Finally some movement on the free agent front as the Yankees get busy.
Welcome to ‘Marty’s Musings’, my weekly column of numbers summarizing the happenings in the baseball world. I am your guide for taking an analytic look at the news and notes throughout the game, and highlighting key pitching matchups.
After a long offseason during which very little has happened, the Yankees open the spigot a bit by making a couple of free agent moves.
25 - Teams that two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber worked out for last week, with the Yankees signing him to a one-year $11 million deal. Kluber has pitched a total of 36 innings over the last seasons. He’s a solid add for the pitch-starved Yankees who have not re-signed Masahiro Tanaka...yet. The question remains who is going to eat the most innings for New York?
3 - Relief pitchers who signed last week, letting the dominos fall on the bullpen front. Liam Hendriks signed-on as the White Sox closer, the Astros signed Pedro Baez, and the Phillies inked Archie Bradley. Hendriks’ $54 million four-year deal shows the Athletics missed an opportunity to at least secure an additional second-round pick via offering him a qualifying offer. Bradley didn’t even pitch 20 innings across two teams last year, but he improves what was an historically-terrible Phillies bullpen.
32 - Year old DJ LeMahieu signed a six-year $90 million contract with the Yankees. LeMahieu is not inked until he’s 38 years old, though his skillset is one that is likely to age better than others.
73 - Days until Opening Day 2021. It will be different, no doubt, but it looks like the season will start on time with limited capacity seating to begin the season.
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Steven Martano is an Editor at Beyond the Box Score, a Contributing Prospect Writer for the Colorado Rockies at Purple Row, and a contributing writer for The Hardball Times. You can follow him on Twitter at @SMartano
