Kuroda's Desires And How They Benefit The Yankees

(Courtesy of Anthony Gruppuso, US Presswire)

With 2012 serving as the latest example of why you can never ever have too much starting pitching, and the current group of young starters bringing more questions than answers to the table right now, re-signing Hiroki Kuroda has to be near the top, if not at the top, of the Yankees' to-do list this offseason.  He ended up being a bargain at $10 million for 219.2 IP of 3.32/3.86/3.67 ball, plus 16 stellar innings in 2 postseason starts, and was the most important pitcher on a staff that was beset by injury and performance issues from day 1.

Normally a season like the one Kuroda had would have teams with a need for pitching lining up to throw a ton of money at him for a 2 or possibly 3-year deal, Yankees included.  But with teams continuing to shift their thinking away from high-dollar, multi-year deals for older players, and a report from Nick Cafardo stating that Kuroda is "content signing a one-year deal at this stage in his career," the chances of that happening are significantly reduced.  Kuroda's declaration that he is only seeking a 1-year deal also turns whatever happens with him this offseason into a positive for the Yankees.

Catching Up On News & Notes

(It's not a World Series ring, but at least some Yankees are taking home some hardware this year)

If you're like me and were out of the Yankeeland loop for the last day and a half, here's what you missed:

- Joe reportedly called Alex Rodriguez last Friday to start the fence mending after A-Rod's postseason benching and discuss plans for 2013.  The sneaky unnamed source that leaked the story indicated that the conversation went well.

- The Yankees officially exercised their 2013 team options on Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano, and David Aardsma.  C-Grand and Robbie will each make $15 million next season while Aardsma will make a paltry 500 thou.  All expected moves and all smart moves by the club.

- Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano were among the group of American League Gold Glove winners announced yesterday.  It was Teix's 5th award and Robbie's 2nd, and with absolutely no favoritism towards them as Yankees I will say that both awards were well-deserved.

- Jon Heyman is reporting that Rafael Soriano will officially opt out of his contract today and become a free agent.  That should help free up some cash to fill out the rest of the 2013 roster and ensure the Yankees get at least 1 compensatory draft pick after Soriano declines their qualifying offer.

Everybody Alright Out There?

I went with the longer sentimental version of this post over at TYA this morning, but now that I'm back in the swing of things here I had to reach out to the AB4ARmy too.

I chalked the whole "Frankenstorm" thing up to typical media hype and really didn't expect things to be that bad when the hurricane hit over the past few days, but when I finally got the chance to check in and see what was going on yesterday afternoon was legitimately shocked.  Sides of buildings blowing off, massive flooding, parts of the Jersey Shore pretty much getting wiped off the map; that's some pretty heavy shit.  My friends and family that I've talked to back home are all safe and sound right now and just waiting for the power to come back on, and I hope that's the case for everybody else out there.

Looking at the site traffic from yesterday it certainly appears as though a lot of people out there have power and were using the internet as a way to pass the time.  So if you do and you're using AB4AR as part of that time passing strategy while you wait for the rain to stop, the wind to die down, and the waters to recede, I thank you for that.  I hope you're all safe and dry, I hope everybody has enough food and water, and I hope I can be a small part of getting things back to normal for everyone now that the storm has passed and I'm back to my regular writing routine.