The #Yankees added JC Escarra to the 40 man this winter and he just won the LIDOM batting title with a .363 average. Was out of affiliated ball not long ago and really didn’t catch for 6 years. Now has a shot to compete for the Yankees backup C spot. Incredible story.

Heavy sinker/sweeper/gyro is a weird starter mix but it’s three plus or better pitches and he pitched over 100 innings four times in the minors so I see the vision here

there aren’t many better ways to contrast the Eppler Mets vs. the Stearns Mets than to compare the process by which you end up signing Quintana to that by which you end up signing Holmes for the same rotation spot

if you're parsing everything Heyman says speculatively on his streams as The Word of Boras or everything Martino says speculatively on SNY as The Word of Cashman *even when they're clearly couched as speculation* you're doing ouija boards, not baseball analysis

Dodgers have inspired me to do all my Christmas shopping with Klarna.

This is why aggregation isn't as harmless as *some* aggregators will try to tell you it is, especially if you do it incorrectly or irresponsibly. "I think the Yankees believe," which is extremely hedge-y, again, which is fine, can very quickly transform into something more definite-sounding!

Lessons in aggregation: something Feinsand says off the cuff — possibly as speculation or guesswork, which is totally fine! — in a discussion-focused roundtable piece gets taken from two separate people in two different ways and run as a hard report

Boras saying that they are in the process of eliminating teams means we are pretty close.

There were only 5 teams with offers. And telling teams they are out is typically the last thing done before telling your new team you have chosen them.

Things might start rolling soon.

Would be awesome
If the hot stove heated up.

Cubs added former Yankees prospect Ben Cowles to the 40.

Caleb Durbin is added to the Yankees 40-man. In his entire baseball career spanning college, summer ball, MiLB & AFL play, he’s struck out just 153 times in 2,392 plate appearances. He’s hit .302 with a .404 OBP with 262 SB in 552 games. This isn’t an aberration. www.milb.com/news/durbin-...

A few have asked about TJ Rumfield. He is indeed R5 eligible - he had a strong season and Yankees don’t have a ton of 1B depth in upper levels, but I have a hunch that the org will take a chance and leave him exposed. Would be tough for another org to hide a 1B for a full year if he doesn’t perform

Rule 5 protection day. Caleb Durbin is the hot name for the Yankees after his torrid AFL campaign. Would expect him to be protected. Boone has been raving about him and he is ready contribute now. Couple interesting arms like Messinger, Dees, Ayers to weigh.

NY POST EXCLUSIVE:
Mets Meet Soto READ:

sports bluesky is like a week-long royal rumble where a new wrestler comes out every 2 minutes and high-fives and hugs the other wrestlers