Yankees in the market for a DH!

It’s easy for me to sit here and say that the Yankees should sign this guy or that they should sign that guy but what it all boils down to is how much do they want to spend? Now of course they could go out and spend huge money on a Prince Fielder to be the new DH, but a new fiscally conservative Yankees are only looking to spend around 2 million dollars. So far I have heard them connected with a few different names. Lets take a look at each of these and the good and bad. Then lets look at why I think the Yankees can do it even better without spending a dime.

Johnny Damon:

The good: Could probably be had in this price range. Damon batted .262 last season which is still respectable. His HR and RBI totals have been fairly consistent and he still has a little speed on the base pads as he showed with 19 stolen bases last year.

The Bad: He is 38, His Batting average has gone down every year since 2008. He can’t play in the field anymore with any consistency due to his loss of range. His OPS and OBP are at an all time low. I love what he did in pinstripes in the past but I feel a return will just disappoint.

 

Carlos Pena:

The Good: Pena is only 30 years old and has had consistent power numbers. You can almost guarantee 30 HR and 80 RBI. He is also a good first baseman who would provide plus defense on those days that Tex needs a rest.

The Bad: He hasn’t hit above .247 since 2007. He is likely to be more expensive than what they Yankee have budgeted due to the fact that he is only 30.

Hideki Matsui:

The Good: The Yankees are familiar with him and he brings a great presence to the club house as well as Japanese media attention. He was always a clutch hitter when the Yankees needed him to be. He still shows glimpses of Power and consistency. Probably fits in the Yankees budget.

The Bad: He is 37, has bad knees, can’t play in the field, and is coming off a bad year with the A’s.

So as you can see the bad outweighs the good in most of these cases. My vote goes to Jorge Vazquez. Vazquez is a corner infielder that the Yankees got out of the Mexican league who has great power and can play first and third base. Last season in AAA he hit 32 HR and 93 RBI. This guy can flat out hit. He did struggle a bit in the first half but ended up batting .262 with a good late season run. He was known in Mexico as El Chato and hits towering HR that often leave even the biggest ballparks. The Yankees already own him why not give the 29 year old power hitter a shot at DH.

Whatever the Yankees decide I for one am excited for spring training to begin. You would have to think with the recent pitching upgrades that the Yankees will be favored to win the AL East. Now the question remains will Boston make a move to try and keep up?

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Quiet Yankees finally make a big bang

With one quick move the Yankees finally prove that they really ment it when they said that the rotation was a priority by signing Kudora and trading for Pinada.

Ok lets start with Michael Pineda, This kid is gold. Mark my words this guy is going to be the best pitcher in the game within three years now that he is off a losing team. It cost the Yankees Jesus Montero so I guess my days of typing Jesus has saved the day are gone for now but its a deal that I would have made in a second and its one that Cashman should be proud of. At 22 Pineda will instantly become the second best pitcher on the staff and isn’t even arbitration elligible until 2014, Pineda struck out 173 batters in 171 innings last season and had an ERA of 3.74. This kids average fastball was among the best in baseball coming in at more than 94 mph and he allowed less than a hit per inning. To put some of these numbers in perspective only Roger Clemens and David Cone have ever had more strikeouts than innings pitched in the history of the Yankees.

If picking up this Kid wasn’t enough the Yankees also signed free agent Hiroki Kudora. Kuroda pitched 204 innings last year with an ERA of 3.04. The Yankees tried to aquire Kudora last season via trade but he used his veto power because he didnt want to leave the west coast. Now that he has hit free agency he signed a one year deal with NY worth 10 millon dollars. Kudora will probably slide into the three or four spot in the Rotation which will leave Hughes, Garcia and Burnett fighting for the fifth spot.

So with seven starters the question will be will the Yanks try and move one of them. Also with Montero gone who will be the DH in 2012? My best guess at the Rotation looks something like this.

1. CC Sabathia

2. Michael Pineda

3. Ivan Nova

4. Hiroki Kudora

5. Phil Hughes.     In my opinion they just became the favorites to win the American league. However as we all know the game is not played on paper, but for now this Yankees fan has new hope in winning another championship.

Looks like the Yankees will not be players

The Yankees continue to let the best of the free agents slip thru their grasp. It’s not that they can’t afford them .It’s either that they don’t feel its a good fit or they feel the price is to high for what you get in return. These are the Pitchers who are already gone:

CJ Wilson: Signed with the Angels , Mark Buehrle signed with the Marlins, Eric Bedard signed with the Pirates,Chris Capuano is now with the Dodgers and Yu Darvish will either be with the Rangers or back in Japan. So lets take a look at the best of whats left.

Bartolo Colon: Colon was with the Yankees last season and had a great first half but after a hamstring injury wasnt as effective in the second half. All in all he is certainly worth consideration for a minor league deal with a spring training invite. However I’m guessing someone will take a chance and give him a major league deal.

Arron Cook: I don’t see the Yankees being interested in a 32-year-old who hasn’t been effective since 2009 but if nobody offers him a deal a non contract invite to spring training wouldn’t hurt.

Jon Garland: Missed most of last season with an oblique injury for the Dodgers. After finishing the season on the DL and only making nine starts the Dodgers failed to exercise their team option they held on the 32-year-old hurler. Garland is an interesting pitcher to me. Prior to last year he hadn’t been on the DL since 2000 and has been a great innings eater pitching more than 2oo innings every year since 2004. He has had success in the American league and in his last full season was 14-12 with an ERA of 3.47 over 33 games. Granted that’s lower than his career average. I think he is definitely worth a look. If his medicals are clean I would love to see him at spring training expecting to win a spot in the rotation.

Edwin Jackson: Probably the best of whats left Jackson is coming off a career year with the Cards that some him go 12-9 with an ERA under four. He pitched 199 innings and had 148 K’s. He did give up a lot of hits but with the Yankees run support I feel that he would instantly become a number three in the rotation behind Ivan Nova. If the Yankees want Jackson they are going to have to pay though. He will be looking for a multi-year deal but I’ll be he would sign a two-year deal with an option for around 14 million.

Hiroki Kudora: We have already beat this horse to death. I hear conflicting reports every day on the Yankees level of interest. I will say that they Yankees almost traded for him last year but he would not waive his no trade clause. Now it seems he is willing to come east. All I can say is we will have to wait and see.

Roy Oswalt.: Another Horse we have already beaten to death. His big question mark comes down to this formula  His age+ His Back Problems+ His never pitching in the AL – His willingness to take a one year deal =?

There are also a few other names out there that could become relevent in an attempt to make spring training a sideshow such as Kevin Millwood, Brad Penny, Joel Pineiro ,Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez and Micah Owings.

Owings  is an interesting guy. He has done it all , Long man, starter, or pinch hitter. Thats right he is one of those pitchers who is a career .286 hitter. Whatever the Yankees do or don’t do it seems that they are out of the big money loop. Of course we have heard that before havent we?

The Yankees may be in on Kuroda

With most of the free agent pitching off the board the Yankees reportedly are competeing with the Red Sox for the services of Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda 37 had spent all of his four MLB seasons with the Dodgers. His win/loss record is not that good 41-46, but remember he played for a losing team. If you take a closer look at his numbers he doesnt look all that bad. He has thrown 208 innings allowing 198 hits with an ERA of 3.45. For camparitive purposes last season he pitched 202 innings allowing 196 hits with an era of 3.07 and had a record of 13-16. Ivan Nova had a record of 16-4 pitched 165 innings allowing 163 hits with an ERA of 3.70. Shows the differance of being on a team that can actually hit the ball doesn’t it? I like Kuroda, I’m not thrilled with the fact that he is 37 but he has been durable and does’t seem to have lost much. If anything he has gotten better. I certainly would try and get him on a one year deal with a team option for a second. I have enough confidance in him that I would offer him 10mil for a year with incentives that could make it worth 13million with a 9.5 million team option for a second year. If the Yankees do sign Kuroda it will be interesting to see how close I was.

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Are the Yankees happy with their rotation?

 I see a lot of question marks.

Ivan Nova: Nova was fabulous last season 16-4 with an ERA of 3.70. If you had told the Yankees that he would have been this good they would never have sent hi down for a short mid season stint in the minors. This might have cost him his shot at 20 wins. The big question will be can he do it again? Seems he was certainly the benefactor of a lot of good offence in his starts. It’s a lot to ask of a 24 year old and although he will be slotted as the number two guy i see him as more of a number three.

Phil Hughes: Phil is a great young pitcher with a huge ceiling. He has shown flashes of brilliance and was great in 2010. In 2011 he was on the disabled list for the majority of the season after getting off to a horible start. His average fastball velocity dropped from 94 to 90 and his slider lacked that bite that made him so effective. Can he return to 2010 form or will he end up being more like Wang was and never really make it back from injury?

Freddy Garcia: Garcia had a great year for a 35 year old that everyone thought was washed up and down for the count. Garcia in a Mike Mussina  fashion reinvented himself. Can he have another year of sub four ERA and double digit wins? Or will his age catch up with him? Remember he is 35!

AJ Burnett: The biggest question surrounding AJ was what were the Yankees thinking when they signed this guy for this much money after one great season. Now they are stuck with an overpaid .500 pitcher who lacks any consistency at all. AJ can pitch I have seen it! I just want to see him do it more than a couple of starts in a row.

CC Sabathia: No question marks here that concern me. Some analysts are concerned with his weight but he has always been on the hefty side. He came into spring last year a little lighter and it showed in the first half . Then he kinda let his conditioning go a little and that showed in the second half of the season. It will be interesting to see which CC we see.

Questions Questions Questions Brian Cashman stated that the rotation was a priority and yet he passed on every pitcher that he could have picked up. Barring a last minute run at one of the few remaining that matter. I believe that one of the young starters down on the farm might make the rotation out of the spring. Perhaps Hector Noasi or even Manny Banualos will make a splash in camp. I can’t wait to see what happens with this one.

The posting system is a flawed one

The Rangers are the big winners in the Darvish sweepstakes with a bid of 51.7 million dollars. This gives Texas the exclusive negotiating rights to this elite talent. They have 30 days to work out a contract with him upon completion they will have to pay the Nippon Ham Fighters the posting fee. If they are unable to work out a deal no money is paid and Darvish will return to Japan for another year.

I think this is a flawed system. The bid is secret and only the highest bid is eligible for those rights. Ok lets play devils advocate for a moment. Lets say you are the Yankees and you know your arch nemisis the Red Sox really really really want this guy. (that wasnt the case but play along) What is to stop you from bidding a rediculous number like 100million dollars with no intent to ever sign the player. Just to prevent them from getting him.

Here is my solution The posting system would remain the same except for one exception. If the winning bid fails to work out a deal then the next highest bidder would get a 14 day window to sign the player . That is if the Japanese team is willing to except that bid as well. This would prevent teams from bidding to high just to prevent anyone else from signing the player.

Yu Darvish is without a doubt a talented player but as we have seen in the cases of Dice K and Igawa this does not necessarily transfer to the MLB.  Its a lot less risky with position players as we have seen with Ichiro and Matsui. So you be the judge, is the current system adequate? or does it lead to the possibility of being flawed?

Is Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes on the Yankees Christmas list

Its always an interesting situation when a baseball player defects from Cuba. They must obtain residency in a third country other than the US before they can become a free agent in the MLB. Well Cespedes has taken that step an has been granted temporary residency in the Dominican Republic on his way to establishing himself as a highly desired outfielder in the MLB. A couple of weeks ago I posted a video of him that many of you may have seen. Multiple sources are saying today that the Yankees will be hard players for this kid. He’s being hyped as a 30/30 guy with a cannon for an arm and is built like a running back. If the Yankees were to sign this kid he would almost certainly be moved to right field making Nick Swisher trade bait. I can’t see him as a bench player as he will not come cheap but with Swisher being in the last year of his contract and being on the wrong side of 30 it seems that his trade value will not get any higher than it is now. I would think that Swisher could be a target for Oakland whom are starving for offence and have had Swisher on their roster before. Here at Yankees Online Magazine we will keep a close eye on the situation and give you more as we have it. For now watch the video, its a bit long but impressive to say the least.

Are the Yankees out on Oswalt

Seems that Roy Oswalt has lowered his contract expectations and is willing to except a one year deal to prove to all that his back is fine and he is worth a big contract.

His agent seems willing to talk to the Yankees about a contract but it seems the Yankees are reportedly not interested. If we have learned anything from history its that the Yankees are coy about their level of interest in anything. Remember when Bubba Crosby was going to be our starting CF? Just before Johnny Damon shocked everyone signing with the Bombers. Remember when the Yankees were out on Mark Teixeira? 

Oswalt struggled with injuries last year but came back be dominate down the stretch. Last year he went 9-10 with an ERA of 3.69. He had more hits than innings pitched which for some reason is the first thing I personally look at for a quick snapshot of a pitchers worth.

Do I think Roy is worth a look? Yea he’s worth a look. Is he a legitimate number two starter? Probably not anymore. I think that the Yankees will look at his medical records at the least and have already had some internal discussions. They may even test to see how cheap he can be signed for.

I believe his value on a one year deal to be 7-8mil. That being said if the Yankees sign him it will probably be on a one year 11million dollar deal.

Will the Yankees make a move

The Rangers have won the bidding for Yu Darvish with a ridiculous bid of 51.7 million dollars, so what’s next for the bombers?

Could this really be the year that the Yankees stand pat and don’t do anything? Don’t give up on it yet there are still some potential moves out there that the Yankees could make

1. Gio Gonzalez: A young talented lefty from Oakland who would immediately become the number two guy behind Sabathia. But the A’s are asking for Montero, Mason and one of the killer B’s, so unless the price comes down that’s not happening.

2. John Danks: A 26 year old south paw from Chi town who had an off season yesterday on a horrible White Sox team. Again they are asking for the moon but I see this price dropping before Gonzalez’s does. He’s a free agent next year and the Sox will be looking to get something back.

3. Roy Oswalt: Unless he is willing to come down from wanting a three year contract at 34 years old with a bad back I don’t see the Yankees showing a lot of interest.

4. Hiroki Kuroda: This would be a surprisingly nice fit for the Bombers but the price tag for this free agent would be north of 10 million a year and it seems the Yankees are keeping their wallet in their pocket this year.

There are a few others out there that will warrant a look like Garza and Jair Jurrjens and of course it wouldn’t be an offseason without everyone talking about trading the farm for Felix Hernandez. I think with Montero seeing more time at the MLB level his value will only increase and there are enough internal candidates to fill out a formidable rotation.

The Bombers seem to really like Hector Noesi, David Phelps, Adam Warren and D.J. Mitchell, These guys should all get a shot at the Rotation out of spring training if the Yankees don’t make a move.

My bold prediction is going to be that Manny Banualos blows everyone away this spring and makes the team out of the gate. I’m not at all worried about a rotation that looks like this

!. Sabathia

2. Nova

3. Burnett

4. Garcia

5. Hughes/Banualos

All it will really take for the rotation to be truly feared is for Phil Hughes to return to the guy who won 18 games two years ago. With Montero filling the DH/back up catcher role I really don’t see the need for the Yankees to make a big splash at all. That being said I’m sure Danks or Gonzalez will be in pinstripes for the new year.

 

 

UPDATE: It is being reported that Roy Oswalt may be interested in a one year contract. Will the Yankees be interested???

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Yankees starting to heat up

After being stagnant so far this offseason the Yankees are finally starting to show some signs of life on the rumor board/trade market.

The Yankees have made it known that they are willing to trade AJ Burnett and eat 8 million of the 33 million owed to the 35 year old pitcher.

Burnett won 18 games with Toronto in 2008 and the Yankees snatched him up quickly once he hit free agency. Since that time he has not lived up to the expectations. In three seasons with the Yankees he is 34-36 with an ERA north of 4.50. If anything positive can be said about Burnett it’s that he has had a couple of clutch playoff outings.

Seems to me if the Yankees are going to move a .500 pitcher who is owed 33 million over the next two seasons they are going to have to eat twice what they are offering just to be rid of his contract and expect nothing in return. If the Yankees are able to do this I feel that it would be a win for Cashman, and expensive win but still a win.

In other Yankees doings the Yankees have won a sealed bid on posted Japanese short-stop Hiroyuki Nakajima. Nakajima 27, hit .313 over four seasons in Japan. Nakajima is an Asian version of Jeter ten years ago. He has been good for 20HR 95 RBI and 20 SB every year over the last four years. But as we have learned anything with Dice K and Igawa is that Stats in Japan don’t necessarily translate to the MLB. The Yankees have spent 2M for the rights to negotiate with him so it seems they believe that Fielding may be a different story.

If the Yankees sign Nakajima  It will be interesting to see weather he fills the utility role making Nunez tradable , or if they move him down to AAA as added depth. The Yankees lack true replacement level infield depth except at the lowest a level with Cito Culver. If Nunez becomes available could he be made part of a trade package to the A’s for Gio Gonzalez.

It seems the light hitting Athletics have an interest in trading Gonzalez if they are blown away. Early discussions with the Yankees have the asking price set to high though as the A’s are asking for Jesus Montero, Mason Williams and either Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like Gonzalez but nobody could think he is worth all that.  I think that the Yankees will have to be willing to give up Montero and I would think that the A’s would have an interest in Nunez who has proven he is patient at the plate and can run the bases well. Nunez also has played some outfield. If Nunez has an Achilles heal it would be hit fielding. However one would think the A’s would be willing to take a chance with this considering  their current SS Cliff Pennington is 27 and had 23 errors last season. If I were Cashman I would offer Montero, Nunez and Mason.

So as you can see the hot stove is no longer cold more to come. Make sure you are following us on Twitter at Yankees Magazine.