MLB Hot Stove Morning Brew: NL West team preparing a ‘full-court press’ for Shohei Ohtani, Michael Kay blasts Brian Cashman
The San Francisco Giants wined and dined Yankees’ outfielder Aaron Judge last offseason. The Giants tried hard to land Judge and place him in the middle of their lineup for the remainder of his career.
Instead, he decided to return to the Bronx, leaving San Francisco without the prized free agent. This winter, the Giants again have money to spend and they intend to put a “full-court press” on Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani, per Jon Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has been silent as to whether he will pursue Ohtani, but all speculation is pointing to San Francisco being aggressive in the pursuit of the star athlete.
“I would think the Giants are a natural fit,” reported Shea. “The Rangers seem built to last. The Dodgers have to be in that conversation. You have to think the Yankees because they could always make it work. He can go where he wants. He’s on his own island.”
The Giants are motivated to close the deal on a big ticket free agent. Judge slipped out of the grasp last offseason. Carlos Correa agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal before everything fell apart due to concerns over his surgically repaired right ankle.
The Post’s Jon Heyman reported in October that industry experts expect Ohtani to land a massive $500 million deal and that it could exceed over $600 million.
Michael Kay blasts Yankees general manager Brian Cashman
Brian Cashman met with the media during the GM Meetings and defended his club saying they were “pretty f-cking good,” amongst other expletive-laden comments in his rant.
Michael Kay took offense to the way Cashman was communicating his feelings and made it known on the airwaves of his ESPN New York radio show.
“I do not think that an executive of a team, especially a vice president, longtime GM, respected guy in the business, should have comported himself in that way,” Kay said.
Cashman also spoke passionately about the Yankees having the smallest analytics department in the American League East.
“Is that a shocker to everybody?” Cashman said. “Shouldn’t be, but no one’s doing their deep dives. They’re just throwing ammunition and bulls–t and accusing us of being run analytically. Analytics is an important spoke in our wheel but it should be in everybody’s wheel and it really is. It’s an important spoke in every operation that’s having success. There’s not one team that’s not using it. We’re no different.
“But to say we are guided by analytics as a driver, it’s a lie.”
Kay’s strong words over Cashman’s rant took people in New York by a surprise.
“But as an executive, you are representing one of the biggest brands all over the world, and you’re dropping f-bombs and ‘BS’ and stuff like that? It’s not a good look for Brian. Forget about what he said — the angry contentious way that he went at it, I think is very, very questionable.”
Donald Trump name drops Yankees’ hurler Nestor Cortes at one of his rallies
I want to first start off with this, we don’t cover politics, never have and never will. But when Presidential hopeful Donald Trump randomly name drops a current Yankees player out of the blue, it’s worth covering.
During a Trump rally in Hialeah, Florida, Trump gave a shoutout to Yankees left Nestor Cortes.
“And a great pitcher for the New York Yankees, they call him ‘The Hialeah Kid,’ Nestor Cortes,” Trump said.
“Where is Nestor? He’s a great pitcher, got that fastball.”
It’s unclear whether Cortes was in attendance for Trump’s rally, but to randomly name drop the left-handed hurler’s name, it certainly provided a buzz around social media.
Cortes struggled in 2023 in an injury-plagued season where he went 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA and owned a 1.25 WHIP. He is expected to be a part of the Yankees rotation in 2024 and with a new nickname from Trump.
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