River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Nate McLouth

Feinsand: Yankees, Beltran have mutual interest; contract years an issue

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Via Mark Feinsand: The Yankees prefer Carlos Beltran to more expensive outfield free agents like Shin-Soo Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury, and he has let others know New York is his top choice. The mutual interest isn’t all that surprising. Beltran seeks a three-year contract, however, and the Yankees only want to give him a two-year deal. Feinsand says this isn’t a deal-breaker.

Beltran, 36, hit .296/.336/.491 (132 wRC+) with 24 homers in exactly 600 plate appearances for the Cardinals last season. On the surface, a true switch-hitting right fielder with power and patience is exactly what the Yankees need. He’s a perfect fit. That said, Beltran carries plenty of risk and it goes beyond his age. Everything you need to know is in the Scouting The Market post. A two-year deal in the $28-30M range seems perfectly reasonable to me, but I’d probably walk away before pushing the offer to three years.

Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal says the Yankees are staying in touch with second-tier free agents like Nate McLouth. Money is getting tight under the $189M luxury tax threshold (even if Alex Rodriguez gets suspended), so the team needs cheaper backup outfield plans just in case they spend big on pitching over the next few weeks.

Yankees offered Nate McLouth minor league deal

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Via Joel Sherman, the Yankees offered Nate McLouth a minor league contract after the Pirates released him back at the end of May. The outfielder instead took the same offer from the Orioles because he saw an easier path to the big leagues.

Coming into today, the 30-year-old McLouth was hitting .279/.350/.418 with Baltimore after being called up in early-August. Chris Dickerson was on the minor league DL and the extent of Brett Gardner’s injury was still unclear at the time of McLouth’s free agency, so the Yankees were clearly looking to add outfield depth. They wound up signing Kosuke Fukudome a few weeks later and eventually traded for Ichiro Suzuki.