Nov
12
Yankees tidbits we missed yesterday
ByI would guess that maybe 5 percent of people who read this site don’t read MLB Trade Rumors at least once a day. It’s such a quick, easy source of information on anything remotely hot stove related. This time of year, though, it gets a bit dense. Thirty-nine posts went up yesterday, most of them not Yankee-related. But there are some minor tidbits among them, so we’ll aggregate the aggregator.
- Joel Sherman caught a vibe, and it said that the Yankees will not only non-tender Wang, but they will “not even offer him a small base with incentives to return.” Good thing it’s just a vibe.
- Sherman, who has been all over these GM meetings, hears that Yanks “plan to tender arb-eligibile Brian Bruney because his price (about $1.5M) will be reasonable.” That’s less than 1 percent of total payroll.
- Buried in this Joe Strauss article about Matt Holliday, the Cardinals “expressed interest” in Xavier Nady. I always wonder what denotes an expression of interest.
- The Royals foolishly jumped on Kyle Farnsworth early last off-season, and this off-season they’re after another former Yank. Via Ken Rosenthal/Jon Paul Morosi, the Royals signed Wilson Betemit to a minor league deal. I’ll always appreciate Betemit for bringing us Nick Swisher.
- Not that the Yanks were going to sign him anyway, but Charley Walters reports that the Twins and Joe Mauer have begun discussing a new deal. The Yanks will just have to hope that one of their 18 catching prospects works out.
59 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
HOPE??!?! you mean they’re not all locks?
Wow it’s been a long time since I was first to comment.
They are all locks, Joe’s just being modest.
Yea, they’re all locks to be stars. What Joe meant by his hope of one working out was that hopefully one will break the AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, Hits, HR, RBI, Runs Scored, 2B, 3B, BB, SB, wOBA, VORP, and WAR records while having a career 103% CS rate.
For the sake of the game I’d like Mauer to stay in Minnesota.
+7
maybe if the cheap owner there would pour his billion dollar fortune into the team this wouldnt be an issue.
But I’m sure its much better to die with 9 billion instead of 8 and have a few more world titles right George S??
he did die already didn’t he? Pohlad’s son is now in charge i thought
Uh, Bo, their cheap owner is dead.
Every time I think about how Wilson Betemit landed us Nick Swisher, I laugh.
I take it to one more level. I think how Wilson Betemit landed us #27.
Eh.
This team wins the AL East without Swisher.
Considering his contribution in the playoffs, I think its safe to say the same about winning the world series.
It was a joke
Where was the punchline?
Ok, it was a badly executed joke.
Swisher did carry us in April.
I think his presence in the locker room was a huge part of team chemistry and keeping guys loose.
thanks ozzie guillen
Dayton Moore is going after Betemit?
I think his next move is to trade their third best prospect for Jason Varitek
Shhhhh! Don’t give the man any ideas. I also laugh at the thought of the Red Sox paying $3 million for their backup catcher to walk around with a giant C on his chest.
word is that they will be giving the C to Youk or the midget
i was listening to WEEI on monday and people were talking about it
not worried–Tek has 10-5 protection and no way in hell is he going to KC, even should Moore lose whatever mental faculties he is rumored to still have
it’s even better than the Sox paying him $3M to be the backup catcher–this means Martinez will have to catch Wakefield (presumably Varitek will catch Beckett), or they will have to waste a roster spot on a third catcher
and Dela–probably Pedroia, but you don’t have to have a captain
very true JGS… touche
If the Red Sox decide that Jason Varitek shouldn’t be captain anymore, I’d like to officially throw my hat into the ring for the captaincy.
Of course, it would be hard to juggle the responsibilities of being captain of the Boston Red Sox with my busy schedule being future junior Senator from Massachusetts, but I’m sure I could handle it.
Sincerely,
Curt Schilling (R-MA)
I really hate letting Wang walk. They really must think theres no helping him.
me too… the guy had an FIP of 3.91, 3.79, and 3.74 in his 06-08 seasons
even in his DISASTROUS 09 season, his FIP was still only 5.38… which is only .08 higher than sergio mitre (not that that’s saying anything, but if theyre willing to spend 1.25 on mitre, i think a small base with incentives for CMW is definitely worth the gamble)
also:
2008 LD rate = 22.1% … BABIP = 287
2009 LD rate = 19.7% … BABIP = 397 (!!!)
now he was definitely lucky regarding his LD rate in 2008, but even with regression hes still a pretty damn good pre-2009 pitcher
http://www.fangraphs.com/stats.....battedball
Yeahh, thats not a good sign on the Yanks opinion on his medicals
Or on the organizational belief that he can get that sinker back up to 94/95. If he can’t throw that hard, he’s not effective pitcher unless he drastically improves his secondary pitches.
It’s also worth noting that he’ll be 30 on Opening Day. He’s not that young anymore.
for shame.
He has 2 good yrs that were really due to the fact that the team was really good and could score runs. Pitch to contact pitchers eventually get hit hard and have yrs where luck doesnt turn out there way.
He has 2 good yrs that were really due to the fact that the team was really good and could score runs.
Yeah… no. Not at all.
He has 2 good years because he pitched well for two good years. His ERA+ during those two 19-win seasons
was 124+ and 122+. He lead the league both years in lowest HR/9. He made all his starts and pitched deep into the games and kept runs off the board.
He pitched well. The team offense had little at all to do with it.
“The team offense had little at all to do with
ithow well he pitched during those two years, it only affected his win-totals.”Totally agreeing, just refining the rebuttal a bit.
Thanks for the help out.
Joe Mauer staying in Minnesota helps two teams: First and foremost the Twins. But after that it is the Yankees, because he will not be playing in Boston.
As for Wang and Nady, it is no big deal, letting them go. They essentially won the World Series without them (And besides they ae having a bit of trouble with the 40 man roster (Which is why I am shocked about keeping Brian Bruney, considering how bad he was)).
Under 2 mill for a guy who throws in the mid to high 90′s is what the Yankees are supposed to do. They can take chances on a guy like Bruney for 2 mill.
I’m with Bo on this one. Sure, Bruney is a lightning-in-a-bottle type, and the Yanks didn’t get that lightning from him in 2009, but guys with his ability don’t grow on trees and aren’t always under team-control the way he is. He’s relatively cheap (in years and dollars) and he’s got talent. I want the Yanks to bring him back in 2010, I think it’d be a mistake to let him go.
does he have an option? if he stinks can he be sent down?
I don’t know… Even if he does, though, is that such a big concern, given current roster construction, that the Yanks should cut him loose? You’ve only got 2 guys out there (Mo and Marte) who can’t be sent down, right? And those guys aren’t in danger of being in that conversation anyway. I don’t think having one borderline guy out there who doesn’t have any options (if, in fact, he doesn’t) is going to hurt the Yanks’ flexibility so much that it makes the argument to cut him loose stronger than the argument to hold onto him, does it?
oh yeah of course, i don’t think it matters iw as just curious. It would be nicer if he does but if he doesn’t there’s no way you don’t bring him back at 1.5 mil with the flashes of brilliance he has shown.
if he bombs you trade him a la veras last year somewhere for a couple hundred thou
Yeah… Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about Bruney before this conversation, so I wasn’t arguing against the idea that his options (or lack thereof) don’t matter so much as I was thinking out loud. If I’m missing something here, I’m more than open to hearing it. After quick analysis, though, it doesn’t seem to me like letting him walk is the smartest move.
exactly, in a world where kyle farsnworth gets 4 mila year signing brunety for 1.5 is a no brainer
Yeah, sure, why not. It’s not a super huge cost… maybe he bounces back and either pitches well for us or we spin him off for something midseason if he becomes superfluous.
Right. Also, I don’t love the idea of saying goodbye to a guy (with his abilities) when he’s at his nadir. Someone with his talent is bound to bounce back at some point, I just don’t like the idea of getting his bad performance and then giving his good performance to someone else. There’s a decent chance he bounces back and has a decent-enough run in 2010.
And, like you said… If he doesn’t bounce back, relievers with big arms and relatively cheap deals aren’t impossible to move, if the Yanks need the added flexibility. Or they can just take the 1-year hit, it’s not like we’re talking about a multi-year deal here.
If Saint Louis has interest in Nady, is there any chance the Yankees do a little sign and trade type thing like they did with Sheffield? Or is that not possible because they were picking up an option with Sheff?
hes a free agent. they dont have options on him
I know that. I’m wondering if they would offer him arb/sign him anyway and then trade him.
Oh wait. Nevermind. 99.9% sure they can’t do that. I remember last year hearing that signed FAs can’t be traded til June or something anyway. My bad.
They can’t be traded until June….without their permission, therefore if it was all part of the deal Nady could agree.
But otherwise the only way the Yanks could do that is offer arb, he accepts, thus he’s overpaid, in which case St. Louis may not want him.
Hm, okay. Thanks for the clarification, A.D.
“They can’t be traded until June….without their permission, therefore if it was all part of the deal Nady could agree.”
Which is why I think speculation that something like this could happen is unrealistic. Nady has absolutely no reason to sign with the Yanks just so they can trade him to the Cardinals, it’s in his best interest to just sign directly with St. Louis. From the Yanks perspective, if they don’t actually want Nady back, they’d be taking a risk by signing him just to trade him since the Cards could just say ‘F that, why should we trade for a guy when he could have just signed with us directly two days ago instead of screwing us’. So, in the end, I think you’re left with an idea that really doesn’t make much sense for any of the three interested parties.
cures you.
This. The healing power of my reasoned analysis will, in fact, cure what ails you.
DAMN! i meant curse you cause I wrote the dumbed down version of this below before i hit refresh.
c’est la vie
I know, I know, I was just taking advantage of your endearingly awful typing skills.
ha, thanks. it’s amazing, when I was a wee young’un I used to be the bee’s knees at Mario Teaches Typing. That giant fish could never catch me. and now, alas.
Word, just let him walk, then.
plus why would st louis want to give up a player and $$ for an injury risk? as of now it’d just be $$
Jedi mind trick by Cashman.
Yeah they wouldn’t, Nady doesn’t have enough actual interest in him.
The sign & trade made sense in a situation last year where a player would only cost the Yanks a 4th round pick, but the team that wanted him a 1st or 2nd rounder, therefore there was opportunity for everyone to win.
Regarding Curtis Granderson, I would pass. While he is a talented player, he strikes out a ton, and is terrible against lefties, and not that good a baserunner despite having plus speed. I’d rather give Austin Jackson a chance first. If you’re gonna deal Jackson, include him in a package for Halladay.