In the a post summarizing this morning’s ridiculous Yankee developments, MLB Trade Rumors points us to an Andy Pettitte story. Apparently, Pettitte’s agent is still demanding $16 million a year for Pettitte’s services. I’m not too keen on bringing Pettitte back. While he is a valuable lefty, at 36 this year, he showed some major signs of slowing down and couldn’t get batters out during the second half of the year. I could see bringing Pettitte back for $10 million or maybe $12 million, but a $16 million offer just seems like a deal to which the Yanks wouldn’t — and perhaps shouldn’t — agree.
Yanks out to sign every free agent available
A few months after the Yankees’ unceremonious loss to the Angels in the 2002 playoffs, The Onion, the nation’s finest satirical news source, ran one of their better sports articles. “Yankees Ensure 2003 Pennant By Signing Every Player in Baseball” screamed the headline. Kat O’Brien’s latest for Newsday could almost be that article, except Kat is dead serious.
She writes:
The Yankees have expressed strong interest in righthanded pitchers Derek Lowe and A.J. Burnett in the past couple of days, according to sources familiar with the talks, after offering ace lefty CC Sabathia a contract in the ballpark of six years and $140 million…
Although pitching is the Yankees’ priority, and they traded for first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher last week, a source said the Yankees have expressed an interest in first baseman Mark Teixeira. The Gold Glover is, with Manny Ramirez, the top free-agent offensive player available. The Yankees might simply be trying to drive the price up for the Red Sox and Angels by indicating interest in Teixeira, or they could be hedging their bets in case something falls through on the pitching front and they have money to spend.
So based on O’Brien’s sources, the Yanks have contacted every top free agent except for Manny Ramirez in the last few days. I wonder when Manny gets his phone call.
Meanwhile, these unnamed sources also answered Joe’s overnight query. CC is reportedly “mulling things over” while in Houston this weekend. As the Yankees turn, so baseball turns. The dominoes, I predict, won’t fall until someone signs with the Yankees first. So we wait.
Olney on Peavy: Don’t count on it
The back-and-forth on Jake Peavy and the Yanks continued today with Buster Olney’s offering up his take on the rumors that just won’t die. According to Olney’s latest blog post on ESPN.com (Insider-only), the Padres and the Yanks probably won’t be consummating a deal anytime soon.
Writes Olney:
he past conversations between the Padres and the Yankees about Jake Peavy never developed into anything that close to being serious, sources say, and it’s highly unlikely the Padres and Yankees will ever get serious about a Peavy deal.
The Yankees are focused almost entirely on adding pitching through free agency, because they won’t have to part with their prospects in a deal. CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe and A.J. Burnett are the Yankees’ targets, and not Peavy.
So, in practice, two things would have to happen before Peavy-to-the-Yankees became serious:
1. A whole bunch of other pursuits would have to end badly.
2. The price on Peavy would have to come down.
I know a lot of Yankee fans would like to see Peavy in pinstripes; I know others who think trading for him would be a bad move. I’d much prefer Peavy over Lowe or Burnett at the right price. I think he represents a better long-term investment and will be a better pitcher over the duration of their respective contracts.
That said, I can understand why the Yanks don’t want to give up the farm for Peavy. I can understand why they’d rather go after the free agents. But if the Yanks sign CC, and the price on Peavy drops, it would be hard to say no to that deal. It might not be accurate for us to seriously evaluate this potential acquisition right now, but things have a funny way of changing in the Hot Stove League.
Monday morning CC thought
It seems that despite the free agent signing period opening on Friday, baseball took the weekend off. The most we got was a rumor that K-Rod was in New York for a physical. Well, that and the Yankees’ mega offer for CC Sabathia. Does the fact that CC hasn’t yet accepted this offer, and likely will not accept it in the next few days, mean anything in the long run of the Yankees pursuit of the hefty lefty?
Not at all. Why should it? Clearly, Sabathia’s agent wants to field a few more offers before making any sort of decision. He likely wants to see how things go with Mark Teixeira and the Angels, since that club is a likely suitor for his client. He probably wants to see how the Manny situation develops. He also probably wants to get an idea of offers made to other free agent pitchers. In other words, he wants to give the situation time to develop so he can better gauge what is in his client’s best interests.
As much as we wish this would play out quickly, that’s just not likely. We’re talking about the best pitcher on the free agent market, possibly the best one to hit the market in the past five to ten years. Yes, the Yankees offer was generous, and I’m sure he appreciates the gesture. That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s just going to sign it. He probably wants to see what’s going on elsewhere. And that’s no insult to the Yankees.
Imagine this scenario, though. CC claims that he wants to get this done quickly: “I want to get it done pretty quick. I try to be as less free as possible. All that is is stress, having it drag on through the winter. We’ll see what happens.” So here’s how he could not only get this done quickly, but maximize his return in the process.
Now that the weekend has passed, Sabathia’s agent, Greg Genske, could/should go to Cashman and say: “We appreciate your more than generous offer. While we understand that this will make CC the highest paid pitcher in the history of the game, there are other factors to consider. However, my client has made it known that he doesn’t want to drag this out all winter. Our counteroffer is six years, $150 million. If offered, we will sign immediately.”
Pie in the sky? I don’t think so. It works for Sabathia because he won’t find that kind of money elsewhere. It works for the Yankees because it reels in their top target, allowing them to focus on the rest of the roster. Once again, it’s not likely. But it sure is neat to think about.
Open Thread: Hot Stove news of the day
While it’s been a slow day in Yankeeland with only a scant rumor about CC Sabathia to whet our collective appetites, some interesting news around baseball has surfaced.
As Scott Boras and Manny Ramirez attempt to convince potential suitors that Manny can be a serious baseball player, someone — probably from the Red Sox — leaked a sordid tale of suspension to ESPN’s Pedro Gomez. Apparently, the Sox came very close to suspending Manny without pay over his decisions to opt against playing in the July contests against the Yankees. Instead, they traded him to the Dodgers, and it’s clear that this story is supposed to serve as a caveat emptor to any team looking at Manny.
In other Red Sox news, Nick Carfado reports on a potential trade between the Red Sox and Tigers. The Red Sox would ship the useless Julio Lugo to Detroit while the Tigers would send either the useless Dontrelle Willis to Boston or the also-fairly-useless Nate Robertson to the Red Sox. That trade would simply swap one reclamation project for another.
Finally, in some CC Sabathia-related news, Jayson Stark feels that the Yanks are the most likely destination for the lefty. I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch though.
So enjoy this thread. Discuss whatever you like: baseball, Skins-Cowboys. Just play nice.
CC under pressure?
According to Anthony McCarran, CC Sabathia may be feeling the heat from the Players Association to accept the Yanks’ record-setting contract. While on the record, PA reps deny the charge, McCarran’s sources seem to suggest that the lefty’s contract should set the market for pitchers. I doubt the union would exert explicit pressure on CC, but I can see why the rest of the union would want him to sign the best deal out there.
Benefitting from a bad economy
Over and over again, this week, we’ve heard how the Yankees are going to benefit from a bad economy. The team is flush with money. They have some high-priced contracts coming off the books; attendance remains at record-setting highs; and with a new stadium set to open, the Yanks’ coffers will be full for years to come.
For Yankee fans hoping for a return to dominance, that is, of course, good news. Few teams can afford CC Sabathia, and as the Yanks illustrated on Friday, they’re willing to outbid themselves to show just how willing they are to use their position of economic strength.
Similarly, not many teams are in a position to make offers to Mark Teixeira or A.J. Burnett that will be in line with what these players want. It’s almost as if they’re the Yanks’ — or Angels’ or Dodgers’ — for the taking. The rich will emerge from this Hot Stove League richer.
On the flip side of this economic argument are posts such as this one from Buster Olney. Somewhat spuriously, Olney, playing off of a column by Richard Griffin, claims that this off-season will prove the popularity of the hidden gem or the free-agent bargain. “All of the baseball world is looking for a bargain, so Penny, Johnson and Pettitte could have a wide range of choices,” he writes.
For his part, Griffin parlays the story of Randy Johnson’s inability to come to terms with the Diamondbacks as a sign that third- or fourth-tier free agents may have a tough time finding homes. For once, I’m inclined to believe that it’s not the economy, stupid.
What Olney fails to recognize is that Major League teams are always looking for bargains. That, in fact, is the real message of Moneyball. How do you put together a cost-efficient team with a lot of flexibility and the chance to win? By signing the Brad Penny’s of the world to one- or two-year contracts. Similarly, in Griffin’s case, Randy Johnson isn’t getting a deal that he wants because of his age. How many teams would be willing to give a 45-year-old with a recent history of back problems an $8 million deal, even for one season?
The real story of this baseball economy isn’t personnel based. It’s market based. As the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Angels and a few other teams can weather this financial storm with ease, baseball’s middle- and small-market teams are in trouble. In Detroit, for example, the U.S. auto industry is in danger of collapsing. In other markets that don’t enjoy the benefit of a large population, attendance will suffer, and teams’ financial bottom lines may not emerge from 2009 unscathed.
Every year, the free agent bargains get the phone calls, but not every year do the stock markets collapse. How Major League Baseball handles the disparities in wealth that are sure to be magnified this year will be a real testament to Bud Selig’s legacy. Brad Penny? He’ll be fine no matter what.
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