NY Post | Greg Joyce: The deadline to tender contracts for arbitration-eligible players was yesterday, and the Yankees ultimately decided to non-tender five of their relievers. Most of them were players who saw at least some time in the Yankee bullpen in 2025, though they’d originally been acquired to fill in the middle-depths more reliably and ultimately couldn’t due to either injury or performance. The full list: Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross, Ian Hamilton, and Jake Cousins, as well as minor-leaguer
Michael Arias. The team did, however, come to terms with utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera and starter Clarke Schmidt on one-year deals to avoid arbitration.
NY Daily News | Gary Phillips ($): Brian Cashman is doing his due diligence in the early goings of free agency, checking in with superagent Scott Boras on a number of players that could improve the Yankee roster. One notable name that Cashman pointed out was Tatsuya Imai, a Japanese pitcher posted this winter after earning a 1.92 ERA in the NPB. The club has until January 2nd to come up with a winning bid for the rising star, and he’s seen as one of the highest ceiling upgrades the Yankees could look for in their rotation this offseason.
CBS News | R.J. Anderson: On top of Imai, the Yankees continued to check-in on the top two outfielders on the market, Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger. While both are being heavily pursued this winter, the Yankees are seen as one of the favorites to reunite with Bellinger over splashing for the top player on the market in Tucker, but we’ll have to wait and see what the initial offers for both look like before we can rule anything out.
