Yariel Rodriguez’s marketplace continues to percolate, because the Astros, Blue Jays, Pirates, and Yankees “are nonetheless within the bidding for” the right-hander’s products and services, in keeping with reporter Francys Romero (X hyperlink) previous this week. Romero’s submit got here previous to Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s maintain the Dodgers, as Romero urged that Rodriguez’s suitors had been first looking forward to Yamamoto to signal.
This could reputedly seek advice from the Yankees and Blue Jays particularly, who had been recognized to be within the working for Yamamoto’s products and services. Toronto was once a little bit extra at the outer edge of the search whilst the Yankees had been reputedly considered one of 3 or 4 finalists, becoming a member of the Mets and Giants in falling in need of the Dodgers within the bidding for the Jap ace. Possibly neither the Yankees or Jays would’ve been in on Rodriguez if they’d signed Yamamoto, so the presence of 2 giant spenders nonetheless out there is excellent news for Rodriguez and his reps at WME Baseball.
It will have to be famous that Romero didn’t state that those 4 groups had been finalists for Rodriguez, or that every other recognized suitors had been out of the working. The Astros, Jays, Pirates, and Yankees had been all indexed a few of the 10 groups in Romero’s preliminary file about Rodriguez in early November, and that staff (which additionally incorporated the Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, and White Sox) has grown to incorporate the Rays, Purple Sox, and Padres in next studies.
Rodriguez is one thing of a wild card within the unfastened agent pitching marketplace, for the reason that he has spent maximum of his occupation pitching in Cuba, he labored most commonly out of the bullpen with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Skilled Baseball from 2020-22, and he didn’t pitch in any respect in 2023 (except for the Global Baseball Vintage) since he sat out the NPB season seeking to get launched from his contract with the Dragons. Alternatively, Rodriguez doesn’t flip 27 till March, and there may be sufficient intrigue in his upside as a starter that MLBTR ranked him twenty eighth on our checklist of the offseason’s best 50 unfastened brokers, and projected him for a four-year, $32MM contract.
This worth level would put Rodriguez in vary for even lower-payroll groups, even though such golf equipment are taking extra of a chance in this sort of monetary dedication for a tumbler and not using a Primary League monitor report. For the Pirates in particular, $32MM for Rodriguez would rank as one of the vital 8 most costly contracts within the franchise’s historical past, so it might appear relatively competitive for a Bucs crew simply popping out of a rebuild to splurge on an unproven arm. That mentioned, the Pirates are recognized to be taking a look for extra rotation lend a hand, and so they may have sufficient religion in Rodriguez’s upside that they might view one thing like a $32MM funding as a possible discount.
World signings were the spine of the Astros’ run of good fortune during the last decade, within the type of reasonably priced offers for long run stars like Jose Altuve or Framber Valdez, or Houston’s extra vital funding in a five-year, $47.5MM deal for Yuli Gurriel when he got here to the massive leagues from Cuba right through the 2016 season. Present Astros common manger Dana Brown naturally wasn’t in trade of the entrance place of job again in 2016, although he did recommend that his crew was once taking a look so as to add “a legitimate 3rd starter or higher” this offseason, whilst acknowledging that the Astros had been operating with a relatively restricted quantity of spending area. Roster Useful resource initiatives Houston’s 2024 payroll to sit down nearly precisely on the $237MM luxurious tax threshold, which is notable for the reason that Astros have most effective as soon as (in 2020) exceeded the tax line of their historical past.
Signing Rodriguez can be a fascinating fallback place from Yamamoto for both New York or Toronto. Rodriguez’s loss of monitor report wouldn’t essentially solidify a rotation that already has a few injury-related query marks in Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon, in addition to the unproven Clarke Schmidt because the projected fourth starter. Alternatively, the Yankees would possibly view Rodriguez as an upside play as a de facto 5th starter, or in all probability even a bullpen addition if he doesn’t figure out as a starter.
The similar may well be mentioned about Rodriguez’s imaginable utilization at the Blue Jays’ workforce, even though Toronto’s rotation is a bit more outlined. Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, and Yusei Kikuchi mission as the highest 4, with Alek Manoah penciled in because the 5th starter for now regardless of all the uncertainty within the wake of Manoah’s tough 2023 season. Including Rodriguez would give the Blue Jays extra intensity if Manoah can’t leap again, or in all probability the Jays would then really feel extra emboldened to industry Manoah and even Kikuchi to deal with different wishes within the lineup.
