As Juan Soto weighed his choices this previous offseason, the Yankees needed to have two plans of assault.
One was contingent on Soto signing elsewhere in free company, which is precisely what occurred. After the slugger inked a record-setting cope with the crosstown rival Mets, the Yankees pivoted to Max Fried, Devin Williams, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. Fried earned the most important chunk of the cash that was allotted for Soto, signing an eight-year, $218 million deal because the Yankees boosted their rotation.
However what if Soto had taken the 16-year, $760 million deal the Yankees supplied?
In such a state of affairs, the pinstripers nonetheless would have needed so as to add a starter. They simply would have carried out so on a decent price range.
Therefore their curiosity in Griffin Canning, a nugget that Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone dropped earlier than Recreation 2 of the Subway Collection on Saturday. Boone additionally stated that the Yankees spoke to the 29-year-old righty earlier than he signed a one-year, $4.25 million cope with the Mets.
Canning, nevertheless, stated that he solely spoke to the Yankees as soon as after holding them to 2 earned runs over 5.1 innings on Saturday.
“Just like with the Mets, I just had a Zoom call with them over the offseason,” he stated. “Just that one call. Didn’t hear much from them after that.”
Canning is engaged on a profession 12 months in Queens, as he now has a 2.47 ERA over 9 begins.
A member of the Angels for the primary 5 years of his profession, he missed time resulting from damage and took a 4.78 ERA into this season. Nonetheless, the Halos aren’t precisely recognized for his or her pitching improvement, and a few robust begins in opposition to the Yankees had them questioning if Canning had extra to supply.
That’s why Boone stated he’s “not overly surprised” by Canning’s success this season.
“I think the Mets have done a good job with him of just tightening up the arsenal and kind of optimizing him,” the skipper stated. “I feel like he’s flashed some of that over the last few years out in L.A.”
Blake additionally felt that the Angels have been “probably not utilizing him quite to his full potential before.” He noticed a hurler with an athletic supply and “interesting [pitch] shapes” who may very well be molded.
Now Blake is watching Canning thrive with the Mets, the place former Yankees assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel holds the identical job.
“You’re seeing it come to fruition,” Blake stated. “We probably had similar ideas about what to adjust with [Canning] and really enjoyed the call we had with him.”
COUSINS HURT AGAIN
Jake Cousins, on the injured listing with a proper elbow flexor pressure, is now coping with a pec subject. Boone stated the reliever was shut down from throwing for 4-5 days after experiencing “discomfort” following his final dwell batting apply session.
“We don’t think it’s anything serious,” Boone stated, “but enough to hold him back a few days.”
Cousins did endure testing. Boone didn’t suppose there was any concern over Cousins’ shoulder.
STILL NO DATE FOR STANTON
Boone additionally stated that there’s nonetheless no date for Giancarlo Stanton (tennis elbows) to start a rehab task.
Initially Revealed: Could 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM EDT
