Hey guys, this isnt really a blog update, more of a question. With the Yankees 3-man rotation woes very clear in the postseason, the offseason talk for a starter has already begun. What route do you guys prefer; letting Joba and/or Hughes try to work out their kinks in the rotation, signing a low-risk, high reward guy such as ben Sheets or to a lesser-extent, Rich Harden, signing a middle of the rotation guy such as an Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf or a Jon Garland, or throwing out another big contract John Lackey, who already has rumors circulating around him that a $100,000,000 payday will be in store (I expect it to be closer to the AJ Burnett, something like 5 years and $85,000,000)
Let me know what you guys think as we head into the off season. It's tough to get a grasp on things now considering we don't know how things will play out with the Yankees own free agents and obviously how these guys deal with their own teams as well. Teams cant even begin talking to other team's free agents until Nov. 20th, so obviously the free agent outlook now will be very different in a few weeks.
So, stay internal? Mid-rotation cheaper guy? Low-risk High-reward? Or yet another big contract? Lets start the off season off with a little audience participation and let me know what you guys think!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
A visit from your favorite Uncle!
Hey ladies and gentlemen! We got our first non-live blog guest blog and it's from Uncle Johnny! Lets see what he has to say:I am absolutely sick of all of these pitiful fans and Yankee haters constantly complaining about how bad their respective teams are and how the evil empire bought another title. To all of those sorrow pusses out there, let's look at the facts. Last year, the lowly pirates brought in $40 million dollars in luxury taxes and revenue sharing. Additionally, they received another $35 million from the MLB central fund. This money was in the pirates owners pockets before they sold (or didn't sell) one ticket. Most of this money came from the two most hated franchises in sports, the yanks and the Sox. So instead of despising us, how about thanking us for even having a chance to field a team. What's so crazy is that is only one team. If you include all of the losing teams that can't fit their own bill, teams like the Yankees, Sox, cubs, and cards should be barely surviving themselves. So how do these winning teams keep winning? They spend money and are not cheap. They enjoy winning and want to please and excite their loyal followers. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. So here's some advice to the pirates, the royals, and the mariners...start spending our money. Stop hating and start thanking... Maybe you will be having a parade one day as well... And I'm not talking about the Macys thanksgiving day parade.
-Johnny Vegas
Friday, November 6, 2009
Why wait? Yankee free agent predictions!
Well, this isn't going to be a large post covering all of the free agents throughout baseball that the Yankees will or wont be interested in; it won't be about who they should sign, or what player they're talking to that they should simply walk away from, lets simply talk about the 7 Yankees who just got a WS ring and a key to the city, and discuss whether they should be on the team when the Yankees go for #28. As for the rest of the league, we will get to that later on in the off season.
First off, who are the Yankee free agents you ask. Well, luckily we here have the answer: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, Xavier Nady, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jose Molina and Erik Hinske
Ok, lets take 'em one by one their 2009 salary will be in ( )
Johnny Damon ($13 mil) Damon has a solid year as a Yankee hitting .282 with 24 hrs 82 RBI and a .365 OB%. With that said, it wasn't all good. He had only 12 SB, his lowest as a Yankee and his defense was not good to say the least. Only 7 of his home runs came on the road, which shows how much the new Yankee Stadium helped him, he hit .247 in Sept/ the first 3 days of October, and although he had a good postseason, that does include a .083 BA in the Division Series. He will be a Type A free agent, so offering him arbitration could be a decent idea considering he has said he wants a multi-year deal, but I think playing in NY is more important to him than a long-term deal so I wouldn't take the risk of having to possibly pay him $15 mil or more. Having Austin Jackson at AAA is a bit of insurance in this situation as well.
Official Offer- 1 year $8 mil with a $8 mil team option for 2011. No arbitration offer.
Hideki Matsui ($13 mil) We all know how well Matsui played in the playoffs, specifically the WS, but his 2009 season was very good as well. Yes, he only hit .274, but with 28 homers 90 RBI and a .367 OB%. People such as Mike Francesa will tell you there is no room for him considering they want to share the DH spot with guys like Jeter, A-Rod, Posada and Damon if he is resigned. Although the "goal" is to give the 15 DH spots each, even though I don't think that will happen, even if it does, that still leaves 102 games without a DH. Who DH's then? When it comes down to it, Matsui proved he can still stay healthy for an entire year and more importantly, proved he can still hit. Give this man a contract! If any of you saw Letterman last night, Jeter wants him back to and what the Captain wants, the Captain gets. A Type B free agent, Matsui, like Damon isn't worth the risk of potentially having to pay $15 mil
Official Offer- 2 years $14 mil. No arbitration offer.
Andy Pettitte ($5.5 mil base salary, potential of $12 mil with incentives, Pettitte earned $10 mil overall) Pettitte, who was upset with his contract last year, went 14-8 this year, won all three clinching games in the postseason and did what we all have come to expect since he first pitched in 1995. Pettitte has shown before he would be willing to walk if he doesn't get what he thinks he deserves, he may actually be worth offering arbitration to. He is a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may be a Type A, so he could potentially get paid about $12 mil since arbitration is based off of money earned, not base salary. While again, I wouldn't off arbitration, I don't know if my potential idea of 1 year $ 8 mil with incentives would be enough for him. With that said, I seem to be the only one, but part of me thinks Pettitte is going to retire.
Official Offer- 1 year $9 mil with incentives to potentially reach $12 mil. No arbitration offer.
Xavier Nady ($6.55 mil) Nady has an upsetting year considering he only played in 7 games. With that said, he is a Type B free agent and represented by Scott Boras. I think arbitration is the right way to go with Nady. Right now, we don't know who our left fielder will be, our RF is very good, but could use rest every now and again and our CF combo is okay at best. We could use another potential OF with some pop, especially against lefties who can play any outfield position. With that said, since Scott Boras is his agent and he will be looking for a multi year deal in a weak free agent market, odds are he will decline arbitration and the Yankees will receive a draft pick. If not, its not the worst case scenario considering he would only make about $7 mil. Its a win-win situation.
Official Offer- Offer arbitration. No contract offer
Jerry Hairston Jr. ($2 mil) While Hairston came over and played decently, he is not necessary to the team considering we have Ramiro Pena. He currently projects as a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may drop out of the rankings entirely. That is what is going to determine it all. If he is a Type B, an arbitration offer is an okay idea because he wont get too much of a raise, but if he isn't, Pena will get the job done.
Official Offer- Arbitration if Type B free agent. No offer if not ranked
Erik Hinske ($1.5 mil) Hinske is a good bench player, but there are many like him. He could help, but if he walks it won't be hard to find a replacement, especially if we offer Nady arbitration and he accepts.
Official Offer- 1 year $1 mil
Jose Molina ($2 mil) Nice knowing you! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Official Offer- NOTHING
Well, that's it for now. Obviously, these signing may affect each other. They Yankees may not want to bring back both Matsui and Damon, or Hinske and Nady, so it will be interesting to see how things work out. There are many other decisions to be made regarding the team such as should they pick up Sergio Mitre's option (i cant find anywhere how much it is worth, but either way, it doesn't matter, don't pick it up), should they non-tender Chien-Ming Wang (yes!) and resign him to a minor league deal (yes again!), and obviously lots of trade talks as well will take place. It's going to be an interesting off season as always, but we first gotta start off by taking care of what is right in front of us. What do you guys think about our free agents? Am I being too cheap? Are they getting too much? Let me know what you think?
Update: 11/9/09
The official rankings are out. Somehow, Hideki Matsui isn't even ranked, yet Xavier Nady is. That one seems to be confusing everyone. But more importantly, Jerry Hairston Jr. went from being a Type B, to not being ranked so I believe it is time to cut ties with him.
First off, who are the Yankee free agents you ask. Well, luckily we here have the answer: Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, Xavier Nady, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jose Molina and Erik Hinske
Ok, lets take 'em one by one their 2009 salary will be in ( )
Johnny Damon ($13 mil) Damon has a solid year as a Yankee hitting .282 with 24 hrs 82 RBI and a .365 OB%. With that said, it wasn't all good. He had only 12 SB, his lowest as a Yankee and his defense was not good to say the least. Only 7 of his home runs came on the road, which shows how much the new Yankee Stadium helped him, he hit .247 in Sept/ the first 3 days of October, and although he had a good postseason, that does include a .083 BA in the Division Series. He will be a Type A free agent, so offering him arbitration could be a decent idea considering he has said he wants a multi-year deal, but I think playing in NY is more important to him than a long-term deal so I wouldn't take the risk of having to possibly pay him $15 mil or more. Having Austin Jackson at AAA is a bit of insurance in this situation as well.
Official Offer- 1 year $8 mil with a $8 mil team option for 2011. No arbitration offer.
Hideki Matsui ($13 mil) We all know how well Matsui played in the playoffs, specifically the WS, but his 2009 season was very good as well. Yes, he only hit .274, but with 28 homers 90 RBI and a .367 OB%. People such as Mike Francesa will tell you there is no room for him considering they want to share the DH spot with guys like Jeter, A-Rod, Posada and Damon if he is resigned. Although the "goal" is to give the 15 DH spots each, even though I don't think that will happen, even if it does, that still leaves 102 games without a DH. Who DH's then? When it comes down to it, Matsui proved he can still stay healthy for an entire year and more importantly, proved he can still hit. Give this man a contract! If any of you saw Letterman last night, Jeter wants him back to and what the Captain wants, the Captain gets. A Type B free agent, Matsui, like Damon isn't worth the risk of potentially having to pay $15 mil
Official Offer- 2 years $14 mil. No arbitration offer.
Andy Pettitte ($5.5 mil base salary, potential of $12 mil with incentives, Pettitte earned $10 mil overall) Pettitte, who was upset with his contract last year, went 14-8 this year, won all three clinching games in the postseason and did what we all have come to expect since he first pitched in 1995. Pettitte has shown before he would be willing to walk if he doesn't get what he thinks he deserves, he may actually be worth offering arbitration to. He is a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may be a Type A, so he could potentially get paid about $12 mil since arbitration is based off of money earned, not base salary. While again, I wouldn't off arbitration, I don't know if my potential idea of 1 year $ 8 mil with incentives would be enough for him. With that said, I seem to be the only one, but part of me thinks Pettitte is going to retire.
Official Offer- 1 year $9 mil with incentives to potentially reach $12 mil. No arbitration offer.
Xavier Nady ($6.55 mil) Nady has an upsetting year considering he only played in 7 games. With that said, he is a Type B free agent and represented by Scott Boras. I think arbitration is the right way to go with Nady. Right now, we don't know who our left fielder will be, our RF is very good, but could use rest every now and again and our CF combo is okay at best. We could use another potential OF with some pop, especially against lefties who can play any outfield position. With that said, since Scott Boras is his agent and he will be looking for a multi year deal in a weak free agent market, odds are he will decline arbitration and the Yankees will receive a draft pick. If not, its not the worst case scenario considering he would only make about $7 mil. Its a win-win situation.
Official Offer- Offer arbitration. No contract offer
Jerry Hairston Jr. ($2 mil) While Hairston came over and played decently, he is not necessary to the team considering we have Ramiro Pena. He currently projects as a Type B free agent, but when the final rankings come out, he may drop out of the rankings entirely. That is what is going to determine it all. If he is a Type B, an arbitration offer is an okay idea because he wont get too much of a raise, but if he isn't, Pena will get the job done.
Official Offer- Arbitration if Type B free agent. No offer if not ranked
Erik Hinske ($1.5 mil) Hinske is a good bench player, but there are many like him. He could help, but if he walks it won't be hard to find a replacement, especially if we offer Nady arbitration and he accepts.
Official Offer- 1 year $1 mil
Jose Molina ($2 mil) Nice knowing you! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
Official Offer- NOTHING
Well, that's it for now. Obviously, these signing may affect each other. They Yankees may not want to bring back both Matsui and Damon, or Hinske and Nady, so it will be interesting to see how things work out. There are many other decisions to be made regarding the team such as should they pick up Sergio Mitre's option (i cant find anywhere how much it is worth, but either way, it doesn't matter, don't pick it up), should they non-tender Chien-Ming Wang (yes!) and resign him to a minor league deal (yes again!), and obviously lots of trade talks as well will take place. It's going to be an interesting off season as always, but we first gotta start off by taking care of what is right in front of us. What do you guys think about our free agents? Am I being too cheap? Are they getting too much? Let me know what you think?
Update: 11/9/09
The official rankings are out. Somehow, Hideki Matsui isn't even ranked, yet Xavier Nady is. That one seems to be confusing everyone. But more importantly, Jerry Hairston Jr. went from being a Type B, to not being ranked so I believe it is time to cut ties with him.
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