A Varitekian musing from Rosenthal
By · CommentsIn a rumors column early this week, Kenny R. engaged in some catcher-related speculation. He writes:
Here’s a sinister thought: Varitek to the Yankees. The chances probably are slim, but the Yankees need to add a catcher due to their uncertainty over Jorge Posada, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. Varitek, 36, might recoil at the notion of joining the Red Sox’s biggest rival, and the Yankees might prefer to spend on pitching. But because the Yankees already have signed three other Type-A free agents, Varitek would cost them only a fourth-round pick …
I like the idea of the Yanks’ picking up another front-line catcher, but I don’t like the idea of Varitek. It has nothing to do with his personality. While iYankees objected on personal grounds, my complaints are purely baseball-related. If the Yanks could stomach the arrivals of Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon and Rogers Clemens, to name a few, they could deal with having Jason Varitek on the team.
However, Jason Varitek isn’t very good anymore. He hit .220/.313/.359, and his 73 OPS+ placed him slightly ahead of Melky on the bottom of the AL OPS+ list. He’ll turn 37 a week after Opening Day and hasn’t ever been a great defensive catcher. It would be a waste of money and a waste of a roster spot. While Pudge and Varitek remain out there, the Yanks may be tempted to kick the tires on one of these two retreads, but in the end, they’re better off waiting on Posada.
ByBryan Hoch took a look at the lower Yankee payroll a few days ago and notes that the Yanks are on target to pay out less in 2009 than they did in 2008. Right now, the team has committed $186 million to 16 players. While some of that lower figure is due to creative bonuses for their big free agent signings, this figure is largely dependent upon Andy Pettitte’s not returning. If Pettitte comes back — as I hope and think he will for the right price — the Yanks’ figure will actually be lower this year than last for the first time in a long time. If Pettitte returns, the two figures should be about to the same. · (38) ·
Once more unto the Andy Pettitte breach
By · CommentsAs Spring Training inches ever closer, Andy Pettitte, as we all well know, remains the last real question mark for the Yanks. Meanwhile, Pettitte is running out of options.
To wit, we’ll start with Ben Sheets. As Joe noted last night, Sheets’ new medical report doesn’t really change the equation. All signs point to a Texas landing for the Brewers’ former ace. Cross the Rangers off Pettitte’s potential list.
Meanwhile, across baseball, the story remains the same. In Flushing, the Mets have extended an offer to Oliver Perez. The control-plagued lefty remains Minaya’s top target. The Astros are “pretty well set” without Pettitte and can’t really afford him anyway, according to owner Drayton MacLane. The Dodgers will soon land themselves Randy Wolf.
So that about wraps up all of the other teams tangentially related to Andy Pettitte this off-season. All signs, then, lead to the same place to which they’ve been pointing since the start of the Hot Stove League: Andy Pettitte can either work out a deal with the Yankees or with no one.
With other options closed to him, I’d have to believe that Pettitte, if he wants to return to the Majors this year, will figure out a way to take a pay cut and pitch for the Yanks. As Joe predicted a few hours ago, I too think Pettitte will resign before too much time is up. After all, pitchers and catchers report in just three weeks.
By56 all-time Yankees CFersFor your Saturday morning enjoyment, the Daily News has a feature on the top five Yankees center fielders of all time. Except they copped out and had No. 1 as a tie (gee, guess who), so it’s really the top six Yankees CFers of all time. Me? I’d go Mantle, DiMaggio, Combs (look at those gaudy numbers), and Bernie. Tough call between Rickey and Bobby, but I’ll give Bobby the benefit of the doubt because he played in New York longer. · (108) ·
What does Sheets’s “new medical report” mean?
By · CommentsNot even three weeks ago, teams were concerned with Ben Sheets’s shoulder. Sometime between now and then Sheets updated his medical profile, and this “may have sparked some renewed interest” in his services. I find this hard to believe. It all sounds a little too vague.
First: “may have sparked some renewed interest”? No, it hasn’t definitively sparked some renewed interest. It may have sparked some renewed interest. Is this a guess? Is it an assumption that because Sheets sent around his medical records that they’re going to be better than before? Either way it doesn’t sound like much more than a report that Ben Sheets sent around new medical records.
The question is, what are they looking for? Is it the shoulder problem Olney discussed earlier this month, or is it the muscle he tore in his pitching elbow? Why am I asking so many questions?
Maybe this will help Texas justify the risk of signing him. They met with him this week, and they seem to be the team most strongly connected with him. On the podcast I said Sheets to the Mets, but that’s looking unlikely. Heyman also reports that the Mets have made and offer to Oliver Perez.
(In more vague terms, he says that the Mets “are believed to have improved their original thought, which was for about $30 million over three years.” Original thought? Man.)
I guess the Yanks involvement depends on what Texas does. Even with improved medicals, it’s tough to justify doing this without heavy incentives. I think we could see Sheets sign with the Rangers, Perez sign with the Mets, and Pettitte sign with the Yankees in the next week or so. Pitchers and catchers in 21 days, and time’s a wastin’.
ByThe Grand Island Independent, a Nebraska-based newspaper, recently sat down with the Yanks’ Nebraskan star. Check it out as Joba chats movies — The Shawshank Redemption tops his list — high school musics and U.S. Marshals. Good stuff. · (6) ·
Open Thread: A Moving Day video and some top prospects
By · CommentsRoxanne Geyer from WCBS 880 AM sent along the above video. Click it to play.
She headed up to Yankee Stadium for the historic moving day and chatted with some of the Yankee officials who were packing up the trucks for the long transport across the street. For such an historic day, it seems rather anticlimactic. Opening Day will be a far, far bigger deal.
Meanwhile, Keith Law, a one-man prospect wrecking machine, has capped off his week of prospect coverage on ESPN with a list of each organization’s top prospects. Since he ranked the Yanks 15th overall, New York gets just five prospects on the KLaw list:
- Austin Jackson, CF
- Jesus Montero, C
- Andrew Brackman, RHP
- Dellin Betances, RHP
- Zach McAllister, RHP
That seems about right to me. It’s good to see Brackman so high up on the list before he’s even thrown a pitch in the pros. His ceiling is as high as any other prospect’s in the game right now. Whether he can harness his talent remains to be seen.
Anyway, here’s your Friday evening open thread. You know the drill. Play nice.
ByPete Caldera reports that the Yanks and Andy Pettitte are still talking about 2009. The Yanks, however, do not believe that Pettitte will accept a one-year, $10.5-million deal. To me, in this economy, Pettitte is taking a gamble that just isn’t going to pan out. The news that he reportedly had a three-year deal in excess of $35 million was clearly false, and no other team that we know of has made the 36-year-old an offer. He should take the money and come back to the Bronx. · (25) ·
RAB Live Chat
By · Comments
ByRich Lederer over at Baseball Analysts took a look pitchers around the league based on strikeouts per 100 pitches, rather than the usual Kper9IP. Lederer explains how K/100 has a strong correlation to the number of runs a pitcher allowed, and backs it up with some data. The far and away leader in K/100 last year was Rich Harden at 7.37, and he was followed by Timmy Lincecum at 7.20. Three Yankees finished in the top six, as Joba came in third (6.90), CC Sabathia fourth (6.58) and AJ Burnett sixth (6.33). It’s interesting to see that the top thirty pitchers in K/100 last year were basically the thirty best pitchers in the game, while the bottom thirty were essentially the thirty worst pitchers. Check it out. · (53) ·
