Report: Yankees rejected Francisco Rodriguez deal

The New York Post’s Joel Sherman hears that the Yankees rejected a Francisco Rodriguez deal similar to the one accepted by the Brewers last night, in part because they didn’t think either K-Rod or Rafael Soriano would be content working the seventh inning.

The Mets sent Rodriguez and $5 million to the Brewers last night for two players to be named.

ESPNNewYork reported earlier this week that the Yankees weren’t on Rodriguez’s no-trade list, so that wouldn’t have been an impediment to a deal.

One wonders if the Yankees may come to regret not making the move. Rodriguez isn’t quite what he was, but he has a 1.17 ERA in 23 career innings against the Red Sox. He’s also at 1.48 against the Central-leading Tigers and 2.70 versus the West-leading Rangers.

It’s extension season and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Astros — who already agreed to an extension with Alex Bregman — are discussing contract extensions with Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

Funny thing about Verlander, by the way: when he got his current $180 million deal, most people fell into the “oh, there’s an overpay!” column. What’s more, this past winter, when everyone was talking about how bad it is to give guys big long term deals, Verlander’s name was notably absent in the conversation despite the fact that his deal has turned out to be quite good. I suppose that says something about how good the anti-long-term deal folks are at cherrypicking.

That being said, Rosenthal says “it would be an upset” if either Verlander or Cole signed extensions. I can see that. Verlander is still locked up, thanks to a team option that will almost certainly be exercised, through 2020, and Cole is a Scott Boras client and Boras clients tend to hit the market rather than sign extensions. Perhaps their former teammate, Dallas Keuchel‘s, terrible experience on the free agent market this winter will alter that calculus. Hard to say.

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