Yankees Get Gardner To Stay Awhile

Brett Gardner could have tested the free agent waters next year, but instead chose to stick around a little longer in New York. The Yankees and Gardner agreed to a four year contract extension worth $52MM on Sunday.

The Yankees went out of their comfort zone - they normally don't extend players that are already under contract - to get Gardner at a reasonable price.  GM Brian Cashman explained why.

"It's a demonstration from our end. We don't typically do this, but it shows the level of confidence, belief and trust in the type of person and player he is, and we're excited to know he's going to be part of this thing going forward."¹

While Cashman may be saying all the right things about Gardner, the terms of the contract also make the left fielder a viable trade chip in the future should any of the touted outfield prospects (Slade Heathcott, Mason Williams, and Tyler Austin) pan out.  But Gardner wants to stay right where he is.

"I don't want to be anywhere else," Gardner told reporters. "There's no better place to play baseball than in New York. I've never been anywhere else. I got drafted here almost nine years ago, and I love it here. I love everybody in the organization, the coaching staff and all my teammates, and this is where I want to be."¹

While I don't necessarily agree with the length of the deal, it was a smart move by the Yankees, especially considering how much money they have tied up going forward in Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, and Masahiro Tanaka. By getting Gardner at a mere $12.5MM per year (there's a $12.5MM option in 2019 with a $2MM buyout), the Yankees will have more money to work with when players like Mark Teixeira come off the books.

Tex and Youk Begin Rehab Assignment in Thunder Win

Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis began their way back to the big club by suiting up for the Trenton Thunder Wednesday morning.

Teixeira was at his customary first base while Youkilis stood across the diamond from him at third base. Though both were 0-2 with a walk in Trenton's 3-1 win over the Erie SeaWolves (Youkilis scored a run), the fact that they played was more important than anything. With some of the Yankees bats coming back to Earth, it's not a bad thing that some of the cavalry could be re-joining then soon.

Both are expected to play again tomorrow, health willing.  You can see video of their at-bats at Mike Ashmore's Thunder Thoughts.

UPDATE 4:00 PM EDT: GM Brian Cashman has stated that, barring a setback, Teixeira and Youkilis will join the Yankees this Friday for the start of their home series with the Boston Red Sox.

Minor Notes

It was a pretty good day for some Yankees prospects as well. Outfielders Tyler Austin and Slade Heathcott both homered and starter Zach Nuding improved to 2-6 with six solid innings.

Lefty Jeremy Bleich continued in his quest to make the Major Leagues with one scoreless inning of relief. Bleich was the Yankees second pick of the first round in 2008's MLB amateur draft, but underwent surgery on the labrum in his left shoulder and missed all of the 2011 season. He's in his third stint at Trenton.

The opening round in 2008 was not kind to the Yankees who took Gerrit Cole with their first pick and 28th overall. Cole opted to attend UCLA instead and is now one of the top pitching prospects in baseball as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

It Is High, It Is Far, etc.

Yesterday's performance by Phil Hughes was about as ugly as the weather the last two days. I saw more sweat stains than I care to remember.

Hopefully, it's a 2-game blip and the starting pitching gets back on track against the Mets this weekend. Sunday night's matchup between CC Sabathia and R.A. Dickey at Citi Field should be fantastic. In the battle of the initials, CC is actually the underdog right now. That's because of the amazing season Dickey is having for the Mets.

Dickey has thrown back to back 1-hitters, thankfully the hit in the second game was clean so there was no nonsense by the Mets organization trying to get it changed to a hit (the only worse recent performance was by Mets' fans who booed Jason Bay when he crashed into the wall and ended up with a concussion), and struck out double digits with his amazingly controlled knuckleball.

Notes


Tyler Austin, the hot hitting outfielder for the Charleston RiverDogs, will represent the Yankees in the Futures Game during the All-Star break. But if you are wondering how the top 10 rated Yankees prospects are doing, click here to read the piece I wrote for the Yahoo Contributor Network. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Mason Williams, and more.

The Yankees hope Omar Rodriguez becomes one of the top 10 prospects in the near future. The 19-yr old Cuban and the Yankees agreed to a deal that I detailed in this Yahoo Contributor Network piece.