Yankees Notes and Opinions for 11/15
Other off-season pieces:
11/7/25
10/30/25
Japanese Free Agents
Rule 5 Primer
1. Paul Skenes “wants to be a Yankee” (?)
I bet people are already coming up with strange trade proposals to land Skenes, who won the National League Cy Young Award unanimously in his second season.
Let’s go to Fantasy Land for a second and assume the Pirates are open to trading Skenes and will only send him to the Yankees. If that sounds stupid, it’s because it is. If they place Skenes on the trading block, he will go to the team that bids the most.
Come up with your best trade proposal. Now, add 20% more to that, and maybe your proposal will keep the Pirates on the phone. Trust me, they don’t want Chase Hampton. They won’t accept a trade that includes Dax Kilby as the headliner. Start with Cam Schlittler and Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and go from there. I think a package that begins with those two names is a good start. It is still far from the finish.
No matter what Skenes says, the Pirates would own all trade leverage. They can ask for the moon and reject anything short of it.
Be realistic.
By the way, if he did become available, the Yankees shouldn’t reject any Pirates proposal.
(FYI: For what it is worth, Skenes denied the rumor)
2. Heyman says the Yankees are “intrigued” by Lucas Giolito.
No chance.
Next.
3. The Yankees and Cody Bellinger have “mutual interest”
Brian Cashman and Scott Boras have been doing their jobs for decades. They know how to play the free agent game.
Cashman is not going to proclaim that they are moving on from Bellinger. Boras is never going to leave the Yankees out of the equation.
We are already seeing the gamemanship: Cashman talking about “other options”. Boras is making sure people know there is a lot of interest in Bellinger.
A reunion makes some sense for both sides. Bellinger thrived in Yankee Stadium, a good park for his pull power and gap-to-gap approach with two strikes. From the Yankees’ perspective, Bellinger’s ability to play anywhere in the outfield and first base offers them versatility as they look to fill in the rest of their roster.
Bellinger’s Savant data continues to show some red flags. However, he has outperformed those metrics for three straight seasons, compiling a .281/.338/.477 (125 OPS+) line over a significant sample size (1,781 plate appearances). Interpret that however you see fit.
4. The Cardinals are willing to trade Brendan Donovan
Ideally, the Yankees would probably like to add a right-handed Swiss Army Knife. However, they already have one in Jose Caballero. Adding Donovan will increase the team’s versatility, though it’s fair to ask where he would find that playing time. As of now, they have three left-handed-hitting infielders.
That said, the rumor suggests the Yankees had interest in 2025, so we shouldn’t discount the possibility of adding him. The outfield has openings, and he has significant experience in left field.
Donovan is an above-average hitter with a low strikeout rate. In 492 games, he owns a .282/.361/.411 (117 OPS+) line with solid walk (9.1%) and strikeout (13.5%) rates.
I love Donovan. I don’t know exactly how you fit him into the equation.
5. Aaron Judge wins third MVP Award
Judge (and Shohei Ohtani) has cemented his Hall of Fame resume. Judge’s dominance has been going on for a long time now, and he should reach 400 home runs in 2026.
Predictably, the MVP vote was close between Judge and Cal Raleigh. Judge deserved it, though I wouldn’t have been upset if Raleigh won. He had a unique offensive season for a catcher and was strong defensively. He ran into a historic player doing historic things.
Cody Bellinger finished 14th.
LHP Max Fried finished 4th in the Cy Young vote, while Carlos Rodon finished 6th.
6. Former prospects show up in the Rookie of the Year voting.
In the National League, Caleb Durbin finished in third place behind Drake Baldwin and Cade Horton. Meanwhile, Marlins “catcher” (yes, it deserves quotation marks) Agustin Ramirez finished sixth.
In the American League, Carlos Narvaez did enough to finish sixth, earning a pair of third-place votes.
As for the Yankees, Will Warren earned five points courtesy of one third-place vote and one fourth-place vote. Jasson Dominguez received a singular fifth-place vote.
If you trade useful prospects to other teams, I am a firm believer that those teams will trust you in future deals. You should root for traded prospects to have some level of success.
7. Yankees fire Donny Rowland
The Yankees fired the long-time International Scouting Director sometime over the last week.
The 63-year-old held the job for 15 years.
There have been several high-profile flops over his tenure. Names like Dermis Garcia, Alexander Vargas, Nelson Gomez, Hoy Park, Estevan Florial, and Juan De Leon failed to reach expectations, with Park the only one of the five to maintain some trade value (included in the trade for Clay Holmes). “Wait, wasn’t Florial traded?” Yes, they dumped him for Cody Morris.
Additionally, prospects Roderick Arias and Brando Mayea have not shown progress. Arias repeated Low-A in 2025 and couldn’t conquer it. Mayea is still toiling in the rookie leagues at 20 years old. Some of that is due to injury (93 career games), but his .282/.376/.393 triple slash doesn’t inspire. Osiel Rodriguez, once an intriguing Cuban pitcher, was released before 2025 and couldn’t find a job.
It isn’t easy to project international teenagers. Rowland signed many kids who were considered among the best in their class. However, the Yankees haven’t hit it big with one in a long time. Luis Severino was called up in 2015. Robinson Cano, Chien-Ming Wang, and Melky Cabrera were called up in 2005, before Rowland’s tenure. Luis Gil was acquired via trade early in his journey, while Gleyber Torres was acquired for Aroldis Chapman. We will see if Jasson Dominguez can build off his rookie campaign.
If you wish to defend Rowland, you would start with recent trades. Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Agustin Ramirez, Kevin Alcantara, Edgleen Perez, Jesus Rodriguez, Jared Serna, and Everson Pereira are among the prospects the Yankees traded for useful MLB assets. We shouldn’t just ignore this, because developing an international teenager into a tradable asset is a win.
The lists above are comprehensive, but I am not going to attempt to list everyone.
You can also argue that Rowland’s job was to sign players, and many of those signees were considered top international prospects.
However, I don’t blame the Yankees for moving on. Sometimes, fresh ideas are needed.
8. Minor League free agency
A handful of prospects declared free agency.
The names that may jump out the most are catcher Omar Martinez and pitcher Sean Boyle. Outfielder Brennen Davis, once a top 20 prospect (Baseball America), is also now a free agent. Davis hit 12 home runs in 36 games for Scranton.
Assuming they are lost, the Yankees lose more catching depth. Martinez ascended as high as Scranton this season (partially due to need), but didn’t perform well (.200/.307/.280 in 23 games). It’s a little crazy how high he ascended on the organizational depth chart after they traded Jesus Rodriguez and Rafael Flores. Boyle did his job as an organizational innings eater.
This is another safeguard built into the rulebook. The Rule 5 draft + minor league free agency + option years = impossible to hoard prospects for too long.