Current offer to Mo: 3 years, $45 million
By · CommentsThat’s according to Tyler Kepner of the Times. Is anyone else a bit baffled as to why Mo hasn’t accepted yet? Does he think there’s some team willing to offer him four years at $55, $60 million?
Look, the game is up. We know Mo is crying about not getting a new contract back in the spring. Get over it. For a guy who is portrayed so reverently in Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, Mo is acting like a teenager here. The Yankees have made a more than generous offer, which figures not to be topped by another bidder. What, does he think the Dodgers will outbid the Yanks just because Joe Torre is now the manager?
I’m honestly surprised the offer got this high. Three years, $40 million was an offer not likely to be topped. And now the Yankees upped the offer by $5 million in hopes of signing Mo before other teams could bid. Well, now that other teams can, the point of that $5 million is kind of moot.
What the Yankees should do, though they certainly won’t, is let Mo field offers from other teams. Hey, he wanted to test the market, right? So when teams are coming in with far less than three years, $45 million, the Yankees can say: “Mo, we’ll match your best offer. But you blew signing that three-year, $45 million deal. Just like we blew signing you cheaper back in Spring Training.”
After all, this should work both ways, right?
ByWith Jorge Posada under wraps and Mariano Rivera’s return seemingly imminent, the Yanks can now turn their attention to the team’s other holes. First up, according to The Daily News, is the ever-popular backup catcher situation. At the end of their piece on Posada, Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden report that the Yanks and Jose Molina are close on a deal. No word on the length, but I like this move. Molina should lessen the burden on Posada next season. · (5) ·
Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden break this story: The Yanks and Jorge Posada have agreed to a four-year, $52-million contract. The deal, of course, depends on a physical and some final language. It is not finalized yet, but the inking of the deal seems to be a mere technicality right now.
Per The Daily News:
After being schmoozed by Mets general manager Omar Minaya Monday afternoon during a lengthy lunch at Le Cirque, Posada and his agents finally received the offer from the Yankees they had been hoping for all along. The Yankees offered Posada a four-year, $52 million contract … to remain in pinstripes. The deal will become official pending a physicial and final contract language being ironed out.
In a lunch meeting with Brian Cashman on Friday, Posada and his wife, Laura, made it clear to the Yankees’ GM that they were seeking a four-year contract. Cashman had been holding firm to the team’s original three-year, $40 million offer throughout the negotiations, but after mulling over the issue this weekend, Cashman, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner agreed during a morning conference call yesterday that they would give Posada the fourth year.
Four years is good. I can deal with four years. While I doubt Posada will be an effective catcher by the end of this deal, it’s miles better than a five-year deal, and the dollars are right. Posada has basically set the market. He signed for $13 million a year when most people were pegging him at $15 mil per. I wonder how this will affect Mike Lowell who supposedly wants a similar deal and Alex Rodriguez who really shouldn’t get an offer higher than $25 million.
Posada picked a great year to turn in an MVP-caliber season. Had the Yanks negotiated with Posada before he hit .338/.426/.543, they probably could have signed him for less. Of course, no one expected him to hit that well, and I’m not sure he will approach those numbers during the course of this season. But, hey, at least now he can feed Latrell Spreewell’s family.
Credit on that video there goes to my sister. Click the link and watch it. It’s funny.
ByIn a failed effort scare the Yankees into forking over more money, Mariano Rivera, recipient of a three-year offer from the Yanks, tried to convince the world that he would follow Joe Torre to the Dodgers if he can’t come to terms with the Yanks. This is about as likely as Bonds’ name not showing up in the upcoming Mitchell report. The Dodgers, with Takashi Saito, Jonathan Braxton and, yes, Scott Proctor, had the third lowest bullpen ERA in the Majors in 2007. With their offensive production so poor, they aren’t about to make a 38-year-old closer any offer that comes remotely close to the one the Yanks have extended to Rivera. Just sign your contract already, Mo. · (17) ·
Prospect Profile: Zach McAllister
By · Comments
Zach McAllister | RHP
Background
McAllister grew up just outside of Peoria, IL, in the small suburb of Chillicothe. His father Steve is the Central Region scouting supervisor for the Diamondbacks. McAllister was a star in both baseball and basketball while at Illinois Valley Central High School, but it was clear from the get-go that his future was on the diamond and not the hardwood.
ByI’m not talking about Yankees’ farmhand Justin but rather Benedict XVI. The Pope will be making an April visit to one of baseball’s most celebrated Cathedrals. He’ll have to find another number though for his trip to the Bronx as Number 16 was retired long ago. · (13) ·
ByIn news that will be surprising to only Will Carroll and Will Leitch, Jorge Posada is really close to signing a new deal with the Yankees. I know the Yanks offered him three years originally, but I fear that this deal will be for four. Hopefully, Jorge is up for learning how to man first base. · (14) ·
Twins want offers to start with Cano
By · CommentsIf the Yanks want to grab Johan Santana from the Twins, they’ll have to be prepared to give up an arm and a leg. Reports in Yankeeland say that the Twins want the offer for their lefty stud to start with Roninson Cano and one of the Yanks’ Big Three pitchers. I’ll update this post with more info later, but let me just say that the Twins’ early demands sound much too steep.
Update 9:48 p.m.: Now that I’m home, let me flush this out a bit.
The story came to us via this Ken Davidoff article. Davidoff reports that an official close to the Twins believes any trade offer will have to start with Robinson Cano. Jim Baumbach speculates that the offer would have to include Cano plus a top-flight pitcher. Furthermore, Davidoff says that a package of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and other prospects wouldn’t be enough to land Santana.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, Robinson Cano. As many of you already have noted in the comments, this is simply an example of the Twins throwing out an opening bid through the media. As others have said, Cano is arguably one of the best players on the Yankees right now. As a young second baseman with a career average of .314 and a career OPS of .835, this kid has a ton of value, and he’s nearly irreplaceable on the field and in the lineup. The Yankees should not give up Cano for anything really. I’d consider to be the one untouchable in the Yanks’ current lineup.
Second, the package deal. The Yankees certainly shouldn’t give up Cano and others for Sanatan. There’s no need to explain this one.
Finally, the Phil Hughes+Melky Cabrera deal. As skeptical as we are of Melky, trading Hughes and Melky for one year of Johan Santana is simply insane. The Yanks have Hughes for five more years, and Melky for four. Basically, they have nine years of these two players under control. Trading nine years of that for one year of Santana doesn’t make any sense.
Right now, the Twins are in no rush to trade Santana. They don’t really have to trade him until July. At that point, the asking price will be a lot lower. If the Yanks want Santana, they should wait until he becomes affordable. Right now, as Brian Cashman I’m sure realized, the Yanks have no business making a trade with the Twins.
A fielding stat against Melky
By · CommentsLet’s be clear: I’m not trying to bury Melky Cabrera. I simply think he’s vastly overrated (and, incidentally, think that if any GM overrates him so, we should see what we can get for him). His arm is valuable in center, but as I’ve continually noted, he often takes poor routes to balls, resulting in him making fewer plays than he should given his range. Dave Pinto’s Probabilistic Model of Range agrees with me. It actually rates Melky below Johnny Damon in center.
Now, this clearly isn’t a flawed metric. I think we can all see, on the whole, that Melky is better defensively in center than Damon at this point in his career. However, that’s heavily considering Melky’s arm. When it comes to ability to get to batted balls, they’re on more even ground. If there’s a gap shot to right center, I’d actually feel more comfortable with Damon running it down than Melky (though that’s just one man’s opinion). But on a medium fly ball with a runner on third and less than two outs, you and I would both rather have Melky there.
Anyway, I just wanted to use PMR to illustrate that point. Johnny Damon is by no means a poor center fielder. He just has Berniearm. And yes, in many ways that can hurt us over the course of a season. But if we were to get a quality offer for Melky, I would be totally comfortable with Damon starting the year in center field. Check that: as long as Matsui isn’t in left. I understand how poor that would make our outfield defense.
ByBernie Williams just doesn’t know when to turn in his spikes. According to Mark Feinsand in The Daily News, Bernie thinks he could return to the Majors in 2008. Bernie had a great run on the Yankees, but he just doesn’t accept the fact that his time seemed up. I love Bernie; I can’t wait for the Yanks to retire number 51 during the eventual Bernie Williams Day celebrations. But this latest news just makes me pity Bernie. Enough already. · (15) ·
