From Bryan Hoch:
The Yankees non-tendered infielder Jon Berti and left-hander Tim Mayza ahead of Friday’s 8 p.m. ET deadline, the club announced, making them both free agents.
New York did agree to terms on new one-year contracts with right-hander JT Brubaker and outfielder Trent Grisham. Grisham will earn $5 million with up to $250,000 in incentives, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Grisham earned $5.5 million this past season.
The Yankees have offered contracts to infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., left-hander Nestor Cortes, right-hander Scott Effross, right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., right-hander Clarke Schmidt and catcher Jose Trevino.
What’s fascinating to me is that the whole POINT of keeping Mayza throughout last season was to give them the offseason for Blake to work with him, and then they just non-tender him? They couldn’t work out a cheaper deal? So odd. With Jared Durbin ready to contribute, the Yankees suddenly have a ton of middle infielders, so I can see why they would want to save some money with Berti. I bet he’ll have a good year somewhere else, which will undoubtedly annoy me. They better re-sign Soto.
Grisham is a bit of a surprise, but whatever. Brubaker makes sense. Hopefully he can contribute next season.
Couldn’t they find someone who can’t hit a lot cheaper than Trent to be a 4th or 5th outfielder?
I honestly don’t believe so. As much as Grisham sucks, a legitimately good hitting outfielder will cost you more than $5 million as a free agent nowadays. While Grisham at least is an excellent defender.