Today I'm thankful that I have a ton of great food to eat, a ton of great beer to drink, and my family and best friend to share it all with. I certainly hope that's the case for everybody else out there as well because Thanksgiving is hands down the best holiday and it's not even close. It's the Mariano Rivera of holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. May your celebration today be safe, fun, and filled with good memories.
($15 million would bring a smile to your face too. Courtesy of the AP)
He's another old guy, but he's a productive one and one who actually made sense to bring back, so Hiroki Kuroda re-upping for another year yesterday was a positive first step for the Yankees yesterday after an early offseason of mostly inactivity. There's still a lot to be done, and still plenty of opportunities for people like me to complain about them only targeting guys 35 and over, but Kuroda was the most important player to bring back and now that's been done. Hopefully this a sign that Cash is going to start moving and shaking a little more heading into the Winter Meetings, and he's still got plenty of time before then to work out new deals with Mo and Andy and free up his time at the meetings for perusing the trade market. By my count, here's how the updated to-do list should look:
Well, sort of. It wasn't even close to a game situation, and I'm sure he wasn't painting the inside corner with the cutter there, but at least it's something. He had to be pushing off in some capacity to shoot this ad, so that's a good sign for the health and progress of Mo's knee as he gets ready to come back next season.
It's easy to forget that Mo is still not officially a Yankee. As we live and breathe right now, he's still technically a free agent, although the situation is an obvious "Yankees or nobody" one for the G.O.A.T. We were told a few weeks ago that the re-signing process would be a quick one after he formally declared that he wanted to come back, but so far no progress has been made outside of the Yankees stating that their offer would include a paycut. You have to think with Hiroki Kuroda re-signing late yesterday that getting Mo to do the same is the next on Cash's to-do list.
P.S.- Definitely just put that cologne on my Christmas list. Always good to smell like a champion, right?
There aren't any details on the money yet, but the Yankees and Hiroki Kuroda have reportedly agreed to a new 1-year deal. Normally I'd wait to get a few more details before posting, but when the tweet confirming the deal is coming from Buster Olney, that's good enough for me.
Kuroda was always the top priority this offseason, and it's good that this has now been resolved. There's still a lot of work to do, but at least there's one space we can fill in on the open roster card for next season. More details to come...
** UPDATE- 6:43PM- The deal is worth $15 million for next season, with a little less than $1 mil worth of incentives. Sounds like a good deal for both sides. Yanks and Kuroda both get the 1-year deal they wanted, and Hirok gets the raise he deserved and earned with his 2012 performance. **
That's what the Yankees are worth. Forbes magazine's annual list of the most valuable sports franchises from June of this year had the Yankees tied for 3rd with the Dallas Cowboys at an estimated $1.85 billion. The YES Network is worth even more than that, an estimated $3 billion according to recent reports, and that number stands to go up in the years to come with News Corp. in line to purchase a 49% stake in the network. While that deal shouldn't and in all likelihood won't affect the way things are run on the baseball side of the organization, part of me can't help but try to connect this move clearly designed to make more money with the baseball side's efforts to cut costs this and next offseason.
I'll just make this quick to try to avoid it veering off into another talk about roster rigidity and an older-than-dirt team actively seeking to make itself older.
According to Ken Davidoff, the Yankees have progressed from the "preliminary discussions" portion of their offseason courting process to the "significant interest" stage with respect to re-signing Raul Ibanez. Ibanez hit .240/.308/.453 last season, and punctuated his first season in pinstripes with some of the most dramatic home runs in a long time. His first-ballot election into the "True Yankee" club notwithstanding, Ibanez would be best as the DH-only bench piece he was supposed to be this season. If the Yankees are interested in him being any more than that, then actively pursuing him this early in the offseason is probably a mistake.
(Time for the Ninja GM to start moving in the shadows)
It's still relatively early, the spots are all going to be filled eventually, and I totally get that this is going to be business as usual for the Yankees for the next 2 years as they make their push to get below the self-imposed payroll threshold. But it's worth nothing that this sluggish start to the offseason comes during a year when there are more holes on the roster to fill than we've seen in the past few offseasons. Here we are, on the week of Thanksgiving, and the Yankees are in a position where, if the season started tomorrow they would be in a pretty tough spot. Take a look.
With Torii Hunter and Melky Cabrera already off the board and never really looking like they were serious candidates to end up in pinstripes, it was only a matter of time before Scott Hairston's name came up. He's been on the offseason wish list for the past couple years, but was never a high priority while the Yankees still had 3 good starting outfielders. Now that they're down to just 2, it was inevitable that he'd be connected to the Yankees and that connection came to light over the weeked thanks to Dan Martin of The NY Post.
My TYA teammate Mike Eder posted his thoughts on the Yankee-Hairston connection earlier this morning and while he made some good arguments for why Hairston is a good fit, Mike concluded that the Yankees could do better and that's a sentiment I echo. 2 years ago, I would have been all over bringing Hairston aboard, but now? Not so much.
Yeah, the power is nice, and he's a defensive upgrade over Andruw Jones, but that's really all there is to like. He doesn't walk, therefore he doesn't get on base; his power is almost exclusively pull power, which doesn't translate as well to YS3 as all-field power does; and he doesn't hit right-handed pitching at all, which means the Yankees will be set up for another outfield platoon setup. Add that to the revolving door at DH and the quasi-platoon situations at third base and shortstop, and the 2013 team would resemble a Little League World Series team where players are constantly being moved into and out of the lineup.
As an emergency insurance option, sure. But as a planned platoon "solution" for right field next season with Ichiro, I would be very much against the Yankees signing Scott Hairston.
The Arizona Fall League wrapped up its 2012 season this past week, and overall it was a pretty good showing for the Yankee representatives. Some guys dominated and continued to improve their prospect stock, some guys got to work on their transitions to new roles and positions to hopefully improve their prospect stock, and some guys just got the work in that they needed to get in after losing most of their 2012 seasons to injury. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who are jumping for joy at some of the results and whipping themselves into a "ZOMG GUYZ, THE YANKZ SHOULD TOTES LET SLADE HEATHCOTT TAKE OVER IN RIGHT FIELD THIS YEAR!!!!!!" frenzy, but that's just not going to happen. At the risk of coming off as a Negative Nancy here, allow me to put each player's AZFL performance in the proper context, just so there aren't any crazy expectations based on a few weeks' worth of games.
(Dude would have the Stadium crowd eating out of his hand. Courtesy of the AP)
Admittedly this is me thinking out loud on a painfully slow news Sunday in Yankeeland. Let's just get that out of the way upfront. But the more I've put the pieces together in my head, the more it kinda, sorta makes a little bit of sense to me. The Yankees have an open spot in their outfield, they could use a boost to the declining middle of their batting order, and a lot of the guys that make sense are either already signed or would never entertain the idea of a 1-year deal that is all the Yanks are likely to offer. But they still do have the most money to spend, and could offer more on a 1-year deal than any other club out there. So what if, and believe me, this is hy-po-thetical. But what if the Yankees were to make a monster 1-year offer to Josh Hamilton? How much would it take for Hamilton to seriously consider the offer and consider signing?
The latest in the Hiroki Kuroda sweepstakes is making the rounds on the blogosphere today, a report that Kuroda now prefers to play back in California to be closer to his children. If that's true, then it takes the Yankees out of the driver's seat in the race to sign Kuroda, but like some of the previous reports on Hiroki this offseason the story cites friends close to him, hence my hesitancy to link to it.
Mike Axisa of RAB posted his quick take on these developments earlier today, and I agree with Mike on both of the key points. One, the citing of anonymous friends brings into question the validity of the claim and it sounds more like Kuroda and his agent playing all angles to drive up his price for the teams interested. If that's what they're doing, good for them. Coming off the season he had, I'd be doing the exact same thing and that still puts the Yankees in the best position to land him.
Second, and more importantly, was Mike's statement that whatever the truth is, it's to the Yankees' benefit to have the Kuroda deal put to bed quickly one way or the other. My list of free agent pitching targets didn't include many starters, for the simple reason that it's almost certain the Yankees aren't going to get involved in the bidding for guys like Zack Greinke and Anibal Sanchez, and they've already lost one potential 1-year backup option this week in Scott Baker. If, that's IF, they lose out on Kuroda, they're going to have to scramble to find another starter willing to take a 1-year deal to build enough depth. He's the key to their offseason rotation rebuilding, and the quicker they get that resolved the quicker they can move on to finishing the process and audibling if they need to.
The news wasn't surprising, given the fact that the estimated recovery time from his surgery was going to put him right up against the start of the regular season at the latest, but that doesn't make Joe Girardi's comments about Derek Jeter possibly missing the start of the 2013 season any better. Dan Martin of The Post had the story yesterday, with Joe saying:
“He’s still basically non-weight-bearing, I believe, so, I really believe it might be a little push,”
when asked about Jeter's status. Jeter is still just a few weeks removed from surgery to repair his broken ankle, and while it's still very early in the recovery process, if there are already doubts about Jeter's availability for Spring Training and the season opener then it might be time for the Yankees to start putting together their contingency plan. As I discussed weeks back, Jeter being out would impact more than just the shortstop position and create added stress on what is already a somewhat inflexible roster.
Ahh the holiday season. It's back, people. Stores are inexplicably playing Christmas music far too early, the football seasons (college and pros) are starting to become important, the weather is cooling down, and I get to make the first of my 2 yearly trips back to good old D-Block, Danbury, CT. Going home for the holidays has become increasingly stressful in the last year or so, not because I hate Christmas or don't want to see my family or anything, but because when I'm home I live in fear of how much shit is going to get screwed up at work while I'm gone. Now I'm the first to admit that I do a job that a smart high school kid could do, but I'm the only one at my company who does it. And the end of the year happens to be the busiest time of year in our industry, so missing 3 days is basically like going on a religious sabbatical for me. I really try to not give a shit, but it's always there, in the back of my mind. Because I'm getting older and more mature and have to care now. Being an adult sucks. Now onto the links!
- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog took an interesting stance and argued for why Mike Napoli and Kevin Youkilis would be good fits for the Yanks. Definitely worth a read if you're on the fence about either of those 2.
- El Duque of It Is High... made his pitch for going after Melky Cabrera for the open right field spot. I don't agree that a 1-year deal will get it done, but Melky brings a lot of things to the table that the Yankees lineup needs.
For this Friday's jam, we got "Toxicity" System Of A Down. Great album, great song, better than "Chop Suey!" even though that's what pushed them into the mainstream rock scene. I had a chance to see them when they headlined the last real Ozzfest, the tour where they made so much money that they could take 5 years off, and I didn't go. Major regret.
Enjoy your weekends, everybody. I'll be blogging back from the EST next week.
I lied again. One last 2012 review post, and I swear that's it for me. I did my first 10 Fearless Predictions post before the beginning of last season, and ended up doing about as horribly as I did in my 2012 divisional predictions. I ended up with 2.5 out of 10 right, which put me at a better hit rate than Russell Martin had this season but still isn't getting me any significant multi-year contract offers. I was looking to take a step in the right direction in 2012, learn from my mistakes, be a little more patient, take some predictions to the opposite field every now and then just to keep myself honest. I felt good about my 10 fearless for 2012, I really did. I thought I'd be looking at at least .400 this year. How'd that turn out?
But is Robinson Cano worth top-of-the-market dollars? Abso-fucking-lutely. Check out what this guy has been doing:
6 straight seasons of 159+ games played
3 straight All Star Game appearances
2 Gold Gloves in the last 3 seasons
3 Top 10 batting average finishes in the last 4 seasons
4 straight Top 4 total bases finishes
3rd in total fWAR in the last 3 seasons
3 straight Silver Slugger Awards
3 straight Top 6 MVP finishes
There aren't many out there doing shit like this, and that's a fact. Robinson Cano is one of the 4-6 best position players in all of baseball. He's having a historically impressive run of production and success for his position, he could end up one of the best of all time at his position when he's done, and he's still in his prime. Robbie Cano is going to get paid in a big way after the 2013 season because he SHOULD get paid in a big way. If the Yankees signed him to a 5-year/$135 million deal, I'd throw a party because I'd feel very confident that at least 3 of those years are going to be more of this elite-level production. It's those 5 years after the next 5 that scare me, just like they scare everybody in the front office.
It's not that Robbie Cano isn't a fucking boss, because he is. It's that we're already watching what happens when players start to un-boss in their mid-30s with too many years left on their deals and don't want to watch it again.
I have a confession. I lied to you all last week when I said the 2012 Season Predictions Review post was the end of the 2012 AB4AR Season Review series. I forgot about the awards. MLB is giving out all their big season awards this week, with the Yankees coming up dry in all the ones already announced and looking like they only have a top 5 candidate at best in Robinson Cano for the AL MVP award today. So being the kind, caring, selfless, generous person I am, I'm going to use this time to hand out my version of the end-of-season awards for the 2012 Yankee season.
Know that this was a difficult decision and a tireless process to determine the winners. All those who do win an award will be getting one of the free fictional AB4AR t-shirts that are still in the developmental stage and everyone is invited to a dinner at a location to be determined to honor all the winners. Without further ado, the 2012 AB4AR award winners...
(Why not bring Bernie back while you're at it? Courtesy of Mike McCann/WFAN)
I know we're still weeks away from the offseason really heating up and it's way too early to state this as a definitive conclusion, but I can't help but feel like the Yankees are just going to bring back as many of last season's older players as possible on 1-year deals to control costs. Rather than try and get creative or work the phones and the trade market to get younger, better, and payroll-friendly, they're going to take the easy way out, just re-up with the same old crew, and hope for the best.
After being connected to Torii Hunter right off the bat when free agency started, the Yankees announced that they weren't interested in signing him to anything more than a 1-year almost as soon as the reports of them talking to his agent came out. Now Hunter did carry some risk going into next season, and 2 years and $26 million would have been a deal that I would have said no to if I were the Yankees as well, but consider the backup options they've been pursuing and tell me that doesn't concern you.
Barring a a big-time unexpected swerve, the Yankees seem pretty well set in their plans to not add significant payroll this offseason as they try to address their team needs. They've engaged pretty much every older free agent from last year's team in some capacity while letting the younger, more expensive ones walk. If there is going to be any real effort towards improving the quality of the on-field product next year and not just controlling the dollars, that effort may have to come through the trade market, a roster-building medium with which Cash has great familiarity.
The Montero-Pineda deal aside, Cash has had a pretty successful recent track record adding productive pieces in their prime to the aging core of his lineup, most notably with the now departed Nick Swisher and the likely soon-to-be departed Curtis Granderson. Both of those moves followed a similar formula- seeking out and adding sub-30-year-old players with skill sets that fit the Yankee mold who were coming off seasons of significant decline in production. It's the classic buy-low method and there's no argument to be made for the Swish or Granderson deals not being good ones in terms of the production they brought to the team.
There are some names out there that could fit that similar mold of what Cash has looked for when making trades to bolster the lineup, some of which everybody knows and some that haven't been considered nearly as much. There's been no real indication that the Yankees will make a move for any of these players, but if Cash is playing opossum again, here are 4 guys who would make a lot of sense to go after.
Points for effort and creativity on the part of the Toronto Blue Jays, who swooped in and got themselves a pretty nice haul yesterday in their massive 12-player salary dump trade with the Florida Miami Marlins. With the Yankees still being on top looking down, the Orioles coming off a successful season and getting involved in the running for Josh Hamilton, the Rays holding a lot of valuable trade chips of their own, and the Fraud Sawx signing... David Ross to be their... backup catcher... whatever, Toronto had to do something drastic to keep up with the Joneses and this was it.
I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty analysis here, but suffice it to say that the Jays improved the top of their lineup, improved their starting rotation, and improved their bench depth with this trade. Add a healthy Jose Bautista back into the mix and this could be a much more effective offseason approach than the "hope our young starters come around" tactic they've used the past few seasons, and should make the AL East even more competitive than it already is.
To that point, how will this big swing by Toronto affect the Yankees' offseason plans, if at all? On the one hand, this aggressive bid to compete for the division title could and normally would be the type of thing to make the Yankee front office scrap its payroll slashing plans and make some big moves of their own to beef up their roster. On the other, this type of blatant fire sale by Jeffrey Loria could be exactly what reinforces the Steinbrenners' belief that getting under the luxury tax threshold is the right thing to do so they aren't cutting more checks to help line Loria's pockets. Stay tuned, sports fans...
Full disclosure, I had no clue Robbie wasn't a US citizen. But good for him and welcome to the club, bro. I know this isn't about me, but I'm really glad that Robinson and I finally have something in common. Up until today, it's been a steady string of polar opposites. I'm a lazy, uncool, untalented, out-of-shape cubicle monkey making 5 figures doing something I'm really not even that good at; he's awesome, the best second baseman on the planet, in peak physical condition, oozes swag at every turn on and off the field, and stands to be paid somewhere safely inside the realm of 9 figures in his next contract once mega-shark agent Scott Boras squeezes every last penny out of some team (likely the Yankees) after the 2013 season.
So yeah, I'm glad Cano and I have some common ground now, a conversation starter. I'm a citizen, he's a citizen. So hit me up sometime, Robbie. Maybe we could hang out. And congrats again on making it official. Now somebody cue the fucking music!
P.S.- Coulda done without the David Ortiz beard, Robbie. I know it's the offseason and you can let the scruff go, but clean it up.
(Anybody wish these 2 were around right now? Courtesy of US Presswire & Getty Images)
Interestingly enough, or frustratingly enough depending on how against the austerity plan you are, the Yankees really kicked this plan into high gear last offseason when they failed to get involved in the international free agent market. It was one of the best classes in recent memory, highlighted by Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes, 2 players who, ironically enough, play the positions the Yanks most need to fill this offseason. At the time, the Yankees' reasons for passing on both players were good ones. The history of Japanese pitchers making the transition to MLB was short on success stories, and the Yankees had been on the losing end of that gamble before, and there were questions about Cespedes' ability to come right in and play at the Major League level.
Not wanting to commit high dollars to 2 risky options that might not have returned comparable rewards, Cash decided to play it safe with his bids on each player and the Yankees lost out on both. Darvish ended up in Texas and Cespedes in Oakland, and both of them finished in the top 3 of the AL Rookie of the Year vote yesterday, an award that they could have battled it out for had Mike Trout not come and blown everyone's doors off. Now that their first years as Major Leaguers are over, let's take a look back and play a little "what if?" game with each guy.
The Yankees are taking a penny-pinching approach to their offseason, the Fraud Sawx are busy bringing back the soul of their organization and seeing what other coaches are available in trades. What's going on with the Mets? Sounds like they're about ready to start opening lemonade stands and turning tricks in the Citi Field parking lots to pay their players, according to Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talkand WSJ writer Michael Salfino:
Normally this is the part in the post where I say something derogatory about the Mets and the Wilpons and then make a pitch for the Yankees to make a call about David Wright, but I know that's not worth my time from a comedic or baseball standpoint since this is almost too easy a target and Hank and Hal aren't in the business of making the team better this offseason if it hurts their chances of filling their own pockets in 2014. So instead I'll just say, "fucking Mets."
But seriously, Cash. You should put a call in to check on Wright's availability.
Payroll restrictions or not, the Yankees are going to have to get involved in the free agent market this offseason to address their areas of need and finish out their roster to take another run at title 28 next season. They've already lost some major parts of the 2012 roster and they're going to have to get creative to fill those holes and build a roster capable of contending for a championship.
Yesterday I presentedmy list of position players I felt made the most sense for the Yankees to go after this offeason, some of whom would fit the team's cost cutting goals and some who wouldn't but were good fits in terms of addressing team needs. Today we'll take a look at the group of players in the bigger area of need, pitching. The Yankee rotation has 2 open spots right now, 3 if you think they aren't going to guarantee Ivan Nova a spot heading into next season, and they could use some depth in the bullpen to cover for the loss of Rafael Soriano and the uncertainty surrounding Mariano Rivera's return from injury. They need to spend money to adequately address these openings, but as with the position players their approach will be dictated by their future payroll plans and their desire to keep costs and years committed to a minimum.
(Nothing wrong with wanting to keep the big guy as healthy as possible. Courtesy of Getty Images)
Pitching limits are a tricky thing. People are either in support of them as a way to lessen the stress on a pitcher's arm and reduce risk of injury or vehemently against them because they don't allow a pitcher to build up the arm strength needed to make it through a full season without getting hurt, with very little gray area in between. Typically these debates are had in reference to young pitchers making the transition to the Majors, but the Yankees stoked the debate fire last week when they brought up the idea of reducing the workload for their ace, CC Sabathia. Sabathia is coming off a season dotted with DL stints that saw him pitch fewer regular season innings (200.0) and make fewer regular season starts (28) than he has since 2006, and is fresh off surgery to clean bone spurs out of his pitching elbow. Not surprisingly, Sabathiastated last week that he was against the idea of limiting his workload moving forward, but there may be some merit to the idea.
Maybe the folks at Baseball America knew what they were talking about after all putting Slade Heathcott 2nd intheir top 10 organizational prospect rankings for the Yankees this week. Despite his inability to be smart, eloquent, or a good speller when discussing the election on his Twitter account, Heathcott has been a standout since day 1 in the Arizona Fall League this year. And David Adams, who continues to impress and create buzz for himself heading into ST 2013, has been no slouch either:
Heathcott- .333/.457/.526, 5 2B, 3 3B, 10 R, 12 RBI, 12 BB/14 K in 69 PA
Adams- .261/.363/.507, 10 XBH (3 HR), 9 R, 14 RBI, 11 BB/12 K in 80 PA
And if you're a visual learner, he's a piece from YES.com on the Yankees' AZFL participants. Mmmmmmm, prospects...
P.S.- Heathcott has no neck, Austin Romine looks like he's 35 years old, Mark Montgomery looks and sounds like a meathead who doesn't give a shit about anything other than striking guys out, and Dellin Betances fucking blows.
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