Open Thread: Juan Miranda
By
(Kathy Willens/AP)
With the light at the end of Jason Giambi‘s contract tunnel starting to draw closer, the Yankees made a move to bring in someone they hoped could be their first baseman of the future. During the 2006-2007 offseason, they signed Cuban defector Juan Miranda to a four-year Major League contract worth $4MM, hoping he’d be able to step in for Giambi when his contract expired after the 2008 season.
Miranda, reportedly 23 at the time, mashed at two minor league levels in 2007 and was anchoring the Triple-A Scranton lineup by Opening Day 2008. He hit .287/.384/.449 with a dozen homers that season, then got his first taste of the big leagues (14 plate appearances) that September. Miranda’s shot at becoming the full-time first baseman disappeared when the Yankees signed Mark Teixeira the following offseason, a move that sentenced Miranda to two more years in Triple-A with intermittent call-ups. He hit a respectable .253/.330/.458 with four homers in 94 plate appearances spread across three seasons in pinstripes, with his most memorable moments being this walk-off single against Kyle Farnsworth, this moonshot against the Rays, and this walk-off walk against the Red Sox.
One year ago today, the Yankees traded the out-of-options Miranda to the Diamondbacks for Single-A pitching prospect Scottie Allen. Allen was a total disaster in 2011 (7.52 ERA in 93.1 IP), but Miranda finally got his first chance at extended playing time in the bigs. He started out very well, hitting .270/.387/.539 through Arizona’s first 51 games, but he stopped hitting after that. Miranda finished the season with a .213/.315/.402 batting line in 202 plate appearances, and was taken off the 40-man roster in June. He remains in the D’Backs’ system.
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Here is tonight’s open thread. None of local hockey teams are in action, so there’s not a whole lot going on in the New York sports scene. You can talk about anything you like here though, have at it.
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I’m in the Dominican Republic, me need visa to cum play we the yankis. Me Jorge De Paula. Me can Truck my balk at 97. Me want money and good food. Me likey Cameron Diaz Y Kate Hudson.
you no funny.
and yu no guu!!
Terrible accent; you sound more Chinese than Dominican.
Yeah, Jorge Vazquez – I mean Juan Miranda – was great.
that dude hit a BOMB this one time. I think it was the #3 or 4 longest HR in the new stadium?
In hindsight, I woulda liked Juan Miranda as a stopgap at first.
Do you think they would have gone at things a little different with Montero if Tex wasn’t at first? maybe it woulda been Swish/Miranda in 2009, Swish/Jorgie in 2010, and Jorgie/Montero in 2011?
if Miranda was the answer, would the Yankees be looking at Prince now? Or making a run at Pujols? Maybe it woulda been a trade for Gonzalez last off season….
Counterpoint, would 2009 have happened…
Sorry, meant Miranda/Jorgie in 2010
I think you covered it all. The Yankees would probably be in a better position now if they had done that. The question is in the multiverse, would the Yankees have won in 2009.
Also, who would have played RF in 2009/2010?
2009 would have been aJax? Shelly Duncan?? Eric Hinske???
Matt Holliday/JBay would have been the order of the day.
good thing we got rid of that Miranda asshole!
We would have attempted Xavier Nady but after his injury we would have probably traded for somebody.
He WAS the left fielder in 2009. Swisher started out as a bench player.
He was the right fielder in 2009 you mean.
Right Fielder, but yes. Point taken
Actually, I think Melky could have made the transition to RF. Has the arm for it, never really hit for COF type power, but neither does Gardner and that’s worked out…
But then there’s not granderson so who the fuck knows what would’ve happened
If you sign Prince or Pujols you’re probably going to be in a similar position to the one with Teixiera… They’re not going to be signing 3 years deals. Teixiera is still plenty young enough to correct his swing, and I believe he has publicly said that he will work on it.
Big bounce back year for Teix. Set that sh*t in stone.
Signing Pujols and dealing with his decline will in no way be similar to the situation of having 5 more years of Teix.
Pujols is the same age as Tex… And he figures to sign for well over 5 years. Have Pujols for maybe the next 10 seasons will be like having A-Rod is all likelihood… You’ll be paying him like the best player in the game well into his decline.
Prediction Time!
Who starts the most games for the Yankees in 2011, Manny Banuelos or Dellin Betances? I’ll say Betances as a pure guess, I’d love to see both starting games in 2012, but that may not happen.
Banuelos starts twice as many easily….
Counter point, not positive they start 5 games between the both on them next season, but I digress
Yea, no need to push them into the fold yet. Let them continue to develop with a near-full season in Triple-A. Let them learn some more of the nuances in an environment with significantly less pressure.
I’d definitely like to see them get a handful of starts between the two, but would prefer to see the real coming out party occur in 2013. Ideally.
Let’s just hope that the Yankees’ fortunes allow this.
I’d guess CC.
anyone see what buster twitted about the yanks trading swish?
Why don’t you just say it?
https://twitter.com/#!/Buster_ESPN/status/137700620231647232
https://twitter.com/#!/Buster_ESPN/status/137700872888139776
interesting…. i wonder who is knoocking down the door for a guy who cant even hit in september
/RABCommenter’d
You mean October, right?
He didn’t really say anything that a knowledgeable fan couldn’t have tweeted. Not in this case at least.
Breaking an unwritten RAB rule here, but whatever…
The Yankees need to think about trading A.J. Burnett to the Mets for Johan Santana. Mets get salary relief by trading a guy that isn’t going to help them anyway. The Yankees have to take on $17 million but get rid of Burnett. Even coming off of shoulder surgery, can Santana be any worse than A.J.?
*Not going to help the Mets contend over the next two years.
And actually, its $22 million with the opt-out added. Hm…maybe they should think a little less about it.
Yes, Santana absolutely can be worse than AJ. There are decent odds that they’d be paying 22 million to look for another pitcher to pitch those innings while Santana sits on the DL. If they’re gonna do that, why not look for that other pitcher, pay AJ the money and see if he can do anything useful? and, if not…cut him?
Yea, maybe you’re right. The only thing worse that watching Burnett’s Jeckyl & Hyde bullshit would be paying someone to do the Carl Pavano.
The Yankees won’t simply “cut” A.J. I say there’s three options:
1. They keep him in the rotation and take the kick to the gut for 65 starts the next two seasons (This being the most likely).
2. They trade him while paying the vast majority of his salary, or whatever. Cashman said he’s received calls about A.J already. Maybe talks will heat up and a deal can get done at the Winter Meetings, who knows.
3. They keep him, but move him to the bullpen. I see this scenario only happening in the final year of his contract. In my opinion, if they move him to the bullpen that’s it, no going back.
I know they won’t cut him this year. He’ll be in the rotation for better or worse — MAYBE the pen if he’s awful enough. I do think that, if he’s awful enough in 2013, he’ll go to the pen, and then they might actually cut ties if he continues to be useless.
As for trading, I’m sure those trade calls are of the “hey…so, what if you pay all but 2 mil of his contract and take Chone Figgins too?” variety
I believe Chone Figgins was below replacement last season. There’s no way that a team reportedly willing to eat a good portion of Figgins deal would ask the Yankees to not only eat all of Figgins contract but also all but $1 mill per of a better player’s contract. If Wang can get $4 and Lowe can be moved with money on his deal, it’s pretty likely that Burnett can be moved with a bit of money left on his deal.
Odd question here but; anyone have any good “dog related” Yankees names? I was trying to entertain my sister earlier thinking of a nickname for our dog and all I could come up with were Bark Teixeira and Brett Arf-ner (awful, I know)
David Ruff-erson
Curtis Grrrr-anderson
That’s all I got, terrible I know.
This is “ruff”. Better than mine, at least.
Thurman Muttson.
Babe Woof.
I kick myself for not thinking of Don Muttingly instead of Muttson. And, of course, Robinson Canine.
Personally, I would avoid A.J. Bone-ette.
Another reason to get rid of AJ is by doing that, you instantly raise Montero’s defensive skills! I mean tall, slow, unathletic Matt Wieters won the gold glove and Montero has caught Brackman and Betances. How bad could he be with the rest of our staff with more experience. His arm is decent, he is well-coached.
Protect him from AJ!!!!
See Fangraphs 2010 best Yankee prospects where they project Romine as a poor defensive catcher with possibility to learn to hit. Carlton Fisk was taller than Montero and he is in the HOF.
There’s a bit more to defense than height. That two players are the same height does not mean they are the same defensively or athletically.
That is exactly what I am trying to get accross.
Any thought or insinuation in this article to say that because Miranda failed that Cespedes will also fail is a far reach. For one, Miranda was obtained at a relatively low price so that the Yankees knew what they were paying for. In my humble opinion Cespedes is the real McCoy the closest player to compare with Bo Jackson since Bo last played.
Cespedes isn’t mentioned once here. Also, if Cespedes is Bo Jackson part 2, the yanks are better off with swisher. Jackson could hit the ball really far, but he had a career OBP of .309.
You got me there. I mean in strength and speed, and athleticism He’s the closest to Jackson.
What do we know about the other Cuban defector, Jorge Soler?
miranda is so thick. yum