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We now have a reasonably-sized big league sample with which to help us answer the question of whether Hayes will be merely very good, or will hit for enough in-game power to have a Scott Rolen-ish career. The data does some pushing and pulling. In about a month, Hayes hit a whopping .376/.442/.682, ranked fourth among all hitters with a 195 wRC+, and led all NL rookies with 1.7 WAR even though he only played in 24 games. And Hayes was hitting the ball hard. His big league average exit velocity (just shy of 93 mph) and HardHit% (55%) were both above what he posted in the 2019 minors (91 mph, 48%) when he only hit 10 homers over a 100 games. But his .450 BABIP is unsustainable and, per Statcast, his xwOBA (.356) came in well below his actual wOBA (.464), indicating that he was also the beneficiary of some luck. There’s no accounting for how big league pitching might expose a weakness and begin to adjust to Hayes, even if it’s just to limit his power output rather than get him o
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In the aftermath of the DJ LeMahieu and Corey Kluber signings, the Yankees made it clear their offseason wasn’t finished. Even with “priority number-one” completed, the team immediately was the subject of trade rumors, particularly regarding Luis Castillo. Most of us scoffed when those rumors ultimately died down at the Reds’ suggestion that the Yankees would need to send Gleyber Torres in return, though Peter made an impassioned case that those rumors weren’t so crazy.
After the latest Castillo-to-the-Yankees saga concluded, I found myself considering Brian Cashman’s recent track record on the trade market. I never viewed the Castillo idea very seriously, simply because it seemed that Cashman would be far more likely to move on a player like Castillo
NL Central Transaction Update 2/3/21
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Hader: $2,575,000 raise
Woodruff: $2,641,900 raise
No arbitration cases remaining.
1/21/21: Signed UT Daniel Robertson to a 1-year, $900,000 major league contract. 40-man roster at 38.
Robertson was originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics out of high school with a supplemental first round pick (#34 overall) in the 2012 draft that the club received as compensation for losing Josh Willingham to the Minnesota Twins in free agency. He never has lived up to his first-round billing. After a 2014 season in High-A ball that saw him lead the California League in hits, plate appearances and doubles, and finishing 4th in on base percentage, the A’s traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays as part of a package of players for Ben Zobrist.
Should Bucs pay to unload Polanco?
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Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images
Now that the calendar has turned to February, it’s only natural for our interest in baseball to be ratcheted up a notch. After all, if we are to believe what we hear, pitchers and catchers will begin trickling into spring training camps in Arizona and Florida in another couple of weeks, although that’s all subject to change given the pandemic.
Much of the chatter in recent weeks has been spent on potential trades that GM Ben Cherington might make, and he hasn’t disappointed, pulling the trigger on several major deals that brought a bushel of prospects to help deepen the club’s farm system. Whether you like the deals or not, it’s hard to argue with Cherington’s approach, plumbing the Nationals’, Padres’, Mets’ and Yankees’ systems for prospects at various levels of development. Some, like Wil Crowe, David Bednar and Miguel Yajure, could at least compete fairly quickly for loc
Brian Cashman: Yankees están listos para competir as.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from as.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.