1.5.25

Happy New Year! The Yankees need to make one more move, even if they don't a) think they do or b) want to. They simply have to rid themselves of Stroman's contract and/or DJ's - there's $30M tied into 2 players that simply do not have a future on this team, no disrespect intended...

Starting with the less talked about of the two, DJ LeMahieu...he is owed $15M/year for the next 2 years before finally, mercifully becoming a free agent. He was worth nearly -2 WAR last year, he basically wasn't a player on the Yankees and only, unfortunately, continued his decline from the season prior. 2022 where he was 10% better than a league average hitter feels like a lifetime ago.

It stinks because I like DJ and he represents the type of hitter that the Yankees needed for a long time and could have an immense amount of value playing the veteran, super utility position for the team. The reality though is - he is notoriously a quiet personality and you don't pay $15M/year to someone that doesn't play every or most days. He had a 51 OPS+ last year, so his value is nonexistent and the market for a 35 year old that doesn't play regularly, let alone in one position, is challenging.

I can't see the Yankees biting the bullet this year and releasing him, I think the best that we can hope for is a rebound to enough value that they could eat a bunch of his contract and dump him. It is POSSIBLE, but not sure about likely...

Stroman is the more interesting (and discussed) one of the two. He is a career above-average pitcher and every team always needs pitching. Almost all of his stats declined last year - calling out 19 home runs as being a particularly bad blemish - but he's still a veteran that will throw 120+ IP every year.

I'm not really sure why a move hasn't been made at this point, frankly. He is making $18.5M this year and, sure, the Yankees would have to eat some of that - they wouldn't have to eat all of it. Per how averages work, half of the league has a below average pitching staff and could likely benefit in some way shape or form from a back of the end starter that has proven that he can get it done at the MLB level.

Orioles? Blue Jays? Giants, so we don't have to face him in the AL East? Or maybe we want to after all?

One more move, I'm begging for one more move being a trade of one of these guys so we can add another INF and a lefty in the bullpen.

Let's see what happens!

40 Man Roster Review - Clayton Beeter (SP)

Beeter appeared in 3 games last year, so while he has started accumulating service time, he is still a rookie going into the 2025 season. As such, he also still maintains 2 options, so I expect he will come up and down in 2025 as the occasional relief help when the Yankees are in a pinch, or just trying to give a a better arm a bit of an extra rest.

In 3.2 innings at the MLB level this year, Beeter had 5 strikeouts (nice) and 2 ER (less nice) and 2025 should be an opportunity for him to get a bit more work in. Brighter side is a 2.25 ERA (very nice) across  36 IP at the AAA Scranton level last year.

Beeter is a 2 pitch guy - fastball, slider - with the slider grading out a bit better using Stuff+. Here's a nice strikeout of our old friend IKF on one from this year's sample of innings:

I don't think there's going to be too much to say about Beeter until we get into Spring Training and we can see how he does and how the Yankees are thinking about him in 2025. He is a top 20 Yankees prospect at this stage though, for all that that's worth!

Floor: gets more MLB exposure and the cracks start to show in his pitch mix, gets shipped off to another team while he still preserves some value.

Ceiling: gets a bit more work than last year (20 games, over under) and is a functioning, contributing member of the Yankees bullpen down the stretch.