Comments on: New York Yankees 2009 off-season structure

By: yanks163

yanks163 — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:28:41 +0000

As a 9 hitter Gardner would essentially be a supplementary lead off hitter in front of damon. Even if he hits only .260 his plate discipline will give him an OBP of about .340 or .350. With his speed he could easily steal 40-50 bases next year and be standing on second base 40-50 times before the top of the lineup comes to the plate.

By: waswhining

waswhining — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:58:43 +0000

His second time up Brett hit 294 (end of Aug Sept/Oct). I think he showed major league defense and speed. Assuming CC is on board that means a Mike Cameron signing. So that’s CF — Cameron/Gardner/Johnny D.

By: Ken Waterford, CT

Ken Waterford, CT — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:56:16 +0000

I agree with your roster. C.C. and Tex will be the only big FA’s they will sign. Maybe they will add a veteran (lower priced 1 yr deal for a CF or SP). Hopefully Ajax (if he is the real deal) will contibute later in the year. It sounds like Tex ($ $ $ Boras) and C.C. ( see Heyman, SI) are going to go to the highest bidder (Yanks). We should have a good team next year (baring more injuries) it will be nice to get younger while adding high level replacements.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:04:40 +0000

Free Agents won’t necessarily receive their average salaries in year 1 of long-term commitments. If you look at Johan Santana’s contract he made 18M in 2008, the first year of his deal with the Mets. Sabathia is looking at a similar contract, so unless the Yankees evenly distribute his salary he’ll probably get no more than 20M in 2009. Teixiera would be a similar situation.

With that in mind I think we have room to sign 4 free agents (including CC and Tex). I would go with 3 SP because you can never have enough of those

So 142.5M plus first year salaries for the following players:
-CC- 20M (first year of a deal averaging ~24M)
-Tex- 17M (first year of a deal averaging ~20M)
-Pettitte- 12M
-Moose/Garland?- 12M
=203.5M

+ another 3-5M on improving the bench/adding competition for Gardner/Melky
=~207.5M- slightly down from last year

I think we should really look to sign 3 starters this offseason. At this moment we only have Wang and Joba. Pettitte will likely be back which will be nice. If we sign CC that also helps. However getting those two still leaves us with Joba, Hughes, and Aceves in the 4 and 5 spots. Joba is terrific but will be limited in terms of innings. Hughes has a lot of potential but also has a lot of issues he needs to work out including injury problems and lack of innings which will also limit him. Aceves was great in limited action this past year, but slotting him to a rotation spot with limited exposure would be similar to what we did with Kennedy and Hughes last year.

We need another starter who can pick up those innings. Moose would be the perferred option if he wants to come back because we all saw what he was capable of last season. He obviously won’t duplicate that, but given his new style I think its certainly feasible to expect him to produce. If not Moose I’d go to Jon Garland who will be relatively inexpensive compared to the market and is a proven innings eater in the AL. A solid #4 type and when Joba is healthy he would be in the 5th slot.

Depth in our rotation has been one of if not the biggest problem the Yankees have faced the past couple years. We need to find a way to avoid using the Darrell Rasners and Sidney Ponsons for anything more than spot starts.

By: tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Mr. Snarky Irrelevant Non Sequitur Jones

tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Mr. Snarky Irrelevant Non Sequitur Jones — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:11:18 +0000

I’m assuming his comment was in the pursuit of comedy. I know mine was.

By: Raven

Raven — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:07:10 +0000

Wow, nice to see a racist among all these Yankees fans.

By: tim randle

tim randle — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:20:57 +0000

you know, this may be the first blog i’ve ever seen where somebody challenged a comment in a thoughtful and quasi-intellectual manner and the person being challenged accepted that criticism and responded intelligently.

could there be hope for us yet?

could Joba actually become the 8th inning guy for two years to replace Mo when he’s done? or is he doomed to follow the Smoltz start-close-start pattern? will his shoulder endure 200 innings?

Clearly, I think not…he hasn’t gotten close yet.

Sorry about the tacking back and forth, but my wife says I have A.D.D.

LOOK! a chicken!

By: ko

ko — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:53:43 +0000

The Yankees having a payroll limit where the write says it is is ludicrous. They brought in close to half a billion last year, they’re moving to a new stadium next year with highter seating prices, psl’s (most likely) and, I belief luxury tax relief due to the new stadium that should probably net them another 100m or so. With all that revenue, why the hell are they cheaping out – if this payroll limit thing is true. With the Rays a potentential monster over the next few years, the Red Sox a better team now and better positioned in the near future with lots more good young talent than the Yankees and the Blude Jays with much better young talent thatn the Yankees, the last thing the Yankees can afford to do is go into a shell with payroll. They’ll get massacred on the field and that will directly cause a substantial decrease in revenues, larger than any payroll increases they may incur in putting a contending team on the field. Next year, the Yankees will sell out at home due to the new stadium, but after that, no one is going to run out and watch the schlock team that the Yankees will put out on the field if they don’t aggressively persue Sabbathia and Teixeira this winter.

By: kgSturnz0r17

kgSturnz0r17 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:09:00 +0000

what about somehow flipping Nady, Damon and prospects for Hermida and Holliday to get younger? and keep Mats as DH.

By: kgSturnz0r17

kgSturnz0r17 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:37:59 +0000

a team that could use a 25yo first baseman…