Rays get Manny and Damon, Blue Jay dump Wells. What move effects the bombers more?

Manny: Its OK Johnny we will be teammates
 again in 2011

It wasn't long ago that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon were causing destruction at Yankee Stadium, actually it may have been longer then I have realized. It will have been 6 years since Damon and Manny were Red Sox teammates, that ended when Damon jumped to the right side of the rivalry and became a Yankee. But the pair of 2004 World Champions, will be reunited this season with the Tampa Bay Rays. Damon was able to squeeze $5.25 Million from the Rays while Manny will take just $2 million, a far cry from his $18+ Million salary last season.

While the Rays were adding offense in Damon and Manny, the Blue Jays were trading away 31 home runs and 88 RBI's. At first though I was surprised at how the Jays would want to trade away that offense, especially since trading Shaun Marcum arguably there second best pitcher has hurt the rotation. But when you look at the fact that the Jays were able to receive Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera in return and didn't have to pay a penny of the $86 million remaining of Wells deal. This is a move that may not come to hurt the Yankees at the moment, in fact it may help the Yankees since losing Wells is a big hit to the Jays offense, but this deal will be freeing up alot of cash for the Jays. Juan Rivera will be in the final season of his contract, so his numbers come of the books after the year, and Mike Napoli fits the need at catcher. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Jays add a big free agent next winter.

So long Jorge, sorry for hitting .307/28/104 against you
guys, over the course of my career (161 games against).

Ramirez and Damon only had a combined 18 home runs and 93 RBI last season, a decent number for a single player, but not two combined. The Rays are looking for offense, having lost Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford this off season (along with practically the entire bullpen). Manny and Damon will help the Rays on offense but both are over 37 years old  and a shell of what they use to be. Also take into account the fact that neither can play defense anymore, makes them a pair of DH's or liabilities in the field. So while the Rays newest members may be Yankee killers in the past, the move doesn't really hurt the Yankees, since facing Damon/Ramirez in 2011 is better then facing Crawford/Pena in 2011. On the other hand the Jays trading away Vernon Wells weakens them in the short run, but may hurt the entire AL East in the long run, as their pitchers begin to mature they will have lots of $ to spend during free agency to improve the team.

The pros and Cons of Andruw Jones

EDIT 4:30PM 1/20/11: The Yankees and Jones have come to a one year, $1.2 million dollar deal according to the Associated Press

With Marcus Thames out of the question since he signed with the Dodgers earlier in the week, the question in Yankeeland is who will be the fourth outfielder come opening day? Johnny Damon was once an option, exciting Yankee fans for nostalgic reasons. But his poor defensive skills and weak arm, along with batting left handed did not fit the bill the bombers were looking for. So the Yankees turned to Andruw Jones, the player that once as a teenager hit two home runs against them in the 1996 World Series.

Pros for adding Andrew Jones :

• Hit .256 against lefties last season and .261 against lefties for his career. Those numbers may not look great but his power is what really matters, and he sure can hit for power. 8 HRs in 86 AB's for 2010.

• Andruw is better defensively, the former Center fielder still can play average defense in left field. Jones did win a gold glove just 4 seasons ago, so his defense hasn't fallen off that much, could it?

• Still just 33 years old.
• Jones always starts out hot, hitting .291/9/15 over the last 2 seasons.

Reasons not too add Jones:

• Strike out city! Jones strikes out a ton, but hes not like Nick Swisher who does strike out, but walks alot. Jones is known for reaching for outside pitches and swinging at balls.
• What if they get a repeat of Randy Winn or even worse Jones plays like his 2008 season. Winn was a bust who was suppose to platoon and play defense. He did neither very well. As for Andruw and his 2008 season, it was the worst ever for a player being paid $14.8 million. In 209 AB's, Jones hit just .158 with just 3 homers. 
• Just as he starts out hot, it also means that he cools down quickly. Over the past two seasons in the months of June,July and August his highest batting average was .273(33AB). But some of the other numbers are, .086 (35AB) .224 (58AB), .170(53AB), .209 (67AB), .167 (48AB)
• Andruw spells his name different from Andrew, causing too many typos.

Rafael Soriano becomes a Yankee

While he may not be considered a "true Yankee" Just yet, Rafeal Soriano was introduced as the newsest Yankee at today's press conference. Soriano will wear # 29, last worn last season by Francisco Cervelli, so look for Cervelli to have a new number come spring training.  Some early projections about Soriano and his 2011 season can be found at Fan Graphs and although they may have been already predicted prior to him signing as a set up man, they all predicted ERA's lower then 2.63.

When Soriano first signed with the Yanks, I had mixed emotions. I loved the fact that they were getting a closer, that was only going to be a set up man for Mariano. I also liked the fact that it set the Yankees bullpen as the best in the majors. But at the same time the Yanks did have to give up there 1st round choice. Also building a strong bullpen can defiantly help, and since Joe Girardi has become the manager in 2008, managing the bullpen has been one of his bright spots. But it still does not mask the fact that the starting pitching is lacking and the bullpen is not going to solve that. Sure it now makes that Nova, Mitre and possibly even Burnett will have to just throw five decent innings, but if those three are all lined up making starts after one another the bullpen is going to be burnt out quickly.