Former Batting Champ, World Series Champ Drawing Interest on Free Agent Market
According to Cuban Baseball Insider Francys Romero, former batting champion and World Series champion Yuliesky Gurriel is drawing interest on the free agent market, but hasn't made any decisions.
Per Romero on social media:
There has been interest from some MLB teams to sign Yuli Gurriel for 2024. “Soon a decision must be made," Gurriel said me.
Is that decision about where to play - or is it about if he wants to play at all? Only time will tell.
The 39-year-old is a two-time World Series champion, a Gold Glove winner and a batting champion.
Since coming over from Cuba, he's spent eight years in the big leagues, including seven with the Houston Astros and one with the Miami Marlins.
With Houston, he finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2017. He helped the 'Stros win the title in 2017 and 2022 before playing in Miami in 2023.
Lifetime, he's a .281 hitter who hit a league-best .319 in 2021. In seven full seasons, he's hit above .290 four times.
However, his bat has clearly started to slow down, as evidenced by his .242 average in 2022 and his .245 average in 2023. He's only hit 12 total homers in those two seasons as well.
It's no surprise that he's had interest this offseason, but the question is what role do teams see for him? Do they value him as an everyday player or a bench player? Do they view him as a first baseman or solely as a designated hitter?
Spring training begins in a little less than one month.
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