Mar
10
Levine: $189 million plan includes Cano and Granderson
ByRoughly three-quarters of the emails we receive concern various aspects of the $189 million luxury cap for 2014. How will the Yanks get below this? we’re asked. Can they do it with Player X and Player Y? The most frequent of these questions center on Robinson Cano and, to a slightly lesser extent, Curtis Granderson, both of whom become free agents after the 2013 season. Yankees President Randy Levine spoke to Jon Heyman, and he seems to believe the Yankees can retain both. “The plan contemplates (Robinson) Cano, (Curtis) Granderson and a full championship team,” Levine said. It is certainly possible, but little will have to go wrong in the Yankees’ plan for them to achieve that goal.
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Jeez, the Yankees go to Orlando for one day, and this is the kind of trouble Levine gets himself into?
Cashman is probably facepalming hard right now.
Unfortunately Cano & Granderson will be the only players on the team.
Ssshh! You just revealed “Plan B.”
How does Swisher feel about that comment?
Levine is like Hank; he has to learn to keep his mouth shut.
Good point. If they re-sign Cano and Granderson, Swisher is likely not on the team.
Levine has to learn a LOT of things…. I doubt that much learning is possible.
A more likely possibility is that Hal and Hank learn not to listen to him and lock him in a room with instructions not to speak with the media or with other teams.
He reminds me a little of Isaiah Thomas. Given that the Steinbrenners keep him around, I’m beginning to think he has compromising pictures of one or both of them.
It feels like all Levine does is walk around with a dunce cap, diaper and a bib on.
Well at least Levine didn’t undercut Cashman on the negotiations.
Does anyone know if he ruled out a 5 year 75mil extension to Soriano?
Does anyone know if he ruled out a 5 year 75mil extension to Soriano?
—————–
Now that you mention it
He did rule out 75 mil. He felt Soriano is more valuable than Burnett so 83 million is the starting price that Levine is willing to pay for 5 years but he is very willing to negotiate to 100 million.
Levine does have a big mouth but all he said was, the plan contemplates both Cano…… 2014. He does have some power when money is spent. He’s spent his share good or bad. I don’t think he said anything wrong. What could he say, no way then he would be a smuck as these guys just tank because of the possibility that the Yanks have no interest in them.
Everyone wants to be a Yankee but not everyone will give them a discount on services but I truly believe Swisher would but he’s on the wrong side of 30 for more than 3 at how much of a discount could he give. The Yanks will make the budget with more confidence with the young pitchers and OF considerations.
Its more that I wish his position within the franchise did not exist. Its redundant and just leads to the arms not coordinating properly. The fact that he plays GM and helps the ownership do the same through an intermediary only makes it worse in my eyes.
Agreed.
He was hired specifically for his knowledge of the NYC bureaucracy, and to use that knowledge to expedite the approval/building of YS3.
Well, what the hell is he still doing here?
Couldn’t the Mets use a clown?
I’m pretty sure he’d be long gone if he wasn’t providing value to the Steinbrenners. None of us have any idea what hi job description is.
Oh, he’s definitely providing value of some sort. Hal wouldn’t keep him around otherwise. But the part of his job description that has to do with the team on the field needs to be taken out.
BECAUSE I SAY SO.
What I want to know is how Cashman doesn’t flip out about this. After the Soriano stuff, doesn’t Cash have a right to say, “Hey, this is my turf. Let me handle this.”? Guess that “total control of baseball operations” thing was kind of exaggerated.
Randy Levine is the NY Yankees team president. Cashman is SVP and GM of baseball operations. Or to put it anohter way, Levine is Cashman’s boss.
Thank you. Amazing how few people seem to know this.
Oh, most of us know it. We just hate it with a true and burning passion.
This is an example of some RABers irrational hysteria.
That certainly seems to be a factor.
Mostly we just hate Levine. Which, I grant you, may also be an example of our irrationality.
Hmm.
“What could he say, no way then he would be a smuck as these guys just tank because of the possibility that the Yanks have no interest in them.”
If Cano and Granderson believed the Yankees would not re-sign them, I can’t see why they would tank. They would need to attract suitors in their impending free agency. “Tanking” would hurt them personally a lot more than it would the Yankees, who have the depth to win with some down seasons.
I’m not sure it will be wise to give Granderson a 5 yr deal in his age 33 season. That’s at least what he’ll be looking for.
They will cut the payroll by leaps and bounds but keep raising the ticket prices!!!!
The one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Ticket prices are based on demand, not expenses.
Ticket prices will always be set at what people are willing to pay. Payroll has nothing to do with it.
Lalalalala I can’t hear you.
I think we may be making too much out of this. He said the plan considers Cano and Granderson. It is not an equivocal “they will be on this team, damnit!”
That said, Levine should never, ever speak publicly on personnel matters.
The latter is the only reason I care. Well, that and the fact that his equivocal statements tend to become contracts more often than they should.
What if the Yankees gave A-Rod an extension for 6 years and 144 million with the same bonuses for HR milestones? It would wipe out the current contract and essentially, he would have a 1 million dollar raise which he would agree to and the Players Union and MLB can’t do anything. If MLB tries to void the contract, it gives MLB precedence to deny raises to players which the Union would never allow and the Union can’t say no to raises either. At the same time the, AAV goes down to 24 million which gives the Yanks another 3 million in cap room. Everyone wins.
As the Kovalchuk (sp?) deal in the NHL taught us, even if everything seems to conform to the letter of the law the league will still deny moves that are done blatantly to lower the “cap”.
but unlike the NHL, the MLBPA has a lot of power and I don’t think they would ever let the league even once say that the player can’t be paid more. It just sets a precedent that the MLBPA would probably not want to allow.
It’s possible the contract could be allowed, but the change in luxury tax calculation would not be allowed
Nice user name!
To Buhner’s barber
Eh, teams have been doing those tricks in the NHL for years. They didn’t do anything about it until teams got way too blatant about it.
i hope levine has an “accident”
seriously, can’t this guy do something illegal so they can get rid of him? fuck this guy sucks
How about for 2014 The Yankees give Cano and Granderson a one year deal for $5MM a piece with player options of $25MM from 2015-2018. That’s like two 5 year $105MM contracts.
Underpaying them one year, and Overpaying them for another four seems to benefit both parties.
The AAV would still be in the 20 million range.
Wasn’t sure if Player Options counted toward taxation. Funny how things that are not guaranteed are counted as guaranteed.
Arod’s salary will be 25 million in 2014, but taxed at the rate of 27.5 million average for his contract.
How on earth could MLB or the player’s union approve that?
The only way that a deal like that doesn’t benefit the player would be the players’ fault, not the teams. Even if Yankees had to add a 6th year… It works out as long as the options don’t count toward the Threshold.
Even if it helped, the league office wouldn’t approve — but the union wouldn’t mind at all. They dont want this CBA to push the Yankees into closing their wallets. The Yankee premium is great for all players — even the ones that don’t sign with them.
“Levine added that the plan also included framing Alex Rodriguez for murder and embezzlement, and voiding the last four years of his contract.”
Well played.
As far as Swish goes. Hate to see him leave. I honestly think he would take less to stay here but have a hard time seeing Yanks shell out for Cano and Grandy and still ink Swish to a 3 @ 30 deal. To sign both of those guys above they will have to trim somewhere and this means Banuelos pitching in majors next year too
3 for 30? That’s insulting considering the contracts Werth and Crawford got. Someone will overpay Swish and it won’t be this team.
Swisher is much closer to Cuddyer or Willingham value than Crawford or Werth.
3/30 still seems low though.
I prefer signing Swish too. For one thing, he comes up next year and they have no replacements. By the time, Grandy is FA, Mason Williams could be plugged in. Rushed a bit, yes. But because of his defense and speed, a year of offensive adjustment won’t hurt. Also, this: if you sign Swish, you take some of the rpessure off the following year. Yanks can then pick between Grandy and Cano. I know it’s sacrilege to consider letting Cano go. But what if Boras insists on 9 or 10 year deal (which he will)? Cano for six or seven — yes. But anything more — shades of A-Rod deal.
ceiling are for small markets…not for a team that charges 15 hundred for a legend seat
Hey, has anyone ever noticed that Levine kinda looks like Dan Shaughnessy?
I think all the questions we’ve had have just been answered.
Can we start referring to him as CHB2?
player options count as guaranteed years for luxury tax unless the buyout is more than 50% of the option value(or unless the option is for a less than 50% guaranteed contract if the player was released)
reply fail
Everyone always jumps all over Levine , who does happen to be an idiot, but the Yankees worst contract by leaps and bounds is ARod’s and that’s Hank’s doing, if I recall correctly.
You’re not following the narrative. ALL bad signings and personnel decisions are blamed on Levine (or Hank). ALL good signings and trades are credited to Cashman (or some blogger who crunched the numbers really well). Easy rules to live by.
So you think Cash should take the fall for the Alex, Soriano and Sheffield deals? It’s pretty well established that those were not Cashman’s deals.
I think most commenters criticize Cash for the Javy trade(s) and the Burnett, Pavano and Wright signings (although more for the results rather than the process).
Jaret Wright wasn’t his signing either. Feliciano was.
Cash had nothing to do with the either the Nick Johnson signing or Marte deal.
not at all true
This.
We jump all over Hank as well. At least we did before his brother hit him with a mallet and shipped him off to a backward and far away land where the media will never find him (Queens).
Step 1: Re-sign Cano and Granderson
Step 2:…
Step 3: Profit!
I laughed.
Grandy will be in right.
Mason Williams or BG will be in center.
I declare this the open thread! Just playin
watches tumbleweeds blow by
Soooooo…Do you like stuff?
Excuse my ignorance, but I’m uneducated on this… It’s not a player’s actual salary in a given year, but their average annual salary over the length of their deal that counts toward the $189 threshold?
Correct. AAV (average annual value) of the contract is what counts towards the luxury tax threshold.
And Jesus doubles in 2 off of…..
Ian Kennedy!
I can’t wait until Pineda stikes out Montero…
$189 million plan includes Cano and Granderson seems applicable if let either Swisher or Martin go.
Rodriguez $28MM
Sabathia $23MM
Teixeira $22.5MM
Cano $20MM($100MM/5yrs)
Granderson $20MM($80MM/4yrs)
Cain/Hamels $18MM($120MM/6yrs)
Swisher $10MM($45MM/4yrs)
Jeter $8MM
Gardner $4.5MM
Hughes/Garcia $4MM
Robertson(CL) $4MM
Pineda $3.25MM
Nova $2.6MM
Cervelli $1.6MM
DH(if any) $1MM
Romine $0.5MM
Rest 3 Bench(IF/OF) $2.5MM
Rest 6 BP $7.5MM
Total: 180.95MM (still own some budget for the rest of 40-Man rosters)
A-Rod makes $25 mil that year
A-Rod makes $25 mil that year PLUS $3 mil signing bonus paid by Jan. 15, 2014
Can we all stay on the same page please? It’s the AAV that gets calculated for lux tax. The bonuses are then on top of that. Most of these numbers are therefore wrong.
the only problem,you wont win the w/s with this team.
i don’t really care how they do it but getting under that $189m is very important. the long term benefits are huge. for too long we lived for the “now” which is how we got a stupidly big payroll that hasn’t produced more WS. they’ve finally figured out that having a smaller payroll has significiant benefits due to flexibility. they will get the number under $189m for 2014, i’m confidence in that.
i don’t really care how they do it but getting under that $189m is very important.
Important for whom?
for too long we lived for the “now” which is how we got a stupidly big payroll that hasn’t produced more WS.
You’re right! There haven’t been any world series because of the payroll. Except for 2009, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1978, and 1977.
“Important for whom?”
Probably as much so for fans as anyone. Getting the luxury tax number down from 50% to, what?, 15% will allow them more financial flexibility later.
I think the yanks can use joba and Hughes to trade for a young cost controlled outfielder. Provided, of course, that both have good years and can build some trade value
Any chance the Yankees can give A-Rod a hockey type extention? Sign him for $200 million over 25 years. Get that AAV down to $8 million.
Like every Yankee fan out there I’d like to find a way to keep Martin/Swish and Robbie/Granderson while adding Hamels/Greinke (since it is so incredibly rare for an ace to hit the FA market it seems like a shame to pass it up when we all know how fast a good rotation turns into a problem. But i really have no idea how they’ll be able to do it. But things change so fast.
Not long ago everyone was salivating over a FA class of Crawford/Halladay/Mauer/Webb/Beckett and Halladay/Mauer/Beckett signed extensions, Webb’s career is essentially over and Crawford was awful last year, while Cliff Lee turned out to not be a one hit wonder. We though we’d have the need for Crawford and possibly Mauer if Jesus couldn’t catch and it turned out we got Martin and Gardner for a small fraction of the price and they were actually better than Mauer/Crawford last year. The point is I’d love to keep all 4 of our position players coming up for FA and add a stud SP but a lot can change in a short time. I’d especially like to keep Cano because he’s a homegrown stud and I think the absolutely logical person to take over at 3B eventually. Unlike most 2B he’ll have the arm strength to handle it so when he gets older he’ll still be very valuable.
Cano’s range to his right is his second best defensive asset behind his arm. It’d be a shame to see that go to waste at 3rd.
The idea is that range diminishes with age and in a few years Cano’s may be gone. If not they won’t move him, but it’s just likely that his range and quickness on the pivot does decline.
I would say that Cano’s range is below average at 2B, though.