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When New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez launched a home run into the seats at Yankee Stadium for his 3,000th career hit in June, it seemed as though he would never get the ball back, but the dynamic changed Friday, as the Yanks negotiated a deal with the fan who caught it.

According to the Yankees’ official Twitter account, Zack Hample, who is well-known for his pursuit of souvenir baseballs, has agreed to present A-Rod with the ball Friday in exchange for a $150,000 donation to the Pitch In for Baseball charity.

Hample will receive some additional nonmonetary compensation as well, per ESPN’s Darren Rovell:

The decision to give the ball to the 39-year-old designated hitter represents a significant change of heart of Hample’s part, as he initially planned to keep it:

Hample did concede that the ball might become available if he received an offer to his liking, though, according to ESPN.com:

I think that someone like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, who has made half a billion dollars in his career, doesn’t really need a favor from a normal civilian and a fan like me. I don’t know right now if I’m going to sell it. I mean, depending on what the Yankees could offer, I would consider giving it back. I’m not giving it back for—I don’t plan to give it back for a chance to meet him and full autographed bats because I don’t collect bats, I collect baseballs. Just having this ball is so meaningful to me. I can’t believe that I got it.

While Hample will ultimately benefit from the exchange, the fact that a charity is involved makes it a much more meaningful and fulfilling transaction than most probably expected.

Also, the Yankees’ decision to go to bat for A-Rod is significant because it wasn’t long ago that the two sides had an extremely tenuous relationship due to his year-long suspension for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Things have changed this season, as Rodriguez has carried himself in an ideal manner, and he has also produced on the field to the tune of a .280 batting average, 15 home runs and 45 RBI for the AL East-leading Bronx Bombers.

A-Rod’s reputation remains tarnished as far as the sport of baseball is concerned, but this gesture suggests that he is once again back in the Big Apple’s good graces. 

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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The Boston Red Sox don’t have an ace starting pitcher. I’ve said it. Chances are you’ve probably said it as well. It’s been the consensus since, well, ever.

Clay Buchholz, however, begs to differ.

Buchholz made his 16th start of 2015 on Monday night against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, and it went quite well. In pacing the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory, Buchholz allowed just one run on five hits in eight innings. He struck out five and walked nobody. MLB.com’s official Twitter feed highlighted his stats:

Now, the downside is that this victory only pushed Boston’s record to 35-43. The Red Sox are still a bad team, and the main reason for that is still their starting pitching. With a 4.71 ERA, Red Sox starters rank last in the American League.

But don’t look at that and then point your wagging finger at Buchholz. He’s doing his part to bring that number down, and in general he has been pitching better than you might think.

In 10 starts dating back to May 10, Buchholz has racked up a 2.33 ERA and 4.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 69.2 innings. In doing so, he’s dropped his ERA from 6.03 to 3.48.

To be sure, an ERA like that doesn’t exactly jump off the page. But if you turn to the know-it-all geek stats at FanGraphs—those being FIP, xFIP and SIERA—they’ll tell you that Buchholz actually deserves an ERA that would put him among the American League’s 10 best pitchers:

The message here is that Buchholz has pitched better than his ERA indicates. And regarding that opinion, you don’t need to take it from a bunch of acronyms that look like they belong on a graphing calculator.

For one, there’s the fact that Buchholz’s ERA for the season would be 2.76 if you were to remove his early-season clunker (nine earned runs in 3.1 innings) at Yankee Stadium. Beyond that, there’s the fact that his 4.17 K/BB ratio is easily the best of his career. Even further beyond that, there’s the fact that he entered Monday’s start with a career-low 23.6 hard-hit rate.

In so many words: Buchholz’s season has been fantastic outside of a single bad start, and that makes sense in light of how he’s racking up strikeouts and limiting both walks and hard contact.

This, certainly, doesn’t sound anything like the enigma that Buchholz has so often been over the years. It almost sounds like he’s become a good pitcher.

Which, wouldn’t you know it, appears to be the case.

In fairness, the dominance Buchholz has flashed this season isn’t totally out of left field. The 30-year-old right-hander made a run at the American League Cy Young Award with a 2.33 ERA in 2010, and seemed to hit a peak with a 1.71 ERA through his first dozen starts of 2013 before injuries waylaid his season.

Ask the man himself, though, and he’ll say he’s pitching even better now than he was in the early portion of ’13. That’s what Alex Speier of the Boston Globe got out of him, anyway:

Speier has a full article in which Buchholz elaborated on the differences between 2015 and 2013, with the main and most important one being that he feels like he has complete control over his arsenal of pitches.

In Buchholz’s words:

I look back at 2013, there were a couple games where I had all my pitches working but I worked off fastball command and might have had a changeup that day or my curveball. But very rarely did I have all four or five working that day. It just doesn’t happen that often.

The last couple times out, I’ve had a really good feel for a strike curveball and a curveball I can throw in the dirt. Same thing with the changeup. I actually feel like I’m throwing a little better now than I did then in terms of having a feel for each pitch.

It’s admittedly not that easy to take all this and confirm it with numbers, but some things do check out.

Courtesy of Brooks Baseball, Buchholz entered Monday throwing his four-seamer, sinker, cutter, curveball and changeup at least 14.8 percent of the time. That’s about as true of a five-pitch pitcher as a guy can be.

And yet, such a complex arsenal hasn’t negatively impacted Buchholz’s command. He went into Monday’s start throwing 48.1 percent of his pitches in the strike zone. That’s above his career rate of 45.5 percent and easily better than the rate of 42.5 percent he posted in 2013.

According to Baseball Savant, this is partially owed to the fact that 11.6 percent of Buchholz’s pitches are changeups and curveballs in the strike zone. That’s the highest rate he’s done that since 2011.

From here, there are more complicated roads we can go down. But the gist that Buchholz has very good command of a true five-pitch mix is not one that should be shrugged off with a “Great story, man.” There aren’t many pitchers who can say as much, and there’s probably no shortage of hitters who would tell you that five pitches plus command does not equal a comfortable at-bat.

But the single-biggest reason for Buchholz’s success this season? That might be his new-look changeup.

One thing Buchholz’s changeup has always had going for it is good velocity separation from that of his heater. And that’s still the case. He’s averaging 92 mph with his four-seamer and sinker this year and 80 mph with his changeup. That’s a difference of 12 mph, which is plenty to get a hitter out on his front foot.

But what Buchholz’s changeup has now that it didn’t before is lots of lateral movement. Eno Sarris of FanGraphs highlighted that in late May, and we can see it illustrated in this graph from Brooks Baseball:

See that big drop? That’s a changeup that once had very little arm-side run suddenly gaining a lot of it. Sarris has some GIFs that show it in action. So does Nick Pollack at PitcherList.com, who wrote that Buchholz’s changeup is his “best pitch and one that will keep the strikeouts alive.”

And he’s right about that. Entering Monday, Brooks Baseball says Buchholz’s changeup had accounted for 29 of his 91 strikeouts, easily the most of any of his pitches. Also, hitters were batting just .114 against it. Per Baseball Prospectus, that was the third-best mark among all changeups thrown by all starters.

So, Buchholz isn’t just a starter with very good command of a legit five-pitch mix. He’s that and a guy with one elite out pitch. That, friends, is a dangerous pitcher.

And all this, of course, helps explain why he’s suddenly in demand.

Whether the struggling Red Sox should trade Buchholz or keep him was the subject of Speier’s article. And according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, pitching-needy teams have their eyes on Buchholz. Rightfully so, as he comes with both talent and two more years of club control after 2015.

You have to think, however, that the Red Sox won’t deal Buchholz unless they’re really sure they’re out of the race. And if he keeps pitching like this, that’s a call they may not have to make.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Fact: Alex Rodriguez gets his 3,000th career hit, becomes the 29th member of the historic club.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: New York Yankees

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NEW YORK — Four years ago, it was easy to know what to think.

It was easy to know how to feel.

Derek Jeter got to 3,000 hits in the most Derek Jeter of ways, and it wasn’t just Yankees fans who celebrated. Even now, four years later, the pitcher who gave up Jeter’s 3,000th hit can talk about how “special” that day was.

“I still have no regrets,” David Price said Friday, just a couple of hours before the 28th member of the 3,000-hit club (Jeter) was joined by the 29th member (Alex Rodriguez).

He did it like Jeter did, with a home run off a great pitcher. But he did it nothing like Jeter did, because Alex Rodriguez never does anything that way.

It’s complicated with him. It’s always complicated with him, even on a night like Friday.

He’s done that to himself, but he’s also done it to all of us. He’s left us wondering what he could have been without the drugs, the suspension and the controversy, but he’s also kept us wondering who he really is.

“I’m not touching that,” Justin Verlander said, when asked to compare the Jeter and A-Rod emotions a few hours after he gave up A-Rod’s 3,000th.

He wasn’t, but across the Tigers clubhouse, Miguel Cabrera was. Cabrera was running the bases when the game ended, and when it did, he headed not to the Tigers’ third-base dugout but instead directly to Rodriguez, whom he grabbed in a big hug.

To those who would say A-Rod isn’t worthy of such love, Cabrera said later, “They don’t know him.”

And to those who believe that everyone in the game still hates A-Rod, this was the strongest of counterpoints.

Obviously, he’s no Jeter. Not everyone was celebrating Friday night. But obviously, he’s not universally viewed as a villain, either.

“Those numbers,” Cabrera said. “Only Hall of Famers do that—3,000 hits, 600 home runs, 2,000 RBI. That’s amazing.

“That’s amazing.”

Down the hall in the Yankees interview room, A-Rod was talking about the night with his usual planned-out thoughts. He brought up one of the biggest contrasts with the Jeter 3,000 game, which was that the guy who caught Jeter’s home run couldn’t wait to return it, while the guy who caught A-Rod’s homer at first refused to even negotiate with the Yankees on a return.

“The thing I was thinking about was where’s Jeet’s guy,” Rodriguez joked. “I wasn’t so lucky.”

The contrasts will always be there, no matter what. But the contrasts always come with contradictions for A-Rod.

The numbers were steroid-aided. We know that. But we also know that plenty of guys used steroids, and none of the others came up with these numbers.

The drugs and the lawsuits turn plenty of people off, in plenty of big league clubhouses (including, often, his own). But we also know that plenty of former and current Yankees tell friends what a great teammate Alex is.

We know there are players like Cabrera, who had no problem with showing him respect in the most public of ways.

“The thing that I’ll take away is that after the last out, Miguel Cabrera gives me a hug,” Rodriguez said. “Twenty years from now, that’s what I’ll think about. … Miggy is such a class act, and he’ll arguably go down as the greatest right-handed hitter of our generation.

“That was special for me.”

A-Rod could have gone down as the greatest right-handed hitter of his generation, or the greatest hitter, period. But it’s never that simple with him.

It wasn’t simple, not even Friday, not even on what should have been one of his best days.

He hit the first pitch he saw, a 95 mph Verlander fastball, three rows deep into the right-field seats. The Yankee Stadium fans rose in anticipation, and if they didn’t cheer him the way they cheered Jeter, they at least gave him an ovation worthy of 3,000.

When A-Rod came out for a curtain call, it didn’t feel forced. ESPN Stats & Info noted A-Rod’s accomplishment:

Four years ago, Jeter came into the game against Price needing two hits for 3,000. He got them in his first two at-bats and then added three more hits in a 5-4 Yankees win over the Rays.

The whole day felt like a celebration. Four years later, it still feels special, as Price said Friday.

Four minutes after A-Rod’s 3,000th, the moment already seemed to have passed. When he came to the plate for his next at-bat, it may as well have been another day in August, for as little reaction as there was from the fans.

They don’t hate him here. That’s obvious, even if many other fans in many other places still do.

But it’s not love, not unconditional love, not Jeter-like love, not at all.

It’s complicated with him. It always is, even after all these years.

Even after 3,000 hits.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez recorded the 3,000th hit of his career on a solo home run off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander in the first inning of Friday’s 7-2 win, joining Derek Jeter as the only players to reach the 3,000-hit mark in a Yankees uniform, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Surprisingly enough, Jeter’s milestone hit was a blast to deep left field, while Rodriguez reached 3,000 on an opposite-field homer over the short right field porch that Jeter so often took advantage of. It wasn’t a cheap home run by any means, but it also wasn’t an especially impressive one by Rodriguez’s lofty standards.

In addition to Jeter and Rodriguez, former Yankee Wade Boggs is the only other player to swat a home run for hit No. 3,000, although he did it in a Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniform, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Rodriguez is also just the second player to record his 3,000th hit off of a former Cy Young Award winner, joining another former Yankee, Dave Winfield, who accomplished the feat against Dennis Eckersley while playing for the Minnesota Twins in 1993, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).

It should come as no surprise that Rodriguez took Verlander deep, as the 39-year-old has an impressive track record of success against the 2011 American League Cy Young Award winner.

Even after Verlander retired Rodriguez in each of his next three trips to the plate Friday night, Rodriguez has 11 hits in 32 career at-bats (.343 batting average) against the right-hander, with five home runs and 10 RBI.

Now sitting at 667 career home runs, Rodriguez has homered for 22 percent of his 3,000 hits, tops among the 29 members of the 3,000-hit club, per the New York Times.

Hank Aaron’s 755 homers lead the club in that department, and while Rodriguez is enjoying a surprisingly excellent bounce-back season, he still needs 88 more long balls to catch Hammerin’ Hank.

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Days after recording his 2,000th career RBI, Alex Rodriguez has joined another exclusive club. 

The New York Yankees designated hitter became just the 29th player in MLB history to record 3,000 hits when he smacked a solo home run in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, according to Major League Baseball:

Rodriguez is now just the second Yankee ever to record 3,000 hits after Derek Jeter accomplished the feat four years ago. 

On June 20, Rodriguez thanked the fans and his teammates:

Known baseball collector Zack Hample was the man who recovered the ball, and he claims isn’t going to give it back:

Remarkably, Hample addressed what he would do in this scenario a day before acquiring the ball:

ESPN Stats and Info pointed out that Rodriguez is one of only three players to have homered for his 3,000th hit:

Matt Meyers of MLB.com noted he is the first No. 1 overall pick in MLB history to reach the milestone. 

“That’s a huge accomplishment,” Yankees catcher Brian McCann said Wednesday, according to the New York Post‘s Zach Braziller. “Three thousand hits is incredible, 2,000 RBIs. His career has been amazing. He’s one of the best players to ever put on a uniform.”

Bleacher Report congratulated Rodriguez on his milestone on Instagram:

According to Baseball-Reference.com, all but three players in the 3,000-hit club have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, although that list is almost certain to shrink to two players when Jeter becomes eligible in 2020. The other two are all-time hit leader Pete Rose and former Texas Rangers slugger Rafael Palmeiro, each of whom purveys stigmatized resumes. 

“Players who have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs, including [Barry] Bonds, have not been voted into the Hall,” ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand wrote. “Rafael Palmeiro, with 3,020 hits, 569 homers, a congressional finger wag and a PED suspension, fell off the ballot after four years.”

While questions regarding his potential enshrinement in Cooperstown will linger following admissions of performance-enhancing-drug use, Rodriguez is primed to climb higher up the all-time hit list during a season that’s been marked by a relative resurgence.

“I think we would all take a do-over in some parts of our lives,” Rodriguez said, per Marchand. “There are no do-overs. All I can do now is control what I can control. I’m having a lot of fun playing ball.”

With 61 hits already under his belt during the 2015 campaign, A-Rod should have no problem surpassing some batting legends as he wields a hot bat. Now tied with Roberto Clemente—who finished his career with an even 3,000—Rodriguez has his sights set on Al Kaline, Wade Boggs, Palmeiro and Lou Brock.  

Although the 39-year-old’s career has been mired in controversy over the past few years, there’s no denying he will go down as one of the greatest hitters in MLB history.

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Boston Red Sox All-Star second baseman Dustin Pedroia has returned to the lineup on June 20 after missing three of the team’s last four games after a knee injury suffered on June 15, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe.

Pedroia has been banged up at various stages of his MLB career, never quite making it through a full 162 games in any season.

Last year, he missed 27 games, needed wrist surgery toward the end of the season and posted his lowest batting average (.278) since becoming an everyday player in Boston. A foot injury shortened Pedroia’s 2010 season to just 75 games, but he’s still returned to a high level of play since.

The history of ailments doesn’t bode well for Pedroia, though, so it’s ideal that this most recent injury didn’t sideline him for too long.

Pedroia is among the best contact hitters in baseball, not to mention a Gold Glove-winning fielder. The Red Sox will be happy to have his presence back in the lineup as they continue the 2014 season.

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Manny Machado showed the upside early.

He showed why his major league debut was an anticipated event. He showed why so many scouts and the Baltimore Orioles believed he could be great. He proved he was well worthy of being the third overall pick in the 2010 draft.

Machado’s 2012 debut gave us glimpses of him being a five-tool player. Someone who could hit, hit for power, run, throw and play defense with the best infielders the game had to offer.

But over the next two years, injuries and a bit of immaturity threatened to snatch back one of baseball’s young, budding superstars before the game got a chance to fully enjoy what he had to offer. Two major knee injuries required surgery—one to each joint, limiting him to 82 games last year—and may have flattened his career arc entering 2015. Machado has also proven to be a combustible player over the past two years, getting himself ejected three times through occasional overreactions.

This season has still hinted at the maturity issue, but his production is back on a significant uptick, and he may very well be pushing himself into the American League’s Most Valuable Player conversation by the time the All-Star Break arrives.

Manny Machado has been raking since May. Now he’s got AL Player of the Week honors to prove it. pic.twitter.com/iqL4drzfVD

— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2015

Over Machado’s previous 28 games leading into this week, he hit .298/.350/.482 with an .832 OPS, five home runs and four doubles. The numbers were not on-another-planet fantastic, but they were very good and could be an indicator of what is about to come.

Especially since this week is off to a pretty good start, too.

Machado went 3-for-4 with home runs in his first two plate appearances, scored three times and knocked in three Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Both home runs left little to no doubt at impact where they’d end up, and his first one started an onslaught that led to eight Baltimore home runs, a franchise record.

Machado is doing his damage as a leadoff hitter, a role manager Buck Showalter put him in May 2. He took over the spot for good May 7 after bouncing around the lineup for the first 25 games.

“The more he does it, it almost seems like he is running a little more, bunting a little more, kind of taking on the attributes of a leadoff guy kind of by osmosis,” Showalter told reporters, per Joey Nowak of MLB.com. “He is running better than he ever has as an Oriole.”

Machado never had more than 13 stolen bases in the minors, but he already has nine in 10 attempts this season.

The new role has not affected Machado’s power stroke, which has always been on a flat swing plane anyway. Seven of Machado’s 13 home runs have come out of the leadoff spot this season.

“It is a win-win,” Machado told Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com Monday about hitting at the top of the lineup. “You get more at-bats, you get to see more pitches and I think it has helped me out. Becoming a hitter, learning how to hit, learning situations and learning the game. It’s been fun hitting leadoff.”

Aside from learning, Machado is also still maturing. He is just shy of three weeks away from his 23rd birthday, but it was just a little more than two weeks ago that we saw Machado’s third career ejection. It was a strong reaction that left home plate umpire Toby Basner no choice other than thumbing Machado out of the game.

It was not the first time Machado has a surprising reaction to what seemed like a minuscule event. Last June he reacted dramatically when then-Oakland A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson tagged him out on what seemed like a routine play.

That led to yet another sign of immaturity later in the series. Machado flung his bat down the third-base line after a pitch was too far inside for his liking. He was ejected from the game and later received a five-game suspension that virtually everyone agreed was fair.

Unsolicited advice for manny machado: accept the 5-game ban, then grow up.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 10, 2014

The hope is that Machado will learn from his mistakes and continue entertaining with his on-field prowess. However, his reaction to his latest ejection does not bode well for that happening anytime soon.

“Why would it be [a concern]? I’ve got hopefully 20 more years in my pocket to play baseball,” Machado told the Baltimore Sun’s Dan Connolly about his temper. “There’s going to be more where that came from. You still have got to keep grinding and keep your head up and keep playing some baseball.”

When Machado sticks to just playing baseball, and not acting foolishly to perceived slights, he is one of the game’s current wonders. He can do everything we ask of a player on the baseball diamond, and do it at an elite level.

His recent run of production is more evidence of that. And as long as he can keep doing it while staying in good health and in a good frame of mind, we are witnessing the reemergence of one of the game’s most special players.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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The New York Yankees find themselves in an interesting position as we approach the trade deadline.

The team wasn’t exactly expected to compete this year, at least not for a division title. However, after 63 games, the Yankees are just one game back of the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays and firmly in the running for a wild-card spot.

The team needs to keep pace with the rest of the division, and the best way to do so is through the trade market. A number of interesting options are thought to be available come the July 31 trade deadline, including a number of starting pitchers, as well as Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

If the Yankees are serious about competing this year, then they’ll have to show a slight change in the direction of their franchise and exhibit a willingness to deal off some of their more highly touted prospects. While the idea of doing that may scare a number of fans who grew fond of their newfound willingness to hold on to, and develop young players, it’s important to keep in mind that this team, as presently constituted, has a very limited window to compete within.

So, assuming the Yankees take to the trade market in the coming weeks, here are a few areas the front office should look to improve upon before that July 31 deadline.

Shortstop/Second Base… Or Both

Let’s be frank, the Yankees’ middle-infield situation is arguably the least enviable in Major League Baseball.

Consider where each of Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew rank in several key offensive metrics among qualified players at their respective positions—keep in mind, there are only 21 qualified shortstops and 22 qualified second basemen in Major League Baseball.

Sure, Drew is the second-leading home run hitter among second basemen, but outside of that, there’s nothing to write home about with this duo. In fact, both Gregorius and Drew rank at or near the bottom of each category referenced above.

Meanwhile, look around the division, and it seems as though everyone else is much better off—aside from maybe the Tampa Bay Rays.

Even on the Yankees’ own roster, this stands out as arguably the biggest weakness.

Only three of the team’s starting position players have a batting average below the .250 mark, those being Gregorius, Drew and Carlos Beltran. Similarly, the same three players sport on-base percentage marks below .300. 

Beltran could probably be replaced slightly easier given the lack of middle-infield depth around the league. That said, Gregorius and Drew have been some of the least productive players in baseball.

In fact, out of 167 qualified big leaguers, Gregorius and Drew rank 154th and 160th, respectively, in wRC+, per Fangraphs.com. In short, the Yankees need something to change with their middle-infield situation.

One More Starter

This idea went from more of a luxury to a bit of a necessity given the recent string of events surrounding the team’s starting rotation.

So far this year, the team’s rotation has been pretty much what everyone expected it to be, a mix of bad and good. Take a look at the chart below to see how the team’s current rotation options have fared through the first 63 games of the season.

It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. 

Masahiro Tanaka, when healthy, has been downright dominant. Meanwhile, Adam Warren has been outstanding over his last seven starts, lowering his ERA from 4.78 to 3.78 in that time.

However, outside of that, a number of question marks exist.

CC Sabathia has been beyond hittable, allowing 11.2 hits per-nine, along with an unsightly 1.6 HR/9 ratio. Behind him, Nathan Eovaldi hasn’t been what the team hoped he would be, and Michael Pineda has been streaky.

Pineda, in particular, is a troubling case, as his last five starts have been nothing short of awful. Pineda came into his May 15 start with a sparkling 2.72 ERA, but he has since seen that mark balloon out to 3.74 after allowing a whopping 17 earned runs over five starts—28.1 innings pitched.

Maybe the team waits it out with the hope that their five starters can hold down the fort long enough before they have a surplus of options—Ivan Nova is set to return sometime in the very near future. Or, maybe they make a move to put them over the top and set themselves up for immediate success.

According to Fox Sports’ Jon Morosi, both the Yankees and Tigers had a scout at Wrigley to check in on Cincinnati Reds ace Johnny Cueto.

George A. King III of the New York Post expanded on those sentiments in his June 14 article. King noted that team scout Jeff Datz was sent to Wrigley Field on Friday (June 12) and Saturday (June 13) to observe right-handers Cueto and Mike Leake.

Both players are slated to hit the open market at the end of the 2015 season, with Leake being easily the more affordable long-term option of the two. That said, Cueto is easily the better option for a team hoping to make, and compete in, the 2015 playoffs.

Getting Cueto, well, that’s not going to be cheap. So far, according to King, players like “Ramon Flores, Mason Williams and Bryan Mitchell might be attractive as part of a package.”

The Reds are certainly searching for quality over quantity, as a trade of Cueto would signal a full-blown rebuild on their end. Don’t take King’s words out of context, though, as hoping for the Yankees to deal Flores, Williams and Mitchell, who rank as the team’s No. 25, No. 26 and No. 14 prospects, respectively—per MLB.com—for Cueto is nothing short of a pipe dream.

In any event, the fact that the Yankees are checking in on Cueto and Leake shows that they aren’t content with their current rotation options. So, it’s fair to expect a move on this front.

All stats current through play on Jun 15, 2015 and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The immediate thought was “bust” after the 2014 season.

Maybe because it was the New York Yankees paying out the contract and were already in the process of paying out a few others that could be labeled in a similar way—Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran. It could have been that the player was starting a huge long-term contract shortly after his 30th birthday.

But most of all, it was Brian McCann’s numbers. All of them, from the five years and $85 million on his deal to his .232/.286/.406 slash line and .692 OPS. All were below 2014 American League averages except for his .406 slugging percentage, and they all shouted McCann’s could be another fat contract the Yankees would regret agreeing to.

There was even the belief that McCann, a heavy-hitting catcher from Athens, Georgia, could not handle playing under the hot spotlights in New York.

“New York is not Brian. That’s my opinion,” Terry Pendleton, McCann’s former hitting coach with the Atlanta Braves, told the New York Post‘s Dan Martin about a year ago as McCann struggled in his first season with the Yankees. “I knew if he chose New York, there would be more than he expected or knew about. He’ll never be comfortable with that.

“If I had to choose where he went, nothing against the Yankees, they’re one of the best organizations around,” Pendleton added, “but I think he’d be more comfortable in Texas.”

That was a strong opinion and made national news last July. But a calendar year later, the outlook on McCann has drastically changed.

@BBTN Brian McCann.

— Adam Caragine (@AJCaragine13) June 15, 2015

McCann is fourth among catchers in American League All-Star balloting, but he is more than six million votes behind Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez, so he has no chance to start. But that McCann had nine home runs, 39 RBI and a .264/.324/.473 line through Sunday means he could be a reserve. His .796 OPS, .342 weighted on-base average (wOBA), 118 weighted runs created plus (wRC+) and 1.6 WAR in the same time frame were all better than Perez, according to Fangraphs.

That WAR also is second on the Yankees among position players.

McCann making an All-Star team would be a nice accolade. More important than his candidacy, though, is that his offensive numbers are playing a critical role in the Yankees being at or around the top of the AL East standings all season.

McCann was mostly healthy last year—he missed six games because of a concussion and two with a sore foot—so his poor production was baffling, especially when you consider he averaged an .827 OPS, 119 OPS+ and 21 home runs for the Braves in the previous eight seasons, according to Baseball-Reference. He also made seven All-Star teams in that time.

Last season was bad overall, but it was particularly bad in the second half. Despite 12 home runs in August and September giving him a respectable season total of 23, McCann hit .219 in August and .222 in September. His OBPs were .282 and .281, respectively. His power and ability to handle the pitching staff were the only things that justified keeping him in the lineup, because he was mostly bad in every other offensive aspect.

This season there is no such concern about McCann’s offensive abilities. The home runs are still there as he’s taken advantage of his left-handed swing and Yankee Stadium’s short right-field fence, with seven of his nine homers coming at home, and all of them having been pull shots, via ESPN Home Run Tracker.

He’s been the team’s best hitter at home. His .464 wOBA and 201 wRC+ lead the team at Yankee Stadium, as do his .414 OBP and .696 OPS through Sunday.

“It’s one of the big reasons we went and got him, because we thought his swing was built for this ballpark,” manager Joe Girardi told the New York Post‘s Howie Kussoy. “It’s shown up.”

McCann himself understands the importance of taking advantage of his surroundings.

“It sets up good for my swing. It’s nice hitting here,” McCann told Kussoy. “When you’re hitting top of the rotation starters, that’s what good teams do.”

McCann has been a bit luckier this season, his BABIP rising by 48 points proving as much. Aside from that, making slightly less soft contact and taking more strikes, which has led to a nearly 4 percent strikeout increase, there is not a lot to tell us why McCann has been a better hitter.

As long as it continues to happen, McCann will no longer be viewed as another of the Yankees’ busted acquisitions, and the better their chances to return to the postseason for the first time since 2012.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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