keeping him seemed like a no-brainer. I guess the thinking was non-tender Martin and make Jesus Montero the starting catcher, but nah. Martin hit .237/.324/.408 (100 wRC+) with 18 homers in 2011 and he was great defensively. Non-tendering him would have been silly, even if the Yankees had Buster Posey v2.0 waiting in Triple-A. They could have tendered and traded him, if anything.

September 21st, 2011: Rosenthal On Moneyball

Yankees GM Brian Cashman admits that the Red Sox “were having a great deal of success with players of lesser ability,” adding, “I studied what they were doing to some degree, adjusted accordingly, brought the Yankees up to speed, brought us into the 21st century.”

I remember Cashman saying this was the reason they hired Joe Kerrigan as bullpen coach in 2006. Kerrigan had been Boston’s pitching coach for a number of years and Cashman wanted to pick his brain. After all their success in the late-1990s, the Yankees fell behind the times a bit in the early-2000s. A lot changed during the 2005-06 offseason. Kerrigan was hired and Billy Eppler’s pro scouting department was created, most notably.

September 23rd, 2011: Cashman We Tried To Drive Up Crawford’s Price

When the Yankees wined and dined Carl Crawford during last December’s winter meetings, most assumed he was their backup plan to Cliff Lee. Crawford agreed to a deal with the Red Sox before the end of the meetings and Lee eventually went back to the Phillies, but GM Brian Cashman told ESPN New York he was never really interested in signing the outfielder in the first place…

“I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up,” said Cashman. “The outfield wasn’t an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, ‘I feel like we’ve got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'”

The Yankees were connected to Crawford heavily during the 2010-11 offseason — there were even reports Cashman had dinner with Crawford’s agent at the Winter Meetings — and it never really did make sense. Gardner was coming off a very good first full season and they had Granderson and Nick Swisher as well. They didn’t need another high-priced outfielder. Turns out they were just trying to make sure the Red Sox or whoever else were going to pay top dollar for Crawford.

Cashman & Co. drove up the price for Jacoby Ellsbury the same way during the 2013-14 offseason too. Wait … dammit!

September 25th, 2011: AL East Notes: Reyes, Rays, Francona, Montero

The Yankees should give Jesus Montero a chance to catch the season’s last few games to see if he’s a viable option behind the plate, argues Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News.

I agreed with Mr. Bondy’s sentiment. The Yankees made it very clear that was not going to happen though. They called up Montero on September 1st in 2011 and he caught three games the rest of the season. He was lifted for a defensive replacement in two of the three games too.

Gary Sanchez, meanwhile, has caught three games this week alone, and 13 of the team’s last 16 games overall. That tells you all you need to know about how the Yankees feel about Sanchez as a catcher compared to Montero as a catcher. Sanchez is not Yadier Molina or anything like that, but he is way better than Montero ever was behind the plate.

A new month has begun, which means it’s time again to scroll back through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. We’re now in August 2011, so the trade deadline has passed, and the Yankees did nothing. No trades at all despite their pitching needs and some roster holes created by injury. The natives were rather restless about that.

It didn’t help that the Yankees slipped behind the Red Sox in the standings in July. They were 65-42 and a game back of Boston for first place on the morning on August 1st, and the Yankees were looking more and more vulnerable with each passing week. August was an opportunity to add pieces through waiver trades that maybe weren’t available at the deadline. Time to get to the rumors.

August 1st, 2011: Rosenthal On Yankees, Wandy, Ubaldo, Bailey

Yesterday’s push by the Yankees to acquire Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez came from ownership, not GM Brian Cashman.  SI’s Jon Heyman wrote yesterday that the Yankees offered to pay $21MM of the $38MM left on Rodriguez’s contract, implying they feel that Rodriguez is worth less than $7MM a year.  Rosenthal says the Astros were willing to pay $2MM of Rodriguez’s salary this year (essentially all of it) “or $5MM if his [player] option for 2014 were exercised.”

Wandy was pretty good back then. He had a 3.60 ERA (3.50 FIP) in 195 innings in 2010 and finished the 2011 season with a 3.49 ERA (4.15 FIP) in 191 innings. The next year he had a 3.76 ERA (3.93 FIP) in 205.2 innings before falling apart in 2013. Adding Rodriguez would have been a fine move at the time, especially since the Yankees could have used another left-handed starter.

The larger point here is ownership taking the reins and trying to make a move over the head over the baseball operations department, which has happened before and will surely happen again. Ultimately, the Yankees were unwilling to take on much money and the deal fell apart. I’m curious to know what ownership was willing to send the Astros in the trade. I’m almost afraid to ask.

August 2nd, 2011: Olney On Bell, Yankees, Pirates

The Yankees are well-positioned to pursue the next starting pitcher who becomes available on the trade market, since they kept their top prospects this July. They also figure to pursue Weaver when he hits free agency after the 2012 season.

Weaver in this case is Jered Weaver, who wound up signing a long-term extension with the Angels a few weeks after this report. Jeff’s little brother had a 2.41 ERA (3.20 FIP) in 2011 and was still in the middle of his legitimate ace phase. His performance started to collapse in 2014 as his fastball disappeared. Imagine if the Yankees had him on the books right now. It probably would have taken a five or six-year deal to sign him as a free agent after 2012, so they’d still have him through next year or the year after. Yikes.

As for getting involved in the pitching trade market during the 2011-12 offseason, the Yankees did exactly that. They traded Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda. The Yankees have come out ahead in that trade, but yeah, it hasn’t really worked out for anyone. Other starters traded that offseason include Derek Lowe, Jonathan Sanchez, Trevor Cahill, Mat Latos, Edinson Volquez, Travis Wood, Gio Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, and Jeremy Guthrie. There’s a couple good ones in there, but the Yankees opted for Pineda, and given how good he was a rookie, I can’t say I blame them.

August 2nd, 2011: AL East Note: Bundy, Cervelli, Upton, Red Sox

The Yankees and Pirates almost agreed to a deal that would’ve seen Francisco Cervelli go to Pittsburgh in exchange for right-hander Brad Lincoln, reports George A. King of the New York Post.  King hears from a Pirates source that the trade “was very close but [the teams] couldn’t agree on the value of the players.”  Such a move would have given the Yankees room to call up Jesus Montero as both a backup catcher and as a potential DH platoon partner for Jorge Posada.  Brian Cashman said Montero could potentially be called up once the rosters expand in September.

There seem to be a lot of “the Yankees almost traded Cervelli” stories out there. They tried to trade him for Russell Martin in 2010, they offered him to the Pirates for Justin Wilson a year or two before the Cervelli-Wilson trade actually happened, and now we hear they tried to trade him for Lincoln. Huh.

Anyway, Lincoln was the fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft, and by 2011 it was pretty clear he was not going to live up to that draft spot. He had a 6.66 ERA (5.49 FIP) during his MLB debut in 2010, and in 2011 he was an up-and-down spot starter. I’m guessing the Yankees were planning to try Lincoln in relief. He had a 3.76 ERA (4.40 FIP) in 119.2 mostly relief innings from 2012-13 before falling apart. Good thing this one didn’t happen.

August 3rd, 2011: Heyman On Hendry, Yankees, Astros

Yankees people don’t think Erik Bedard would last 20 minutes in New York. Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said Sunday that he’s happy to let Bedard’s arm respond to his critics.

Bedard allowed 22 runs and put 59 men on base in 38 innings with the Red Sox.

August 7th, 2011: New York Notes: Jimenez, Nova, Collins, Wade

Within the same piece, Blakeley goes on to discuss the Yankees’ July pursuit of Ubaldo Jimenez, saying that the organization feels Ivan Nova “is as good as this version of Jimenez.”

Blakeley is Gordon Blakeley, a longtime member of the Yankees’ front office. He left to join the Braves a year or two ago. Anyway, that comparison is not totally crazy. Ubaldo was signed through 2013 at the time. Here are his numbers and Nova’s numbers from the 2011 trade deadline through the end of the 2013 season:

	IP	ERA	FIP	K%	BB%	GB%	HR/9	bWAR	fWAR
Jimenez	424.2	4.45	4.17	21.3%	10.8%	42.0%	1.02	1.8	4.7
Nova	376.1	3.99	3.96	19.3%	7.4%	49.4%	0.96	5.6	4.9

See? Not crazy at all. At worse the two were comparable from the 2011 trade deadline through 2013, and at best Nova was far superior based on producing more WAR in almost 50 fewer innings. Plus Nova was making the league minimum and the Yankees would have had to give up other players to get Ubaldo too.

I wanted the Yankees to trade for Jimenez back in 2011. I really did. I was on the “send Montero to Colorado!” train. Good thing that trade didn’t come together for a few reasons.

August 8th, 2011: AL East Notes: Millwood, Posada, Lawrie

Jorge Posada is no longer the Yankees‘ regular DH and the final chapter of his career may be characterized by inactivity, writes Mike Bauman of MLB.com.

There are a lot of similarities between Posada in 2011 and Alex Rodriguez in 2016, aren’t there? Let’s list ’em:

1. Neither was hitting. Posada was hitting so poorly in 2011 that he was demoted to ninth in the lineup while A-Rod has been so bad this season that he doesn’t even play anymore.
2. Neither could play the field. Posada had to stop catching because of concussion issues. A-Rod had to stop playing third base because his hip surgeries sapped his mobility.
3. Both were kept on the roster for off-the-field reasons. The Yankees did not release Posada in 2011 because he was a legacy Yankee. A-Rod has not been released because the team owes him a ton of money through next season.

The Yankees have cut back on Rodriguez’s playing time this season rather dramatically. They did the same to Posada in the second half of the 2011 season as well. He started only 20 of the team’s final 56 games that year, including only seven of 28 games in September. The key difference is the contracts. Posada was a free agent after that 2011 season while the Yankees are stuck with A-Rod through next season.

August 10th, 2011: Quick Hits: Tigers, Angels, Rhodes, Pirates

The Yankees have some interest in signing recently-released left-hander Arthur Rhodes to a minor league deal, according to George A. King III of the New York Post.

Arthur Rhodes was still pitching in 2011, huh? I guess he was. The Cardinals picked him up after the Rangers released him and he threw 8.2 innings for them. The Yankees were connected to Rhodes fairly often through the years and I never wanted any part of him. I’d seen him give up way too many back-breaking homers to the Yankees, most notably in Game Six of the 2000 ALCS …

… and Game Four of the 2001 ALCS …

… so yeah, I never wanted the Yankees to go near him. You don’t forget homers like that. I wanted the Yankees facing Rhodes, not employing him.

August 13th, 2011: Yankees To Sign Fifth Round Pick For $1MM+

The Yankees will sign fifth round pick Greg Bird for a signing bonus in the seven figures, reports ESPN’s Keith Law (on Twitter). MLB’s slot recommendation for the 179th overall pick is just under $132K.

The 2011 draft was the last draft before the bonus pools and Bird received the largest bonus the Yankees handed out that year ($1.1M). Only three players drafted and signed by the Yankees that year have reached MLB: Bird, Branden Pinder, and Matt Tracy. (Jon Gray and Nick Goody went back to school and were drafted again later.) The success of this draft class is all tied to Bird. If he returns from shoulder surgery and becomes an impact player, great. If not, the Yankees got nothing of value from this draft.

August 13th, 2011: Yankees Sign Scott Proctor

The Yankees have signed Scott Proctor to a minor league contract, reports Mark Feinsand of The New York Daily News (on Twitter). He’ll report to their Triple-A affiliate early next week.

The one thing I’ll never forget about Proctor’s second stint in pinstripes was Game 162. That was the game the Rays made the huge comeback while the Red Sox collapsed in Baltimore, and ultimately missed the postseason. Proctor came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning of Game 162 and you could tell he was in there for the duration. The Yankees had clinched everything they could have possibly clinched, so Joe Girardi kept sending Proctor back out there, inning after inning. He threw 2.2 innings and 56 pitches before Evan Longoria hit his walk-off homer. Proctor was going to thrown 200 pitches if necessary.

August 14th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Swisher, Sabathia, Soriano, Garcia

There’s no guarantee Bartolo Colon or Freddy Garcia are Yankees next season, but Garcia projects as a Type B free agent, meaning the club figures to at least offer him arbitration.

Garcia did actually qualify as the Type-B free agent that offseason and yes, the Yankees offered him arbitration. Which he rejected! Ultimately the Yankees ended up re-signing Garcia, but had he gone elsewhere, they would have received the 54th pick in the draft as compensation (assuming my math is correct).

The 54th pick in the draft that year? A kid named Mitch Gueller, who I actually wrote up as a potential draft target. Gueller currently has an 8.10 ERA in Low-A ball. The best player taken between that 54th pick and the Yankees’ next pick (89th overall, Austin Aune) is Alex Wood, almost by default. Not much to see in the late supplemental first/early second round that year.

August 16th, 2011: Yankees Claim Raul Valdes

The Yankees claimed left-hander Raul Valdes off of waivers from the Cardinals, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (on Twitter). To create space on the 40-man roster, the Yankees moved Jeff Marquez to the 60-day DL. They’re assigning Valdes to Triple-A and won’t need an active roster spot for him, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (Twitter link).

The Yankees called up Valdes that September and he allowed two runs in 6.2 innings as a lefty specialist. Forgettable Yankees don’t get more forgettable. Valdes is still pitching at age 38, you know. He currently has a 3.61 ERA in 77.1 innings as a starter for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan. How about that?

August 19th, 2011: Yankees Claim Laffey, Designate Gustavo Molina

The Yankees claimed left-hander Aaron Laffey off of waivers from the Mariners and designated catcher Gustavo Molina for assignment, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (on Twitter).

Like Valdes, Laffey got a look in September and he allowed four runs in 10.2 relief innings. Laffey is exactly why you should teach your kids to throw left-handed. The guy has hung around the league since 2007 and he’s banked roughly $4M as a journeyman southpaw. And he’s got a good pension coming too. It’s good work if you can get it. Laffey is only 31 and he’s currently in Triple-A with the Nationals. He’s still got a few more years of call-ups ahead of him.

August 20th, 2011: Yankees, Other Contenders Scouting Rich Harden

Rich Harden has been drawing interest from several contenders, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Yankees were just one of the teams on hand to witness his dazzling start last night. Harden held a potent Blue Jays offense scoreless through seven innings while punching out 11 batters and allowing just two hits and four walks.

At this point Harden was already battling all those injuries and trying to hang on. Here’s that eleven strikeout performance mentioned in the blurb. Harden’s stuff still looked pretty good back then:

The Athletics never did trade Harden that year. Not at the deadline and not in an August waiver deal. He finished the season with a 5.12 ERA (4.69 FIP) in 82.2 innings and that was it. Harden got hurt the following spring and hasn’t pitched since. Baseball is cruel.

August 23rd, 2011: AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Red Sox, Darvish

The Yankees have scouted Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish heavily, according to Sherman. Darvish, 25, “is coming” to the Major Leagues this offseason, according to one of Sherman’s sources.

The Yankees did make a bid for Darvish after the season, though we never did hear the amount. Reportedly it was well short of the $51.7M the Rangers bid to win his negotiating rights. I don’t think anyone didn’t want the Yankees to go after Darvish, who has been pretty much as advertised since coming over. He’s an ace and he misses a ton of bats. The Tommy John surgery stinks, but that’s an occupational hazard, not a character flaw.

That offseason the Yankees focused on re-signing CC Sabathia and understandably so. Sabathia was awesome and he showed he could thrive in the tough AL East. The extension hasn’t worked out as hoped, and yeah, going after Darvish rather than Sabathia would have been a much better move based on what we know now. Back then it was very different. Sabathia was coming off another Cy Young caliber season.

August 24th, 2011: Yankees Claim Carlos Pena; Deal Unlikely

5:06pm: GM Brian Cashman told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch that a trade is “very unlikely” for the Yankees and that he’s “not optimistic” about making a deal. MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reports (on Twitter) that Pena isn’t going anywhere.

4:16pm: The Yankees claimed Pena, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). That means every team in baseball other than New York and possibly Boston passed on Pena. It’s clear that the Yankees want Pena, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, but Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says the Cubs remain reluctant to make a deal (Twitter links).

Hah, I forgot the Yankees claimed Pena. He was having a typical late-career Carlos Pena season in 2011, hitting .225/.357/.462 (121 wRC+) with 28 homers, a ton of walks (16.7%), and a ton of strikeouts (26.6%). I assume the Yankees wanted him as first base/DH insurance. The Cubbies went 71-91 that season and were 56-73 on the day of this report, and I’m not quite sure why they were unwilling to discuss a trade with the Yankees. Pena was on a one-year contract. Weird.

August 31st, 2011: AL East Notes: Red Sox, Orioles, Montero, Rays

The Yankees were also involved in trade talks for Gonzalez, according to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. However, Baltimore president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail preferred the pitcher the Rangers were offering.

The Gonzalez referred to here is Mike Gonzalez, the southpaw reliever. He had some incredible years with the Pirates back in the day, but, by 2011, he was essentially a middle reliever and left-on-left matchup guy masquerading as a high-leverage pitcher. The O’s traded him to the Rangers for Pedro Strop that year and the Yankees instead cycled through the Aaron Laffeys and Raul Valdeses of the baseball world as they looked for a second lefty to complement Boone Logan. How thoroughly unexciting.

It’s a new month, which means it’s time once again to take a trip back through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. We’re now in July 2011, which means the trade deadline is approaching. It was a busy month for sure. July always is. The Yankees went into July 2011 with a 48-31 record and a 2.5 game in the AL East. Their Cliff Lee-less patchwork rotation was getting the job done.

Despite their record though, the Yankees were dealing with some injuries prior to the trade deadline, and the middle of their bullpen was looking a little leaky. Also, rotation help was still a priority because no one know how Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia would handle the second half as their workloads grew. The Yankees were a surprise first place team looking to stay in first place. Let’s go back through the rumor mill.

July 1st, 2011: Olney On Deadline Plans For AL Teams

The Yankees are convinced their internal pitching options are better than what’s available on the market right now. A Rafael Soriano setback would put them in the reliever market.

Soriano did suffer a setback in May, but by July his rehab was going well. He returned on July 30th, the day before the trade deadline, and pitched well enough the rest of the way (3.33 ERA in 24.1 innings). Soriano was the team’s midseason bullpen addition that year. The Yankees never did trade for a reliever — they brought in a bunch of scrap heap guys throughout the season, which every team does every year — and really, they didn’t need too. Soriano joined David Robertson and Mariano Rivera in the late innings, and Boone Logan became Joe Girardi’s trusted lefty. The bullpen was solid. Better than that from the seventh inning on.

July 4th, 2011: Yankees Sign Miguel Andujar

The Yankees signed Dominican third baseman Miguel Andujar, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. The 16-year-old obtains a $700K bonus.

Kind of a big deal, no? That $700,000 bonus was the second largest the Yankees gave out during the 2011-12 international signing period, behind only the $2.5M they gave Cuban lefty Omar Luis (d’oh). Andujar has not zoomed through the minors, but he did reach Double-A this year, and he’s having a breakout season: .297/.350/.459 (135 wRC+) with ten homers in half a season. He’s still only 21 and has blossomed into one of New York’s best prospects.

July 5th, 2011: AL East Notes: Orioles, Jeter, Lackey

Derek Jeter, who returned to the Yankees‘ lineup from the disabled list last night, told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that he’s unhappy with his first half performance and intends to improve “everything” in the second half.

Jeter missed a month with a calf strain in the middle of the 2011 season. He hit .260/.324/.324 (78 wRC+) in 293 plate appearances before the injury and .331/.384/.447 (128 wRC+) in 314 plate appearances after, so yeah, Jeter did improve “everything” after he returned. I don’t remember him playing that well after the injury at all, do you? I was surprised when I saw the numbers.

July 7th, 2011: Mets Listening On Carlos Beltran

The Yankees aren’t interested in Beltran, though the Red Sox are a possible fit given the low level of offensive production Boston has received from its right fielders this year. Mets GM Sandy Alderson says “it’s still a little bit early” to make deals, since the Mets are “relevant” in the race for playoff berths.

The Mets dealt Beltran to the Giants for Zack Wheeler a few weeks later and the Yankees almost certainly could have gotten him for Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances at the time because they were equally excellent prospects and much closer to MLB. That said, a Yankees-Mets trade of that magnitude probably wasn’t happening. Besides, the outfield was full (Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher), plus Jorge Posada was locked in at DH. The Yankees could have found playing time for Beltran if they really wanted to though.

July 7th, 2011: Yankees Have Interest In Sean Burnett

The Yankees have expressed interest in Nationals lefty reliever Sean Burnett, though the two clubs have not yet had any discussions according to MLB.com’s Bill Ladson (Twitter links). Craig Heist of WTOP 103.5 FM in Washington originally reported the rumor. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says that the Yankees have discussed Burnett internally, but Washington has not yet made him available (on Twitter).

True story: Sean Burnett is somehow still only 33. Feels like he should be pushing 40 by now. He was a pretty big prospect with the Pirates back in the day — he was No. 25 on Baseball America’s 2003 top 100 list, right between John Van Benschoten and Scott Hairston — but injuries derailed his career. Burnett found success with the Nationals as a reliever and pitched to 2.81 ERA (3.48 FIP) with Washington from 2009-12.

Despite big time interest from many teams, the Nationals hung onto Burnett until he became a free agent following the 2012 season. They didn’t get prospects or a draft pick for him. The Angels signed Burnett to a two-year, $8M deal prior to the 2013 season, the same deal the Yankees gave Pedro Feliciano, whose injury had them exploring a trade for Burnett in the first place. Baseball is a flat circle.

July 9th, 2011: Quick Hits: Yankees, Riggleman, Fernandez, Orioles

Alex Rodriguez may need knee surgery that could keep him out a month, and Joel Sherman of The New York Post hears that the Yankees will consider outside options to fill in at third base (Twitter link). Their first choice is to use in-house candidates Eduardo Nunez and Brandon Laird.

A-Rod ended up missing about a month and a half following knee surgery, and the Yankees rolled primarily with Nunez and Eric Chavez at third base in the meantime. They never made a trade. The team’s third basemen hit .243/.286/.319 during A-Rod’s absence. Yeesh. The Eduaric Chavunez plan didn’t work out too well.

July 10th, 2011: Cafardo’s Latest: Bell, Kazmir, Kendall, Aramis

The Yankees, Rangers, Diamondbacks, and Phillies are a few other teams monitoring Bell.

The Padres never did trade Heath Bell at the deadline. They let him walk as a free agent after the season and took the two draft picks instead. Back then you got two draft picks, including the signing team’s first rounder, when you lost a top free agent. Now you get a dinky supplemental round pick. Don’t forget to trade your elite rental relievers, folks, especially if you know you’re not contending and don’t plan to re-sign them.

July 13th, 2011: Heyman On K-Rod, Sabathia, Fielder, Beltran

Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia “has done some selling on the Yankees” to his friend Prince Fielder.  Heyman doesn’t take this as a sign the Yankees are interested in Fielder as a very expensive designated hitter, but rather an indication that Sabathia expects to stick around with the club after this season.

I definitely remember a “sign Prince, dump Teixeira” movement back in the day. Fielder hit .299/.415/.566 (160 wRC+) with 38 home runs in his final season with the Brewers, and he was only 27 too. Teixeira was 31 years old in 2011 and he hit .248/.341/.494 (124 wRC+) with 39 dingers. Replacing Teixeira with the younger Fielder made sense in a world where contracts and positional needs don’t exist.

Instead, the Yankees rotated players in and out of the DH spot in 2012 while Prince took a nine-year, $214M deal from the Tigers. That contract has gone horribly wrong, though the Tigers were able to unload it on the Rangers two years later. Since Fielder signed that contract, he’s been worth +7.0 fWAR and +7.2 bWAR. Teixeira is at +5.6 fWAR and +8.0 bWAR during the same time. The Yankees can wave goodbye to Teixeira after the season. Fielder still has $24M coming to him per year from now through 2020. Zoinks.

July 13th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Romero, Jimenez, Clippard

J.C. Romero intends to opt out of his deal with the Nationals and sign a minor league deal with the Yankees if Washington doesn’t promote him to the Major Leagues by Friday, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. Romero, who hasn’t yet been promoted, wants to secure his release and sign with the Yankees, according to Olney.

The Nationals did not call up Romero, so he indeed used his opt-out clause and signed with the Yankees. He threw 12.1 innings for Triple-A Scranton before being released. Romero spent the next few years bouncing around different organizations.

This blurb reminds me of a report we read about in last month’s MLBTR Archives post, in which the Yankees were accused of tampering with Andrew Miller by trying to convince him to opt-out of his minor league deal with the Red Sox. How did Romero know the Yankees wanted to sign him before his opt-out date? The two sides had to talk. That’s tampering too, right? My guess is this stuff happens all the time. Like, all the time. For some reason it became a big deal with Miller.

July 17th, 2011: Rosenthal On Phillies, Adams, Royals, Guthrie

Mike Adams is one player under control past this season who has drawn “serious interest” from the Phillies, as we heard yesterday. But the Yankees and Rangers, among other teams, are also very interested in the righty.

Adams was ridiculously good bad in the day. He overcame a ton of injuries earlier in his career and managed to throw 217 innings of 1.66 ERA (2.40 FIP) ball for the Padres from 2008-11. San Diego traded him to the Rangers for pitching prospects Joe Wieland and Robbie Erlin at the 2011 trade deadline. Trading a setup man for two starting pitching prospects? Madness. No team would ever do that. It’s not like that’s the going rate or anything.

July 17th, 2011: Ubaldo Jimenez Rumors: Sunday

The Rockies and Yankees match up well, according to SI.com’s Jon Heyman. Colorado likes Jesus Montero, but the Yanks are reluctant to include Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, or Ivan Nova along with Montero.

There were a TON of Ubaldo rumors in July 2011 and I will spare you most of them in this post because they’re all repeats. The Yankees were very much in on Jimenez, who was having a very good season after having an ace-caliber season a year earlier. Still, there were concerns about his trademark inconsistency, and the Yankees really didn’t want to give up any of their top prospects for something less than a sure thing. I was all aboard the Ubaldo train. I was ready to trade Montero+ for him. Good thing I’m not in charge.

July 17th, 2011: Quick Hits: Wigginton, Reyes, Phillies, Lowe

Ty Wigginton‘s name has come up in talks between the Yankees and Rockies, tweets SI.com’s Jon Heyman. As Heyman points out, Wigginton could fill in for Alex Rodriguez as he recovers from surgery.

Ty Wigginton! He was one of those guys who was connected to the Yankees every year. Yankees need a third baseman? Get Ty Wigginton. First baseman? Ty Wigginton. Second baseman? Ty Wigginton. Bench player? Ty Wigginton. Ty Wigginton, Mark DeRosa, and Scot Shields were the cures to whatever ailed the Yankees each year. It was amazing.

Wigginton was with the going nowhere Rockies in 2011 and he was having a decent enough season, hitting .242/.315/.416 (85 wRC+) while playing the four corner positions. The Yankees had lost A-Rod to his knee surgery and adding another versatile bench bat is never really a bad idea. The Rockies never did trade Wigginton though. They kept him, lost 89 games, and let him walk as a free agent. Got nothing for him.

July 18th, 2011: AL East Notes: Papelbon, Kuroda, Blue Jays, Rays

The Yankees called Hiroki Kuroda‘s agent to gather information and heard that the starter doesn’t want to leave Los Angeles for the East Coast, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter).

I wanted the Yankees to trade for Kuroda so bad back then. Folks said he was just an NL pitcher and all that, but nope. Kuroda was an awesome Yankee from 2012-14. Several teams had interest in him at the 2011 trade deadline, though ultimately he told the Dodgers he would not waive his no-trade clause because he wanted to remain close to his family in Los Angeles.

July 19th, 2011: Mariners Rumors: Felix, League

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik still plans to retain ace Felix Hernandez, he tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Rosenthal says the Yankees occasionally check in to see if the team will change its stance, but there’s no indication they’ll budge. 

Felix was only 25 back in 2011 and he was coming off his Cy Young season. He was one of the most valuable commodities in the game and the Mariners were smart to hang onto him.

Do you think the Yankees still check in occasionally about Felix? I mean, I’m sure they do, but probably not as often, right? He’s pitched well since the start of last season (3.37 ERA and 3.82 FIP) but his strikeout rate is dropping while his walk and homer rates climb. He’s also had some physical issues and there’s $95M left on his deal through 2019. Felix is still awesome! But it appears his best years are behind him. He’s into his decline phase now.

July 20th, 2011: Quick Hits: Cespedes, Ludwick, Pettitte

The Yankees have not contacted Andy Pettitte about coming out of retirement and do not expect to do so, according to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. 

Nah, Pettitte would never come out of retirement to pitch. That would be crazy.

July 21st, 2011: New York Notes: Dickey, Isringhausen, Garcia

The Yankees have some interest in Jeremy Guthrie according to SI.com’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter), but they know Orioles‘ owner Peter Angelos will not trade with them.

This rumor almost feels like the Yankees were playing a joke on the O’s. “Well, we’d like to send you some players for Guthrie, but you won’t trade with us, so too bad.” Guthrie was serviceable all those years with the Orioles and yeah, he would have helped the Yankees in 2011, but this one wasn’t going to happen.

July 21st, 2011: Minor Moves: Chico, Singleton, Dobies, Dodgers

The Yankees released right-hander Alan Horne, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (on Twitter). Horne, a first rounder ten years ago, allowed 13 runs in 6 1/3 innings at Double-A Trenton this year.

Great, now I have all the prospect sad. Horne was not a Yankees’ first round pick. The Indians took him 27th overall out of high school in 2001 but he didn’t sign. The Yankees grabbed him in the 11th round of the 2005 draft out of Florida. Horne had a great 2007 season in Double-A (3.11 ERA and 3.30 FIP in 153.1 innings) and was one of the team’s top prospects. The Yankees can’t have nice things though. Horne got hurt the next season, and the season after that, and the two seasons after that. Following that breakout 2007 season, he had a 7.23 ERA (5.69 FIP) in 107 total innings the rest of his career. Baseball can be a real son of a bitch.

July 22nd, 2011: Yankees Sign Marcus Thames

The Yankees signed Marcus Thames to a minor league deal, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. The 34-year-old, who played for the Yankees in 2002 and 2010, will report to the Yankees’ minor league complex before he’s assigned to Triple-A. Thames hit .288/.350/.491 in a part-time role with the Yankees last year, adding 12 home runs.

Thames had an awesome season after signing a minor league deal with the Yankees in 2010, and he turned it into a guaranteed one-year deal worth $1M with the Dodgers. It didn’t work out and they released him in July. Thames never did actually play for the Yankees in 2011. He instead starting his coaching career after the season, one that has since landed him in the Bronx as the Yankees assistant hitting coach.

July 22nd: Yankees Asked About Shields, Rays Said No

The Yankees asked the Rays about James Shields and heard that he is not available, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (on Twitter). Olney suggests that the right-hander would also be off-limits to the Red Sox, since they’re ahead of Tampa Bay in the standings, like the Yankees.

I imagine the phone call went something like this:

“Are you guys open to trading James Shie…”
… click …

Not only were the Yankees and Rays division rivals, but Shields was signed cheap, he was in the middle of a phenomenal season (2.82 ERA and 3.42 FIP), and Tampa was contending. They won 91 games and went to the postseason that year. It never hurts to ask, but there was basically no chance the Rays would have ever traded Shields that summer, especially to the Yankees.

July 23rd, 2011: Yankees Rumors: Adams, Sabathia, Pitchers, Igawa

Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Bill Pennington of The New York Times that he negotiated deals in 2008 and 2009 that would have let Kei Igawa return to Japan, but the lefty refused both times. Cashman also said he was prepared to trade Igawa to the Padres in 2007 after San Diego claimed him off waivers, but “ownership was not willing to let him go yet.”

Yeah I remember this. The Padres claimed Igawa off trade waivers in August 2007 and the Yankees could have dumped him and the remaining $18M or so left on his contract on San Diego. They still paid the $26M posting fee, but at least they would have cut their losses, you know? Instead, Igawa remained and spent 2008-11 in Triple-A. Talk about a dud.

July 24th, 2011: Cafardo On Clippard, Pence, Upton, Myers

• The Rangers have made “a lot of inquiries” on Tyler Clippard. The Braves, Yankees, and Red Sox also have varying levels of interest in the Nationals’ setup man.
• Athletics lefty Craig Breslow is drawing interest from the Yankees and Red Sox.

The Yankees cast a pretty wide net for bullpen help. Clippard was one of the best setup men in all of baseball at the time, and Breslow was Breslow, meaning the quintessential journeyman lefty specialist. Neither guy was traded at the deadline. The Nationals keeping Clippard made perfect sense. Breslow was shipped to the Diamondbacks as part of the Trevor Cahill trade no one won after that 2011 season.

July 25th, 2011: AL East Rumors: Farnsworth, Upton, Kuroda

The Yanks had a scout at Edwin Jackson‘s start yesterday in Cleveland, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.

Jackson was only 27 at the time and he had shown flashes of brilliance, but he had been on four teams in the previous three calendar years. Everyone wanted him and then wanted to get rid of him, it seemed. The White Sox ended up trading him at the deadline to the Blue Jays, who immediately flipped him to the Cardinals for Colby Rasmus. From 2008-13, Jackson played for the Rays, Tigers, Diamondbacks, White Sox, Cardinals, Nationals, and Cubs. Seven teams in six seasons.

July 25th, 2011: Yankees Rumors: Jackson, Prospects, Gio Gonzalez

The Yankees would pay big for A’s lefty Gio Gonzalez, tweets Sherman, but Oakland still refuses to discuss the southpaw.  The 25-year-old ranks eighth in the American League with 124 strikeouts and seventh with a 2.67 ERA, and is not arbitration-eligible until after this season.

Gio was only 25 at the time, and by then he’d already been traded for Jim Thome, Freddy Garcia, and Nick Swisher. Some pretty big names, huh? Gonzalez had a breakout season in 2011 (3.12 ERA and 3.64 FIP) and the Yankees did pursue him aggressively again after the season, but the Nationals beat them out. That trade basically amounted to Gio for Tommy Milone, Derek Norris, and John Jaso. Eh.

July 27th, 2011: Yankees Tried For Ricky Nolasco

The Yankees tried for starter Ricky Nolasco, tweets SI’s Jon Heyman, but the Marlins are not ready to deal him.  Earlier, Joel Sherman of the New York Post talked to an “AL personnel man” who said he thought the Marlins would at least listen seriously on Nolasco.

Nolasco, like Jackson, was one of those guys who had a better FIP than ERA every single season — he had a 4.76 ERA and 3.56 FIP in 2009-11 — which back in those days meant he was bound to pitch better going forward. Now we know it doesn’t always work like that. The Marlins kept Nolasco through the deadline and traded him the following season to the Dodgers for three bullpen prospects who didn’t pan out. The Yankees were connected to pretty much every possible pitcher prior to the 2011 trade deadline, and they ended up acquiring none.

July 27th, 2011: Cubs Trying To Unload Zambrano

2:14pm: The Cubs called the Yankees about Zambrano, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, but the Yankees have no interest.

Nope. Zambrano was more trouble than he was worth at this point of his career. His game was slipping and his blowups were becoming more frequent. Nope. Nope nope nope.

July 27th, 2011: AL East Notes: Lee, Rays, Yankees, Jackson

The Yankees signed 14th rounder Rookie Davis to a deal worth $550K, according to Callis (on Twitter). The right-hander/first baseman obtained the biggest bonus so far for any player selected after the third round.

The 2011 draft was the last draft before the bonus pools were put in place, so the Yankees were able to pay Davis a big overslot bonus with zero consequences. He was a total projection pick who panned out, at least enough for the Yankees to include him in the Aroldis Chapman trade this past winter. Davis has a 2.67 ERA (4.71 FIP) in 64 Double-A innings for the Reds this year, but for some reason he’s no longer able to miss bats (11.7 K%).

July 28th, 2011: Erik Bedard Rumors: Tuesday

The Red Sox and Yankees will have scouts in attendance, report Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, who say the Sox are “all over” the lefty.  The Mariners have been scouting Boston’s Double and Triple-A affiliates, according to the FOX writers.

Seattle ended up trading Bedard to the Red Sox at the deadline and the Yankees predictably got crushed for it. Then Bedard allowed 22 runs in 38 innings with Boston and all was forgotten. That was a three-team trade with the Dodgers, and of the six players involved, Bedard worked out the best. None of the prospects panned out.

July 28th, 2011: Red Sox Rumors: Vargas, Harden, Buchholz, Bedard

The Red Sox and Yankees scouted Rich Harden in Oakland today, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

By then Harden was in the “trying to hang on” phase of his career. Injuries, including a torn shoulder capsule, took all the electricity out of his arm. Sucks. Harden made four good and one bad start prior to the trade deadline and the A’s decided to keep him. He then had a 5.57 ERA in ten starts and 53.1 innings after the deadline. Harden hasn’t pitched since. Injuries are the worst. This guy was so ridiculously good back in the day.

July 30th, 2011: Red Sox Pushing Hard For Quentin, Thornton

Joel Sherman of the New York Post senses that the White Sox “have really fallen out love with Thornton, and would love move the $13MM he is owed for 2012-13.”  He says the Yankees have been watching the lefty.

The White Sox fell so out of love with Thornton that they kept him for another two years before trading him to the Red Sox at the 2013 trade deadline. The Yankees signed him as a free agent after that season and that didn’t work out. At least they were able to dump him and his contract on the Nationals.

July 30th, 2011: Yankees Inquired On Francisco Liriano, Span

5:29pm: The Yankees inquired on Francisco Liriano only to hear that the Twins aren’t trading him, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter).

2:32pm: The Yankees inquired on Twins center fielder Denard Span, tweets Yahoo’s Tim Brown.  Brown imagines that this inquiry could be part of something bigger, since the Yankees are currently set on outfielders.

The interest in Liriano is nothing new. We’ve read about him a few times over the last couple months worth of MLBTR Archives posts. The interest in Span is new though, and I don’t remember it at all. Like I said earlier, the Yankees had a full outfield (Gardner, Granderson, Swisher) plus a full-time DH (Posada), so Span definitely would have had to be part of something bigger. Maybe they were looking to pick up Span and flip Gardner or Swisher elsewhere? Granderson was having an MVP caliber 2011 season, so he wasn’t go anywhere. Intrigue!

July 31st, 2011: Rockies’ Talks For Ian Stewart Heating Up

1:45pm: The Yankees have called on Stewart, tweets Jayson Stark.

Stewart had some good but not great seasons with the Rockies from 2008-10 (96 wRC+), but he was in the middle of a disaster 2011 season (11 wRC+). It seems like the Yankees were hoping to buy super low on a 26-year-old former top prospect lefty hitter with power who, at worst, could help fill-in while A-Rod was on the DL. Stewart basically stopped hitting after 2010 though. The Rockies kept him through the deadline and his bat never recovered.

July 31st, 2011: The Latest On Wandy Rodriguez

The Yankees offered to pay $21MM of the $38MM left on Wandy’s contract, but that wasn’t enough for the Astros.

This sounds ridiculous now, but Rodriguez was rock solid back then. He had a 3.49 ERA (4.15 FIP) in 2011 and went on to pitch to a 3.72 ERA (4.05 FIP) from 2012-13. No, Wandy wasn’t great, but he could help you in the middle to back of your rotation. I understand why the Astros didn’t want to pay him $17M to pitch for another team. He was pretty good!

July 31st, 2011: AL East Notes: Rays, Bedard, Hairston, Jimenez

Jack Curry of the YES Network hears that the Yankees wanted a shoulder MRI for Ubaldo Jimenez, but the Rockies declined (Twitter link).

Yeah, this was never going to happen, and frankly it was a ridiculous request on the part of the Yankees. Could you imagine letting another team give your player an MRI? Get outta here. There was no upside there for the Rockies. If the MRI shows a healthy shoulder, you still get the same trade package. If it shows some sort of red flag, he’s your problem and his trade value evaporates. I get why the Yankees asked, but man, that was never in a million years going to happen.

We are now in June and that means it’s time for another edition of our MLBTR Archives series. All we do each month is look back at the rumors we obsessed over five years ago. So many things that sounded silly back then make total sense now, and vice versa. As a reminder, we’re only posting this stuff for fun, not to embarrass the reporters or the MLBTR crew. They’re all cool in my book.

Alright, so back in June 2011 it was starting to become clear the Yankees hit the scrap heap lottery with Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. They lost out on Cliff Lee over the winter and everyone was panicked about the rotation, both those two filled in nicely. It helped that Ivan Nova started to come into this own as well. The Yankees went into June with a 30-23 record and a one-game lead in the AL East, but they still had some pitching needs. Let’s dive into MLBTR’s June 2011 archives.

June 3rd, 2011: Yankees To Explore Deals For Starting Pitching

Though it may seem like the Yankees’ rotation is a strength, it has been solid rather than spectacular to this point in the season. The Yankees aren’t assuming Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia can continue pitching this well, so, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, they will be looking for ways to bolster their starting pitching depth this summer.

“Overall, the pitching is going to be the defining thing for us,” GM Brian Cashman told Sherman. “The pitching has excelled, but it is not wise or prudent to sit back and try not to reinforce and improve on it.”

Here is a complete list of starting pitchers traded during the 2011 season: Rodrigo Lopez, Felipe Paulino, Tommy Hunter, Jason Marquis, Erik Bedard, Doug Fister, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Edwin Jackson. Fister had not really come into his own yet while Lopez, Marquis, and Bedard were nearing the end of the line. Hunter was at the point where it was beginning to look like his future lied in the bullpen, and, sure enough, it did.

Jackson and Ubaldo were the two big names at the deadline. Jackson was coming up on free agency and the White Sox were bad, so flipping him made sense. He went to the Cardinals in a three-team trade that sent Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays. Jimenez pitched like an ace from 2009-10 (3.17 ERA and 3.23 FIP in Coors Field) but struggled in 2011 (4.46 ERA and 3.58 FIP), and no one was really sure which one was the real Ubaldo. Turned out to be the 2011 version. The Yankees were in on him but were unwilling to trade their top prospects, namely Jesus Montero and Manny Banuelos, so to the Indians he went. I remember being open to trading Montero for Jimenez. Zoinks.

June 3rd, 2011: Quick Hits: Orioles, Danks, Athletics, Yankees, Mets

The Mets are open to talking trade with the Yankees, writes David Lennon of Newsday.  Even though there are obvious hurdles, Lennon wonders if the two could be a match in a deal involving Carlos Beltran.

There was no real fit for Beltran on the 2011 Yankees. That team had Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher, and Curtis Granderson in the outfield, and the worst of those players (Gardner) was in his second full season the year after posting a .383 OBP. Jorge Posada was struggling at DH but the Yankees were never going to replace him.

The Mets were in sell mode at the time — they traded Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez that deadline, but did hold onto impending free agent Jose Reyes — and they had a few pieces who might have been able to help the Yankees. I don’t think Brian Cashman or Mets GM Sandy Alderson would have any problem making a crosstown trade if they believe it’s the best thing for their team. I think that’s true today and I think it was true in 2011. The two ownerships might be a little more squeamish. Potentially losing a trade to your crosstown rival is a bad look.

June 6th, 2011: Quick Hits: Zambrano, Stewart, Reds, Hall

Levine and Haugh each cite the Yankees as a potential trade partner, though it’s hard to imagine the Yankees taking on a high-priced pitcher with such baggage.  It’s even harder to imagine New York parting with a significant player like Joba Chamberlain or Brett Gardner in exchange for Zambrano, as Levine suggests.

The Cubs were quite bad in 2011 and Carlos Zambrano’s crazy guy act was starting to wear thin. He was only 30 at the time but he was starting to slip, enough that the Cubbies sent him to the bullpen in 2010. Zambrano had a 4.82 ERA (4.59 FIP) in 145.2 innings in 2011 and he was owed $18M in 2012, so yeah, not many clubs wanted him. The Yankees needed an arm, but not that badly.

The Cubs ended up eating that $18M and sending Zambrano to the Marlins following the season. He had a 4.49 ERA (4.47 FIP) with Miami in 2012 and then made seven minor league starts with the Phillies in 2013. That was it. He hasn’t pitched since. Today is Zambrano’s 35th birthday, you know. Hard to believe he’s still only 35.

June 7th, 2011: Quick Hits: Pettitte, Harper, Gordon

Andy Pettitte said on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York 1050 that he is “loving” being home and that he doesn’t expect to play ever again. “If I missed it so much and I felt in my heart like that was the thing I need to do, I would try to start thinking about it and start considering it again,” he said. “But I’m just telling you right now, I don’t think I will ever pitch again.” Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork has the quotes from Pettitte.

Hey guys, remember that time Pettitte retired, said he was “loving” being home and didn’t expect to play again, then came back to pitch two more years? Good times. Don’t get me wrong, Andy coming back was awesome. It was just so absurd. There was the non-stop “will he or won’t he retire” non-updates during the 2010-11 offseason that, frankly, got to be annoying. Then Pettitte sat out a year before coming back and pitching to a 3.49 ERA (3.64 FIP) from 2012-13. Crazy.

June 7th, 2011: Stark On Montero, Athletics, Phillies

Though the Yankees never officially offered Jesus Montero to the Royals for Joakim Soria last year, executives around baseball are convinced GM Brian Cashman would have parted with the top catching prospect to acquire the Royals’ reliever.

This report was basically a bunch of executives guessing Cashman would have traded Montero for Soria, which I don’t buy. It’s a good thing he didn’t either. Michael Pineda hasn’t worked out as hoped, but in 2011 Soria had what was by far the worst year of his career up to that point (4.03 ERA and 3.49 FIP), then he blew out his elbow and needed his second career Tommy John surgery in 2012. He left as a free agent after that season. Montero for Soria in 2010 would have worked out horribly based on everything we know now, even with Montero turning into a dud.

June 8th, 2011: Yankees Claim Jeff Marquez

The Yankees claimed pitcher Jeff Marquez off waivers from the White Sox, MLBTR has learned.  The 26-year-old righty had been designated for assignment by Chicago on Sunday.  The move will require the Yankees to open up a spot on the 40-man roster; Marquez will be in uniform for tonight’s game against the Red Sox.

Jeff Marquez! The random former prospects are easily my favorite part of the MLBTR Archives series. The Yankees selected Marquez with the 41st overall pick in the 2004 draft — that was the compensation pick for losing David Wells to the Padres as a free agent — and he was one of their better prospects for a few years. He eventually went to the White Sox in the Nick Swisher trade.

Marquez made his MLB debut with the 2010 ChiSox, allowing two runs in one inning. The Yankees grabbed him off waivers in 2011 and he ended up appearing in three games with them that summer, allowing a run in four innings. Marquez hurt his shoulder and he spent most of that season on the DL. The Yankees cut him loose after the season. Marquez is still out there slingin’, you know. He was in an independent league last year, and this year he has a 3.08 ERA in ten starts and 52.2 innings for a team in Mexico.

June 10th, 2011: Heyman On Yankees, Red Sox, Twins, D’Backs

Yankees GM Brian Cashman doesn’t expect elite starting pitching to be available this summer. “I just don’t see a No. 1 pitcher you can pinpoint,” Cashman said. 

Ubaldo was the closest thing to a No. 1 pitcher available at the time, and like I mentioned earlier, he did indeed pitch like a true No. 1 from 2009-10. Didn’t last though. Fister ended up being the guy who was moved at the deadline and provided ace-caliber production.

June 10th, 2011: Olney On Yankees, A’s, Moustakas

The Yankees have lost reliever after reliever to the disabled list this year, but that doesn’t mean they’re about to rush top pitching prospects like Manny Banuelos to the Bronx. GM Brian Cashman told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that he’ll try to strengthen the team’s bullpen in other ways. Here are the rest of Olney’s rumors:

• Triple-A reliever Kevin Whelan could be an option for the Yankees, who have a depleted bullpen instead of the dominant one they expected after the offseason.

Rafael Soriano (elbow), Pedro Feliciano (shoulder), and Joba Chamberlain (elbow) were all on the DL on the date of this report. Also, Phil Hughes was on the DL with a tired arm, forcing Colon into the rotation. David Robertson emerged as David effin’ Robertson that year and had taken over as the eighth inning guy. Luis Ayala was pitching in the seventh and Boone Logan was in his first year as the primary lefty. The rest of the bullpen was up in the air.

Whelan, who came over in the Gary Sheffield-Humberto Sanchez trade many moons ago, had a 2.75 ERA (3.28 FIP) in 52.1 Triple-A innings in 2011. It was one of those “hey, this guy who never threw strikes is throwing strikes!” situations. Whelan did get called up that summer, and he promptly walked five in 1.2 innings. He spent the 2012-15 seasons bouncing around Triple-A, and he did make it back to MLB briefly with the 2014 Tigers. Whelan’s out of baseball now, as far as I can tell.

June 13th, 2011: Yankees Sign Greg Smith, Cory Wade

The Yankees have signed southpaw Greg Smith and right-hander Cory Wade to minor league contracts, according to the International League’s transactions page.  Both pitchers will report to Triple-A Scranton.

Smith was nothing more than Triple-A roster filler. All those injuries depleted the team’s depth. Wade ended up being pretty damn awesome for the 2011 Yankees. He was called up a few days after signing and he gave the team 39.2 innings with a 2.04 ERA (3.76 FIP) despite an 88 mph fastball. Wade had that Bugs Bunny changeup. He was awful in 2012 though, and wound up getting cut loose after the season. He’s been out of baseball since 2014. We’ll always have the summer of 2011, Cory.

Also, the Yankees signed Wade because oft-injured bullpen prospect Tim Norton blew out his shoulder. Norton had a 1.50 ERA (2.31 FIP) with 46 strikeouts and 30 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A that year, I remember reading the club was preparing to call Norton up before the injury. They had to sign Wade instead. Norton never pitched again after the 2011 injury and he’s been coaching in the farm system the last few years. He is currently High-A Tampa’s pitching coach.

June 14th, 2011: Yankees To Sign Brian Gordon

Brian Gordon has opted out of his contract with the Phillies and will sign with the Yankees, according to to Ken Davidoff of Newsday (via Twitter, courtesy Bob Brookover of The Philadelphia Inquirer). There is a condition in Gordon’s contract that stipulated he be added to an acquiring team’s Major League roster should he opt out, as Davidoff recently reported.

Ah yes, remember Brian Gordon? I remember the outrage when he was called up to make a spot start because the Yankees went with Gordon over a young Triple-A kid with good numbers named David Phelps. Anyway, Gordon made two starts with the Yankees, one of which was not awful. He asked for his release a few weeks later to pursue an opportunity in Asia. Gordon actually returned to the Yankees and spent some time in Triple-A in 2014. He’s been out of the game since.

Phelps, meanwhile, never recovered emotionally from getting passed over for the spot start and now sells homemade wicker baskets roadside in Missouri. Sad.

June 15th, 2011: Quick Hits: Bautista, Brian Gordon, Kuroda

Sherman also discusses Hiroki Kuroda, who he feels could be a target for the Yankees if the Dodgers want to dump his salary and the righty is willing to waive his no-trade clause.

Man I was all over Kuroda at the 2011 trade deadline. I wanted the Yankees to go after him so bad, though I’m pretty sure Kuroda eventually told the Dodgers he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause, so it was a moot point. Plenty of folks told me I was an idiot because Kuroda was just an NL pitcher. Hah! Who’s wrong now mofos? I’m wrong all the time but I was right about Kuroda, so excuse me while I live it up. Anyway, here’s a much needed #HIROK video.

Miss that guy so much.

June 15th, 2011: Rosenthal On Reds, Nunez, Edwin Rodriguez

The bright side of Derek Jeter‘s injury is that it gives the Yankees a look at Eduardo Nunez, their possible shortstop of the future.  Rosenthal also notes that Nunez could be a potential trade chip.

The “Eduardo Nunez, Shortstop of the Future” era was a weird one. The tools were there. Nunez could make contact with ease and he had a rocket arm, but man, he was so error prone. They were hilarious errors too. There are hilarious errors and sad errors. Nunez made hilarious errors. He hit .265/.313/.385 (87 wRC+) in over 300 plate appearances while filling in for injuries during that 2011 season, which was kinda sorta promising for a 24-year-old middle infielder. Nunez never built on that though and his defense became unplayable. He’s managed to carve out a role with the Twins as utility player. Good for him.

June 16th, 2011: Scott Kazmir Rumors: Thursday

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he hasn’t looked into the possibility of acquiring Kazmir but will eventually, tweets MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez.  Cashman commented, “I know he’s struggled.”

The Angels flat out released Scott Kazmir about a week before this report, eating his $12M salary. He was hurt and he had a 5.54 ERA (5.12 FIP) in 299 innings from 2009-11. Yikes. I remember some folks wanted the Yankees to sign him because they needed pitching and he was a big name, but no one bit and he went unsigned. Kazmir had to work his way back to the big leagues through the independent leagues. He’s had a very nice second phase to his career as a sinker/changeup pitcher after starting his career as a flame-throwing fastball/slider guy.

June 16th, 2011: Yankees Release Amaury Sanit

The Yankees released righty Amaury Sanit to open a 40-man roster spot for Brian Gordon, tweets Newsday’s Ken Davidoff.  To clear a spot on the 25-man roster, Lance Pendleton was optioned to Triple-A.

Sanit was one of those lower profile Cuban players. The Yankees signed him cheap in 2008 and he spent a few years in their farm system before getting a chance as an up-and-down guy in 2011. He had a bullpen saving long relief appearance in his MLB debut. Sanit made only three big league appearances after that before hurting his elbow and getting released. He’s been pitching in Mexico ever since.

June 17th, 2011: Cubs Rumors: Zambrano, Dempster, Soriano

Some of the Yankees top evaluators have more interest in Ryan Dempster, reports Levine, as you might expect.  They’ll get a look at him Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.  Dempster has $7.7MM remaining on his contract this year, as well as a $14MM player option for 2012.  He also has full no-trade rights and strong ties to Chicago.

The Cubs never did trade Dempster that season, probably because he had a 4.80 ERA (3.90 FIP) and another year on his contract. Why sell low when the team is going nowhere and you can afford the contract? Those innings aren’t going to pitch themselves. The Cubs ended up sending Dempster to the Rangers for two young players at the 2012 trade deadline, one of whom is righty Kyle Hendricks, who’s been a rock solid fifth starter for Chicago. That worked out for them. The Yankees? I thought they were smart to pass then and still think that now.

June 17th, 2011: Gammons: Yankees, Others Tampered With Miller

The Red Sox announced today that Andrew Miller will make his season debut against the Padres on Monday after calling him up from Triple-A before his opt-out clause became an issue. However, in an appearance on WEEI’s Mut & Merloni Show today, Peter Gammons said that the Yankees and several other teams tried to get Miller to opt-out of his deal. WEEI.com’s Jerry Spar has the transcript.

“I know this,” said Gammons, “There were a lot of teams that tampered and tried to get him to do the opt-out, including the New York Yankees. A lot of teams wanted him to opt out on Wednesday. Because of his trust for the Red Sox and how much they’ve invested in him — not in terms of money but in terms of effort to just get his delivery back and be patient with him, he stayed. In some ways, they’re fortunate. Because I think he could have gotten twice as much money if he had left.”

Huh, I don’t remember hearing about this at all. This probably happens all the time, right? When a guy has an opt-out date coming up, doesn’t his agent send out some feelers and gauge the market? That seems prudent.

June 22nd, 2011: Minor Deals: Lamb, Tiffee, Periard

The Yankees have signed Mike Lamb and Terry Tiffee to minor league deals, reports Donnie Collins of The Scranton Times-Tribune. Both infielders were playing in the independent Atlantic League, Lamb with the Camden River Sharks and Tiffee with the Lancaster Barnstormers. They will head to Triple-A.

Lamb and Tiffee were just Triple-A roster filler, though Lamb is a notable footnote in Yankees history. The Yankees acquired him from the Rangers in the minor trade back in 2004 after Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing basketball, and he was going to be their starting third baseman that season. Then the Yankees went out and acquired American Hero Alex Rodriguez to play the hot corner. New York flipped Lamb to the Astros for a minor leaguer at the end of Spring Training. That 2011 stint with Triple-A Scranton was Lamb’s last hurrah in pro ball.

June 23rd, 2011: Cashman: Reyes To Yankees ‘Not Going To Happen’

GM Brian Cashman told Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News that the Yankees are not going to acquire Jose Reyes any time in the foreseeable future. Cashman said a move for Reyes is “just not going to happen” and explained that he believes in his club’s current shortstops.

There was — and still is, kinda — this weird narrative about the Yankees going after Reyes that I’m not sure would exist if he hadn’t played with the Mets. Every year it was “Derek Jeter’s going to retire soon and Reyes can replace him at short,” which I guess made sense, except Jeter didn’t retire until Reyes had started his decline phase. People were talking about him replacing Jeter in like 2010. That just wasn’t going to happen.

The Mets never did trade Reyes at the deadline that year. They took the two draft picks after the season and used them on catcher Kevin Plawecki and infielder Matt Reynolds. That was all ownership though. The Wilpons didn’t let Alderson trade him because they wanted butts in the seats.

June 24th, 2011: K-Rod Would Consider Trade To Yankees, Rays

6:06PM: Rodriguez described himself as “irritated” about the story describing his interest in a trade to the Yankees, tweets Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger.  The closer reiterated that he wants to stay with the Mets.

8:13AM: Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that he would consider accepting a trade to a contending team like the Yankees, even if it meant setting up rather than closing. Rodriguez says he’d “love to stay” put, but understands that the Mets may approach him about waiving the no-trade protection that allows him to block deals to ten teams.

The Yankees were connected to K-Rod all the time too, though that’s a bit more understandable because teams always have room for another high-end reliever. The Mets did trade him that summer — I remember the trade was announced like ten minutes after the All-Star Game ended — for two prospects who never amounted to much. I have a hard time thinking the Wilpons would have signed off on a trade sending Rodriguez to the Yankees.

June 25th, 2011: Olney’s Latest: Cashman, Rays, K-Rod, Managers

In today’s Insider-only blog post, ESPN’s Buster Olney spoke to executives that believe this will be Brian Cashman’s last season as Yankees GM. His contract expires after the season, and it could just be a simple case of burnout. “I think maybe he’s finally had it,” said one GM. “That’s a job that will take a lot out of you.” Olney cites Cashman’s recent stretch of brutal and uncharacteristic honestly as evidence, but also notes that there have been three other instances in which he’s looked ready to leave, only to end up staying on three-year deals.

That was two three-year contracts ago. Cashman signed a three-year deal following the 2011 season and then another three-year contract following the 2014 season. That’s five straight three-year contracts, I believe. We’ve heard the “he’s burned out” and the “he’s sick of ownership overruling him” stuff many times over the years, yet Cashman is still around. Will he be around after his current deal expires following next season?

June 26th, 2011: Davidoff On Padres, Bell, Yankees, Reyes

The Yankees have called the Padres about Bell, but haven’t been as aggressive as other clubs who would use Bell to close games.

Heath Bell was pretty damn awesome for a few years there, but there were definitely some red flags in his game that 2011 season. I remember wanting the Yankees to stay away at the trade deadline and in free agency. Bell’s homer rate basically doubled in 2011 and his strikeout rate fell from 29.2% from 2009-10 to 19.9% in 2011. The Yankees never got particularly close to acquiring Bell as far as we know. The Padres never traded him, took the two draft picks when he left as a free agent after the season, and Bell immediately became cannon fodder. San Diego used one of the compensation picks to select righty Zach Eflin, who they later traded for Matt Kemp.

June 26th, 2011: AL East Notes: Hughes, Montero, Blue Jays, Rays

Rival evaluators have taken note of Jesus Montero‘s decline in offensive production this year, says ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Insider only). According to Olney, it’s led to some speculation that the Yankees could push to trade Montero this season “in an effort to recoup some value.”

Ah yes, the “Montero is bored” narrative. I definitely think there was some truth to that, though I didn’t consider it as much of a character flaw as I should have. Character flaw isn’t really the right term. I overlooked the apparent lack of motivation. Anyway, here are some Triple-A numbers:

2010 Montero: .289/.353/.517 (133 wRC+) with 21 homers in 123 games
2011 Montero: .288/.348/.467 (121 wRC+) with 18 homers in 109 games

The numbers aren’t that much worse, but they’re worse, and when a guy spends a full year at a level then repeats it the next year, the numbers should improve. Montero came up in September and mashed some dingers, then the Yankees flipped him for five years of a high upside starter. The idea they had to “recoup some value” was pretty crazy though. That sounds like rival execs trying to push his value down.

June 27th, 2011: New York Notes: Crosstown Trades, Osuna, Reyes

The Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays, Athletics, and Padres watched Roberto Osuna throw in Mexico on Thursday, reports Roberto Espinoza of Vanguardia (link in Spanish).  The Red Sox are also interested.  The 16-year-old Osuna is one of the top pitchers in the July 2nd class.

That’s the same Roberto Osuna who is currently in Toronto’s bullpen. The Blue Jays gave him a $1.5M bonus back in 2011 and injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, limited him to 109 minor league innings from 2012-14. Osuna managed to make the Blue Jays out of Spring Training as a 20-year-old last year, and he’s now one of the best relievers in the league. The kid skipped Double-A and Triple-A.

That 2011-12 international signing period was the first year with bonus restrictions. Every team had $2.9M to spend that year, then the next year they starting basing the bonus pools on the reverse order of the standings. The biggest bonus the Yankees handed out that year went to third baseman Miguel Andujar. He got $750,000. The best player and prospect they signed that summer? Luis Severino. The Yankees picked him up for only $225,000.

June 28th, 2011: Sherman On Yankees, Padres, Clippard

Hoping for the Yanks to acquire Jair Jurrjens or Derek Lowe?  We’re not sure if either is available, but Sherman says “the Yankees’ policy has become pretty much to run away from Atlanta pitching after having successful Braves hurlers blow up on them.”

I’m trying to remember which Braves pitchers blew up on the Yankees. Jaret Wright for sure. Chris Hammond too. He had a 2.86 ERA (3.25 FIP) in 63 innings with New York in 2003 but I’m not sure anyone felt comfortable with him on the mound. I guess Steve Karsay fits. He only spent a half-season with the Braves before coming to the Yankees though. Does Denny Neagle count? He had a stint with the Reds between the Braves and Yankees. Javy Vazquez 2.0 didn’t work out too well, and more recently, there’s David Carpenter.

Braves pitchers seem to break down at a higher rate than all other pitchers, and maybe it’s just a fluke. Jurrjens, Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy, and the late Tommy Hanson all broke down physically and/or had their performance collapse two or three years into their careers. Alex Wood’s elbow is acting up now too. Even if it is a fluke, that kind of recent track record is going to scare teams away. Say no to Braves pitchers. The long-term track record is awful unless you’re a Hall of Fame talent.

June 29th, 2011: Minor Deals: Kensing, Bautista

The Yankees have signed Logan Kensing to a minor league contract according to his representatives, CAA Baseball, on Twitter. The 28-year-old right-hander did not pitch in affiliated baseball last year and has a 5.81 ERA in 161 big league innings. He pitched for Yankees manager Joe Girardi with the Marlins in 2006.

I could have sworn Kensing spent some time with the Yankees, but apparently not. He only spent a few weeks in Triple-A. Once upon a time Kensing was supposed to be a future closer with the Marlins, though that never quite worked out. He’s still active though. In fact, Kensing made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster this year. He didn’t last long (4.2 innings) before being designated for assignment.

June 29th, 2011: Yankees Acquire Sergio Mitre

Sergio Mitre is heading back to the Bronx. The Yankees acquired the right-hander from the Brewers for cash considerations, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). Milwaukee designated Mitre for assignment Monday and he has since drawn interest from other teams.

That’s 2009 World Series champion Sergio Mitre to you. Mitre spent parts of three seasons with the Yankees. He had a 6.79 ERA (5.30) in 51.2 innings in 2009 and a 3.33 ERA (4.69 FIP) in 54 innings in 2010 before the team traded him to the Brewers for Chris Dickerson in Spring Training 2011. Milwaukee got sick of him and designated him for assignment, so the Yankees brought him back to help their injury depleted bullpen.

Mitre’s second stint with the Yankees lasted 5.1 innings. He allowed nine runs on nine hits and four walks before going down with a shoulder injury. The Yankees released Mitre following the season, he threw 11.1 innings in winter ball in Mexico in 2012, and hasn’t pitched since. Sergio Mitre was Esmil Rogers before Esmil Rogers came along.

It is time, once again, to go back and take a trip through the MLB Trade Rumors archives. We’re now in May 2011, so the season is well underway and teams have started to get serious about prep work leading up to the trade deadline. The Yankees lost Andy Pettitte (retirement) and Cliff Lee (signed with the Phillies) in the offseason, but did add Rafael Soriano.

The big story heading into May 2011 was CC Sabathia’s impending opt-out clause. That was a thing all season. Sabathia was still a bonafide front of the rotation workhorse at the time, and the possibility of losing him to the opt-out clause was scary, particularly after missing out on Lee. The Yankees were still looking for rotation help in May as well. Time to have some fun and dig back through old rumors.

May 1st, 2011: New York Notes: Lowe, Reyes, Mets, Ownership

The Braves could look to trade Derek Lowe even if they’re still in the playoff hunt, according to a scout who follows the team. Ken Davidoff of Newsday says the Yankees, who “negotiated seriously” with Lowe when he was a free agent, would be an obvious candidate to kick the tires on the right-hander if he’s available.

True fact: I wanted the Yankees to sign Lowe, not A.J. Burnett, during the 2008-09 offseason. Good thing that didn’t happen. Burnett at least gave the Yankees one really good year in 2009. Lowe came out of the gate with a 4.67 ERA (4.06 FIP) in the first year of his four-year, $60M deal with the Braves.

Atlanta did not trade Lowe during the 2011 season. They instead send him to the Indians in a pure salary dump trade after the season. Lowe didn’t pitch well in Cleveland in 2012 either, so they released him at midseason, at which point the Yankees picked him up off the scrap heap. He had a four-inning save in his first game in pinstripes. Remember?

May 1st, 2011: Kevin Millwood Opts Out Of Contract

11:23am: ESPN.com’s Buster Olney confirms (via Twitter) that Millwood has opted out of his contract with the Yankees.

Millwood was very weirdly a hot topic for a few weeks back in 2011. It appeared the Yankees had major rotation issues and he was a familiar name, but he was also 36 years old and coming off a season with a 5.10 ERA (4.86 FIP) for the Orioles. There’s nothing wrong with a minor league deal though, so the Yankees signed him, Millwood allowed eight runs in nine Triple-A innings, then opted out. He later spent some time in Triple-A with the Red Sox before the Rockies let him make nine starts that year. The infatuation with Millwood was always a bit odd to me.

May 3rd, 2011: Minor Deals: Halsey, Cintron

The Yankees have signed left-hander Brad Halsey to a minor league contract, according to the AP (via the Washington Post). Halsey began his MLB career with the Yankees, who drafted him in 2002, but he hasn’t appeared in a big league game since 2006. The 30-year-old has a 4.84 ERA with 5.0 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 286 1/3 career innings for the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Athletics.

Ergh. Halsey, who the Yankees sent to the Diamondbacks in the Randy Johnson trade, had his career sabotaged by major shoulder problems. He had a 7.52 ERA in 32.1 minor league innings with the Yankees in 2011 and never pitched again after that. Halsey had drug problems throughout his career and was killed in a fall in 2014. Josh Peters wrote about Halsey’s career and off-the-field problems. Really sad stuff. He died at 33.

May 5th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Russo, Prospects, Granderson

The Yankees explored trading Kevin Russo during Spring Training, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).  Sherman notes that New York could take Russo off their 40-man roster to make room for Jorge Vazquez as a replacement for the injured Eric Chavez, though Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees blog believes Ramiro Pena will be called up instead.

Russo had his moments with the Yankees in 2010 (this game and this game, most notably) but there was no role for him on the 2011 team. He was a classic versatile/good stats minor leaguer who looked maybe like he could be a useful bench player, but it didn’t happen. The Yankees designated Russo for assignment literally the day after Sherman’s report, and he later cleared waivers and remained in the organization as a non-40-man roster player. Russo never did get back to MLB after 2010. He did hit .249/.301/.315 in an independent league last year though.

May 6th, 2011: Yankees Claim Jess Todd

The Yankees claimed right-hander Jess Todd off of waivers from Cleveland, the Indians announced. The Indians had designated Todd for assignment on April 30th.

Jess Todd is definitely a real person and not someone made up. For a while Todd and Chris Perez were supposed to be the long-term 1-2 punch in the Cardinals bullpen, but Perez was traded away and Todd never panned out. He allowed two runs in 1.2 innings with Triple-A Scranton before being released. Unlike Perez, Todd was still active full-time last season. He had a 5.51 ERA in 81.2 innings with Boston’s Triple-A club. He is not pitching anywhere this season as far as I can tell.

May 8th, 2011: New York Notes: Reyes, Jeter, Logan, Pridie

Within a piece about slow starters, Joel Sherman of the New York Post says he talked to 12 scouts or officials and not a single one believes Derek Jeter will “approach his old self.”

This is why scouts make the big bucks, folks. It takes a trained eye to tell you 38-year-old Jeter will not approach his old self, especially coming off a season in which he hit .270/.340/.370 (93 wRC+). Of course, Jeter then went out and hit .297/.355/.388 (104 wRC+) in 2011, and followed it up with a .316/.362/.429 (117 wRC+) effort in 2012. Sometimes scouts screw up the easy ones too.

May 10th, 2011: New York Notes: Jeter, Berkman, Mets

As Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out, it’s easy to forget that the Yankees declined their 2011 option for Lance Berkman. The switch-hitter has been among the best hitters in baseball this year, but the Yankees couldn’t have known that in the fall. At the time, they had a DH of their own (Jorge Posada) and Berkman’s $15MM option seemed steep, even for the Yankees.

This was a weird thing for Sherman to write because the Yankees agreed not to pick up Berkman’s option to get him to accept the trade, per Ken Rosenthal. He wanted to become a free agent after the season and test the open market. Besides, the Yankees had Posada at DH and Mark Teixeira at first base. There was no room for Fat Elvis even if they wanted to pick up the option. Facts get in the way of this LOLYanks story.

May 11th, 2011: Bartolo Colon Looks To Stem Cells For New Start

What’s to explain Colon’s resurgence, at age 37 and after five years dominated by shoulder and elbow problems?  According to a story in the Dominican daily Diario Libre, the new life in Colon’s arm could be partially attributable to two treatments of stem cells – or “células madre” as they’re called in the Dominican Republic, where Colon had the procedures. The doctors, Sergio Guzman and Leonel Liriano, told the newspaper they had envisioned using the treatment on Pedro Martinez, but they also sent “an invitation” out to Colon, which he accepted in March 2010. (Pedro’s invitation, the article says, is still open). Guzman was quick to insist, though, that when they took fatty tissue and bone marrow from Colon’s hip and injected it into injured tissues in his rotator cuff and elsewhere in his right shoulder, they weren’t doing anything revolutionary.

This was a big deal back in 2011. Colon was pretty awesome early that season — he had a 3.86 ERA (3.78 FIP) in 37.1 innings on the day of this report — and the doctors he used in the Dominican Republic were kinda shady, so suddenly performance-enhancing drugs entered the conversation. For what it’s worth, MLB looked into things and walked away satisfied. Of course, Colon was suspended 50 games after failing a PED test in August 2012 when he was with the Athletics, so yeah. The guy was as close to out of baseball as it gets in 2010. The Yankees took a chance on him and he has a 3.64 ERA (3.62 FIP) in 935.2 innings since. Wild.

May 13th, 2011: Quick Hits: Astros, Lincecum, Yankees, Beltran

Rosenthal says the Yankees shouldn’t rush lefty Manny Banuelos to the Majors. “Let Manny become Manny … No sooner than 2012,” Rosenthal writes.

There were an awful lot of Yankee fans who saw Banuelos strike out Kevin Youkilis with a 3-2 changeup in Spring Training in 2011 and deemed him MLB ready. That was weird. Banuelos, who was still only 20 at the time, had a 3.75 ERA (4.15 FIP) in 129.2 innings at Double-A and Triple-A in 2011. He made six minor league starts in 2012 before blowing out his elbow. Banuelos has been dealing with elbow problems ever since. That’s a shame. Calling him up 2011 was definitely a thing that was talked about. The Yankees never really needed him though.

May 14th, 2011: Jorge Posada May Be In Breach On Contract

7:31pm: Mired in a season-long slump, Jorge Posada pulled himself from tonight’s lineup according to Yankees GM Brian Cashman on the FOX Saturday Night broadcast. Posada had been penciled into the ninth spot in the order for the first time in 12 years, and ESPN’s Buster Olney says (on Twitter) that he refused to play for that reason. He has given no indication that he’s retiring.

This was ugly and Joe Girardi absolutely deserves some of the blame. Posada was not hitting at all — he went into that game with a .165/.272/.349 (68 wRC+) batting line — and Girardi was not wrong to move him down in the lineup, but he chose to bat Posada ninth for the first time during a nationally televised game against the Red Sox. Not the best timing. That was pretty embarrassing for Jorge.

That said, Posada had no right to pull himself from the lineup no matter how pissed off he was about batting ninth. There was talk he would retire, that he demanded a trade, that the Yankees would suspend him or even look to void his contract and call up Jesus Montero, all sorts of crazy stuff. Posada sat out a few days to collect himself before making an apology. The team accepted the apology and the matter was closed. That was rough though. The end of the line is rarely pretty for legacy players and Posada was certainly no exception.

May 17th, 2011: Yankees Sign Randy Flores

The Yankees signed lefty reliever Randy Flores to a minor league deal, reports Danny Knobler of CBS Sports.  The deal includes an opt-out, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the opt-out is before the All-Star break.

The Yankees signed Pedro Feliciano in the offseason and he almost instantly blew out his shoulder, leaving the team short a lefty reliever. (World Series hero Damaso Marte, who was still with the Yankees at the time, was hurt as well.) Flores was a depth pickup and he was okay with Triple-A Scranton (3.07 ERA in 29.1 innings), but apparently the Yankees didn’t like what they saw, so they released him. That 2011 season was Flores’ last as a player.

May 21st, 2011: Quick Hits: Branyan, Bedard, Vazquez, Turner

Joel Sherman of The New York Post points out that the Yankees once drafted Mets‘ infielder Justin Turner, but he turned down a $200K offer as 29th round pick in 2005 and returned to school for his senior season. Turner signed with the Reds for $50K as a seventh round pick in 2006, then was traded to the Orioles in the Ryan Freel–Ramon Hernandez swap and was later claimed off waivers by the Mets. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI against the Yanks last night.

Here is a mostly complete list of active big leaguers the Yankees drafted but did not sign: Turner, Jon Gray, Tyler Lyons, Jake Petricka, Gerrit Cole, Rob Scahill, Drew Storen, Tyler Ladendorf, Doug Fister, and Chris Davis. I think that’s all of them. Cole and Davis are the headliners, obviously. Storen and Fister are pretty big names too. Gray is a recent top prospect who is still cutting his teeth at the MLB level. Turner’s had some nice years recently and everyone else is an up-and-down depth player. Every team has a list of players like this though. They’ve all failed to sign a draft pick who went on to become a pretty good player down the line. The Yankees are not unique.

May 23rd, 2011: Quick Hits: Herrera, Bautista, Blevins

Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues points out that recently-designated southpaw Jerry Blevins could be an appealing option for the Yankees if they’re looking for more upside than Randy Flores offers.

This was when RAB made it big and first started appearing on MLBTR. I remember being all over Blevins in 2011. The A’s waived him like four times that year and every single time I said the Yankees should claim him. They never did. No one did, actually. Blevins remained with the A’s all season and for another two years as well.

Blevins, who was only 27 at the time, had five years of team control remaining including that 2011 season. He pitched to a 3.29 ERA (3.61 FIP) with +2.5 WAR in 216 relief innings during those five years of control. Lefties hit only .188/.251/.323 with a 28.3% strikeout rate and a 5.8% walk rate against him during that time too. Lefties who are still in their 20s with an out-pitch breaking ball and a minor league strikeout rate over 30% are almost always worth a claim. SMH, Yankees. SMH.

May 25th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Soriano, Colon

A third MRI on Rafael Soriano‘s elbow has prompted the Yankees to send the pricey reliever to see Dr. James Andrews, report Mark Feinsand and Sean Brennan of the New York Daily News.  The writers note that this marks Soriano’s sixth elbow-related DL stint; he’s a survivor of Tommy John surgery and ulnar nerve transposition surgery.  I’m not sure what surgeries are left, but the decision by Hal and Hank Steinbrenner and Randy Levine to overrule GM Brian Cashman on this signing is looking bad.  If the team’s bullpen depth is compromised due to the Soriano injury, Cashman might be forced to throw more money and/or prospects at the situation.

Soriano’s first year in pinstripes was really bad. He was hurt for most of it, and when he did pitch, he wasn’t all that good: 4.12 ERA (3.97 FIP) in 39.1 innings. By the end of the season David Robertson had emerged as Mariano Rivera’s primary setup man and Soriano was the seventh inning guy. Soriano really bailed the Yankees out when Mo got hurt in 2012, but yeesh, 2011 was bad. Real bad. That the signing cost the team a first round pick and came from over the baseball operations department’s head was a little extra salt in the wound too.

May 25th, 2011: Yankees Claim Kanekoa Texeira

The Yankees claimed right-handed reliever Kanekoa Texeira off of waivers, the Royals announced. Kansas City had designated the former Yankees farmhand for assignment last Wednesday.

Kanekoa! He is best known as the other guy the Yankees received from the White Sox in the Nick Swisher trade. He had a nice year with Double-A Trenton in 2009 (2.84 ERA and 3.64 FIP) before being picked by the Mariners in the Rule 5 Draft after the season. Texeira bounced from the Mariners to the Royals and then back to the Yankees. He was hurt and awful (11.74 ERA) in 2011, and he’s spent the 2012-16 seasons bouncing around the minors, Mexico, and independent leagues. He’s thrown 15 innings for the Braves’ Triple-A team this season, so he’s still out there slingin’.

May 27th, 2011: Quick Hits: McCourt, Abreu, Sizemore, Purcey

Joe Girardi said he could move Nick Swisher into a platoon with Chris Dickerson if Swisher doesn’t pick up his hitting from the left side of the plate, reports Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com.  Swisher still has four months to get on track, but right now it looks like there’s no chance the Yankees will pick up his $10.25MM option for 2012.

When he woke up on May 27th, 2011, Swisher was hitting .204/.321/.289 (70 wRC+) with two home runs in 184 plate appearances. He was bad early that season. Swisher then hit .283/.396/.513 (146 wRC+) with 21 homers the rest of the way because he was quite good at baseball back in those days.

The “it looks like there’s no chance the Yankees will pick up his $10.25MM option for 2012” comment was so far disconnected from reality though. Swisher was very good with the Yankees from 2009-10, and even if he stunk in 2011, his track record ensured he would get much more than $10.25M in free agency. At worst, the Yankees would have picked up the option and traded him. There was this very weird obsession with declining Swisher’s option after 2011. It make zero sense.

May 28th, 2011: Yankees Notes: Trade Calls, Myers, Scouts

Dan Barbarisi of The Wall Street Journal wrote about the club’s pro scouting department, which helped unearth Bartolo Colon and others this offseason. “It’s easy to recommend a guy when the numbers are there,” said scout Tim Naehring. “The most difficult thing is feeling confident and putting in a report when the production isn’t there. The biggest challenge is sticking your neck out and saying,’I know there’s more in there. I know there’s better performance coming.'”

I’m not really sure I have much to add to this. I just thought it was a pretty cool comment. The Yankees hit the lottery with some scrap heap pickups back then, most notably Colon but also Freddy Garcia, Luis Ayala, and Eric Chavez. Naehring, by the way, took over as Brian Cashman’s right hand man this past offseason when Billy Eppler left to take over as Angels GM.