Imagining A World Where Brian Roberts Is Healthy And Productive

(Don't tweak a hammy there, bro.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Between all the moves the Yankees have made this offseason and the players they have returning from injuries, the one position where they really downgraded is second base.  That was an inevitability when their former second baseman happened to be the best second baseman on the planet, and the team's attempts to replace Robinson Cano have been pretty lame.  Plans for a true platoon at the position have fallen by the wayside as a result of their equally lame attempts to find an adequate starting third baseman, and when Spring Training starts the Yanks will open camp with 36-year-old Brian Roberts penciled in as the everyday man at second.

I say penciled in because we're all familiar with Roberts', ahem, diverse injury history over the past 4 years.  Jokes about his eventual DL trip(s) have become a staple across each and every comment section in the Yankosphere and justifiably so.  For whatever reasons, Roberts has been unable to shake the injury bug and stay on the field.  There's little reason to expect that to change in 2014, but all the jokes at Roberts' expense have overshadowed the fact that the guy is a 2-time All Star and was, for a good stretch of time, one of the best all-around second basemen in the game.  That being the case, what if Roberts were to buck the trend and somehow manage to stay healthy AND productive this season?  What would that do for the Yankees?

Project 189: Spreading The Wealth

(Originally posted at IIATMS/TYA.  And "Project 189" is going to be an ongoing series for the next week and change, so make sure you keep following each day to see every writer's version.  Fair warning, this post is long as shit)

The latest chapter in the A-Rod/MLB saga stole the show yesterday and with good reason.  When something this big reaches the level of absurdity that it did and when Mike Francesa gets added to the mix, that's a situation that deserves everyone's full attention.

But if in the wave of A-Rod reports you happened to miss the start of the IIATMS/TYA "Project 189" series yesterday, please stop reading this immediately, scroll down the page a bit, and catch up on that because you're missing out if you don't.  The series is the brainchild of Michael Eder, who wanted to know what kind of team that Yankees could go out and build while still trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold if they didn't have A-Rod's salary on the books next year.  That looks like an even greater possibility than it already did after yesterday's events, and Mike kicked off Project 189 yesterday by setting the bar pretty high.

MIke's version of the 2014 roster had power, lineup balance, and probably the best team defense that the Yankees have had in a long, long time.  Today it's my turn to follow that up and offer my version of Project 189.  Remember, the point of these posts is not to make predictions on what we at IIATMS/TYA think the Yankees will do but rather to examine all the possibilities and stimulate some thought and discussion about what they could do.  And another reminder that the salary and arbitration numbers being used in these posts are from MLBTR's free agent profiles.  We're aware that the actual numbers might come out differently, but for the purposes of standardization in the series it's what we chose to work with.

Without further ado, my Project 189 roster.

At What Point Would The Yankees Consider Trading Robinson Cano?

(Dat swing... Courtesy of Getty Images)

Picture this.  It's sometime around the All Star Break, and the Yankees are floundering.  Andy is on the DL again; CC has had issues with his surgically-repaired elbow and spent a 15-day stint on the shelf as well; Hirok has regressed after his heavy 2012 workload; Phil and Nova are pitching about the same as they did last season.  Jeter's return from his ankle injury has been tough and he's still having to take days off to stay healthy enough to play; Youkilis is underperforming and on the DL with Andy; C-Grand is still striking out a lot, Teix continues to decline, and Ichiro is pre-trade Ichiro and not the post-trade version.  The team is hovering around 3rd or 4th place in the AL East, 13 games out of the division lead and 10 out of the last Wild Card spot.  It's the worst worst-case scenario imaginable, but one that honestly has a non-zero chance of happening.  If that were situation at the ASB, would that be enough to inspire the front office to trade Robbie Cano?

My Non-Austerity Offseason Plan

(I could do this guy's job.  With no budget over my head.  Courtesy of Jim McPeak/USA Today Sports)

It was said on one of our daily TYA chains yesterday that, despite the open holes in the lineup and the A-Rod injury, you really couldn't say anything negative about the way the Yankees have approached this offseason so far.  And that's true.  There are still plenty of players available in the free agent pool for the positions at which the Yankees need help (except catcher), plenty of cost-friendly platoon bats available for the bench, and the team has already come damn close to replicating the starting pitching depth it took until mid-January of this year to assemble.

So yeah, it's not like the Yankees have done a terrible job this offseason by any means.  They have a plan and they're sticking to it.  It's that plan that I think frustrates people the most, though, and I know it frustrates me.  To see the Yankees willingly staying away from the best possible players that fit their needs because of money is still strange, and still not something I want to see happening.  And to be quite honest, if I have to hear the words "interested," "connected," or "preliminary discussions" to describe the Yankees' connection to some older position player, I'm going to scream.  So to change things up a bit, I'd like to come up with an offseason plan that's a little more exciting, the plan that I would be following right now if I were calling the shots and didn't have to worry about cutting payroll.  It basically boils down to 3 steps.