Bronx, NY – The New York Yankees officially picked up the options on two key offensive players on Monday, with second baseman Robinson Cano and center fielder Curtis Granderson both having their 2013 salaries exercised.
Both players are slated to make $15 million next season.
The Yankees also kept relief pitcher David Aardsma, who missed the majority of the 2012 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery, by renewing a $500,000 option.
Cano is coming off the best season of his eight-year career, with the left- handed slugger hitting a personal-best 33 home runs along with 94 runs batted in and a .313 average. The four-time All-Star has batted over .300 in four consecutive seasons and six of the past seven years.
Granderson also set a career high for homers, belting 43 to tie for second in the American League in that category, one behind Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera of Detroit. The 31-year-old also led the Yankees with 106 RBI, though his batting average dipped to .232 after hitting .262 during a 41-homer, 119- RBI effort in 2011.
Both Cano and Granderson struggled during the postseason, however, with the former going just 3-for-40 (.075) in New York's nine playoff games and setting a major league record with a hitless streak of 26 straight at-bats.
Granderson hit just .100 with one homer and struck out 16 times in 30 at-bats, and was removed from the starting lineup in the Yankees' season-ending Game 4 loss to Detroit in the AL Division Series.
Aardsma appeared in just one major league game last year and missed the entire 2011 season while on the mend from elbow surgery performed in July of that year. The right-hander did save 69 games between 2009-10 while with Seattle, however.
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