For the first time since the spring, Cole meets live hitters; Beeter heads to Illinois; Soto’s defensive improvements; one unidentified AL official believes Juan Soto stays in pinstripes; A minority ownership position in the Yankees may become available.
Given that they have been playing without the current American League Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole, the Yankees rotation has performed better than anyone could have imagined. It might not, however, be without its ace for very long. On Tuesday, Cole faced hitters for the first time since spring training, tossing 20 pitches to Oswaldo Cabrera and Jahmai Jones.
By the end of May, Cole is entitled to be released from the 60-day IL, but naturally, that won’t happen. At this point, the Yankees haven’t ruled out making a comeback, although sometime in June would be the best-case scenario. But they are aware that there’s no need to hurry him back. But it’s encouraging to see him getting closer to returning, and both batters were thrilled with how the ace seemed.
On the less encouraging side of things, pitching prospect Clayton Beeter was placed on the injured list at Triple-A Scranton due to what Boone described as “shoulder discomfort.” Not good.
People, open your piggy banks. Ray Chambers, a minority owner of the Yankees, is considering selling his shares in the team. According to Sportico, the club’s total valuation was $7.9 billion a few months ago. Although Chambers has looked into sales in the past, there is no assurance that one will take place. However, discussions are still going on if you just so happen to have a large sum of money laying around.
Regarding the Yankees, their owner Hal Steinbrenner caused quite a commotion when he made it known that he was open to discussing an in-season agreement with young star Juan Soto. No. 22 did not take any action to reduce the likelihood. An anonymous AL executive has a positive/negative outlook on the Yankees. The unfavorable report? No extension for the current season. The favorable tidings? Soto remains a pinstripe for the foreseeable future.
A second executive provided 1-in-20 odds for an in-season extension. Are you saying that there is a possibility? As a Yankee, Soto has excelled on the field, particularly in defense where he has made noticeable progress. With 0 Outs Above Average (OAA) thus far in 2024, Soto is in the 56th percentile according to that measure. For comparison, Soto has recorded -22 OAA since making his debut in 2018. Kuty examines the ways in which Soto has improved. Warning: a lot of it comes from hard work.
