Yankees have made a contract offer to 33-year old free agent
Yankees have made a contract offer to 33-year old free agent originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The New York Yankees have a particular need, and that's right-handed hitting outfielders.
Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham are both lefties. So is Spencer Jones . And Jasson Dominguez is much worse against southpaws as a switch-hitter.
Aaron Judge is righty, of course, but he could use some help.
The Athletic's Brendan Kuty revealed in a new article on Saturday that the Yanks have already made an offer to one such outfielder.
"Another league source said the Yankees made a major-league offer earlier this offseason to outfielder Austin Slater . Slater, 33, has a career 119 wRC+ versus lefties," Kuty writes. "The Yankees acquired Slater from the Chicago White Sox before last season’s trade deadline, but he spent much of the second half on the injured list with a left hamstring strain."
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Slater spent most of his MLB career with the San Francisco Giants before short stints in the last two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds , Baltimore Orioles , Chicago White Sox and the Yankees.
He only got into 14 games with the Yanks, going just 3-for-25 (.120) at the plate.
He's a career .248 hitter who has also stolen 49-of-57 attempted bags.
His career OPS vs. righties is just .640, but that raises to .787 against lefties.
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Slater would make sense, although it's unclear what he may not have liked about the reported offer from the Yanks.
He's likely worth continuing to pursue, though, because he could fill that needed role for New York.
