RAB Thoughts

January 22nd, 2021: Blue Jays, Kluber, Moore, Prospects, Mailbag

Seven years ago today the Masahiro Tanaka race came to an end and he agreed to join the Yankees. That was a happy day. It was a long pursuit -- it wasn’t clear he would even be posted earlier that offseason -- and the Yankees paid him handsomely...

January 19th, 2021: Musgrove, Castillo, Tanaka, Gardner, Kluber, Arbitration Signings, Payroll, Ottavino

Pitchers and catchers are due to report to Tampa for Spring Training four weeks from yesterday. We’re inside a month, people. Hopefully the pandemic cooperates and MLB and the MLBPA put their differences aside and begin Spring Training and the r...

Thoughts after the Yankees sign DJ LeMahieu and Corey Kluber

Look, he already shaved. (AP)

The Yankees f...

January 15th, 2021: LeMahieu, Arbitration, International Free Agency, Hendriks, Kluber, Mailbag

David Laurila has a great interview with certified pitching nerd Clarke Schmidt. Among other things, Schmidt discussed the origins of his ultra-high...

January 12th, 2021: LeMahieu, Chacin, Lyons, Cole, Prospects

Quick reminder: Friday is the open of the international signing period and also the deadline for teams and their arbitration-eligible players to submit sal...

January 8th, 2021: Lindor, Allen, Felix, Bell, Minor Leagues, Mailbag

The Yankees are scheduled to play their first Grapefruit League game in seven weeks and one day. That’s good news, right? I have my fingers crossed hoping Spring Training and the regular season will begin on time. Let’s get to today’s though...

January 5th, 2021: Hot Stove, 2016 Trade Deadline, Hughes

Two important dates are coming up. Well, one date with two events, really. Next Friday is the start of the 2021 international signing period and also t...

January 1st, 2021: New Year’s Resolutions, Tanaka, Medina, Mailbag

Welcome to 2021. New year, new beginnings, still the same old Yankees. They’ll get around to make some moves this offseason eventually. Here is today’s mailbag heavy post (you folks are always good for content, plus I kinda wanted to milk the ...

December 29th, 2020: Hot Stove Action, Roster Check-In, Torres, Sanchez

Welcome to the final RAB Patreon post of 2020. It was a pretty crummy year from top to bottom, but I sincerely thank you all for sticking it out with me, and I hope I was able to provide a little escape twice a week. 2021 will be better. It almost...

December 22nd, 2020: LeMahieu, Gardner, Castillo, A's, Expansion

Quick reminder: Barring breaking news, there will not be a post this Friday because of the whole Christmas thing. I hope you all are having a good holiday season. 2020 was a pretty crappy year for many reasons but better days are ahead. Let’s ge...

December 18th, 2020: Stanek, Bowman, Velazquez, Warren, Miller, Winter Ball, MLB-MLBPA, Mailbag

Fun story I read this week: David Schoenfield looked at the biggest star traded away by each team. He went wit...

December 15th, 2020: Torres, LeMahieu, Cortes, Bullpen Targets

Quick note: I’m planning to skip next Friday’s regularly scheduled post. Sorry for the short-ish notice, but Christmas snuck up on me. I will happily cover any breaking news, otherwise I’m going to lay low that day. Christmas morning is no t...

December 11th, 2020: Schwarber, Bell, Taillon, Rule 5 Draft, Reds, Gardner, Mailbag

The Yankees have made two major trades on Dec. 11th. On this date in 1959, the Yankees acquired Roger Maris (still the American League’s single-season home run king) from the Athletics for a package that included Hank Bauer and Don Larsen. And, ...

December 8th, 2020: Urshela, Hot Stove, Odorizzi, Catchers, Rule 5 Draft, Sanchez, Sugano

On this date in 2009, the Yankees acquired Curtis Granderson in a three-team trade with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. The Yankees got Granderson, the Tigers got Max Scherzer, and the D-Backs got Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson. Granderson is one of m...

December 4th, 2020: Non-Tenders, Schwarber, McCann, Brantley, Garcia, Mailbag

The Winter Meetings are next week. Did you know that? Really snuck up on me. The Winter Meetings will be held virtually this year, so I’m a bit worried it’ll feel like every other week of the offseason because executives aren’t meeting face-...

December 1st, 2020: Non-Tender Deadline, Scherzer, Pitching Market, Winter Ball

Did y’all have a good Thanksgiving? Hope so. I’m out of leftovers already but I did put up my Christmas tree this weekend, which is definitely a record. I've never had it up this early. I had nothing better to do Saturday and figured I might a...

Mailbag: Judge, Pitching, Offseason Plan, Non-Tenders, Urshela, Murphy, Hicks, Alternate Site, DH

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone. I have an inbox full of mailbag questions gnawing away at me, so I figured I’d throw them all together in an old school RAB-style mailbag post for today. These are questions I planned to answer at some point but...

November 24th, 2020: Rule 5 Draft, Cubs, Chapman

Reminder: I am skipping this Friday’s post for Thanksgiving. If there’s breaking news, I will happily cover it, otherwise I’m going to lay low around turkey day. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading.

Go...

November 20th, 2020: Cano, Pitching, Lynn, Hall of Fame, Mailbag

The 2020 Yankees Sporcle quiz is out. They sure did use a lot of random players in a 60-game season, huh? I got 40 of 43 but quit with five minutes to go ...

November 17th, 2020: ZiPS, Rule 5 Draft, Lindor, Hill

The Dominican Winter League season began Sunday and Domingo German struck out seven in the first four innings of a combined no-hitter in his first game action in over a year last night (Sunday’s game was postponed due to wet grounds). 2020-11-17 15:13:13 +0000 UTC View Post

November 13th, 2020: Simmons, Molina, NPB Players, Winter Ball, Mailbag

Awards season is over and now we enter what is traditionally the busiest few weeks of the offseason. Teams like to get their major business handled before the holidays (and free agents like to sign before then too) so they can focus on arbitration...

November 10th, 2020: Minor League Restructuring, Top 10 Prospects, Garcia, LeMahieu

The Dodgers won the World Series two weeks ago and the dominant MLB headlines at the moment are an 2020-11-10 14:56:20 +0000 UTC View Post

November 6th, 2020: Player Evaluations, 90/90 Club, Minors, Mailbag

Just a heads up: I am planning to skip the regularly scheduled post on Friday, Nov. 27th. That’s three weeks from today. It's the day after Thanksgiving. If there’s breaking news, I will happily cover it, but I have family obligations for the ...

November 3rd, 2020: Britton, LeMahieu, Kahnle, Kluber, Minor League Free Agents, Awards, Stanton

In case you missed it, my 2020-21 Offseason Plan went live yesterday. Hope you enjoyed it, or at least used it to help pass the time. Before we get to ...

The Official 2020-21 RAB Offseason Plan

October 29th, 2020: Options, World Series, Rule Changes, Mailbag

Offseason Plan update: It will be published Monday. I want to see the options decisions around the league (most are due tomorrow) as well as free agent...

The Yankees and the 2020-21 Offseason Calendar

The Dodgers are the 2020 World Series champions and the 2020-21 offseason begins today. Gotta say, after the shutdown this summer, I’m not looking forward to another long stretch without baseball. Feels like we were just doing this, you know? 2020-10-28 15:16:26 +0000 UTC View Post