The slowest off season possible, thanks to Hal

Don't expect many big signings this year.

Yes this off season has been slow and dreadful, almost as slow and dreadful as my lack of posts on here. I apologize for that, and hope to post more often. It seems strange that the Yankees season ended about two months ago, since that time the only two transactions the Yankees made were re-signing CC Sabathia and Freddy Garcia, two moves that could be considered obvious.

Part of how slow this off season has gone is because rumors have circulated that the Yankees hope to trim payroll by 2014 to avoid the higher luxury tax. While that could be part of it, another thing is that the free agents this year are not that good. No need to over pay for CJ Wilson, when he is practically a left handed A.J. Burnett (without being a headcase) or to give light tossing lefty Mark Buehrle three or four years just because he is the second best pitcher on the market. This off season should reflect the future Yankee off seasons could be with Hal Stienbrenner at the helm.

Sure last season the Stienbrenners over ruled Brian Cashman on Rafael Soriano, setting off a fire storm that the Yankees GM would be leaving after the season. But other then that (and the terrible A-Rod contract) Hal doesn't exactly embody his father. With Cashman in charge of the baseball operations, Hal has seemed to set a strict budget, even if in Yankee-land that budget can be over $200 million.

Hal: You spend over budget and your dead.

We saw it last year, the Yankees pursued Cliff Lee and lost out. It looked like rock bottom when all the other free agents had signed by the time Lee made his choice. Andy Pettitte then retired, leaving a gapping hole. At the time I felt like the 2011 season would be like the 2008 Yankees all over again when the young pitchers failed and the lack of depth killed the bombers playoff dreams. But lucky for the Yankees at one point they had so much pitching they were able to send 16 game winner Ivan Nova to the minors. But what made that decision was the additions of Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, two minor league deals that combined for 20 wins and 51 starts.

The same could be said about this year. With possibly six starters already on the roster and a handful of top prospects lurking in the minors the Yankees don't need to over spend. The 2013 free agent crop looks to be on of the better Cole Hamels,John Danks, Zach Grienke,Matt Cain, Anibal Sanchez, and Shawn Marcum could all hit the free market. The Yanks just need some bench help, which should cost under $5 million all together. Once again making it a long boring off season, something many Yankee fans are not accustom to.

New York baseball preview

Had to write this up for my school news paper, sure its not as in depth as most of the stuff, but writing for a general audience can be tough. Anyways enjoy....


There is something about baseball’s opening day that is not like anything else. It’s a tradition steep in history, it’s a sign that warmer and better days are coming and on the first day of the season everyone is even with a record of 0-0.



It has been a long off season but Americas past time kicks into full gear on Thursday March 31st when six games will be played to start of 2011. One of the teams that will be on action on the 31st will be the New York Yankees. It has been a long winter for Yankee fans since Alex Rodriguez struck out to end game 6 of the American League Championship Series, last October.

It began with missing out on top free agent Cliff Lee, the Yankees had made a major mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket, waiting for Lee while other free agent were gobbled up by other teams. Eventually Lee spurned the Yankees and the Rangers, the team seem as a major threat to the Yanks chance to sign Lee, to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. This left the bombers searching for pitching, they would go and sign a bunch of low key free agent pitchers, many coming off bad seasons or injury prone ones.

But just when things couldn’t get any worse for the Yankees, it did. Andy Pettite, the third most winning pitcher in the franchise’s history, opted to retire instead of coming back for one more season, leaving the Yankees rotation in shambles. Pettitte, said at the time that he rather stay home with his family, then try and push himself through one more season, a reason that in the eyes of many fans is completely expectable.

Without Pettitte and Lee, a huge void was left in the rotation, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman tried his best to fix the hole, by building a strong bullpen, grabbing all star closer Rafael Soriano, to be the set up man to Mariano Rivera. But the starting rotation is the major issue. C.C. Sabathia is as consistent as any pitcher in the majors, but he is coming off knee surgery and has thrown over 230 innings each of the past four seasons. One injury to Sabathia, and the Yankees season is virtually over. A.J. Burnett is set to be the number two starter, but he is as inconsistent as they come. Last year Burnett would have stretches during the season were he looked as dominant as any other pitcher in baseball, and then he had stretches were he looked as if he belonged in the minor leagues. Phil Hughes had a great season in 2010, winning 18 games, but his second half was sub-par having an ERA above five and he gave up too many home runs. This season Hughes is somewhat of a question mark because in his fine 2010 season, he increased his innings pitched by 90 innings, and often young pitchers that increase their work load by that much have a tendency to get hurt. The fourth and five starting jobs were won by Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova. Both serviceable pitchers, but concerns can be raised that Nova is young and inexperienced, and struggled when the opposing team’s line up faced him again last season. Garcia is known for being a work horse, eating a lot of inning, but has lost a lot of velocity over the years.

The Yankees line up didn’t change at all, they will still be one of the top offense clubs in the majors, even with an older Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, both of whom I expect to bounce back. A major concern for the Bronx bombers is that the teams around them got stronger, especially the Boston Red Sox. The BoSox fell short of the postseason in 2010 but don’t expect similar results in 2011. They went out and traded for Adrian Gonzalez, one of the best offensive players in the game. They also spent a lot of money to improve the bullpen and pick up superstar left fielder Carl Crawford. Combine the fact that last season the Red Sox were without Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka for a large part of last season, this year’s Red Sox team looks to be the favorites in the American League East.

The Mets last season missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season; the Mets faithful shouldn’t get too excited for 2011 since it looks like the Mets will make it five straight years without a postseason berth.

Ace pitcher Johan Santana is expected to miss the start of the season, and is out until at least after the all star break. That leaves Mike Pelfrey and R.A. Dickey as the top pitchers on the staff, both are very good, but won’t be able to fill the void left by Santana. After Dickey and Pelfrey the rotation begins to get choppy, Jon Neise had a nice season last year, but is a young pitcher, so expect a lot of ups and downs. Chris Young and Chris Capuano are both respectable pitchers when they are healthy, especially Young, who was a CY Young candidate just a few seasons ago. But neither pitcher has proven that they can stay healthy, and if they get hurt the Mets don’t have much depth behind them.

The Mets lineup looks good on paper, but once again injuries are a major issue. Carlos Beltran hasn’t played a full season since 2008, and has already suffered injuries to both knees in spring training. Jason Bay looks to return after a disappointing season, Bay was struggling before being sidelined for the season in late July. Bay is expected to rebound, but Mets fans should realize that Bay will not be the same player he was in 2009 with the Red Sox, because he showed in 2010 that Citi Field zapped him of some of his power. Jose Reyes might not even finish the season out with the Mets. A free agent after this season, Reyes should expect a big pay rise if he stays healthy and has a productive season. With the financial issues that the Mets have, don’t expect Reyes to be back next season, instead the Mets may look to trade Reyes for prospects and players that can help in the future.

At least Met fans can look forward to an exciting season with new manager Terry Collins, a no nonsense type of guy. Also throw in the fact that Luis Castillo won’t be dropping pop ups and Oliver Perez won’t be on the Citi Field mound, this upcoming season is already to jump for joy.

The season may be just starting up, but some predictions for the division winners.

In the AL East, he Red Sox outlasts the Yankees, but the bombers make it into the playoffs, winning the wild card. The Rays will stick around for a while but they just don’t have the pitching, and eventually fall out of the race.

The central will be a tough division Minnesota Twins hold off the Chicago White Sox, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have bounce back seasons, but the Twins still lose in the first round of the playoffs. The Tigers could also be a team that surprises a lot of people, and make a push to knock the Twins off as the best team.

In the west, the Oakland Athletics surprise everyone and win the division. They have a young pitching staff and a stacked bullpen. With the “Money Ball” movie coming out this season, based on the A’s franchise, expect a fairytale finish for the Athletics.

In the National League, expect a down to the wire fight for the NL East between the Braves and the Phillies. While the Phillies are the popular choice especially with their starting rotation, the Braves are a well rounded young team. The big question mark remains if Chase Utley will return for the Phillies and will he stay healthy.

Once St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright went down for the season with an arm injury, the Milwaukee Brewers became the team to beat in the central division. With three big starters in Zach Grienke, Shaun Marcum and Yovani Gallardo the Brewers have the best rotation in the central, and have a line up full of power. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Brewers deep in October.

The San Francisco Giants shocked the baseball world, when they won the World Series, but in 2011 expect the Colorado Rockies to shock the Giants and win the NL West. But don’t count the Giants out completely as they still make it into the playoffs thanks to their pitching as the wild card team.

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.

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.

The Decision: Cliff Lee style

(This is a look into the future, of what may happen with Cliff Lee)
::  Screen fades black::
Next thing you know Peter Gammons is sitting with Cliff Lee in his home in Arkansas. A Deer's head is mounted on the wall behind Lee, who is sitting in an office chair next to a table with the hats of the Yankees and Rangers. Gammons asks a few questions that Lee answers gives bland answers to. Gammons finally asks who will Cliff Lee play for in the 2011 MLB season. Lee answers " It was a tough choice, but after milking both teams for as much money as possible, I plan to bring pitching talents back to Arlington." Gasps can be heard throughout the baseball universe, wondering why in the world Lee would want to play for a team that has only just made its first World Series appearance instead of for the team that has won 27 titles.

R.I.P Freddy, but you are correct if the Yankees don't get Lee,
expect a state of emergecy in the Bronx.

While the Rangers celebrate yet another victory over the Yankees, the bombers try and figure what option number two is. While many Yankee fans are angry at Cliff Lee and will once again spit and verbally abuse his wife, fault can also be blamed on Brian Cashman. Cashman had  let all the other free agents pass him by while he put on the full court press for Lee. The fall back options are gone, and the other 29 teams realize that the Yankees are in complete panic mode. The Yankees look around the market and choose to take on the risk of Zach Grienke, trading away the future in Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances and other blue chip prospects. Grienke, mental disorder and all comes to New York and makes Kevin Brown look like a normal guy and has the fans begging for Javier Vazquez back. Meanwhile in Kansas City, Montero is playing like the second coming of a young Jorge Posada in his rookie season.

::Flash forward to the Texas Rangers side:: Cliff Lee comes back to Nolan Ryan in open arms, it may have cost the Rangers over $155 million but they have Lee back for the next seven years, until he is 39 years old. While making Cliff Lee one of the richest if not the richest pitcher of all time the Rangers made a huge mistake and repeat there own history. Just like in the winter of 2000 when the Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez, the Rangers will have locked up one player at such a large salary that over the next few years they won't be able to re-sign key free agent of there own. The Rangers will have to sit back and watch as Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsker, CJ Wilson and Michael Young bolt for other teams, because they could not offer them enough years and money with killing their own payroll. As for the fans, that once cheered on the Rangers during the 2010 World Series run, well they have all left just like the free agents, going back to following the Dallas Cowboys and college football 365 days a year.

Of course this could all be false if Cliff Lee signs with the Yankees. If that's the case then the Yankees will have the best team in the American League and will once again be World Series favorites in 2011 and likely add a few championships over the next few years. The Rangers on the other hand won't turn out as poorly as everyone thinks they will. They will have lost prospects once they traded for Lee, but with the money that comes off the payroll and the draft pick that they will receive from the Yankees the Rangers will be able to continue to be a competitive team in the AL West for years to come.

Report: Yanks and Mo agree to 2 Year $30 million deal

From the NY Daily News : "According to a source familiar with the negotiations between the Yankees and future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera, the 41-year-old will sign a two-year deal believed to be worth $30 million by Friday night"



Well it was just a matter of time, unlike with the Jeter negotiations, Mariano had the upper hand in the deal. If the Yankees didn't want to give him what he wanted they would have been the ones who were screwed, after all who was going to close? Joba or David Robertson? Yesh neither are great options and the only closer on the market was Rafael Soriano, who had a great season in 2010 but has had an otherwise shaky history.

All in all it is great to know that Mariano will retire as a Yankee, it is rare now that a player stays on one team his entire career, but when someone has been as effective as Mariano then it is well deserved. I expect this to be Mo's last contract, but until the lights finally go out for good, cue up some Enter Sandman.

Yankees season ticket invoices slowly creeping out

The fans may be fat from the Thanksgiving feast, but there wallets will soon be empty. The Yankees have begun to send out invoices for the 2011 season, but in all fairness are giving fans an affordable option to pay. The Yankees are giving fans payment options, of course they want to get the money up front but are breaking down the payments into four simple installments. The four payment will be made in 25% increments over the course of mid-December till the middle of March. At that time you will be forced to pay in full or you will no longer keep your tickets. On a side note that means that ticket upgrades wont be made until mid-March, cutting it close to the opening day date on March 31st.

That said not all fans have received the invoice in their Yankee account or in the mail. But should expect them this upcoming week.

Yankees offseason update: Jeter, Pettitte, Cliff Lee & Cano in the MVP ballot

After a rather quiet start to the off season today the Yankees managed to grab a few headlines today. Lets run through a few of the latest updates.

• At first reports surfaced that the Yankees were going to offer Kerry Wood and Javier Vazquez arbitration. But after further reports, it looks as if the Yanks are going to just offer it to Javy, with the understanding that Vazquez would deny it, that way the Yanks could get a draft pick.
• Reports surfaced a few weeks ago that Andy Pettitte was leaning towards retirement, but it now looks as if he is leaning towards coming back for one final season with the bombers. This would be great news for the Yanks if they could lock up Andy, then they would just need one more pitcher Cliff Lee to finish off the rotation.
• It looked as if the pursuit for Cliff Lee had finally got under way with rumors that the Yanks had offered 6 years $140 million. But after reports from the NY Daily News, no such offer has been made yet. That would have been alot of money for the first known offer, for a guy that is going to be 32 and has only been an elite pitcher since 2008. For the whole scoop check out MLB Trade Rumors.

• The discussions between Derek Jeter and the Yanks have gotten off to a rocky start, and even has Brian Cashman questioning if Jeter wants to remain in the Bronx. I know I had never expected the negotiations to go like this, but both sides are wrong. The Yankees shouldn't be playing such hardball with a player that has helped elevate the franchise over the last 15 years. They should look at all the ways hes helped bolster the franchise name, and how much more he will in the future as an ambassador of the Yankees and of the game of baseball. Jeter is the face of the franchise and will be for the rest of his life. On the other hand Jeter also should do the right thing and put his ego aside and just sign a reduced deal. It would look better on him, and he would still have the chance to make millions on endorsements.
• Robbie Cano finished third in the AL MVP voting. I understand that he may not have been first but Miguel Cabrera even finished before him. Its called Most Valuable Player for a reason, how much value does Miguel Cabrera have for a team that wasn't close to making the playoffs? Cano carried the Yanks at times during the season, but I've said it all along the real MVP for the Yankees should be CC Sabathia.

The Yankees have lost their Miranda rights

Yesterday the Yankees traded away Juan Miranda for A-ball pitcher Scott Allen. This is not loss as at all for the Yankees considering they have both Tex and Swisher who could play first base and if they ever needed an emergency first basemen they could always look to Jorge Posada. The Yankees get back a very young arm, that has a decent curve ball, for the whole scouting report check out River Ave Blues.

I will always remember Miranda for his two walk offs, one a hit in 2009 the other a walk in 2010. But I always felt he looked like Ruben Sierra, thus earning him the nick name Sierra Mist from the guys at WCWPSports and myself. Check it out for yourself..

Yankees first off season move: Sign Joe Girardi 3 years $9 million

According too Daily News Yankees beat writer Mark Fiensand, the Yankees have brought back manager Joe Girardi for three more seasons. Nine million over three years is a fair amount, the guy has won the Yankees a World Series and brought them to the playoffs for a second straight year.

I understand that many fans have had enough of Girardi, but who else could they Yanks have turned too ? They didn't have many options if they wanted to dump Joe. In fact the only guys I can think of that would have made since would be Tony Pena or Lou Pinella. Pinella is a bit of a reach, but the Yankees have always reached for the biggest name, so why stop now ? Plus Girardi has a great relationship with Cashman and the Steinbrenner family.

Girardi is not the best manager in the game, but is respectable. Until he is finally outed one day as Yankees manager, we will have to deal with his over managing at times, and his binder of match ups.