Yankees exercise options of Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, David Aardsma

The New York Yankees have exercised the 2013 contract options of center fielder Curtis Granderson, second baseman Robinson Cano and right-hander David Aardsma, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:

The options on Cano and Granderson are worth $15 million each, while Aardsma’s option is worth $500,000. None of the three choices were considered to be especially surprising decisions for the Yankees.

Cano, 30, had another stellar season for the Yankees, hitting .313/.379/.550 with a career-high thirty-three home runs before fizzling out in the postseason. There was never much question as to whether New York would exercise Cano’s option, only whether the team would try to lock him down long-term before he hits free agency next fall.

The 31-year-old Granderson continued to hit a steady dose of long balls in 2012, topping forty for the second consecutive season, but his batting average and on-base percentage declined significantly. The left-handed hitter batted .232/.319/.492 in one hundred sixty games overall. It was rumored late in the season that the Bronx Bombers might choose to buyout Granderson’s option in order to have an easier time remaining below the luxury tax threshold, but that is obviously not the case.

Aardsma, 30, missed all but a single game of the 2012 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but is expected to play a big part of the bullpen next year. The right-hander missed all of 2011 recovering from injuries as well, but put together solid numbers as the Mariners’ closer in 2009-2010 that the Yankees hope he can replicate.