Pitchers And Catchers Report Date Prepper 2014: The Relievers

(Kelley rocking the stunner shades.  Courtesy of Anthony McCarron)

2 days.  2 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to the Tampa complex to begin pitching and catching.  And running and stretching and fielding drills and all that other good stuff.  Baseball is so close to being back in our lives that I can almost taste it, and to keep the P&C preview going this week it's time to break down another group scheduled to start work on Friday.  On Monday it was the starting pitchers, today it's their shorter workload counterparts in the bullpen.  There's a few more open spots in the 'pen than there is in the rotation right now, and even more guys vying for those spots.  Here's what to expect and who to watch from the reliever crew.

Derek Jeter Announces His Plans To Retire After This Season (UPDATED)

We knew this day was coming eventually, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he'd announce it today.  Via a message posted on his Facebook page, Derek Jeter has announced that 2014 will be his final season.  Citing last season's injuries and the strain they've put on his ability to play the way he wants to play, Jeter said, "I know it in my heart.  The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball."

Obviously a lot of different thoughts and emotions come with this announcement, as most people my age can't even remember what Yankee baseball was like without Jeter around.  I'll dive deeper into this when I've had time to process it, but for now I'll just say good for him for coming to the decision and good timing following in Mo's footsteps by making the announcement early and letting this season be the proper goodbye that he deserves.

** UPDATE 1:24 PM- Couple of beat guys have talked to Casey Close and gotten his confirmation that this announcement is legit.  Via David Waldstein, Jeter told Hal this morning to make it official with the team. **

** UPDATE 1:53 PM- Bud Selig has released a statement on Jeter's announcement, calling him "an exemplary face of our sport."  For once, I agree with what Bud's saying. **

Yanks Need To Stay Aggressive With Their Outfield Prospects

(Courtesy of Princeton Magazine)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The double whammy of Alex Rodriguez dropping his lawsuits and Masahiro Tanaka being introduced to the press all but a put a bow on the 2013-2014 offseason.  In a few short days it'll be back to baseball. The focus will shift back to the diamond and the gaggle of new players that will be gracing it in Yankee pinstripes this season.  The outfield is arguably the most revamped part of the roster, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran taking over for Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner shifting back to left field, and a full season of Alfonso Soriano to look forward to.

The regular 4-man outfield rotation is set, which could leave very little playing time for Ichiro as the 5th outfielder and even less for Zoilo Almonte as the emergency 6th.  With this boost in outfield depth, it may seem like the Yankees have reason to pump the brakes on developing their group of top outfield prospects.  Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott are both coming off underwhelming seasons and are blocked in center by Ellsbury, and Tyler Austin is focused on getting and staying healthy and getting back on track offensively after starting his pro career mashing.  I don't say it that way though.  If it were me calling the shots on the farm, I'd say this is the perfect time to keep pushing these guys, maybe even more aggressively than before.

Yanks Put Only 1 In FanGraph's Top 100 Prospects

Marc Hulet of FanGraphs released his top 10 Yankee prospect list last week.  Yesterday he unveiled his top 100 prospects list for all of MLB and to no one's surprise the Yankees were not well represented, putting only 1 player on that list.  Naturally that player was Gary Sanchez, who came in 44th.  I know I always get real Yankee-centric on these posts, so if you're interested, Hulet's top 3 was Byron Buxton, Xander Bogaerts, and Oscar Taveras.  If you don't know who those guys are, look 'em up.

Rather than focus again on how poorly this reflects on the current state of the Yankee farm system, I'd instead like to touch briefly on what this and the other top 100 rankings say about Sanchez.  Let's be honest, the kid didn't have a "great" year in 2013, yet he still shows up on every top prospect list out there and shows up in the top half on most of those lists.  Everyone recognizes how much talent there is in Sanchez and how much time he still has to develop that talent at such a young age for his level.  If this can be the year that Sanchez starts to put everything together at the plate, he's an easy top 20 prospect next year and a fringe top 10.

P.S.- First of multiple post-Prospect Week plugs, here's the 2013-2014 AB4AR Top 30 again, headlined by Sanchez, in case you were on an extended vacation that week.

Tanaka Introductory Presser Wrap-Up

(Courtesy of Bryan Hoch)

This was it.  The one we've been waiting for.  The introductory press conference we all secretly hoped would happen this offseason, even if we didn't have the guts to say it out loud.  Masahiro Tanaka was introduced to the NY media at Yankee Stadium today and the spectacle did not disappoint.  Tanaka kicked things off by dropping 195 thou to charter a 787 for himself, his wife, a few buddies, and his pet poodle, which is the best possible thing he could have done to make me a bigger fan of his.  If you missed any of today's festivities, here are the highlights:

Looking Good, Ma-kun

(Courtesy of Mark Feinsand)

Is it me or does everybody just look sharper in a Yankee uniform?  Tanaka burning up the podium right now during his introductory presser.  Can't wait to see him on a mound.

P.S.- Yanks reportedly handed out 200+ press passes for this, more than double what they gave out for McCann, Ellsbury, or Beltran.  PR man said this was their biggest press conference since Hideki Matsui's introductory one in '03.  Crazy.

Don't Sleep On The Importance Of Ivan Nova

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Before January 22nd, Ivan Nova was a, perhaps THE, critical part of the starting rotation for 2014.  The Yankees' top 2 starters were older and both coming off varying degrees of tough seasons.  CC Sabathia was downright bad for most of 2013 and Hiroki Kuroda stumbled to the finish line after another heavy workload.  With a bunch of unproven back end guys behind him, Nova was going to be expected to carry a much bigger portion of the rotation load if one of the top 2 faltered again or got hurt, and he was going to have to pitch really well if the Yankees were going to have any chance of making it back to the postseason.

After January 22nd, and the addition of Masahiro Tanaka to the rotation, it's almost as if Nova has become an afterthought.  Tanaka has cast a much brighter glow over the entire rotation, turning Sabathia into a fit, trim former ace ready to bounce back and reclaim his title, Kuroda back into the reliable #2 he's really always been, and making the 5th starter competition much less important than it was on January 21st.  And sitting there penciled into the 4th rotation slot is Nova, the now 27-year-old right-hander coming off a career year whose importance to the Yankees' success is no longer as crucial as it was 3 weeks ago.

Report: Yanks Still Connected To Ervin Santana

No #MNTwins interest in FA Ervin Santana. Told Balt., Seattle, Dodgers, Cleveland, & the Yankees all have inquired in the last few days.
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) February 10, 2014

I expected the Yankees' interest in guys like Garza, Jimenez, and Santana to die off once the Tanaka deal became official, but a few days away from pitchers and catchers reporting here they are, still reportedly "inquiring" about Santana.  Is there anything to this?

Doubt it.  Santana,  good 2013 aside, hasn't been much since 2008.  He's very flyball prone, very very homer prone, and definitely not a good fit for pitching in YS3.  He's also not worth giving up another draft pick for, especially with Tanaka in the fold and the Yanks having plenty of org depth.  I'd say they're just keeping their name attached to him to try to drive up the price at this point, but in looking at the clubs that are still interested, should they even be doing that?  Just let it go, guys.  You don't want Ervin Santana, we don't want Ervin Santana.  Let somebody else have him and sign Stephen Drew.

The Meat Tray Returneth!

Not really.  I was just looking for an excuse to throw this Photoshop up again because I still laugh like an idiot every time I look at it.  I would much rather have an actual tray of meat than Sergio Mitre on my baseball team any day of the week.

But former Yankee and 5th Starter Competitor Sergio Mitre was back in the news today for becoming the latest former Yankee to sign with the Rakuten Golden Eagles.  I'm not sure if it was part of some under-the-table deal worked out by the 2 teams as part of the Tanaka signing, but the Eagles are loaded with former Yankees now.  Darrell Rasner, Casey McGehee, Andruw Jones, and now the Meat Tray.  That's a haul.  No other way to describe it.  Even without Tanaka, that's a ballclub that's going to contend for a long time with that core.

Maybe these new posting rules aren't the worst thing in the world after all.  Yankees still get to flex their financial muscle to bring in the top Japanese talent when they've scouted the player enough to make it worthwhile, and the NPB gets a major influx of former MLB talent by creating a pipeline to washed up former Yankee greats   goods  OKs   spare parts warm bodies.  Everybody wins.

Pitchers And Catchers Report Date Prepper 2014: The Starters

(Slim CC, so hot right now.  Slim CC.  Courtesy of Amber Sabathia's Instagram)

It's Monday, February 10th, which means we're a mere 4 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Yankee camp.  After a long and eventful offseason, we're finally getting back to real, actual, throwing and catching and hitting baseball and that's great news.  As part of the early ST process, I'll once again be breaking down the players reporting by roster groups and giving an idea of what to expect, or at least be on the lookout for, from each guy during spring camp.  We'll get things started by looking at the contingent of starting pitchers who'll be reporting this Friday.  The projected top 4 in the season-opening rotation is all but set, but the competition for that 5th spot is as wide open as ever.

Ryan Madson, Anybody?

(Courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly Daily News)

The reliever market has all but dried up with a handful of days remaining until the start of Spring Training.  The top remaining names are all part of the "coming back from arm injuries" brigade, guys like Rafael Betancourt, Andrew Bailey, and Joel Hanrahan.  Another name in that group that may be closer to pitching in game action than any of them is Ryan Madson.  Madson hasn't pitched since 2011 after having elbow surgery in April of 2012, and appeared to be a shell of his former self in a short stint with the Anaheim Angels' Triple-A affiliate last year.  But he reportedly held a public workout for teams last Friday, and if he looked OK there he could be a sneaky great buy-low bullpen option.

Yankees Finally Getting On The Statistical Bandwagon?

Anthony McCarron had a story yesterday detailing the changes the Yankees have made to their Minor League operations this offseason.  While it still seems strange that both Damon Oppenheimer and Mark Newman could keep their jobs despite the farm system's recent failures, there are other things that have changed, including more scouts being hired, upgrades to the Tampa facility, the hiring of former Major League manager Mike Quade as the outfield/baserunning coordinator, and more efforts being put towards injury prevention.

What stood out most to me in the list of improvements was the reference to a statistical analyst being added to the fold:

"Down the hall from Newman’s office sits a 'PhD in advanced math and statistics,' says Newman, a statistical analyst devoted to the player development department."

The article didn't specify if this was a new position or not, but I sincerely hope it isn't.  If the Yankees are just now getting on board with the idea of advanced statistical analysis and applying it to their scouting and player development, they are seriously behind the curve.  The lack of statistical analysis being integrated into their scouting and development strategies could be another reason we've seen the farm system struggle so badly in the recent past, and to just be adding it now doesn't make me feel good about having the same guys in charge of running the Minors.

Signing Stephen Drew Makes Even More Sense Now

The Yanks appear to be all done with the Major League free agent market now that we've entered the final week of the offseason before pitchers and catchers report.  Per Adam Rubin's latest report, they might want to rethink that strategy and make a move for Stephen Drew.

According to Rubin, Scott Boras is looking for a multi-year deal with an opt-out clause after the 1st year for Drew.  That's enough to scare off the Mets, and the rest of MLB already hasn't been quick to jump at Drew thanks mainly to the draft pick forfeiture that comes with him.  Drew makes a ton of sense for the Yankees for baseball reasons, not so much on business reasons.  This opt-out clause could actually work to their advantage in reducing some of that business risk on the deal.

A-Rod Waves The White Flag

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

After burning every bridge on his way to fighting what he believed was a conspiracy against him and trying to get his 162-game suspension reduced, Alex Rodriguez has now apparently changed course and decided on a less combative course of action.  As first reported by Jim Baumbach of Newsday, A-Rod voluntarily dismissed his lawsuits against MLB, MLBPA, and Bud Selig yesterday, the day that was his side's deadline to respond to MLB's request that the case be thrown out.  A-Rod's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, confirmed that Alex will no longer try to fight the suspension and will not be attending Yankee Spring Training.  After all the initial weirdness of this story, all the barbs traded in the media, and all the accusations from both sides, it looks like this media circus is finally closing its tents and moving out of town.

Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 2/7/14

I might be the worst person in the world at filling out tax returns.  I bring it up because I'm planning on doing them this weekend and every year it's the same routine.  I forget where I left my previous year's tax forms, I don't remember my IRS website login for the e-file stuff, I always fill something out wrong the first go-round that doesn't get caught until the end when I try to submit, and I butcher the form for Wisconsin state tax return.  It's like a yearly version of "Groundhog Day" for my own personal stupidity.  You'd think that as a single guy in his late-20s it would be a cakewalk and I'd have it figured out by now but no.  Not even close.  This is probably why I'm a cube monkey making exactly 0 dollars from blogging.  Now onto the links!

- On Monday, Matt Seybold of IIATMS/TYA did some serious number crunching on starting rotation spot performance to determine where Masahiro Tanaka should be slotted into the Yankee rotation and if the order of the rotation even matters at all.

- Reminder, the IIATMS/TYA weekly podcast is in full effect and definitely something you should be checking out on the reg.  This week's one was especially good.

- On Tuesday, Jason Cohen of Pinstripe Alley broke down the ST competition for the backup catcher spot.  I agree that Cervelli is the odds-on favorite, but it wouldn't shock me if Romine or Murphy stole the job.

- On Wednesday, Chad Jennings of LoHud mused on the problems that have crept up on some of the bigger Yankee FA signings to turn them from long-term to short-term risks.

- Andrew Marchand of ESPN NY profiled A-ball pitching prospect Luis Severino, including a few good chunks of scouting reports and comments from Yankee personnel.

- Chris Mitchell of Pinstripe Pundits examined Dean Anna's Triple-A success in the Pacific Coast League to see if it will translate to any kind of above-average Major League production.

- On Thursday, Daniel Burch of The Greedy Pinstripes interviewed 2013 draft pick Cale Coshow, a big right-hander who could turn into a relief prospect in the next year or 2.

- Gavin Ewbank of Yanks Go Yard suggested the idea of signing the recently released Brett Wallace as first base insurance for Teix.  Maybe not a bad idea if the Swing Doctor Long can fix him.

- Mike Axisa of RAB made a case for signing Ivan Nova to an extension now to potentially save some money by comparing him to other pitchers who signed deals before their arb-eligible years were up.

- On Friday, Greg Corcoran of Bronx Baseball Daily pegged the High-A Tampa Yankees as the most exciting team to watch in the farm system in 2014.

- Vizzini of NoMaas did a side-by-side comparison of last year's lineup to this year's to forecast the team offensive output this season.

Going with a little NIN this Friday because it's been a while since they were in the rotation.  Still salty that I sat through the entirety of the Grammys just to watch their ending performance with Queens get cut short.



Enjoy your weekends, everybody.

Tanaka Introductory Presser Set For Tuesday

Yankees announce @t_masahiro18 will be introduced in a press conference @ Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, 2/11 at 1pm, airing live on @YESNetwork
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) February 7, 2014

This was the last major offseason happening that needed to happen and we finally got confirmation this morning of when it will be happening.  If you thought the McCann, Ellsbury, and Beltran press conferences were something, you ain't seen nothing yet.  It's going to be an absolute zoo at The Stadium on Tuesday and I can't wait to try to sneaky watch it at the office.

P.S.- Via Andrew Marchand, here's an interesting little note from Cash during his ESPN Radio appearance.  He said the Yankees are looking at Tanaka as a "solid, consistent, number 3 starter."  Yeah, sure.  Keep trying to lower that bar, Cash.

High Praise For McCann

John Harper of the Daily News wrote a profile piece on new catcher Brian McCann yesterday, and the comparison made between McCann and another former Yankee catcher was the standout quote of the article:

"'Mr. Steinbrenner told me the story the day we were in New York for the press conference,' Howie McCann, Brian’s father, was saying on Wednesday. 'He said everyone there agreed they needed a catcher, and then Gene Michael stood up and said, ‘We want McCann because he reminds me of Thurman Munson, he has that same demeanor, that same toughness.’"

Considering the long and storied history of Yankee catchers, being compared to Thurman Munson is about the highest compliment you can receive.  Part of what people liked about the McCann signing was his reputation as a clubhouse leader and everything in Harper's article makes it sound like he's going to be a good one for this team.  With guys like Andy and Mo retired, and with the current captain not far behind, the Yankee clubhouse is a little lighter on vocal leadership than it's been in years past.  A modern day version of Munson behind the plate will go a long way in ensuring that the team's high standards don't slip as its last links to the most recent glory days move on.

Tanaka Watch 2014 Begins

The initial Tanaka Watch was fun, and it had a really great ending when he decided to sign on the dotted line with the Yankees.  Now that he's part of the team, we can officially kick off Tanaka Watch 2014 with this announcement from the AP:

"Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has obtained a work visa and could depart for the United States as early as Sunday.

Tanaka, who signed a $155 million, seven-year contract with the New York Yankees last month, obtained his visa on Tuesday and is preparing to leave for spring training which starts of Feb. 15, a member of Tanaka’s support staff said on Thursday.

Tanaka, who has been working out in Sendai, said 'I am in better shape at this point compared to previous years.'”

This Tanaka Watch won't take very long, and I'm pretty sure I can already predict the ending, but it's an appropriate buildup to his introductory presser.  That should be an entertaining media shitstorm and a great way to get Spring Training off and running.  Can't wait.

Imagining A World Where Brian Roberts Is Healthy And Productive

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

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

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

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

Hey David Phelps, Is That A Banana In Your Pocket... ?

(Courtesy of Anthony McCarron)

Or are you just happy to be at spring camp?

Spoiler alert- it's actually a banana.  Sorry, ladies.

P.S.- 8 days....

ManBan In The Bullpen? Sure, Why Not?

ESPN NY is in the middle of rolling out a big 3-part look at the Yankee farm system and its recent struggles, and while I think Wally was a little heavy-handed with his "doom and gloom" overview in Part I, there was an eye-catching bit about Manny Banuelos that I think warrants further discussion:

"Banuelos has got that big arm," a front office source said. "If it's still there and the lightning still strikes then you're going see people say, 'Fuck it, bring him with us [on Opening Day].'"

I've been a big advocate of giving ManBan a real chance at a rotation spot in camp this year.  There's nothing to lose really.  If he doesn't pitch well enough to earn it, send him to Triple-A.  But I could totally get on board with bringing him along on the Opening Day roster in the bullpen if he pitches well enough for one of those open spots.

AB4AR's Top 5 Prospect Tools: Defense

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Just when you thought Prospect Week was over, it reaches up out of the water like Jason at the end of the original "Friday The 13th" and pulls you back under one more time.

I mentioned last week that I didn't get to touch on as many of the tool rankings as I wanted to, so I figured a slow news day was a good time to circle back and hit the one I most wanted to cover.  Like I did with the pitching stuff rankings last week, I'm going to make things easy here and lump all the various defensive skills into one category for this list.  Speed, range, hands, footwork, timing, arm strength, instincts, it's all being balled up into the "defense" category, otherwise I don't think I could ever settle on a top 5 for each individual skill.  After the jump, my top 5 defensive prospects.

What Is Preston Claiborne's Ceiling?

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

On Monday, I took a quick peek back at Preston Claiborne's 2013 season.  He became the latest homegrown reliever to graduate to the show last year and as we all know now that graduation resulted in some very mixed results.  Long story short, Claiborne started off like a house on fire in May and June, pitched pretty well in July, then fell apart in August and September.  All together it added up to a 4.11/4.14/3.88 slash line, 19.6% K rate, 6.5% BB rate, and 0.2 fWAR in 50.1 IP.

Despite my multiple suggestions that the Yankees need to go out and acquire another relief pitcher, including the latest one from a few days ago, they seem prepared to head to camp with what they've got and sort out the back end of their relief corp in Spring Training.  That leaves Claiborne as the unofficial "7th Inning Guy" right now, at least I'm assuming it does since he was the 4th of the 4 guys Joe mentioned by name when asked about the bullpen last month.  That's not a bad spot to be for a player who never popped up on any top prospect lists while he worked his way through the system and never had his stuff talked about by scouts anywhere near as much as a Dellin Betances or a Jose Ramirez or even a Mark Montgomery.  The question now becomes can Claiborne hold onto that spot this year?  And looking further down the road, can he develop into anything more than a middle reliever?

You And Me Both, Brett

Brett Gardner was honored at the Munson Awards Dinner last night, and he took time out to speak to the media about the Yankee offseason and expectations for the upcoming season.  When asked about his reaction to the Jacoby Ellsbury signing, Gardner was pretty straightforward and honest:

“I was surprised at first.  I didn't really see that coming."

Gardner went on to praise Ellsbury and said he's looking forward to playing with him this year, but I can see where he's coming from.  It looked like Gardner was going to seize the center field reins for good when he took C-Grand's spot last year and after only 1 year he had the job taken away from him heading into a contract year.  That has to sting a little.

From a baseball perspective it makes sense.  Gardner is a good but not great hitter and Ellsbury is a little better than him, and he was a good but not great defender in center field last year according to most metrics and Ellsbury is a little better than him there as well.  Gardner's defensive value is maximized in left and I think he'll compete for all the major outfield awards in 2014 if he stays healthy.  And who knows, if he uses this as motivation, maybe his offensive output will jump back up to 2010 levels or better.  Still, it's never fun to lose your job and the decision to sign Ellsbury and move Gardner back to left may end up pushing Gardner to look elsewhere when he hits the FA market next offseason.

Marc Hulet Releases His Top 10 Yankee Prospects List

He's a little late to the party, but Marc Hulet of FanGraphs released his annual top 10 organizational prospect rankings for the Yankees today.  Like most of the other more mainstream evaluators, he considers the Yankee system to be "middle of the road" right now.  He also gave them praise for their recent drafts and strong international scouting that has filled the lower levels with more young talent.  Click the link to read his full takes on each of his top 10 players.  For the quick and dirty version, here's that top 10:

1) Gary Sanchez
2) J.R. Murphy
3) Eric Jagielo
4) Mason Williams
5) Slade Heathcott
6) Aaron Judge
7) Ian Clarkin
8) Greg Bird
9) Jose Ramirez
10) Tyler Austin

Most of the usual suspects, although this is definitely the highest I've seen Jagielo ranked anywhere.  Can't argue with that top 2 though.  What's that saying about great minds... ?

P.S.- Perfect time for a shameless plug.  If you haven't already, check out the AB4AR Top 30 from last week.