Nov
07
Light rumors for late Saturday afternoon
ByMike was on duty at MLBTR today, and he found a few Yankee rumors. Nothing big, just some basic stuff on the Yankees’ free agent decisions. Check that out for starters; it has items regarding Matsui, Damon, and Jeter.
Later in the day, Drew Silva linked to a bit by Tim Kurkjian with a few Yankee bits. He thinks that the Yanks will let both Damon and Matsui walk, replacing their production with Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. I’m not sure I agree with this at all. He also mentions that we should “look for the Yankees to re-sign [Andy Pettitte] for at least one year.” That would be ideal.
71 Comments»
RAB Info
The Founders
Mike Axisa, Ben Kabak, Joe Pawlikowski
Editor-In-Chief
Mike Axisa Archives | Email
Managing Editors
Ben Kabak Archives | E-mail
Joe Pawlikowski Archives | E-mail
Contributing Editors
Larry Koestler (Archives)
Moshe Mandel (Archives)
Stephen Rhoads (Archives)
Weekend Writers
Hannah Ehrlich (Archives)
Matthew Warden (Archives)
Special Contributor
J.R. O'Grady (Archives)
Subscribe to RAB by RSS and Twitter
Follow @RiverAveBlues Search RAB
Spring Training Countdown
Just 6 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.Banner Design By
Can’t wait for the RAB Podcast/ radio show, when does that start?
Yeah is that coming back?
Wait. People actually listen to that? We stopped because we thought we had no audience.
Fuck that. I listened to every one.
Yeah I did too. They were great
Maybe we’ll reconsider.
I didn’t read it as him saying they would sign either of the two, since he just says they’ll consider them amongst other options.
Is Chapman going to hold a single mound session exclusively for the Yanks or will he opt for different throwing sessions for only a couple clubs?
I’m hoping Cash gets the wheels in motion for an offer sooner rather than later. Yankee baseball news is heading into a quiet part of the year, so hopefully Chapman starts fielding offers soon.
are they looking at Chapman as a starter or reliever ? how close is he to majors
chapman is a starter.
and i’m not sure how far he is away…could be half the year like it was with el duque…could be a whole year in the minors.
could be less…but i would doubt it.
mound session just for the yanks…in yankee stadium…with world series bunting still up…have jeter there to great him…have jorge catch it…have cc and aj cleaing out their lockers as he’s getting ready…run into Arod on tour of stadium…have Mo come out to chat with them while he’s working out…then, the coup de grace, have kate hudson take him on a (very) private tour of the museum…
Kate will use her SEXUALITY! to get Aroldis to sign.
/30 Rock
Better strategy would be to have Damon’s wife chip in for the cause.
Starter and he’s like couple seasons away form the majors if I recall.
But he’s definitely not going straight to the majors.
I was wondering , with that kind of stuff if they would start him in pen ,like Joba
That was, is, and will continue to be a bad idea.
well…it really isn’t crazy to think about letting them both walk.
As timmy says in the piece…the yankees did the same thing last year with a couple of players coming off good years.
and hey that worked out. lol..they replaced abreu with a fairly cheap option in RF and another big time FA to take over at 1st.
if the yankees want to sign a fairly cheap guy to add depth to the DH and/or OF…and then sign a big FA. it could work.
As timmy says in the piece…the yankees did the same thing last year with a couple of players coming off good years.
and hey that worked out. lol..they replaced abreu with a fairly cheap option in RF and another big time FA to take over at 1st.
Circumstances are different from last year to this. The reason they could last year because Giambi, Pavano, Mussina, Abreu and more left. The Yankees have like 190 million on their payroll right now assuming if they sign Pettitte (apparently from some commentator). They stay at the 200-210 million range. I doubt they’re going to offer a huge contract to aging players again.
if the yankees want to sign a fairly cheap guy to add depth to the DH and/or OF…and then sign a big FA. it could work.
It probably would for a couple years then it would start to suck.
They can cheaply sign for Damon and Matsui for one year to let the kids develop and so they can sign better free agents in the coming year.
far as i know…there is not a better OFer on the market in 2011 then Bay or Holiday…but i could be wrong.
We’re talking about the yankees…they just won the world series. they have money. make no mistake. if they want to go add Bay or Holliday or Lackey. they will do it.
i mean what did we hear all offseason last year??? “We’re focusing on pitching..we don’t have extra money…nick swisher is our 1st basemen”
Yeah that lasted for like 3 weeks…and then a $180 million dollar man come walking through the doors.
far as i know…there is not a better OFer on the market in 2011 then Bay or Holiday…but i could be wrong.
Carl Crawford. He’s worth the money. Bay and Holliday aren’t.
Your example of Teix was worth the money. Great defense, young and a great bat.
Holliday is going to age under the huge contract he’ll get, playing good defense however probably plays only barely better offense than Damon. We don’t know what he can do in the AL just yet.
Bay is even older I believe, terrible defense, and again might just be barely better than Damon offensively.
I would rather invest in Crawford than either of them. But they’re going to have to wait a year, So they can sign Matsui and Damon for one year to wait for that.
i mean what did we hear all offseason last year??? “We’re focusing on pitching..we don’t have extra money…nick swisher is our 1st basemen”
Yeah that lasted for like 3 weeks…and then a $180 million dollar man come walking through the doors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
however probably plays only barely better offense than Damon.
___________________________
i would hope this was a typo. because numbers tell a far different tale.
Holliday’s 162 game avgerages: .318/.387/.545, 29HR, 112RBI, 109Runs
Damon’s 162 game averages: .288/.355/.439, 16HR, 76RBI, 113runs
What were Holliday’s AL #’s ? Is there a pussy league adjustment co-efficient available ?
If it were up to me I would re-sign Damon, Matsui, and Pettite and go after Lackey. Period.
Whats Wangs status ? Does Hughes go back to rotation ?
As we’ve already had to delete two of your off-topic comments, please review the commenting guidelines regarding off-topic comments. Wang’s status was addressed just last night in this post by Joe.
Hey man im sorry. I was out last night finally having a chance to celebrate and didnt read that post….why so hard ass ?
“why so hard ass ”
Because we’ve created these rules to help foster an orderly commenting environment. We’ve seen what happens when comments go rampantly off-topic, and we want to avoid that. So please, follow the guidelines we’ve created. They’re not many in number, and not difficult to adhere to.
I always do…I did all season. I just think asking a question that was asked last night is not off topic . I just didnt see it…. I love the sight, not trying to cause problems …sorry….We’re supposed to be celebrating still
If you consider “please review the commenting guidelines regarding off-topic comments” hard-ass, what do you consider lenient?
whats the big deal ? i said i was sorry. I just didnt know the guidelines covered knowing what was posted last night, thats all….I really am sorry and would like to let it go
Fine. Just saying.
Offer Matsui and Damon one year/5-7 million + incentives(must do REALLY WELL to kick in) + a team option for a 2nd year for both. Whoever doesn’t take it should walk.
with abreu getting 9 mil guaranteed it will probably take base salaries of 8+ to get either damon or matsui, but i agree on the option for year 2.
You can’t have incentives based on doing ‘really well,’ unless ‘really well’ means staying healthy & playing in x number of games.
http://reconditebaseball.blogs.....ished.html
I know. That’s what I meant. I’m thinking maybe 130 games for it to kick in. I just wasn’t thinking too much about it so I didn’t bother to give specifics.
say we only sign damon, JoPo becomes DH and Molina catches full time?
I’ll kill myself.
I do not like the idea of an instant black hole.
that’s true, maybe after 2010 JoPo becomes DH and we sign Mauer….Unless Montero comes up
This kind of fantasy free agent signing stuff is dumb, the Twins are going to do everything they can to keep Mauer and everyone knows it.
Posada as a fulltime DH isn’t a very attractive option, and Molina is not coming back.
No, if we only sign Damon I would guess that he becomes DH and AJax or possibly Gardner takes CF and Melky takes left.
or you could sign a mike cameron or Xavier Nady..or someone like that to play LF instead of Damon.
I’d much rather have Damon out there in left for another year, keep the champ team in tact
X-Man coming back would be cool but I don’t see it because of all the injury problems.
Cameron, maybe.
Cammy would play center and move melky to left.
let it be known that i’m not the biggest cameron fan around. he just K’s way too much for my liking.
but i would rather eat glass then have melky cabrera in LF and Brett Gardner in CF for 150 games a year.
How about AJax in CF?
he needs another year which is why cammy is an excellent option since he can play center and will only need 1 year.
I would love to give Ajax a shot, but we just don’t know what he’ll produce.
You know who i kinda like?
Marlon Byrd.
i like him as well but consensus has been he will probably get at least 3 years from someone.
Just looked at the numbers, I like him. He has the potential to have a really, really good year.
Cervelli’ll probably be the backup next year.
i think only 1 of damon or matsui probably comes back cant see them letting both walk. names that could replace some production.
Cameron: cashman has always liked him, can probably get a 1 year deal and still plays very good d in Center. 1 yr 8-9 mil.
Hawpe: Lousy defender, but not really worse than Damon. Figure Colorado might be looking to shed salary and his salary is quite reasonable for us at 7.5 next year, 10 mil option (500K buyout) for 11. No he doesnt have the huge home/road splits many in colorado do and he is only 30.
Cantu: Would purely be a DH move, but still only 27 and has been a good run producer the last 2 years and is probably going to cost too much for florida to keep in his last arb year.
If they do let both walk a deal for Hawpe, sign cammy deal would replace the production, actually improve the D (if melk moves to left) and cost the same as people want us to spend on damon and matsui (16 mil combined).
I posted this idea under a different name on LoHUD and wanted to see what you guys think. I will preface it by saying I do not necessarily want this to happen but…
I think you can make the argument that signing Damon and Mike Cameron may be more valuable than Damon and Matsui. Damon would be the DH most of the time and when you want to rest Jorge, AROD, etc. you plug Damon into LF. In that case either Melk takes a day off or Swisher does when he is going through one of those rough slumps(hopefully KLong can improve that). Cameron would provide great defense, keep Damon fresh, and provide ALOT of flexibility for resting guys without having a “rotating DH.”
Thoughts?
True, but Matsui is a better hitter than Cameron.
I’ve thought about that scenario myself. Cameron makes the team a bit more flexible, but Matsui is by far the better bat. I’m more apt to lean towards Matsui over Cameron, but I definitely see the flexibility case.
To play devil’s advocate since I have not really made up my mind on the issue.
Matsui is definitely the better bat, but Mike Cameron is no certainly no slouch himself. It is a dropoff but I do not think it is a huge dropoff. Also the flexibility Cameron provides may help the offense overall by keeping Damon, AROD, and Posada fresh.
Finally, Cameron provides a ton of value defensively in not just his play in CF but being able to shift Melky and putting the Yankees worst defender at DH.
Two stats I was surprised to see. Cameron 2009 WAR: 4.3 and value: $19.4
I would keep but Damon and Matsui as we have too many hitters who “spit the bit” in the post season. I dont think we would have won this year without these two. Just look at the World Series stats…we had almost six auto outs in the line-up every game. Clutchness is a hard thing to find, just ask Tex, Cano, Arod, and Swisher. Melky and Jorge didn’t exactly light it up either.
if the yanks did sign cameron, is there a chance they would trade someone like gardy. i am not advocating that, but for his speed and defense alone gardner would have trade value like bourn did a couple years ago.
but bourn was actually able hit a few years ago
really? the year bourn was dealt .277/.348/.726
gardy this year…270/.345/.724
Those are exactly the same.
sorry slg .378 vs .379 the 700′s r obviously ops.
I wouldn’t mind a Rich Harden signing, assuming they can get him relatively cheap.
I like Damon back and adding Cameron.
CC
AJ
Andy
Harden
Joba
I like it.
I don’t think Harden can be counted on to stay healthy though.
I agree he’d be a great high risk/even higher upside guy, but he shouldn’t be counted on as a rotation piece for a whole season.
He’s been relatively healthy the past two years and hasn’t cracked 150 IP in either one.
If there’s some sort of way to make him a 6th starter, on maybe an extended rest schedule or something, I think it’d make sense for him personally, for whatever team.
If you can get Rich Harden & his 10+K/9 for 140-150 innings, do it, just don’t rely on him for more than that.
Boy, the commenters over at MLBTR are straight-up deranged. The first response to Mike’s post:
So we sign Damon, Chapman, Holliday, one of Lackey/Durescherer and, if Cashman is feeling saucy, Mike Cameron for good luck. I’ll take it!
Is that any crazier then the beat writers in NY of the Daily news who post that the Yanks should keep both Joba and Phil in the pen. Trade Cano and Montero, because he has already outgrown catch if they can improve the team…?
I rest assured knowing Cashman doesnt listen to these idiots.
John Harper also said to target Randy Wolf, yeah that Randy Wolf. And have Jose Molina play 80 games next year, yeah that Jose Molina. Because we didnt get to see that in 2008.
How do these people have jobs?
Doesn’t Randy Wolf hate the East Coast? He is also a crapshoot to pitch 200 innings. I also don’t trust him in the AL East. How did that make sense to John Harper?
Wolf may love the East Coast, but hes a mediocre NL pitcher, he’d suck in the AL.
Dont know why it makes sense for Harper, thus my how does he have a job question.
I think most people would love to sign one or both of Mastui & Damon. I think the problem is that they could probably get a 2 year deal somewhere else. Abreu just signed for 2 years. Pat “The Bat” Burrell signed a 2 year deal as a DH a year ago. I know Pat signed before the market really hit the pooper, but after the WS, some team would offer a 2 year deal.
They both have limited teams to go to.
Matsui- playoff-caliber only, and AL-only
Damon- playoff-caliber only, teams know he sucks in LF so probably AL-DH only too.