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The New York Yankees' Todd Frazier isn't afraid to embrace the hate. Wednesday, two nights after his three-run homer at Citi Field was greeted by a fan putting his thumbs down, Frazier adopted the gesture as his own. With the Yankees the visiting team against the Tampa Bay Rays in a game relocated to Flushing Meadows by Hurricane Irma's impact on Florida, Frazier and his Yankees teammates have adopted the negative salute the Mets fan flashed Frazier at Citi Field and taken to inverting their digits to celebrate each offensive breakout. "Seeing that fan that did that, it was pretty comical, so I thought it'd be a good thing for Fraz to do, and it kind of caught on with the whole team,'' Aaron Continue to Article

September 16, 2017 1:06:am EST

Patience could pay off big for Japanese sensation Shohei Otani, the pitcher-outfielder who recently said he'd like to play in the U.S. starting next season. Blame it on MLB's new international rules, according to The Associated Press. Without getting too far into the labor-contract weeds, it comes down to this: Under the CBA approved in November, Otani is too young to get a major-league contract worth whatever a team is willing to pay. Continue to Article

September 15, 2017 8:07:am EST

Shohei Otani is likely to leave Japan and sign with a Major League Baseball team after this season, multiple reports in Japanese media said Wednesday, a move that would cost the 23-year-old pitcher and outfielder more than $100 million. In his fifth season with the Nippon Ham Fighters, the reigning Pacific League MVP is prized as both a pitcher and hitter. Otani would have to wait until after the 2019 season to receive a comparable deal in MLB. Continue to Article

September 13, 2017 7:11:pm EST

Shohei Otani will leave Japan after this season, as he will be posted this winter in hopes of playing in the majors in 2018, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Otani can be posted in November, when teams will have four days to bid on him with their international signing bonus pool. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman scouted Otani in late August, per the NY Post's George A. King III. "He's definitely intriguing,'' manager Joe Girardi told reporters Wednesday. "Obviously, I haven't really seen him. But you hear reports on him." On the question of having Otani both hit and pitch in the same season, Girardi said it'd be something he'd have to consider going forward.  "I was asked, 'Could Continue to Article

September 13, 2017 6:00:pm EST