Pinstripe Alley

Photo by Rich Schultz/ The Yankees will bid adieu to their longtime right-hander as he skips across town. It was all but a foregone conclusion that Luis Severino would exit stage left after a miserable 2023, and now, it’s official. Mark Feinsand reports that Severino has a deal with the New York Mets. Per Jeff Passan, it’s a one-year deal worth $13 million, plus incentives. Severino had been with the Yankees for the entirety of his career, signing on as an international amateur free agent all the way back in December 2011. He spent nearly 12 years in the...

Photo by Ed Zurga/ The rookie catcher’s bat started to heat up by the end of his September 2023 cup of coffee. In a desperate ploy to keep fans engaged though the final month of an unsuccessful regular season, the Yankees called up a slate of their top rookies to inject youthful exuberance into an otherwise drab team. Jasson Domínguez stole the headlines, homering on his first major league swing — off Justin Verlander no less — but top catching prospect Austin Wells provided easily the second-most impressive performance from the youth movement. Grade: C+ 2023...

Photo by Howard Earl Simmons/NY Daily News Archive via From his journey from Cuba to his postseason heroics, “El Duque’s” life reads like a script from a sports movie. Name: Orlando P. HernándezPosition: Starting pitcherBorn: October 11, 1965Yankee Years: 1998-2002, 2004Primary Number: 26Yankee Statistics: 139 G, 136 GS, 876.1 IP, 61-40, 3.96 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 116 ERA+, 703 K, 8 CG, 2 SHO, 19.0 rWAR, 14.1 fWAR Biography In terms of journeys to the big leagues, there aren’t many more adventurous and better stores than Orlando “El Duque” Hernández. The tale of...

Photo by David Berding/ Bo knows how to improve the Yankees infield in 2024 — even if it’s unlikely that the Jays send him to the Bronx. I can’t lie to you guys: the idea of a clean-shaven, short-haired Bo Bichette kind of freaks me out a little. It would turn a smoke-circle-friendly face into the kind of person that acts like you’re guilty of assault if you bump into the street. What doesn’t freak me out, though, is a Yankees infield that goes from a relatively high degree of uncertainty to what would have a chance to be the most competitive infield in the...

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via With 20-homer power, a low walk rate, and a big arm for left field, Gurriel makes for an intriguing free agent case. The Yankees are reportedly going hard at the free agent duo of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cody Bellinger, while also pursuing Juan Soto via trade. In a perfect world, fans would love for them to get two of that group, but one is much more realistic and zero is, of course, a possibility. If New York desires a mid-tier free agent outfielder — and they should, given that they need more than just one if they want to field...

Jake Gibbs & Mel Stottlemyre November is nearly over. If I may detour from baseball talk for a hot minute, it is very amusing to me that Arkansas is reportedly hiring former coach Bobby Petrino as an offensive coordinator. This would be like if Joe Girardi suddenly joined Aaron Boone’s coaching staff. The comp is not exactly 1:1 since the current Arkansas coach didn’t directly replace Petrino, but still! Little weird, and that’s not even getting into everything that comes with Bobby Petrino. Anyway, back in our site’s sport, we’ll start off with a pair of...

Photo by Elsa/ An up-and-down debut season leaves much up to doubt, but it could have gone much worse for Volpe. As perhaps the biggest story coming out of the Yankees’ spring training camp in 2023, Anthony Volpe entered his debut season with some serious weight on his shoulders. Shortstop was a big question mark for the club entering spring, and in a surprise move, the Yankees opted to give Volpe, their top prospect and a top-ten prospect overall, a chance right out of the gate. He made his big league debut on Opening Day, en route to what was an inconsistent rookie...

Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/ Does the KBO star make sense for the Yankees? KBO, South Korea’s baseball league, is known for a flashier style of play than MLB features. Players sell out on the fastball and pimp home runs in a way we just don’t see stateside, but Jung Hoo Lee is a little bit different. In many ways, he’s the ultimate contact hitter, hitting .340 and walking more than he’s struck out in seven years in the KBO. He’s going to be posted this winter, meaning all 30 MLB clubs can bid on the centerfielder, with a percentage fee going back to the Kiwoom...

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports A fine offseason Tuesday. There was some thought that the free agency of Yoshinobu Yamamoto could hold up the rest of a robust pitching market, but thus far, that hasn’t been the case. Aaron Nola signed the first big contract of the offseason last week, re-upping with Philadelphia for seven years, and yesterday, former Yankee Sonny Gray signed on for three years and $75 million with the Cardinals, who have also added Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson to their rotation. Gray has quietly been one of the most effective starters in the league...

Photo by Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images via Yanks expect to be “active” on the market; Shota Imanaga officially posted; MLB Draft odds ahead of the second-ever lottery; looking back on some of the worst deals still active MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees weren’t great last year, and everyone knows that they need some upgrades. How many and how big, no-one is sure, but the one thing that they’ve made apparent is they’re keeping channels open with almost all of the top options on the market (sorry, Shohei, but it doesn’t seem like it’s happening). For all of...

Photo by Ed Zurga/ The rookie righty more than acquitted himself as both a starter and a reliever in 2023. When the Yankees broke camp in late March, they had to feel confident in the outlook for the starting rotation. With Gerrit Cole leading the way, Nestor Cortes coming off a career year, Carlos Rodón signed to a mega-deal after his own career year, Luis Severino having a mostly healthy offseason under his belt, and Clarke Schmidt and Domingo Germán in competition for fifth starter, there was a lot of promise. It’s amazing how quickly those plans fell apart....

Through a pair of two-year stints in New York, Boomer made his presence well known in the Bronx. Name: David Lee WellsPosition: Starting pitcherBorn: May 20, 1963 (Torrance, CA)Yankee Years: 1997-98, 2002-03Primary number: 33Yankee statistics: 851.2 IP, 124 G, 68-28, 3.90 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 114 ERA+, 19 CG, 9 SHO, 557 K, 17.0 fWAR, 17.1 rWAR Biography In New York particularly, a big personality as well as excellent play on the field can be necessary for success. Each of these shined at full strength during David Wells’ relatively brief, but impactful stretches with the Yankees...

Photo by Steph Chambers/ Hernández is inconsistent and his on-base skills are far from elite, but he could provide some much-needed impact power in the middle of the Yankees lineup. Teoscar Hernández has a reputation for being a powerful slugger with issues getting consistently on base and a suspect glove. Whether all of those things remain true remains to be seen and will be discussed in this article, but the fact is that he is now a free agent and teams can gamble on that future. The Yankees, as you probably know, were one of the league’s worst offensive teams...

Photo by Adam Hunger/ Monday brings us a day closer to December arriving. Welcome to another Monday folks. This one brings with it good news, as we’re just one week away from the Winter Meetings beginning in Nashville. The event is typically the benchmark for free agency picking up, and there’s bound to be some notable action abound in this year’s edition — at the very least, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is expected to start sitting down with teams after the meetings wrap up on the 7th, so we’ve got a baseline for his timeline. To hold you over for the day, we’ll...

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Which under-the-radar players might the Yankees be interested in; retooling the bullpen with non-tendered players; a pair of lefty outfielders. MLB.com: While everybody focuses on the top of the market — the guys like Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, and Juan Soto — the most important moves of the season are often the players who go under the radar: see, for example, the Yankees’ 2019 signing of DJ LeMahieu. MLB.com’s writers, who go unnamed, list seven free agents that could have big dividends for the team that signs them....