Yankees Notes and Opinions for 12/22
Past articles:
12/18/25
12/15/25
Rule 5 Analysis
12/11/25
12/9/25
12/5/25
12/2/25
11/28/25
11/25/25
11/18/25
11/15/25
11/7/25
10/30/25
Japanese Free Agents
Rule 5 Primer
1. The Yankees re-sign RHP Paul Blackburn
I have to remind myself sometimes that the Yankees made something out of pitchers like Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver, Michael Tonkin, Tim Hill, and Ian Hamilton. Heck, even though he is a solid enough reliever, Wandy Peralta has done his best work, by far, as a New York Yankee.
That said, I understand the frustration with signings like Paul Blackburn when other pitchers with better track records exist. While the Yankees can easily eat $2 million if they hate Blackburn in Spring Training, you don’t give out a guaranteed contract unless you fully expect a player to make the team.
In nine Major League seasons, Blackburn’s ERA+ has been above average once. During his rookie campaign, which consisted of ten starts, he had a 130 ERA+. That came with a rather unimpressive 22/16 K/BB over 58.2 innings, but I won’t argue with success.
After the Yankees grabbed him off the scrap heap in 2025, he posted a 5.28 ERA (4.37 FIP) over 15.1 innings with a 16/4 K/BB. While I subscribe to the notion that you are what you are, I will happily concede that those numbers are badly skewed by one game when he allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings.
However, I would be more comfortable conceding that if he were a better pitcher throughout his career. When you are 32 years old and own a 4.97 ERA in 467.1 innings, those bad outings are happening more often than they should be.
Bottom Line:
Call me unimpressed. Making lemonade out of lemons, also known as “Matt Blake Specials,” can be fun to witness. However, this is a leaky bullpen that needs reinforcements. Relying on Blackburn and Cade Winquest makes me squirm. Am I overreacting to this? It just feels weird.
2. Jasson Dominguez in the Dominican Republic
The Yankees sent Dominguez to the Dominican Winter League to work on his bat and glove.
While I can’t comment on the glove, the bat hasn’t done well. He is hitting .184/.304/.263 in 11 games (46 plate appearances) with seven walks and nine strikeouts. He is 3-for-3 stealing bases.
This league is not a prospect league. Dominguez is 6.8 years younger than the league average. For those who love to follow Yankees prospects, names who are on the same roster as Dominguez include old favorites Zoilo Almonte (36), Abiatal Avelino (30), and Domingo Acevedo (31).
Bottom Line:
Sometimes, when you send a player off to work on things, you aren’t worried about statistics. I can’t tell you if he is hitting the ball hard, making any progress defensively, etc. I assume (never safe) that they asked the team he is playing for to play him as often as possible against left-handed pitching.
That said, it is possible that the Yankees’ scouts aren’t impressed with his progress. It’s the great unknown after a season where his playing time was uneven, especially after the All-Star Break.
3. The Yankees lose Wandy Asigen to the Mets
First, this isn’t a case of the Yankees accepting a verbal commitment and then failing to finalize the contract immediately. This isn’t a Jerry Maguire moment where a verbal agreement is accepted without securing a signature. Asigen is not eligible to sign until 2026. Because of this, he isn’t technically a Met yet, either. Don’t think the Yankees have a chance, however.
International teenagers, regardless of cost, are among the most volatile prospects. If I told you today that Asigen won’t even be as “good” as Roderick Arias, what would you do? The answer is: Agree with me. Not because I have advanced knowledge of Asigen’s present or future talent. I am doing nothing more than playing the percentages.
All that aside, this is a massive black eye for the Yankees’ organization. There’s no brushing aside that losing a prospect that many have ranked second in the 2026 signing period is bad. There isn’t a Japanese prospect they can save this money for. All the top prospects in the 2026 pool have verbal commitments. Could the Yankees swoop in on someone? Sure. It’s often easier to secure Asigen’s signature first, then use the remaining resources on secondary targets that sometimes deliver unexpected value. Still, they’ll likely have the flexibility to spread the wealth, or even avoid using their full budget, in 2026.
The Yankees are right to fire anyone they wish. If they felt Donny Rowland was no longer performing up to expectations, or they wanted a fresh set of eyes, that is their right. Few organizations show the level of loyalty to long-term employees that the Yankees do. Writing a sentence like that would have been tagged as satire from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
However, that was five weeks ago. Incompetence isn’t firing an underperforming employee. Incompetence is not having someone ready to assume their duties. This isn’t about filling an assistant-to-the-traveling-secretary role. It’s about hiring for one of the most critical positions in your minor league organization.
Bottom Line:
This makes my blood boil. It has nothing to do with Asigen’s future. It has more to do with the Yankees organization, which looks foolish. The more I watch the offseason unfold, the more I am confirmed in my belief that this is not a well-oiled machine.
If they were, Asigen would be a Yankee in January. It was supposed to be a foregone conclusion, until it wasn’t.
4. Munetaka Murakami signs with the White Sox
I believe the Yankees gave Anthony Rizzo a two-year deal with a 2025 team option with Murakami in mind.
They were hoping Rizzo would be productive for three years, then jump in on the Japanese sensation to be the first baseman of the future. Ben Rice wasn’t even a thought at the time of the transaction.
What a difference a few years makes. Rice appears to be the Yankees’ first baseman for the present and future, while it appears Murakami can’t hit a fastball even if you tell him it is coming.
MLB Trade Rumors, who have outstanding with contract predictions this year, missed badly on him. I don’t blame them for that, because larger-than-life Japanese hitters don’t become available often. Surely, someone with deep pockets wouldn’t be able to resist.
They resisted.
Bottom Line:
A left-handed bat who once hit 56 home runs with a 1.168 OPS as a 22-year-old likely had Yankees’ scouts drooling. While Murakami bounced back nicely in limited 2025 action, the whiff rates and issues with fastballs turned teams off. The White Sox, who have already lost everything, including their dignity, are a logical organization for him to run to. Signing for only two years shows some confidence, as we heard he had longer offers (for lower AAV) on the table.
One thing we shouldn’t downplay is a professional athlete’s ability to adjust. Will he adjust to harder fastballs the more he sees them? That is the question he must answer. Many teams didn’t want him to answer that with them.
5. Ian Hamilton signs with the Braves
Just like Luke Weaver, the Yankees turned Hamilton into a reliable reliever. Weaver’s surge lasted longer, but that doesn’t discount Hamilton’s contributions.
From 2018 through 2022, while pitching for the White Sox and Twins, Hamilton compiled a 4.91 ERA (6.43 FIP) over 14.2 innings with a 9/8 K/BB. There wasn’t much of an indication that there was anything to tap into.
Before the 2023 season, the Yankees signed Hamilton to a minor league contract. Hamilton did not make the team directly out of spring training, but joined shortly thereafter. Using a new pitch mix that included a slider they gave a fun name to, he pitched to a 2.64 ERA in 39 games (58 innings) with a 28.9% K rate, 10.9% BB rate, and 56% groundball rate. He wasn’t quite as good during an injury-plagued 2024 campaign, but he still posted a respectable 3.82 ERA (3.03 FIP) over 37.2 innings with a 25.2% K, 8.6% BB, and 43.8% GB.
2025 was more of the same, but with increasingly undesirable results.
Overall, we shouldn’t complain about a scrap heap pickup who posted a 3.45 ERA (3.34 FIP) over 110 games (135.2 innings). That’s a lot of production at a cheap cost. The Yankees were right, however, to move on.
Bottom Line:
It should be noted that Hamilton doesn’t have any minor league options remaining. The Yankees couldn’t use him as a depth piece in 2026.
6. The Yankees sign catchers Ali Sanchez and Miguel Palma to minor league deals
I am a broken record. The Yankees needed catching depth this offseason and have added four catchers to their ranks.
Sanchez has four years of Major League experience under his belt, playing for the Mets, Cardinals, Marlins, Blue Jays, and Red Sox. Parents: Teach your kids how to catch.
He is your prototypical shuttle catcher. In those four years, he has played 50 games, 31 of which came in 2024. In those games, he is hitting .183/.220/.233 (26 OPS+) without a home run. Reminder: Part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement includes a provision that players are automatically given 20 OPS+ points for spelling their names right.
Palma is 23 years old. The highest level he has reached is Triple-A, where he has played in 20 games. Before signing with the Yankees, he spent his entire minor league career (2019 to 2025) with the Houston Astros.
In 41 games split between the rookie leagues, Double-A, and Triple-A, he hit only .155/.264/.264 in 148 plate appearances. Fangraphs ranked him as the Astros’ #28 prospect heading into 2023 (he was showing more offensive chops at the time), but he disappeared after that.
Palma is small (5’8″) and has more first base experience than catching experience. Being 5’8″ doesn’t lend to being a traditional player at either position.
Bottom Line:
Sanchez and Palma join Payton Henry and Abrahan Gutierrez as minor league catching depth.
7. The Red Sox acquire Willson Contreras
One amusing twist to this trade is that the Red Sox included Hunter Dobbins, who famously declared last season he’d never pitch for the Yankees, as part of the package.
Dobbins made this statement based on knowledge that the Yankees “wronged” his father years ago when he was in the Yankees organization. His father was, as it turned out, never in the Yankees’ organization.
Back to this trade: Contrares, who played 774 games at catcher and 11 games at first base before 2025, became the Cardinals’ primary first baseman in 2025. He didn’t put on the catching gear once the entire season.
The numbers were solid. He hit .257/.344/.447 (123 OPS+) over 563 plate appearances with 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in. Those numbers are close to his career norm, where he hits .258/.352/.459 while averaging 26 home runs and 82 runs batted in over 162 games.
The Cardinals threw in $8 million to help pay off a contract that has two years and $35M left on it. Additionally, the Red Sox will own a $20 million team option with a $7.5 million buyout.
As for what the Red Sox gave up, the most significant prospect is likely teenage right-handed pitcher Yhoiker Fajardo, who pitched to a 2.98 ERA in 13 starts (51.1 innings) with the Single-A affiliate in Salem. Interestingly, the Red Sox acquired Fajardo, who signed for $400,000, from the White Sox in a weird trade for the immortal Cam Booser. The 33-year-old Booser pitched to a 5.52 ERA in 31 innings for Chicago.
Bottom Line:
This has “salary dump” written all over it, though Dobbins should be able to fill in some innings for the rebuilding Cardinals. Fajardo, who was in the Top 30 in the Red Sox organization, is years away from being a contributor.
Contreras is 33 years old, but the permanent move to first base should allow him to extend his career. There is no reason to believe he will suddenly crash in Boston.
Are there negatives for Boston? Sure. If the Yankees acquired a mid-level outfielder, we would take it as a sign that Dominguez is no longer a part of their long-term solution. For Red Sox fans, that name is Triston Casas, who hit .263/.367/.490 with 24 home runs and a third-place finish in the Rookie of the Year vote in 2023. Injuries have since derailed him, and his 2025 campaign was a disaster. He hit .182/.277/.303 in 29 games. It will be interesting to see if he has any value on the trade market.
While I hate seeing AL East rivals continue to improve, the Yankees had absolutely no reason to pursue Contreras.
The real issue is that the Yankees don’t appear to be targeting anyone.