With MLB’s First-Year Player Draft completed, the trade market will gather some momentum — and the Cubs created a buzz this week.
Scout Jason Parks was at Yankee Stadium, and according to industry sources, he was looking at the trio of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman.
Right-handed closer Hector Rondon is 11-for-11 in save chances for the Cubs and had a 1.40 ERA in 21 games this season, but the belief is the win-now Cubs are interested in adding a late-game reliever.
Depending upon where the Yankees, who lost 6-1 to the Tigers on Saturday night at the Stadium, are in regards to the AL East and AL wild-card races as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, they likely will listen on Miller and Chapman. And dealing Betances also isn’t out of the question.
Chapman is making $11.325 million this year, is a free agent following the season and not likely to return to the Yankees. Miller is in the second leg of a four-year, $36 million contract. Betances is making $507,500, which qualifies him as the best bargain in baseball. He is eligible for arbitration following the season.
Rob Refsnyder is the Yankees’ full-time first baseman, but that likely is to change.
Chris Carter of the Brewers can be had and it is possible the Athletics will listen to offers for Yonder Alonso. Carter, a right-handed hitter, has 17 home runs and 40 RBIs, but is hitting .232. Alonso, a lefty swinger, has one homer and 12 RBIs and is batting .247.
Then there is the minor league route. The White Sox designated Jerry Sands for assignment this week
Until the Yankees find a better option, Refsnyder is manager Joe Girardi’s regular first baseman simply because he is healthy. Refsnyder, making his sixth start at first, was 2-for-3 and drove in the Yankees’ only run Saturday.
Asked Saturday what he would have said in February if he had been told that on June 11, Refsnyder would have been the Yankees’ lone first baseman, Girardi said, “What happened to everybody else?’’
They got injured. Greg Bird had season-ending shoulder surgery in February. Dustin Ackley’s season was done in late May with a shoulder problem that required surgery. Mark Teixeira landed on the disabled list with torn cartilage in his right knee on June 4, and if he makes it back by the end of the month, the Yankees will be thrilled. Chris Parmelee, who was elevated from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, strained his right hamstring Thursday stretching for a throw.
That left Refsnyder, who never had played the position before this year, as the main first baseman. Backup catcher Austin Romine has more experience at first, but using the backup catcher at another spot isn’t very appealing.
“I give him a lot of credit because this isn’t easy and he has embraced it,’’ Girardi said of Refsnyder, who started at first Saturday night for the sixth time. “I think he has done a pretty good job. There will be ups and downs. There are plays he has never really experienced but I give him a lot of credit.’’
The Yankees hope to get Parmelee back in three weeks, but he isn’t doing anything but receiving treatment for the injury.
Out since May 26 with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder, Chasen Shreve is slated to start a minor league rehab assignment Sunday for SWB.