A caller posed the possibility of the Yankees signing Josh Hader to fortify their bullpen, but Keith doesn’t see any chance of that happening this winter.
“The Yankees won’t…you know how the Yankees operate,” Keith said.
“They turned Clay Holmes into their closer. They like to mix and match and create lanes and matchups where they’ll close with IAN Hamilton, Jonathan Loaisiga, or Wandy Peralta.
“There’s no way they give Josh Hader a five-year deal for $100 million plus. Maybe they’ll trade for a guy, which is Brian Cashman’s specialty. He’ll always trade for a guy, get him in their pitching lab with Matt Blake, and next thing you know, they’re trying him out as the ninth-inning guy.”
Hader is the top free agent reliever on the market, and while reports have indicated that New York could pivot to building a “super bullpen” if they didn’t land Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Keith doesn’t see Brian Cashman and company committing Hader-like money to one reliever, and could see Jordan Hicks being a bigger possibility.
“I don’t think they’re going big-game hunting for a Josh Hader type,” Keith said.