Soriano To Yankees A Done Deal

From ESPN:

The trade of Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano to the New York Yankees was finalized Friday after he officially waived his no-trade clause, sources told ESPN.

Of the estimated $24.5 million Soriano is owed through the end of next season, the Cubs are going to pick up about $17.7 million and the Yankees will cover the remaining $6.8 million, sources said. Soriano is scheduled to make $18 million next season, $5 million of which will be paid by the Yankees, the sources said.

Major League Baseball had to approve the dollar exchange for the trade to go through. The Cubs also will get a lower-tier pitching prospect in the trade, sources told ESPN.

Considering all they have to pay is $6.8 million and that they only gave up a lower-tier pitching prospect (rumored to be right-hander Corey Black), the deal was a no-brainer.

Here's what Soriano had to say about his return to The Bronx:

"It was great when I used to be with the Yankees," Soriano said. "My best friend with the team is [Derek] Jeter and he's still there. Mariano [Rivera] is still there too. And me and [Robinson] Cano are good friends, too, because we're from the same town. I could feel very good with the Yankees because I've been part of the family before with them."

Welcome back, Soriano!

King: Yankees on Verge of Trading For Alfonso Soriano

From George King:

In dire need of a bat with thump and an indication the Yankees may believe that Alex Rodriguez isn’t going to play this season, the toothless Bombers are close to acquiring Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs, The Post has learned.

According to a person familiar with the talks, the Cubs will pay the bulk of what is left on Soriano’s contract. He makes $18 million this year and the same for next season.

Like they did in the Vernon Wells deal, whatever the Yankees pay will be laid out for the little more than the $6 million remaining Soriano’s contract this season. That way the Yankees aren’t on the hook for money next year when they want to get the payroll to $189 million. Soriano has a no-trade clause, but he would not block a deal to put him back in Pinstripes.

In return the Cubs will get a mid-level prospect.

The 37-year-old former Yankees is hitting .259/.289/.476 with 17 HR and 51 RBI in 374 at-bats with the Cubs this year.

It's painfully obviously that they need hitting. Soriano won't solve all their hitting woes, but I guess it's a start.

Yankees Sign Overbay to a Minor League Deal

From Mark Feinsand:

Lyle Overbay walked into the Yankees’ clubhouse late Tuesday afternoon, immediately spotting Vernon Wells, his former teammate with the Blue Jays.

The two embraced, both seemingly amazed to be standing together in the Yankees clubhouse after joining the team within a matter of hours of each other.

“I would show you around here,” Wells said. “But I don’t know where anything is.”

Overbay was released by the Red Sox Tuesday morning, prompting his agent to call the Yankees immediately. The Bombers offered the 36-year-old a minor-league deal with an out clause by Friday.

“It’s kind of like a three-day tryout,” Overbay said. “I know they’ve been watching me, but there’s not a lot of opportunities out there, so I wanted to jump on this. This was an opportunity, and that’s all it was. Go out there and see what I can do, and who knows? Stranger things have happened.”

Like I said yesterday, he's probably a better option than Juan Rivera.

Yankees Acquire Vernon Wells

Here's the story from Jeff Passan:

Were it not for the New York Yankees, Vernon Wells still would be a Los Angeles Angel, forever consigned to their dungeon of ill-fated maneuvers. Because the Yankees exist – and because they operate in a vacuum independent from their harrowing reality – the Angels now no longer must stare at a $100 million mistake for two more seasons.

Desperation, thy outfit is pinstripes.

The trade that would send Wells and around two-thirds of the $42 million remaining on his contract to the Yankees neared completion Sunday night, only a physical and commissioner's approval left to consummate it. Seeing as the Angels considered Wells sunk cost, the idea they would get anything, let alone savings in the parameter a source said was $12 million to $14 million, made Sunday a massive win for Los Angeles.

This was not one of those win-win trades.

For the Yankees, it was stunning. The steadiest franchise panicked after injuries dismantled its everyday lineup. The team that built itself on plate discipline traded for a 34-year-old outfielder who over the last two years hit .222, couldn't get on base even 26 percent of the time and, if that weren't bad enough, looks fit for Madame Tussauds in the outfield. And the offseason of Scrooge yielded to the spring of perhaps $7 million a year for Vernon Wells, who will fill in for a month or so until Curtis Granderson's return, and then … well, the Yankees seem to be thinking for tomorrow only, so who knows.

"I just wonder where this money was in December," one Yankees official said.

The reaction to the deal across baseball was a mix of wonderment and criticism, for to partake of Wells at this point in his career flashed alarm of which few thought the Yankees capable. Among the injuries to Granderson and Mark Teixeira, the lingering hip problems of Alex Rodriguez and the setbacks to Derek Jeter, the Yankees have endured a more brutal spring than anyone – the sort that left more than one executive on Sunday predicting a last-place finish in the American League East.

I'm confused by this deal myself. Wells has had a good spring, hitting .361 with a double and four homers, but it's spring and we all know that spring training stats basically mean nothing. The guy has been terrible since his move to the Angels and I wouldn't be too confident that he's suddenly going to find the fountain of youth.

Yankees Ink Wang to Minor League Deal

From USA Today:

The New York Yankees have brought back a familiar face, signing Taiwanese pitcher Chien-Ming Wang to a minor league contract.

The Yankees said on Saturday that Wang would report right away to the minor league complex.

Wang, who turns 33 this month, was originally signed by the Yankees in 2000. He went 55-26 with them during five seasons and was a 19-game winner in consecutive years.

Since he hasn't had many big league highlights since injuring himself in Houston that day, here's some video from this year's WBC:





His entire outing vs Japan

Yankees Release Matt Diaz

Yankees Sign Brennan Boesch

According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees have signed for Tigers outfielder Brennan Boesch. The deal is worth $1.5 million, plus $600,000 in performance-based incentives. He had been released by the Tigers just two days ago. In three seasons with the Tigers, the 27-year-old hit .259/.315/.414 while averaging 14 homers and about 60 RBI per season.

Yankees Sign Ben Francisco

In 2012, Francisco hit .240/.285/.385 in 82 games with the Jays, Astors and Rays

Yankees Sign Juan Rivera to Minor League Deal

From Andrew Marchand:

The New York Yankees have reunited with outfielder Juan Rivera, a source tells ESPNNewYork.com's Wallace Matthews. It is a minor league deal, allowing Rivera to compete with Matt Diaz and Russ Canzler to be a right-handed-hitting outfielder for the Yankees.

In 109 games for the Angels last season, Rivera hit .244/.286/.375 with 9 HR and 47 RBI.

Yankees Add Outfilder Thomas Neal

He also updated his Twitter profile. He's just 25-years-old and has only played in 9 games for the Indians last season, hitting .207/.250/.261 with 2 RBI in 24 plate appearances.

Yankees Sign Matt Diaz To Minor League Deal

From Mark Feinsand:

The Yankees’ search for a righthanded-hitting outfielder may not be over, but they took a step in the right direction Wednesday night with the signing of veteran Matt Diaz.
Diaz, who has spent his 10-year career battering lefthanded pitching, inked a minor-league deal with the Bombers that includes an invitation to spring training.

If Diaz makes the club, he'll earn $1.2 million. He can earn up to $800,000 more in incentives based on at-bats.

“I’m healthy and I feel like I can go to camp and show what I can do,” said Diaz, who played only 51 games in 2012 after undergoing midseason thumb surgery. “If I can go and do what I do, which is hit lefties and take tough at-bats against them, that’s what the Yankees need and want. It will be a good fit.”

Diaz grew up in Lakeland, Fla., where his father used to lead team chapel services for the Tigers during spring training. Diaz became a big fan of Matt Nokes, so when the catcher was traded to the Yankees in 1990, Diaz switched allegiances and became a Yankees fan.

“My dream in life as a kid was to play for the Yankees,” Diaz said.

In 2012, Diaz hit .222/.280/.333 in 51 games for Atlanta.

Pettitte Coming Back For One More

From Bryan Hoch:

Andy Pettitte has said that he feels like his left arm still has plenty of important innings to offer. The Yankees are counting on it.

Pettitte and the Yankees officially agreed to a one-year contract on Wednesday, representing the second major move of New York's offseason following last week's re-signing of right-handed starter Hiroki Kuroda.

The 40-year-old Pettitte will earn a base salary of $12 million for his services, plus potential awards bonuses. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated catcher Eli Whiteside for assignment.

It's also being reported that the Yankees are close to agreeing on a one-year deal with Mariano Rivera. With the signings of Kuroda, Pettitte and hopefully Rivera, the Yankees pitching staff is looking pretty strong.

Yankees Resign Kuroda

From Anthony DiComo:

Hiroki Kuroda will be back with the Yankees next season on a one-year contract. The Yankees did not release details, but ESPN's Buster Olney reported the deal to be worth $15 million, plus incentives of less than $1 million.

...

Though Kuroda recently rejected the Yankees' one-year, $13 million qualifying offer, it was widely assumed that he was still interested in a one-year deal. He was also reportedly considering a return to Los Angeles, where he played from 2008 to 2011 with the Dodgers, or Japan, where he broke into professional baseball with the Hiroshima Carp in 1997.

"I am very happy and excited to re-sign with the Yankees," said Kuroda. "I am very grateful for all of the interest and all of the offers that I received from the various teams that courted me. It was a tough decision for me to make, but at the end of the day, I wanted to try to win a championship with the teammates that I went to battle with last season."

Nice!

Yankees Call Up Six

With the rosters expanding today, the Yankees have called up six minor leaguers. Francisco Cervelli, Eduardo Nunez, Chris Dickerson, Adam Warren, Cory Wade, and Justin Thomas are all with the team today. To make room for Dickerson on the 40-man, Ramiro Pena was designated for assignment.

I assume there will be more moves as the minor league season comes to a close.

Yankees Sign Two 16-Year-Old Nicaraguans

From Baseball America:

The Yankees have signed two Nicaraguan lefthanders, including Corby McCoy, one of the top pitchers from the country for this year's July 2 class.

McCoy, a 16-year-old who signed for $150,000, is 6-foot-3, 170 pounds with an athletic, projectable body. His velocity has been inconsistent, ranging from 85-88 mph for some teams, but more recently he has touched as high as 91. McCoy also throws a breaking ball that's in its nascent stages.

The Yankees also signed 16-year-old Luis Garcia, whose bonus is under $50,000 and will likely be used as one of the exemptions every team gets under its $2.9 million international bonus pool for six players of $50,000 or less. Garcia is a raw, projectable lefty with a 6-foot-4, 185-pounds frame and an 85-88 mph fastball.

The Yanks have been making a lot of international signings lately. Recenly they also signed Venezuelan catcher Luis Torrens ($1.3 million), Venezuelan outfielder Alexander Palma ($800,000) and Dominican shortstop Yancarlos Baez ($650,000).

Yankees Trade For Casey McGehee

From Joel Sherman:

The Yankees didn’t get Ryan Dempster at the trade deadline, but they did make a deal.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman obtained versatile infielder Casey McGehee from the Pirates for reliever Chad Qualls, sources told The Post. In the short term with Mark Teixeira out (wrist), McGehee can play some first base and he can also fill the third-base void left by Alex Rodriguez (broken hand) with a power bat.

The Yankees are getting $225,000 as part of the trade to cover some of about $1 million left on McGehee's deal.

McGehee hit .230/.297/.377 with 8 HR and 35 RBI in 92 games with the Pirates.

Yankees Trade For Ichiro (Updated)

(Update 8:33 PM) Ichiro will be wearing #31.

(Update 8:10 PM) To make room for Ichiro on the roster, the Yankees designated Dewayne Wise for assignment. Wise, who was a very solid bench player for this Yankees team, hit .262/.286/.492 in 63 ABs. You may have noticed that his numbers are actually better than Ichiro's (.261/.288/.353), but again, the hope has to be that he can get reenergized playing for a contender.

Nice move by Cashman. Ichiro may not be the player he once was, but I have to believe that a chance to play in The Pinstripes, with a chance to get a ring, may just be the thing he needs to get that spark back. Tonight should be pretty interesting.

But what number is he going to wear?

Yankees Sign Fukudome to Minor League Deal

Seems like this might be a little insurance in case Brett Gardner cannot make it back. Not sure how much it'll pay off. In 24 games (51 plate appearances) with the White Sox earlier this season, he hit just .171/.294/.195. Last year, while better than his pathetic start this year, Fukudome hit .262/.342/.370 with only 8 HR and a measly 35 RBI in over 600 plate appearances with the Cubs and Indians.

Yanks Sign 16-Year-Old Venezuelan Catcher

According to George A. King III, the Yankees have signed 16-year-old Venezuelan catcher Luis Torrens for $1.3 million.

Baseball Americas has Torrens as the No. 2 international prospect.

"He is the premier talent in Latin America," a talent evaluator said of Torrens.

If you want to check out a short video of Torrens, click here.

Yanks Acquire Chad Qualls

To make room for Quallls on the 40-man roster the Yankees have designated Matt Antonelli for assignment.

The 33-year-old was 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA in 35 games for the Phillies this season. In 31.1 innings, the right-hander allowed 16 ER on 39 hits, walked 9, and struck out 19.