Yanks Sign Ben Francisco To MiL Deal

It's not a head-turner, not unlike every other Yankee signing this offseason, but they did add another piece to their outfield competition puzzle today by signing free agent outfielder Ben Francisco to a MiL deal after he was released earlier in the day by the Indians.

I profiled Francisco back on December 1st as part of the list of non-tender guys I thought the Yanks might target, and the profile hasn't changed since then.  Francisco is still a field-first player whose offensive output has dwindled significantly in the last few years.  His career numbers still look good as a part-time option, but recently he's offered very little by way of power or on-base skills.  For what it's worth, Francisco was 8-20 with Cleveland so far this spring before being released with more walks than strikeouts.

2013 Storylines: Contending On A Budget

(Or not.)

The Yankees made some waves a week or so ago for going to court to protect their claim to the "Evil Empire" moniker that was bestowed on them by Larry Lucchino in 2002.  They've lived up to that nickname for the better part of the last 11 years, but in a strange bit of irony their battle to trademark the name was the biggest attempt made by the Yankees to live up to the motto this offseason.  After years of free spending, ballooning payrolls, record-setting contracts, and drawing the ire of fans, teams, and writers alike, the Yankees enter the 2013 season with a plan to ditch their traditional business model, for a few years at least, in an attempt to reset their luxury tax penalties and save some coin.  The key year is 2014 and the key payroll number is $189 million, but a lot of groundwork to get to those key points was done this past offseason and will continue to be done through the 2013 regular season.

Rotation Starting To Take Shape This Week

(Courtesy of the AP)

The bulk of the early ST focus has been on the lineup and its shrinking number of healthy, productive players, but the rotation hasn't exactly been running at full song so far either.  Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda have each made a pair of starts, David Phelps has made four, and that's it as far as projected Major League starters are concerned.  In the last few days, however, the picture has cleared up considerably with the rest of the rotation.

Phil Hughes graduated to a mound over the weekend, and per Chad Jennings threw a 26-pitch bullpen session this morning with no reported back issues.  He's graduating to facing live hitters later this week and could end up on track to start the season.  The other big news to come out of the weekend was the upcoming rotation schedule, which has Andy Pettitte penciled in to make his spring debut on Wednesday and CC Sabathia on Friday.  Sabathia threw a 50-pitch sim game yesterday morning rather than face the Blue Jays, and this has been about as quiet a spring for Pettitte as I can remember.

The level of concern about those three was low, so it's not like this is huge unexpected news.  But it's always good to see your starting rotation all pitching.  The rotation is going to have to carry this team early, and they should take the first big step towards doing that this week.

The 2013 Season Preview Starts Today

I said yesterday that the transition from preseason to regular season was starting to take place, and that transition becomes official today at AB4AR with the announcement that the three-week season preview for the 2013 season starts this week.  I call it, "Season Preview Season."

As it was last year, the AB4AR season preview will be split up into three individual series of posts, starting with the high-level storylines that will define the 2013 season and drilling down to the previews of individual positions and players.  The "2013 Storylines" series kicks off this afternoon and runs through the week.

Opening Day is in three weeks, people.  It's time to start looking ahead.

What Kind Of Production Would You Take From Jeter This Year?

(Courtesy of J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday)

After watching player after player go down with injuries this spring, the Yankees finally got to see a few come back from injuries yesterday when Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter played in their first ST games.  Mo struck out two in a scoreless 5th inning and Jeter went 1-2 at the plate as the leadoff DH, and both used their performances to answer the question about whether they'll be ready in time for the start of the season.  For Mo, that question wasn't as big a deal.  He's been throwing bullpen sessions, going through everything he would in a normal spring, just not in an actual game setting.  For Jeter, the question has hung over him all spring as he's been limited to light fielding drills, light running drills, and batting cage sessions.  He still has to play a few games in the field, which sounds like it might happen this coming week, but if Jeter can at least hit three weeks before the start of the season, that's a pretty good sign that he'll be ready.

So now that Jeter has answered the first big question, we can move to asking the second one.  What kind of production can we reasonably expect from The Captain this year?  The offense has already taken a lot of damage in the past four months and change, and a 39-year-old shorstop coming off major ankle surgery isn't going to be the savior, but without any reliable backup options in sight the Yankees need something good from Jeter this year.

Transitioning From Trends To Storylines

We've been at this Spring Training thing for long enough now that it's time to start looking ahead towards the 2013 season.  Opening Day is three weeks from tomorrow, so as a way to begin the transition into the 2013 AB4AR Season Preview series (and also because I'm hanging like a bastard today) I wanted to bring back the 2012 Statistical Trends to give everyone an idea of what some of the key talking points will be during the next three weeks of season previews.

- Robinson Cano's 2012 Struggles Against LHP- Was it just a one-year fluke or the start of something more serious?

- Ivan Nova's XBH Allowed- I've linked to this one before.  It's all about fastball command for Nova.

- Joba's Return to the Mound- Once he got his slider going, things started to come together.

- Curtis Granderson's Strikeouts- Just imagine how many HR he could hit if he learned how to lay off sliders out of the zone.

- Derek Jeter's Bounce Back Season- Was it just BABIP luck or did Jeter really defy time and regression?

- Phil Hughes' HR Allowed- Just because it's a fastball count doesn't mean you have to throw one.

Study up, kids.  I'll give you a minute.

Marc Hulet Ranks His Top 15 Yankee Prospects

Marc Hulet has been plowing through his yearly organizational top 15 prospects post series over at FanGraphs, and somehow I missed him unveiling his top 15 for the Yankee system on Wednesday.  You can check out the list, with detailed scouting reports from Hulet on each player, right here.

It was the usual suspects in Hulet's top 5: Williams, Sanchez, Heathcott, Austin, Campos in that order.  Hulet is also high on Angelo Gumbs and Brett Marshall (6th and 7th respectively), had ManBan outside his top 10 (11th), and didn't have Rafael DePaula ranked in his top 15 at all.  Personally, I like that he had Austin Romine ranked as high as he did at 13.  Romine has missed a lot of time, but still has plus defensive skills and a great opportunity in front of him this season.  And a ceiling as a catcher hitting .270 with double digit HR in the Majors is nothing to be taken for granted, especially with what the Yanks are looking at this year from their other catchers.

P.S.- If you haven't already, now would be a great time to check out the 2012-2013 AB4AR Top 30.

Mariano Rivera To Retire After The 2013 Season

As expected, Mariano Rivera announced at this morning's press conference in Tampa that he will retire after this season.  And as we've come to expect, Mo handled it in the honest, thankful, and humble way that only he can.  In a testament just to what type of player, teammate, and person he's been in his 19 years as a Yankee, the entire Yankee team attended the press conference along with all the high-ups in the Yankee front office.  One thing that never gets old is how Mo comes across when talking to the media.  It's not a stretch to say he's the most professional professional athlete of all time.  Here are a few examples from things he said during the press conference:

"I would love to say that it has been a privilege and an honor to wear the pinstripes."

"I have to give everything and the tank is almost empty. The little gas that I have left is everything for this year. After this year I am empty."

"I'm a team player, if it wasn't for my teammates I wouldn't have had the opportunity. I want to be remembered for being a good teammates and helping others. That's the legacy I want to leave."

On playing with Pettitte and Jeter: "Again, I always mention the word 'blessed' because it's a blessing more to be able to play with men like Andy and Derek and many others."

So now we know, from the mouth of the man himself.  2013 will be Mo's final season and there will be many more times throughout the season that we'll get to revisit that fact and look back on all the great moments he's had in his career.

The Effects Of Phil Hughes Missing The Start Of The Season

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

It's gotten overshadowed by the Mark Teixeira injury and yesterday's report of Mo's retirement announcement, but there's still a pretty important injury situation happening with Phil Hughes.  Last weekend Hughes ended his week-long battle with shrinkage in the pool and got back on the field to start throwing again after almost two weeks off to recover from the bulging disk in his back.  He's been on a flat ground throwing program this week, and yesterday actually threw pitches from a full windup on flat ground, but that still puts him a while away from pitching in a game.  The possibility of Hughes not being ready for the start of the season was mentioned almost as soon as the bulging disk was, and if he isn't back on the mound pitching in a game by this time next week he more than likely won't be ready.  It's not the biggest deal in the world, as long as his back is healthy, but there are a few things that will change as a result.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 3/8/13

Do people actually listen to voicemails anymore?  Anybody?  I honestly couldn't tell you how long it's been since I've actually listened to an entire voicemail start to finish.  It stems mainly from the hatred I have towards talking on the phone.  I abhor talking on the phone.  It's the worst.  I would love to never have to talk to anybody on the phone ever again.  Obviously that doesn't include you, Mom and Dad.  You guys are awesome and I love you very much.  Everybody else, however, can just pound sand when it comes to phone conversations or voicemails.  I'm a written word guy, not a spoken word guy.  Send me an email, send me a text, anything other than a 5-minute voicemail that really says nothing other than "call me back when you get this."

These days, if I get past the "Hi, Brad, this is... " part of any voicemail, I consider that a major accomplishment.  Somewhere along the line I've probably missed out on a Publisher's Clearing House check or something, but I don't care.  That's how much I hate voicemail.  They installed new VOIP phones in my office a few weeks back, and they have the ability to wipe out an entire voicemail box with the push of a button.  I let that baby fill up over the course of the week and then blow them all away on Friday afternoon.  Such power.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, George Szabo of Gutty Gritty Yankees looked at a historical breakdown of average team age and winning percentage from the last 15+ years to put a positive spin on the age of this year's Yankee team.

- Michael P. of Yankees Fans Unite pointed out potential problem areas in the Yankees' 2013 interleague schedule.

- On Tuesday, el duque of It Is High... expressed his unhappiness with Cash's decision to jump out of that plane this week.  It's been a rough offseason for the guy.

- On Wednesday, Jason Cohen of Pinstriped Bible took an even more detailed look at the Yankees' injury problems already this season than I did.  Because I'm too scared to admit that I'm the jinx because I started talking about batting orders too early, I'm going to point out that Jason wrote this on Wednesday morning, before the bad Teix news came down, so he's obviously the jinx.

- William Juliano of The Captain's Blog mused on the impact Teix's injury would have on the lineup and possible solution options the Yankees could pursue.

- Mike Eder of IIATMS/TYA has been gettin' GIF-y with it since the merger (see what I did there?) and noticed something new in Brett Gardner's swing mechanics this spring that could be the cause of his hot start.

- Alex Pugliese of Yanks Go Yard identified his X-factor for the Yankees this season, and while I don't share his feelings, I'll let you make that decision for yourselves.

- Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes made another pitch for pursuing Carlos Lee as a temporary replacement at first base.

- On Thursday, Jeana Bellezza of Bleeding Yankee Blue explained why she's excited about David Aardsma returning to game action this year and why Yankee fans should be too.

- Chad Jennings of LoHud had the highlights from Mark Teixeira's media session to explain his injury.

- Mike Axisa of RAB highlighted just how important Robinson Cano has become for the Yankees this season in the wake of the recent injuries that have weakened the lineup.

- Louis Winthorpe II of NoMaas had the best visual representation of the Yankees' spring injury problems that I've seen yet.  Not looking so good, Louis...

- On Friday, Marc Perez-Santalla, a new edition to Bronx Baseball Daily, wondered what the 2013 season might have in store for Joba Chamberlain.

- SG of RLYW put Kevin Youkilis under the projection microscope (not literally) to set some expectations for his 2013 production potential.  Considering how bad Youkilis was last year, I think I'd take those results.

This week's jam comes to us from a little duo known as Outkast.  I don't know why, but I always forget just how good Outkast was.  Somehow they make their way out of my rotation and it takes "Aquemini" or "Gasoline Dreams" coming across shuffle on my iPod for me to remember that I've got an entire collection of some of the best rap music produced in the 90s rotting away in there.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Triple-R Game 2013: Rebound

(If you don't like that picture, something is wrong with you.  Courtesy of Corey Sipkin/NY Daily News)

We weeded out the regressors on Wednesday, we identified the guys expected to remain where they are yesterday, so today it's time to look at the players who are going to rebound from their 2012 seasons and offer up improved production in 2013.  Obviously some guys coming back from injury factor in heavily here, as do players whose 2012 results were way down from their usual standards.  But there are also a few surprises included, a few guys who I just have a good feeling about.  After the jump, check out the players I'm predicting rebound years for this season.

#LOOGYProblems

Having one LOOGY out with injury problems is bad enough, but TWO??  That's just madness.  Unfortunately that madness is reality for the Yankees right now as their injury-plagued spring continues.  It was announced yesterday that Clay Rapada will be shut down for 7-10 days with shoulder bursitis, this after Boone Logan's elbow continued to bark.  That's now the top two lefty relievers in camp with problems to the two parts of the arm you never want to have problems with if you're a pitcher: the elbow and the shoulder.

Luckily, the Yankees aren't short on LOOGY options in camp.  Francisco Rondon has looked outstanding in his four appearances ( 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K) and has looked capable of facing right-handed batters if needed, and Juan Cedeno hasn't looked bad in his three outings either.  Cesar Cabral is still on the radar, and needs to spend time on the roster per the Rule 5 Draft rules, but he won't be a real option until May.

Hopefully Rapada's issue isn't as serious as Logan's appears to be and he's able to make it back in time to start the season.  If not, maybe the Yanks put in a call to someone well-versed in the dark arts and try to summon Loone Bogan for a few weeks.

Mariano Rivera To Announce His Retirement After The 2013 Season

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It hardly comes as a surprise.  I've been implying that this announcement was coming for a while now.  But it's still newsworthy when Mariano Rivera is planning to announce his retirement and it certainly appears as though that's what's happening again.

Joel Sherman first reported the story a few hours ago, tweeting that a press conference has been scheduled for 10AM on Saturday at Steinbrenner Field at which Mo is expected to announce that he will retire after this season.  Mo himself wouldn't confirm the report when asked at camp today, but it sounds like this is the real deal.

Of course, the original plan was for Mo to retire after last season, but that plan got derailed when he suffered  his season-ending ACL injury.  Now he's recovered and appears to be on track to start the season so it's as good a time as any to get the formalities of announcing this out of the way.  As I said last week, it's never fun to think about Mo retiring, but if it gives us another shot at having a true "Season of Mo" then I guess I can live with that.

Triple-R Game 2013: Remain

(Can't knock the hustle.  Courtesy of Barton Silverman/NY Times)

It took a major backseat to the Mark Teixeira injury news, but I kicked off the 2013 edition of the Triple-R Game yesterday with my projected regressors and I have to say I was a little surprised that I didn't have more guys pegged for that category.  As negative as a lot of the talk has been about where this team stands after its offseason, and justifiably so, there aren't many players I see taking a big step back this year.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it stages a more positive stage for the other two R categories.  Today we'll take a look at the less exciting of the two, the group of players I expect to repeat their 2012 performances.

Mark Teixeira Injury Thoughts & Afterthoughts

(Photo courtesy of Don Pokress/Newsday)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Well this has been a fun start to the 2013 season, huh?  Not exactly what any of us had in mind or expected after a long, frustrating offseason, but I guess for the sake of consistency and tying plot points together you might as well have an injury-filled preseason to reinforce just how bad the offseason was.  Mark Teixeira, whether he rebounded from last year or not, was one of the most important players in this lineup and now he's out for 8-10 weeks with a sprained tendon in his right wrist.  To be honest, I'm still trying to process everything that relates to this injury in my head, so rather than attempt to formulate a smooth, logical response post I'm just going to go with the old "Ts and AferTs" standby and at least get my thoughts out.

BREAKING NEWS: Teix Out 8-10 Weeks With A Sprained Wrist Tendon

Well it's not the worst news in the world considering the body parts and the tendency for wrist injuries to linger, but it's certainly not good.  The diagnosis is in on Mark Teixeira's injured right wrist and according to Dan Barbarisi it's a strained ECU tendon.

Multiple beat writers are reporting that Joe has said Teix will have four weeks of rest and no baseball activity and then another 4-6 of rehab.  No surgery scheduled or anything like that, which is a small silver lining here, but 8-10 weeks out puts Teix out of action until mid-to-late May.  With Curtis Granderson already on the shelf until then, this is shaping up to be a rough start to the season.

** UPDATE 4:00PM- Via Andy McCollough: "Cashman said he was told Teixeira's injury is similar to the one Jose Bautista suffered last year. Which is, um, concerning."  Uhh, ya think??  That injury ended Bautista's season last year and ultimately resulted in surgery after rest and rehab weren't enough to heal it. **

Triple-R Game 2013: Regression

(Sorry, Kuroda fans.  Don't expect a repeat of 2012.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Last year I introduced a simple, mainly space-filling post series during the offseason doldrums of January as a way to start laying the groundwork for season preview posts and setting my own personal expectations for the season.  If you remember it from last year, I called it the "Triple-R Game," the three R's standing for regress, remain, and rebound, and the whole point was to go through the projected 25-man roster and predict whether each played was due to regress from his previous season production, rebound from it, or remain at the same level.  I was admittedly inconsistent with my predictions at best.  I completely botched the infield, pretty much nailed the outfield, and was about 50/50 with the entire pitching staff.

The 2013 edition of the Triple-R Game is starting up later than it did last year, but with the shiny new toy syndrome of Spring Training wearing off, most of the top prospects getting reassigned to MiL camp, and season preview time not too far away, it seems like the perfect time.  I figured it was easier to split the groups up by expected "R" outcome rather than position this year, so we'll start off with the regressors.

Jeter's Replacement Nowhere To Be Found

(Ahh, the jump throw.  Courtesy of Ron Antonelli/NY Daily News)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

As much as everybody likes to talk about the Yankees' failures when it comes to developing young pitching, a conversation that's not as failure-filled as some people like to think, there's another area on the roster where they haven't exactly been churning out winners recently and that's at shortstop.  They've had the benefit of Derek Jeter being a fixture at the position for the last 17 years, but Jeter's time is winding down and the Yankees are nowhere closer to finding his replacement than they were when talks of Jeter retiring first started.

So That Injury Report Is Filling Up, Quick, Huh?

There was plenty of other more positive news to talk about yesterday, but the biggest story in camp, as it has been multiple times already this spring, was injury-related.  Mark Teixeira was scratched from Team USA's WBC exhibition game and then scratched entirely from the roster after injuring his right wrist in the batting cage.  More tests will be done today, but it already doesn't sound good.  If that wasn't enough, David Robertson was unable to make his appearance in last night's ST game because of trouble getting his arm loosened up.

Not to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but if you're keeping score at home the Yankees are currently on track to enter the regular season with at least moderate injury concerns at the following positions:

• First base- Teix
• Shortstop- Jeter
• Third base- Youkilis & A-Rod
• Left field- Gardner (always a risk with the diving)
• Center field- C-Grand
• DH- Hafner
• Starting rotation- CC, Hughes, Andy (always a risk because he's old)
• Bullpen- Mo, Logan, Aardsma, D-Rob??

Semi-Breaking News: Teix Scratched From The WBC Roster With A Wrist Injury (Updated)

Details are still coming in, but it sounds like you can add another name to the growing list of injury cases on the Yankee roster this spring.

Mark Teixeira was removed from Team USA's World Baseball Classic lineup a few hours ago after reportedly feeling soreness in his right forearm.  Teix was taking swings in the batting cage, felt something, and was shut down.  It has since been reported by Jon Morosi and Bryan Hoch that the source of the pain is more in the wrist area than the forearm and that Teix will be removed from the Team USA WBC roster entirely.  X-rays were taken and came back negative, which is a good thing, but there are still more tests that need to be run to come to a conclusion on the severity of this injury and the Yankee doctors will obviously want to check Teix themselves.

Teix is another of the big three that the Yankees can't afford to be without this season, and they're already without one of them until May.  Hopefully this doesn't turn into something more serious.

** UPDATE 5:43PM- The Yankees are officially calling the injury a "strained right wrist" and saying Teix will be evaluated by team doctors tomorrow.  I've got a bad feeling about this. **

** UPDATE 7:03AM Wednesday- According to Cash, Teix felt a "pop" in his wrist and will be shut down for at least two weeks.  Cash is reportedly "very concerned."  Not good. (Via Dan Barbarisi) **

I WAS IN THE POOL!!! I WAS IN THE POOL!!!!!

The other bit of news from this past weekend that I glossed over yesterday was Phil Hughes getting cleared to get out of the pool and back onto a baseball diamond.  He played a round of catch on Sunday, said his back felt fine, and should be back on his way to getting ready for the start of the regular season.

Now I don't know much about pool workouts or how they're supposed to help an athlete.  I don't know if working out in a pool for pretty much all of last week helped strengthen Hughes' back or was in any way helpful in his preparation for this season.  But I do know one thing that had to come out of Hughes spending all that time in a pool...

Nova's New Arm Angle Could Be The Key To His Success

Ivan Nova's first spring start this past weekend was everything you would want to see from a young pitcher coming off a bad year: he was efficient (27 pitches in 2 innings), his velocity was good, he was aggressive with his fastball, and most importantly, he located that fastball.  Nova threw 22 of his 27 pitches for strikes, the bulk of them 4-seamers, and drew praise from everybody for how well he commanded the pitch.

After the outing, it was revealed that Nova had been working on a new arm angle in the offseason, one designed to shorten up his release and make it easier to repeat.  Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA examined the change in arm angle yesterday and provided a side-by-side GIF comparison to show just how much shorter Nova's arm motion was.  Based on the early results we saw on Saturday and the problems Nova had in 2012, this change in arm angle could be just what he needs to turn things around this season.

So Cash Broke His Ankle Jumping Out Of An Airplane, Huh?

(Straight chillin'  Courtesy of John Harper)

Can't say I blame him.  I usually want to jump out of a plane when the Yankees have an off-day too.

Rimshot!

Just kidding.  Actually it sounds like this was a pretty serious deal.  There were early reports that Cash suffered a compound fracture, similar in severity to Joba's ankle injury this time last year.  When asked by responding EMTs how he felt, Cash said, "Have you seen the guys we signed this offseason?  How do you THINK I feel?!?"

DOUBLE RIMSHOT!!!

Seriously, folks, seriously.  It's hard to get upset at a guy who doesn't have an on-the-field job getting injured doing something for a good cause.  I only wish Cash would have waited a few weeks and did this on the anniversary of Joba's ankle injury.  That would have been an MSM Twitter firestorm!

Slowed Down Spring For CC Continues, And It's Downright Brilliant

(No, that's not CC reacting to pain in his left elbow.  And that's a good thing)

I jumped on the "reducing CC Sabathia's workload" bandwagon early, like as soon as the Yankees announced plans to do that this season.  I became a card-carrying member of the "I Support Reducing CC's Workload Club" two weeks ago when he threw his first bullpen of the spring, a signal that the Yankees were taking the efforts to reduce his workload seriously.  And I'm putting down money for the official club t-shirt after finding out last Thursday that the Yankees have pushed CC's first spring start back to March 15th.  Chad Jennings had the details last week, which included Joe's desire to not have CC face the Blue Jays as scheduled on March 10th.  As a result, Sabathia will throw another simulated game on the 10th, make his first official ST start on the 15th, and end up with only three total ST outings under his belt before taking the hill on Opening Day.

Early Spring Training Winners And Losers

(Winnah!  Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Greetings, IIATMS readers!  For those of you who know me, I'm Brad V. from TYA and An A-Blog for A-Rod.  For those who don't, I'll allow you a few minutes to peruse the archives of either of those sites and familiarize yourselves with my work.  I'm going to be holding down the morning slot here on the new IIATMS/TYA Yankee superblog, and in the interest of full disclosure I might as well tell you right now that once the season starts I'm probably be going to use this slot to nitpick and complain about whatever went wrong in the previous night's game.  I'll also be using it to comment on and analyze some bigger picture trends I've noticed in the team's or an individual player's recent performance.  With that idea of trends in mind, I'd like to use my introductory post here to take a look at the early winners and losers in Spring Training.  We've got two weeks of full-team workouts and games under our belt, and while that's not enough of a sample size to make definitive declarations, it's still enough to comment intelligently.