Five Yankees File For Arbitration

Yesterday was the deadline for arbitration-eligible players to file, and as expected the 5 eligible Yankees all filed.  It's more of a procedural thing than anything else.  The real action starts on Friday when the players and team exchange salary figures and then in February when the hearings start, provided both sides don't come to an agreement before then.  In case you've forgotten, here are the 5 eligible Yankees and their respective MLBTR projected 2014 salaries:

• David Robertson (3rd year eligible)- $5.5 million
• Brett Gardner (3rd year eligible)- $4 million
• Shawn Kelley (3rd year eligible)- $1.5 million
• Ivan Nova (1st year eligible)- $2.8 million
• Francisco Cervelli (1st year eligible)- $1 million

Off the top of my head, I wouldn't be surprised to see D-Rob get a little more based on his excellent body of work the last 3 seasons and I think Gardner could get significantly more than 4 mil because of the value his speed and defense creates.  The other 3 should come in right around those projected figures, but we'll see what happens Friday.

Not A Prospect Yet (But Worth Watching): Jake Cave

(Courtesy of Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

I missed it by a day in terms of having it be a nice even 2 weeks out, but let this be the official announcement that AB4AR Prospect Week 2014 will be taking place 2 weeks from now starting on Monday, January 27th.  Obviously that week will consist of the unveiling of the 3rd annual AB4AR Top 30 Prospects list, along with a look at the guys who are off the list after last year's edition and the guys who just missed making this year's edition.

As the lead in to Prospect Week I'd like to revisit a post series that was actually part of Prospect Week 2013, profiling players who are making some waves in the Minor Leagues and working their way into legitimate prospect contention but aren't quite there yet.  You might remember last year's group of these players included Matt Tracy, Corey Black, Adonis Garcia, and Daniel Camarena.  The first of this year's crop is Jake Cave, a 2011 draft pick who just finished his first year of full-season ball.

Sorting Through The Collection Of Platoon Candidates At Third Base

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Conventional wisdom had the Yankees using the announcement of the A-Rod suspension decision as the springboard towards finding another established third baseman to replace him.  A decent chunk of that conventional wisdom had Mark Reynolds' name as the one most likely to be signed next as part of a L/R platoon.  Turns out none of that wisdom was correct, at least not according to what we've heard over the last 2 days.  Ken Rosenthal reported on Sunday that the Yanks were not going to add any more third base candidates on Major League deals this offseason, and assistant GM Billy Eppler and Joe Girardi both echoed that report in so many words yesterday in separate interviews.

The plan, according to Eppler and Joe, is to head to camp with what they've got and sort out who they think the best guys for the job are there.  Eppler didn't completely close the door on the idea of bringing in another warm body, saying "“Our eyes are always going to stay open.  We’ll look left, we’ll look right, we’ll look under rocks and see if something can work itself out and make sense."  He also didn't make it sound like adding another guy was a high priority, which is somewhat surprising given the limited upside of many of the current internal candidates.

The New A-Rod Lawsuit Is No Joke

If you're going to burn every bridge, you might as well soak them in lighter fluid and fire a flamethrower at them to make sure every last bit turns to ash, right?  The full lawsuit filed by Alex Rodriguez's lawyers yesterday is available to the public and it doesn't pull any punches.  My favorite passage might be this one about the MLBPA:

" MLBPA determined early on that it did not want to "take on" MLB over the alleged use of PES by Mr. Rodriguez and, instead, would "save its fire" for other issues where it would be across the table from MLB.  As a result, it engaged in numerous acts that were arbitrary, capricious and taken in bad faith, each of which constitutes a breach of MLBPA's duty of fair representation, and each of which had undermined the entire Grievance process to Mr. Rodriguez's detriment."

Arbitrary, capricious, and in taken in bad faith?  That's dynamite stuff.  Jackie Chiles couldn't have said it better himself.

Can Scott Sizemore Actually Help The Yankees?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

When the Scott Sizemore signing was announced yesterday, I was a little quick to condemn it as an organizational depth move and nothing more.  We are talking about a guy who's played in just 2 games and had only 6 plate appearances since the end of the 2011 season, and while ACL injuries aren't quite as devastating to baseball players as they are to basketball or football players, 2 of them in a row to the same knee isn't exactly a recipe for MLB success.

The more I let the idea of Sizemore marinate in my subconscious while watching the football games yesterday, the more I started to feel like I rushed to judgment on the guy.  Now that I've checked his numbers, I'm starting to feel like he may have something to offer the Yankees after all.

A-Rod Suspension Thoughts & Afterthoughts

(Courtesy of Angel Franco/The NY Times)

At long last, the arbitrator decision in the Alex Rodriguez Biogenesis suspension case was handed down this past weekend.  As many expected, the decision was not in Alex's favor.  As I expertly predicted (for once), the decision ended up being 162 games instead of MLB's original 211.  The immediate reaction from writers, bloggers, and fans alike was plentiful and spread across a wide range of feelings, and that tidal wave of activity only increased in size after last night's "60 Minutes" piece on the topic aired.  I tried to keep my thoughts on the decision to a minimum while the finer details and reactions from all parties involved came out, and I think I've had enough time to read everything, mull the whole situation over in my head, and comment intelligently on the matter.  My take on everything after the jump.

Yanks Sign Robert Coello To A MiL Deal

It's not the flashy signing of a Grant Balfour that I'm sure many of us are still hoping for, but the Yankees did add a potentially intriguing arm to their bullpen cache over the weekend when they inked reliever Robert Coello to a MiL deal.

For those unfamiliar, Coello is a 29-year-old right-hander with 29.0 innings of Major League experience spread across 3 years and 3 different teams.  He made his biggest mark this past season when he pitched to a 3.71/2.52 ERA/FIP split in 17.0 IP with the Angels, striking out 23 and walking 8.  He was moving up the hierarchy of the Anaheim bullpen before shoulder problems shut him down.

What makes Coello a potential diamond in the rough is the forkball he throws.  It's shown in the video above and it's absolutely flthy.  When he's commanding it and mixing it with his low-90s fastball, he's proven to be a very good swing-and-miss pitcher at both the Minor and Major League levels.  If his shoulder is OK, he could surprise some people in camp and sneak into the bullpen at some point this year.

So About That "60 Minutes" Bit Last Night...

If you missed it, "60 Minutes" devoted over half their show last night to the Alex Rodriguez suspension, trotting out Anthony Bosch, Bud Selig, Rob Manfred, and Joe Tacopina to give their versions of everything that's gone down in this case and basically pile on A-Rod a little more.  The reactions to the piece were quick and emotional, with the MLBPA issuing this statement:

“It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator’s decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez. It is equally troubling that the MLB-appointed Panel Arbitrator will himself be appearing in the “60 Minutes” segment, and that Tony Bosch, MLB’s principal witness, is appearing on the program with MLB’s blessing."

MLB, always quick to cover its own ass, followed up with a statement of its own:

“We have notified the Major League Baseball Players Association on numerous occasions that we intended to respond to all of the attacks on the integrity of our Joint Drug Program. Those attacks continued yet again yesterday with Mr. Rodriguez’s statement. Out of respect to the grievance process and at the request of the MLBPA, we waited until a decision was rendered to make our response."

There's more to each statement but the general theme is pretty clear.  The players union is pissed that MLB decided to take this public and allow statements to be made that make them all look bad after they stayed out of the way of the A-Rod arbitration hearing and said they respected the process.  MLB is pissed that the players made their frustrations public and now everything is public, everybody is pissed, and this circus is no closer to ending than it was when the story first broke last year.

This whole thing is so tiresome and stupid.  I want to say I really can't wait for pitchers and catchers to report to push this to the back burner, but with A-Rod planning to attend Yankee ST I don't think that's going to happen.

Yanks To Go Cheap On Rotation If They Don't Sign Tanaka?

(Time to get used to the idea of Arroyo?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

In an article for The Star-Ledger earlier in the week, Andy McCullough suggested a somewhat startling possibility for the Yankees and their plans to improve their rotation should they fail to sign Masahiro Tanaka.  According to an unnamed source in the article, the plan could change without Tanaka to a more cost-conscious one:

"Cashman has discussed replicating their strategy from 2011, when Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia shined on small contracts."

This is the first I've heard of such a backup strategy, although the Yankees have been loosely linked to cheaper free agent starting options like Bronson Arroyo, Paul Maholm, and Johan Santana, the rehabbing focus of McCullough's post.  That strategy worked to perfection in 2011, when the Yanks got 311 IP, 20 wins, and 5.0 fWAR in 51 starts by Colon and Garcia.  It didn't have the same effect in 2012, when they tried to bring back Garcia to supplement more expensive FA signings Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte and got a 5.20/4.68 split and just 0.8 fWAR in 107.1 IP from him.

I wouldn't mind 1 from the Arroyo-Maholm duo, not interested in Santana on anything more than a MiL deal, but 2 would rub me the wrong way.  The Jimenezes, Garzas, and Santanas of the world are still better pitchers than those lower-level guys and are still better options for the Yankees, who need to make a serious effort to improve the rotation if they want to reap the full benefits of revamping their lineup.  In the event they don't sign Tanaka, they need to stay interested in all rotation possibilities, not just the cheap ones.

A-Rod Backup Options Not Getting Any Better

On the heels of yesterday's A-Rod suspension decision, and on the heels of the disconcerting news earlier in the week about the current backup plan at third base, the Yankees still don't appear to be making a greater effort to find a suitable replacement for the position.

Mark Feinsand reported yesterday that the Yankees only offered Mark Reynolds a MiL deal, something he won't take because some other team out there will give him a Major League one.  Apparently Reynolds' work late in the 2013 season wasn't enough to convince the Yanks to take a 1-year gamble on him, even though he's unquestionably a better everyday right-handed option than Eduardo Nunez.

One player who will accept a MiL deal is Scott Sizemore, and according to Ken Davidoff he's close to signing one with the Yankees.  Sizemore, 29, has hit .238/.328/.381 in 598 career Major League PA and has missed all but 2 games of the past 2 seasons with torn ACLs.  He's nothing more than an organizational depth signing, and based on his injury problems he's more likely to wind up back on the DL than contributing as part of the 25-man roster.

The Yankees now know they won't have A-Rod for the entire 2014 season.  Based on these latest reports, they don't seem to be in any kind of a hurry to find an upgrade for him and I really don't understand that logic.

BREAKING: A-Rod Suspended For Entire 2014 Season (UPDATED)

Guess those AP reports were true.  Fredric Horowitz's decision is in and it's the one I expected.  As first reported by Andrew Marchand, Alex Rodriguez had his suspension reduced to 162 games and will be suspended for the entire 2014 season.

The report actually came from A-Rod's spokesman, so it still has not been "officially" announced by the arbitrator or MLB.  Regardless, A-Rod's camp is already issuing their statement on the matter and according to multiple beat writers they still intend to move forward with their plan to fight this decision with a court injunction.

As far as the Yankees are concerned, they will not be on the hook for $25 million of Alex's salary this season and will save $27.5 million for luxury tax purposes.  Now that the suspension length is known, they can move forward with the rest of their offseason schedule, which hopefully still includes an outside upgrade at third base.  More on this story as it comes out.

** UPDATE 11:01 AM- First part of A-Rod's statement on the decision:

"The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one. This is one man’s decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable."

The whole statement can be found here.  More updates after the jump.

Report: A-Rod Decision Could Come This Weekend

Via the AP:

"Alex Rodriguez is likely to find out in the next few days whether his drug suspension will be overturned.

People familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Friday that arbitrator Fredric Horowitz could issue his decision this weekend. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized."

Good.  I hope the decision is announced this weekend.  I hope it's announced as soon as I finish writing this post because honestly, I'm starting to get bored with the whole thing.  It's holding up the Yankees' offseason progress, it's taken too damn long to get resolved as it is, and I'm done with it.  Make the announcement and let's move on.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 1/10/14

Might actually take a step up in the world of blogging this weekend.  No I'm not talking about IIATMS/TYA's re-affiliation with ESPN, although that doesn't hurt either.  I'm talking about finally buying a real, legitimate computer chair for my apartment.  I do the bulk of my blogging from the office but I do some writing at my apartment and a lot of research there and almost everything I post on the weekends is done from there.  And I do it all from this old, heavy, practically antique chair that I got from my parents' friends when I first moved out to Wisconsin.  It was fine at first, when I was still in my mid-20s and in reasonable shape, but now that I'm old(er) and fat(ter) it's a nightmare to sit in.  My back starts to hurt after a while, my legs start to ache after 30-40 minutes, it's horrible.  So one of the big things on the weekend to-do list is to get my ass to an Office Max or something and try out some nice computer chairs because I'm to the point where I need some support and some ergonomic goodness and I almost can't take myself seriously as a blogger still writing from that chair.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, el duque of It Is High... criticized MLB's continued efforts to become more like the NFL and screw the Yankees in the process.

- On Tuesday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily profiled pseudo-prospect Peter O'Brien.  If he starts to show some better contact/average skills and cuts down on the whiffs, he could be legit.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud ran through the long list of concerns tied to the Yankees' internal starting pitchers to illustrate how important it is that they sign Tanaka.

- Grant Graulich of Yanks Go Yard listed his top 10 worst Yankee free agent signings of the last 25 years.

- On Wednesday, SJK of NoMaas went to the career number comparisons to show how egregious it was that Mike Mussina only got 20.3% of the HOF vote.  He's not wrong, but I'm not as surprised as other people are that Moose got hosed that badly.

- Mike Axisa of RAB analyzed the new projected starting lineup and the return of patience and count working skills that should come with it.

- On Thursday, Jason Cohen of Pinstripe Alley compared Eduardo Nunez's 2014 projections to 2013 league average production to see how he stacks up as a backup plan at third base.  Spoiler alert, not well.

- Derek Albin of Pinstripe Pundits continued his evaluation of Cash's free agent history with a look at how he's done signing first basemen and DHs.

- On Friday, Domenic Lanza of IIATMS/TYA visually displayed the significant improvement to the Yankee offense for 2014.  Even without Cano, that's a helluva lot better than last season.

- Bryan Van Dusen of The Greedy Pinstripes wondered if CC Sabathia can rebound in 2014 in response to CC's declaration that he's figured things out.

Little Smashing Pumpkins for this week's jam.  Could not believe how many live versions of "X.Y.U." there are on YouTube but not a single decent album version.  Whatever.  We'll do it live, fuck it!!



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Vernon Wells DFA'd (UPDATED)

Sounds like Wells was removed from roster. RT @VernonWells10: Thank you @Yankees for opportunity to be a part of such a storied franchise.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) January 10, 2014

My initial reaction?



Just need somebody to confirm it to really kick off the celebration...

** UPDATE 12:37 PM- Barbarisi is tweeting it as fact and that's good enough for me.  Cue the celebration!

A-Rod Willing To Accept Shorter Suspension?

Buried in yesterday's NY Daily News story about A-Rod's plans to fight the arbitration ruling should it end up being not in his favor was this little nugget about him possibly accepting a shorter suspension if that ended up being the decision:

"... sources say the Yankee third baseman would likely accept a suspension of 65 games or less without a fight. The legal fees to combat a 65-game ban would likely cost Rodriguez, who is scheduled to earn $25 million in 2014, more than he would lose in salary."

This is the first we've heard about A-Rod being willing to accept any suspension.  The stance he and his team have taken all along has been that the suspension and manner in which it was carried out was unfair, so it does strike me as a bit strange that they would be willing to accept a suspension after all their grandstanding.  Then again, this whole thing is about money for A-Rod, so if he would be able to save some by not fighting a much shorter suspension that would make sense from a personal financial standpoint.

It's worth nothing that there has been no indication that the decision will be for 65 games or fewer, and there has been no statement from A-Rod or his legal team confirming that they are willing to accept that suspension.  The plan, as far as we know it from their side, is still to take the arbitrator's decision to a judge for an injunction when it is handed down.  Guess we'll find out what the real course of action is when Horowitz issues his decision.

Sabathia Says He's Sure He Can "Figure Out How To Get Guys Out"

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

CC Sabathia sat down for an interview with Meredith Marakovits on "Yankees Hot Stove" last night to talk about his 2013 struggles and what he has to do to overcome them.  As part of the interview, CC downplayed the concerns about his lost velocity this past season, saying ""It doesn't mean a lot.  I've figured out I can pitch with it or without it. Whatever that is. Whether it's 90 to 92, or 92 to 94. I can pitch both ways."

That statement should come as good news from the guy the Yankees are hoping will regain his ace form in 2014.  Considering how much he struggled with his 4-seam fastball in 2013, however, the statement rings a bit hollow.  As much as we'd all love to give the big fella the benefit of the doubt, his failure to figure it out over the course of last season makes the statement more of a "let's wait and see" situation.

Sabathia said he's healthy and feels good, and he was supposed to return to his regular offseason throwing program after missing it last offseason.  That's reason for optimism and his offspeed stuff is still plenty good enough to get guys out.  If he can improve his fastball command, it shouldn't be too hard for a pitcher of his caliber to "figure out how to get guys out" in 2014.  Tanaka or no Tanaka, the Yankees need a bounce back from CC this season and his fastball is going to be the key to that.  If he's feeling good about it right now, that's a good start.

Report: A-Rod Prepared To Fight Arbitrator Decision

(Courtesy of Joe Cingrana/CBSNewYork.com)

Now that the HOF announcements have been made, the expectation is that the arbitrator in the A-Rod suspension case will hand down his final decision any day.  When he does, the latest reports have A-Rod and his legal team ready to fight the decision to the bitter end.  According to the NY Daily News, A-Rod will seek an injunction if the suspension is upheld on the grounds that the suspension and subsequent arbitration hearing were "unfair and biased" against him and in violation of federal labor laws.  An anonymous source in the Daily News report said "the papers are all ready" for the official filing and that A-Rod's people "are just waiting for the announcement."

This will basically be a last gasp attempt by Alex to keep his hopes of playing Major League Baseball again alive, and the swiftness with which his legal team has prepared for this course of action provides some insight into what they expect arbitrator Frederic Horowitz's decision to be.  Their belief is that they can follow in NFL player Jonathan Vilma's footsteps and get an "unfair" suspension overturned through the courts, but that was a different case in a different sport with different rules so it's hardly and apples-to-apples comparison.

I honestly can't remember if I'd said this already or not, but I don't think we're going to see A-Rod on the field in 2014 and I think there's a very good chance he's played his last MLB game.  At the absolute least, I see the suspension getting reduced to 162 games and it wouldn't surprise me if the full 211 was upheld.  The deck has been stacked against him from the beginning and he's basically down to his last card.  The odds of him overturning the decision through a court injunction are no better than the odds of the suspension being overturned.

Tanaka Comes Stateside

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

It has been reported Tanaka will meet with Cubs and ChiSox in coming days. An official for an NL team told me Tanaka is in Chicago now.
— David Waldstein (@DavidWaldstein) January 9, 2014

 After a delayed back-and-forth between MLB and NPB to get the new posting rules put in place and a few weeks of waffling by the Rakuten Golden Eagles before they finally decided to post him, Masahiro Tanaka has finally come to the United States to start the meat and potatoes of his free agent courtship and contract negotiations.  According to David Waldstein's tweet above, he's in Chicago right now and is expected to meet with both the Cubs and White Sox before presumably jetting off to other stops around the country to meet with other potential suitors.

Yanks Sign A Pair Of MiL Pitchers

It's not nearly as exciting as inking Tanaka, but the Yankees did sign a pair of pitchers to MiL contracts yesterday.  Via Matt Eddy, 28-year-old Bruce Billings and 38-year-old Yoshinori Tateyama both received deals, although it's not known if either received an invitation to ST.

Regardless of whether they did or not, neither of these guys should factor into the Major League plans at all in 2014.  They have a combined 68.0 Major League IP in their careers, none since 2012.  Billings has spent the last 3 years as an innings eater starter and spot reliever in the Oakland A's system and Tateyama was a long man for the SWB RailRiders last year, posting a 1.70/2.18 split in 42.0 IP.

These 2 should provide depth for the Triple-A pitching staff and allow the Yanks to call up younger pitchers like Mark Montgomery, Chase Whitley, and Dellin Betances if and when they're services are needed.  You can never have too much pitching, and that rule still applies when it comes to MiL depth.

HOF Voting Results Are In And They're As Effed Up As Ever

There's no big story in Yankeeland today and the only big story in baseball is the announcement of the 2014 HOF electees, so might as well write about it.  You've probably already heard the news by now, but if not Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas were all elected today by the BBWAA.  Craig Biggio just missed out on making it, by 2 votes reportedly, and nobody else was really that close.

No Yankees made the cut this year, which wasn't a huge shock.  Mike Mussina came in with 20.3% of the vote, Roger Clemens got 35.4%, and Don Mattingly just 8.2%.  After the jump, some other factoids on the voting that will pleasantly or unpleasantly surprise you depending on where you stand on the PED issue and how you feel about the voting process in general:

The First Hint Of A Backup Plan At Third Base, And It's Not Good

I feel like I write this phrase every second or third day about one position or another, but the Yankees have been very slow to address their third base situation this offseason.  The slow play in this instance is perfectly understandable, as they're still waiting for the arbitrator's decision on Alex Rodriguez's suspension appeal.  Once that decision comes down and the Yankees know how long he's going to be out, they can move forward with a contingency plan.

There has been little indication so far that there is a clear contingency plan in place.  The trade talks about the Chase Headleys of the world have died down, the free agent market is very thin, and the one guy who makes the most sense (Mark Reynolds) doesn't appear to be high on the team's wish list.  According to Wally Matthews of ESPN NY, the backup plan for A-Rod could already be on the roster:

"According to baseball sources I have spoken with, who have knowledge of the club's thinking, the plan right now is to get by with Kelly Johnson and Eduardo Nunez at third if A-Rod is shelved by the arbitrator."

Yeesh.  That's not encouraging at all if these unnamed sources are reliable.  Johnson is fine as a bench player/platoon infielder but Nunez is a complete disaster in the field and not much better at the plate.  Planning to address the biggest postional roster hole with a platoon that includes a negative WAR player would not be a smart move and would weaken an already shaky projected infield.  Here's hoping this is just the plan for "right now" and not for the remainder of the offseason.  There are better options out there than Nunez.

The Young Guys Most Likely To Contribute In 2014

(Jose could be closer to the show than you think. Courtesy of the AP)

The time for the unveiling of the 2013-2014 AB4AR Top 30 draws nearer.  As part of the prelude to that and to AB4AR Prospect Week in general, I'd like to revisit a post topic from last offseason and take a look at some of the organization's top prospects who are serious candidates to make the jump and contribute at the Major League level in 2014.  The Yankees haven't gotten any younger in their free agent spending spree and don't appear to be making that a priority as they fill out the rest of their remaining roster holes.  We saw this past season how that approach with an old core worked out, and the constant barrage of injuries created many opportunities for upper-level MiLers to break into the lineup and attempt to carve out roles for themselves.

Last season's version of this post came in late December, so I'm a little behind schedule on this post in comparison.  I hit the nail on the head with my first 2 picks, then whiffed on the next 4 and missed out on guys like Adam Warren and Preston Claiborne.  After the jump, my picks for the prospects most likely to follow in the footsteps of Austin Romine and David Adams and work their way into Major League game action in 2014.

Are The Yankees Overvaluing Their Own Relief Pitchers?

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Whatever the reason, be it the desire to wait for the A-Rod suspension verdict, Masahiro Tanaka taking top priority presently, a last gasp attempt to stay below the luxury tax threshold, or a combination of the 3, the slow pace with which the Yankees have gone about rebuilding their bullpen this offseason doesn't feel right to me.  For the most part, strong bullpens have been a staple of the last 15-20 years of Yankee teams.  The 2013 edition was hit or miss, burned by a group inability to keep the ball in the ballpark and a soft middle relief underbelly that took its share of beatings before some games could even get to D-Rob and Mo.  Mo is gone now, along with top lefty Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain.  Chamberlain is a loss in man power only, and nobody needs to be reminded that a pitcher like Mo can't be replaced, but for a group that lost that many innings it seems like the Yanks would want to make an effort to replace more than just their LOOGY.

Ichiro For J.J. Putz? Maybe (But Probably Not)

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a rumor, but Ken Rosenthal mentioning Ichiro Suzuki as a potential return trade piece for Arizona reliever J.J. Putz at least made my ears prick up.  Rosenthal believes the D'backs might be looking to move Putz and his $7 million salary for 2014 after trading for Addison Reed and he brought Ichiro's name up as a player whose salary for this coming season matches that of Putz.

That close salary connection is really the only one there when it comes to a potential Putz-for-Ichiro trade though.  The D'backs are pretty well set in the outfield and would have little use for Ichiro's shrunken skill set.  Even if they are looking to move Putz's salary, they can do better than an old, spare part outfielder who doesn't hit for power and doesn't get on base.  For the Yankees, however, this would be an avenue worth traveling down if they're still interested in trading Ichiro (they should be) and interested in Putz as a reliever (they should be).

Right now it's nothing more than speculation, but pay attention to what happens with the D'backs and Putz in the next few days and weeks.  If they do put him out on the trade block, the Yankees should be in on him.

Projecting Michael Pineda As A Starter In 2014

(Courtesy of William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

After 1 failed trade and 2 lost seasons, it appears as though the Yankees will finally get to see what Michael Pineda can do in 2014.  Actually, it might not be what he can do so much as they'll at least get to see him throw a pitch in a regular season game.  The shoulder injury suffered in 2012 may have taken away enough of what Pineda had to prevent him from ever being the pitcher he was or becoming the pitcher he could have been.  The Yankees certainly treated him as carefully as possible in his rehab from the injury to increase the chances of him making a full recovery.  They placed him on strict pitch count limits last year in the Minors and shut him down early after he reportedly felt some stiffness and soreness in the surgically-repaired shoulder late in the summer.  Still, there's no way to know what type of pitcher he's going to be moving forward until he's back out competing on a Major League mound.